The Cross The Center of History

THE CENTER-POINT

The Cross of Jesus Christ is the center-point of all history. It is the pivot of man's existence on earth. In the Old Testament days, all of God's dealings with man pointed him to the Cross that was to come. His salvation was through faith in what God promised would happen. Today we look back to that time, nearly 2,000 years ago, when the Son of God hung on the Cross between heaven and earth, between God and man, and receive salvation through faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross.
ADAM AND EVE
From the moment the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, sinned (see Genesis 3), God's plan of redemption was set into motion and Jesus was foreordained to die.
" . . . the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world" Revelation 1 3:8 .
THE PROMISE OF THE SAVIOUR

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel" Genesis 3:15 (NASB) .
Here, at the beginning when man first sinned, is the first promise of the coming of the Saviour. The bruising of the serpent's seed (Revelation 12:9) and the woman's Seed (Galatians 3:16) took place on the Cross. Satan's "head" was bruised. The head speaks of authority (see Ephesians 5:23) and Satan's authority over man was broken on the Cross. The bruising of the head also speaks of a total and permanent disabling. It is a mortal wound. Jesus' ''heel" was bruised on the Cross. The heel is the lowest part of our body, the part that touches the earth, and speaks of how God humbled Himself and became a man upon the earth to suffer and die for us (read Philippians 2:5-11). But the bruising of the heel is not a mortal wound - Jesus rose from the dead!
THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD

"The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them" Genesis 3:21.
In order for coats of skin to be made, an animal's blood had to be shed. Here God gives a prophetic picture of the shedding of Jesus' blood on the Cross, which would bring spiritual clothing for us - a clothing with the righteousness of God (Revelation 3:5; 19:8).
ABEL

Abel's offering was accepted by God because he shed the blood of a lamb as a substitute for himself (see Genesis 4:1-7; Hebrews 11:4). He was expressing to God that he was a sinner, deserving of judgment. Cain's offering was not accepted because he offered the work of his own hands (the fruit of his labour in the fields) and in so doing was denying the fact that he was a sinner and unworthy to come into the presence of a holy God.
From the beginning of time God ordained the sacrifice of a lamb as a substitute to be the only way to receive forgiveness of sins and acceptance by God. It was given as a picture of THE Lamb of God that would die once and for all as the substitute for all mankind (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:25-26).

ABRAHAM

Abraham was declared righteous by God because he believed His promise concerning his seed, or offspring (read Genesis 15:1-6; 17:1-8). Galatians 3:16 explains that this "seed" was Christ himself. In other words, Abraham believed that the fulfilment of all that God has promised him would be through the coming of the Saviour. His righteousness was the result of his faith in the Christ who would come (see John 8:56).
ISAAC

Hebrews 11:17 reveals that when Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice (see Genesis 22:1 -14) it was a pre-picture of Jesus being offered as a sacrifice upon the Cross for us.
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

The descendants of Abraham's grandson, Jacob (or Israel, as he was later called) were set apart as a nation by God to be the means of bringing the promised Saviour into the world. God used them to prepare the way for His coming (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-11).
This passage of Scripture tells us that all the experiences of the children of Israel were used by the Lord as a picture for us of Christ's work in our lives.

PASSOVER

The killing of the lamb and the placing of its blood on the doorposts of the house so that the Angel of Death would "pass over" them (Exodus 12:1-33) all painted a picture of what Christ would do on the Cross for us (1 Corinthians 5:7).
THE BRASS SNAKE

The people of Israel, bitten by poisonous snakes while travelling through the wilderness, are healed by looking on the Brass Snake that Moses put on a pole and lifted up before them (Numbers 21:6-9). Jesus said:
"Just as Moses fifed up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him" John 3:14- 15.
SACRIFICES OF LAW

Israel was given strict instructions by the Lord concerning the sacrifices to be offered for their sins. The altar of the Temple flowed constantly with the blood of lambs and goats offered as substitutes for the sinner (1 Peter 1:18-20).
THE PROPHETS

Throughout history God has had His prophets foretelling the coming of the Messiah: Moses, David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and many, many more. Here are a few examples: Isaiah 53; Jeremiah 32:6-9/Zechariah 11:12-13 (Matthew 27:3-10); Psalm 22:18 (John 19:23-24); Psalm 41:9 (John 13:18; Matthew 26:20-25); Psalm 34:20 and Zechariah 12:10 (John 19:32-37).
"But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer" Acts 3:18.
TODAY

From the time of the Early Church until today we are reaping the benefits of the Cross we look back and by faith receive all that was accomplished for us there.1 Corinthians 11 :23-26 says that every time we break the bread and drink the Cup of Communion together, we do it in REMEMBRANCE of Him - of His broken body and shed blood on the Cross - until He comes again! The Cross of Jesus Christ is the centre of all history.
THE PROBLEM

"As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who under-stands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one" Romans 3:10-12 (read also verses 13-23) .
The whole human race is in a place of utter and total separation from God. From the time the first man and woman sinned until the resurrection of Christ man had no legal access into the presence of God. In the Old Testament only the high priest could come into the Holy of Holies once a year, and then only after detailed ritual (see Leviticus 16:2-30).
MANKIND IS DESCRIBED AS:

Children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-2)
Children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3)
Children of the devil (John 8:44)
Enemies of God (Colossians 1:21; James 4:4)
Having no hope (Ephesians 2:12)
THE BIBLE REVEALS:

There is sin in everyone (Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:23).
Sin separates man from God (Isaiah 59:2).
Man is unable to be righteous by his own efforts (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16).
God judges sin (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23).
Because God's nature is holiness, and because He is a righteous Judge, He is bound to abide by His own righteous Law. Man's sin, rebellion and disobedience made it impossible for a holy God to accept him into His presence without destroying the very foundation of the moral law which governs the universe. Sin brings the death penalty; man has sinned and therefore has to die.
THE PLAN

The only way God could abide by His righteous Law and still bring forgiveness and reconciliation to man was to find a substitute to die in his place. A suitable substitute had to be found who could stand righteous before God, and yet who could truly represent the human race. It had to be a man who had no sin. But there was no man - for all had sinned. So God Himself had to become man in order to reconcile man to God.
" . . . Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8 (read also verses 9-11; Hebrews 2:9).
" . . . that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation . . . God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" 2 Corinthians 5:19,21.



THE SUBSTITUTE

"Surely he took our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" Isaiah 53:4-5 (read the whole chapter).
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, entered fully into the stream of human life, becoming, as He called Himself, 'the Son of man' (Luke 19:10). He lived a perfect life and thus was able to represent us before God, bringing man and God together. He was the only one who could satisfy both the holiness of God and the total needs of mankind.
''Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" Hebrews 4: 14-16 (see also 8:6; 1Timothy 2:5).
God's judgment on sin is death - both physical and spiritual. Jesus died in the place of all sinners. He took upon Himself God's judgment on sin.
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed" 1 Peter 2:24 (see also Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 3:18)
THE CROSS

Why did God choose the Cross as the means of Christ's death? The disciples glorified in the Cross and continually preached "Christ crucified".
" . . . but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gen-tiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 (see also Galatians 6:14).
The Cross is the greatest symbol of shame and humiliation: To the Jews it was a sign of being cursed by God. Therefore it was a stumbling block to them to think of the Messiah being crucified.
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree' " Galatians 3:13.
In the Old Testament only those guilty of idolatry or blasphemy were hung on a cross or tree, after being stoned to death, as a warning to others (see Deuteronomy 21:22-23). The Romans used the cross as a means of executing slaves and the worst criminals. That mankind's sin was judged on a cross indicates God's attitude towards those who reject Him: their rebellion is compared to the worst crime.


LOVE AND JUSTICE MEET AT THE CROSS

The Cross is the place where the love of God and the righteous judgment of God meet. His righteous judgment demanded the death penalty for sin-the shedding of blood. His love met His own demands and Jesus, the Son of God, died as our substitute.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him. For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" Romans 5:8-11.

Studying these truths is hard work. Right? A1though spiritual hunger and need are prime requisites for light and understanding, the Holy Spirit does not release the treasures of the Word quickly nor easily. “Deep calleth unto deep” (Ps. 42:7). We have to be prepared, and even then there is much time and digging and praying and meditation and yearning and experiencing involved. True spiritual reality comes in no other way, but, praise the Lord, it does come in this way!
Understanding and appropriating the facts of the cross proves to be one of the most difficult and trying of all phases for the growing believer. Our Lord holds His most vital and best things in store for those who mean business, for those who hunger and thirst for His very best as it is in our Lord Jesus Christ. The believer’s understanding of the two aspects of Calvary gives the key to both spiritual growth and life-giving service.

“Calvary is the secret of it all. It is what He did there that counts, and what He did becomes a force in the life of a Christian when it is appropriated by faith. This is the starting point from which all Godly living must take its rise. We shall never know the experience of Christ’s victory in our lives until we are prepared to count (reckon) upon His victory at the cross as the secret of our personal victory today.

There is no victory for us which was not first His. What we are to experience He purchased, and what He purchased for us we ought to experience. The beginning of the life of holiness is a faith in the crucified Saviour which sees more than His substitutionary work. It is a faith which sees myself identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.”

Actually, our Father has trained every one of us for clear-cut, explicit faith in this second aspect of Calvary: our individual identification with the Lord Jesus in His death to sin and rising onto resurrection ground. This training taught us thoroughly in the first realm: believing and appropriating the finished work of His dying for our sins justification. Now we are asked just as definitely to believe and appropriate the further aspect: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him” (Rom. 6:6); “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (v. 11).

Our intelligent faith, standing on the facts of Calvary, gives the Holy Spirit freedom to bring that finished work into our daily lives. We stood on the fact of His dying for our sins, and this act of faith allowed the Holy Spirit to give us our freedom from the penalty of sin—justification. Now, once we come to see the fact of the further aspect, we are urged in the Word to stand on the liberating truth of our dying with Christ in His death to sin, which allows the Holy Spirit to bring into our lives freedom from the power, the enslavement, of sin—progressive sanctification. And of course when we stand with Him in glory, we will be forever free from the presence of sin—entirely sanctified and glorified.

“As our Substitute He went to the cross alone, without us, to pay the penalty of our sins; as our Representative, He took us with Him to the cross, and there, in the sight of God, we all died together with Christ. We may be forgiven because He died in our stead; we may be delivered because we died with Him. God’s way of deliverance for us, a race of hopeless incurables, is to put us away in the cross of His Son, and then to make a new beginning by re-creating us in union with Him, the Risen, Living One (II Cor. 5:17). It is the Holy Spirit who will make these great facts real and true in our experience as we cooperate with Him; and so the plague of our hearts will be stayed, and we shall be transformed into the likeness of Christ.”

“Through the crucifixion of the old man with Christ the believer has been made dead unto sin, he has been completely freed from sin’s power, he has been taken beyond sin’s grip, the claim of sin upon him has been nullified. This is the flawless provision of God’s grace but this accomplished fact can only become an actual reality in the believer’s experience as faith lays hold upon it and enables him moment by moment, day by day, though temptation assail him, ‘to reckon’ it true. As he reckons, the Holy Spirit makes real; as he continues to reckon, the Holy Spirit continues to make real. Sin need have no more power over the believer than he grants it through unbelief. If he is alive unto sin it will be due largely to the fact that he has failed to reckon himself dead unto sin” (Ruth Paxson).

The Reformation brought into focus once again the emphasis upon spiritual birth, without which there can be no beginning. What is lacking amongst believers to this day is the proper emphasis on growth—not just to be saved, and heaven by and by. What sort of salvation would we have if our Father simply saved us from the penalty of our sins and then left us on our own to deal with the power of sin in our Christian life and walk? But most believers feel this is about as far as He went and are struggling to get on the best they can, with His help. And this is the Galatian error, so prominent even now throughout born-again circles. We must be brought back to the two basics: freed from the penalty of sin by His finished work; freed from the power of sin by His finished work. “Justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24); “We walk by faith” (II Cor. 5:7); “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col. 2:6).


We are not left to deal with the old life ourselves; it has been dealt with by Christ on the cross. This is the fact which must be known, since on that fact is built the New Testament principle and doctrine of holiness. In other words, Calvary is as much the foundation of sanctification as of justification. Both gifts spring from the same work and are two aspects of the same salvation.

Now, as long as the believer does not know this dual aspect of his salvation, the best he can do is seek to handle his sins via confession (I John 1:9)—that is, after the damage has been done! This takes care of the penalty of the product but not the source. Is it not time we allowed the Holy Spirit to get at the source and cut off this stream of sins before they are committed? Is this not infinitely better than the wreckage caused by sin, even though confessed? When believers get sick and tired of spinning year after year in a spiritual squirrel cage—sinning, confessing, but then sinning again—they will be ready for God’s answer to the source of sin, which is death to self, brought forth from the completed work of the cross.

“When God’s light first shines into our heart our one cry is for forgiveness, for we realize that we have committed sins before Him; but once we have known forgiveness of sins, we make a new discovery—the discovery of sin, and we realize that we have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin. There is a power within that draws us to sin, and when that power breaks out we commit sins. We may seek and receive forgiveness, but then we sin again; and life goes on in a vicious circle—sinning and being forgiven, but then sinning again. We appreciate God’s forgiveness, but we want something more than that, we want deliverance. We need forgiveness for what we have done, but we need deliverance from what we are.”

Our reckoning on the finished work of our death to sin, in Christ at Calvary, is God’s one way of deliverance—there is no other way because that is the way He did it. We learned not to add to a finished work in the matter of justification, and now we must learn not to add to the finished work of emancipation. We will be freed when we enter His prepared freedom—there is no other.

“The believer can never overcome the old man even by the power of the new apart from the death of Christ, and therefore the death of Christ unto sin is indispensable, and unless the cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the old man, he only drops into another form of morality; in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome self, and the struggle is a hopeless one” (C. Usher).


Miles J. Stanford
Paul, Bunty and David Collins

More than Conquerors Part 2

Pt. 2

The Purpose of being a Conqueror

In this second study I would like to start off again with the words of the Apostle Paul, and defining what a conqueror is.

Romans 8:37-39. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We said the Greek Word for conqueror here is hupernikao. Vines New Testament dictionary says that hupernikao is to gain a surpassing victory, lit., "we are hyper-conquerors," i.e., we are pre-eminently victorious.\

In this study I would like to talk about the purpose for our being conquerors. Have you ever stopped to consider the reason for us being called to conquer? Jesus has already defeated Satan, yet he is still in this world and he still has power. However his authority has been taken away. He no longer has the authority to use that power, we are the spiritual police that have been placed here to enforce God's plan for this Earth.

Jesus said in Luke 10:19. "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

This is the New king James version. The original King James said behold I give you power.

The correct translation here is authority as the New King James says it. Vines says authority means… From the meaning of "leave or permission," or liberty of doing as one pleases, it passed to that of "the ability or strength with which one is endued," then to that of the "power of authority," the right to exercise power, also the power of rule or government," the power of one whose will and commands must be obeyed by others, that which is subject to authority or rule, one who possesses authority, a ruler, magistrate.

In other words Jesus said we were given the right to command and exercise power over the enemy. He is the One who has given us this authority. We were given very specific authority for a purpose. Without the authority to use God's power we would fail in our mission here. However God has not called us to fail. We are called to conquer. As we said in the first study, if there was no enemy we would not need to be a conqueror. I realize this sounds like an obvious statement, but it is a truth that much of the body of Christ has not seen. If there was no obstacle to overcome, God would not have needed to give us the ability to overcome would He??? He has given us the authority to overcome and has done so, so that we can fulfill our purpose here on this Earth, to fulfill the great commission.

Jesus said we are the salt of the Earth, what good is salt if it has lost its saltiness. It’s no good at all. We are here to preserve this Earth, not just to take up space. We do this by walking in the authority that Jesus has given to us. We are here to enforce what Jesus has already accomplished. We are here to take back by the power of God what Satan is illegally taking from God's children. That’s the reason for the authority. Not just so there would be no problems. There are always going to be problems. We have been called to enforce God's rule and overcome every problem so that the Gospel can go forth over the Earth. But first of all we have to understand that there is a process to this. We don’t start out as walking as world conquerors, even though we have been given the authority we have to learn to walk in these things. We start out as babies. We have to learn to walk in this victory so that we can keep and preserve the land that we have overcome, and not loose what we have gained. I have seen people delivered by the power of God and then some months later loose what they had received. The reason for this is that they had no teaching on how to keep the victory. They did not know how to walk in a sustained state of victory and maintain what they had been given. They lost what was legally theirs. They still had the authority to stay delivered, but they didn’t know how to walk in it. God wants us to conquer the land progressively and keep what we have won. It’s hard to take the victory away from someone who has conquered the land and fortified the walls after they inhabited it. On the other hand if they had just walked into the land and pitched a tent, they would be ripe for the enemies picking so to speak.

The Old Testament is full of such examples and they are there for our benefit. We can see how the children of Israel succeeded and also failed if they didn’t follow God's plan.

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Let's take a look at an Old Testament example of this.

Exodus 23:27-30. "I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.

We can see God's intent here in this passage of Scripture. His sole purpose all along was for them to occupy the land and not loose it. He didn’t call them into the desert to fail, but because they would not accept that, and were disobedient and not trusting, they had to die off first before a new generation could come in and inherited the promised land.

These people of God were never able to inherit the promised land because they refused to put their trust in Him.

They were called to the land that they were to inherit. They were called to the land that they were to conqueror. God did all the work and they got the promise, yet they had a part to play in this. They had to trust God, and walk in obedience. We also see that it didn’t happen all at once for a very good reason. It happened gradually so that the land would not become desolate, and be taken over by the beasts of the field. You don’t have to strain very hard in order to see the New Testament correlation in this.

God went before them and drove out the enemy, then He walked the children of Israel into their land in such a way that they would be able to keep it, and sustain it. Little by little.

The children of Israel had to inhabit the land as they conquered it. There was a process to fulfilling God's plan. God ordains growth this way, least we loose the victory. God always has a purpose for us to conquer the land and we must follow His directions in order to succeed. God has ordained us to conquer our enemies. He has also called us to conquer the circumstances that would get in the way of what He has called us to do. We have all had circumstances in life that have seemed to overwhelm us at times yet God has called us to walk through them victoriously, not die in them. The children of Israel were led into the wilderness into very adverse circumstances, an estimated 3 to 4 million people with no food or water. They would not consider that God had not delivered them out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt, to give them a new life. They murmured and complained against Moses all the time. There are 11 different Scriptures making mention of this in the Old Testament. God had a plan and a purpose all along if they would have just trusted Him. Murmuring and complaining will only defeat you in life. As I have already stated, God did not call them into the wilderness to die, yet that is just what happened because of their murmuring and complaining, and their thankless attitude.

1 Corinthians 10:9-10 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor murmur, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

Murmuring and complaining will only open the door to the enemy and gives him an opportunity to thwart the plan and purpose of God in your life, again, this was never God's will for them. God led them through a series of circumstances to teach them to trust in Him, not to destroy them. They were given the opportunity to learn to trust in Him. This was a time of preparation. Have you ever considered that they would have never conquered the promised land if they had not learned to trust in God first? It was through all the wilderness experiences that they truly got this opportunity. They were constantly surrounded by enemies as well as adverse circumstances that seemed to say you can’t succeed, yet God delivered them out of them all!!!!! There is a lesson here for us all. The Lord is our complete resource, yet we have to come to acknowledge His total provision. Let's learn from their experiences.

Let's look at our opening Scripture again, Romans 8:37-39. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have to learn as the children of Israel did, to put our trust in Him. As conquerors we have to come to the place where we put our total trust in God, or we will never conquer the land as our Lord intended.

Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

God is faithful, we must praise him in every circumstance of life, not for every circumstance but in every circumstance. He is all sufficient to meet our every need regardless of what is thrown our way. The children of Israel would not put away their slave mentality and place their trust in God. He can be trusted. Lift up your eyes, we serve the one true God who is more than sufficient in every circumstance of life.

May the God who teaches us all things for His Good Will and Purpose Bless you and keep you safe. See you next time!!!!!!!!!!! Love in Christ , Truth

AbCs Father Heart of GOD "E" Exults over Me with Sining Zep

Father's Love Letter
We are using scripture to help us “know” and understand the Father heart of GOD. When we more fully know who God is, what he is like, then we are safe to become who He created us to be.
Here is a quote from Slyvia Gunter...” In discovering who God is, you uncover and awaken your spirit to who you are in him.”
So far we have discussed “A” Abba, “B” Bless, “C” Carry, Chose, “D” Discipline. This week we will focus mainly on “E” Exalt.
A
My Father is my Abba, Papa-God. I am His beloved child. (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:4-7, John 1:12, Jam. 1:18)
B
My Father blesses me with every heavenly gift. (Eph. 1:3)
C
My Father gathers me in His arms and carries me all my life. (Isa. 40:11, 46:3-4; Deu. 1:31).
My Father chose me from the foundation of the world. (Eph. 1:4-6)
D
My Father disciplines me with love and justice. (Heb. 12:6-11, Deu. 32:4, John 5:30)

This week we are going to discuss “E” My Father exults over me with joy. (Zeph. 3:17)
Also, His love is eternal and everlasting.


Zephaniah 3:17 AMP
The LORD your GOD is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior (Who saves)! He will rejoice over YOU with JOY; He will rest (in silent satisfaction) and in His love He will be silent and make no mention (of past sins, or even recall them); He WILL exult over you with singing.

KJV The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
NIV The LORD your GOD is with you, he is mighty save. He will take GREAT DELIGHT in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
New American Standard Bible
The LORD your GOD is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, he will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

Using various translations of Zep 3:17 we see that sometimes the actual word “exalt” is used and other times “joy over thee” or “rejoice over thee with joy”.

Let’s look at that verse in detail. NKJ Zep 3:17
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.


1. The Lord, thy God.....Clarks’ commentary explains this as: The Lord thy God - Yehovah Elohiym, "The self-existent and eternal Being, who is in covenant with you;" the character of God in reference to the Jews when standing in the nearest relation to them..”

He is LORD and he is OUR God. We have chosen for Him to be in that position, but we were only able TO choose Him because He first chose us.
(2 Thessalonians 2:13, 13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:)
AND (1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.)

2. In the midst of thee... He is not a God far away. He is personal. He is God WITH us.
(Acts 17:27
So that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us.) (Matthew 1:23
Behold, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel--which, when translated, means, God with us.)
3. Is mighty......Is mighty - El Gibbor, is the prevailing One, the all-conquering Hero. The character which is given to Christ, Isaiah 9:6 : "His name shall be called El Gibbor, the prevailing Almighty God."(NKJ 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.)

The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.) Deliver thee from all the power from all the guilt, and from all the pollution of thy sins; and when thus saved "he will rejoice over thee with joy," with peculiar gladness. "He will rest in his love," - he will renew his love. He will show the same love to you that he did of old to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

5. He will rejoice over thee with singing..

Using this verse, in any translation consider personalizing it..as a prayer.
The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Example: Lord God I am so grateful that you are not a god far distant but you are in my midst. Wherever I go there you are. I thank you that you are mighty to save me, not just for salvation but from my own self-made messes. Thank you for quieting me with your love and OH Abba, to begin to understand that YOU rejoice over ME with singing, it is so wonderful.

****One meaning of the word “singing” used in Zephaniah was “proclamation”. God proclaims awesome things over our lives when He sings. ****




Abba, our Abba takes great delight in us...he quiets us with His love...He WILL rejoice over us with singing.
Can you imagine? God, the Creator of the Universe, rejoicing over us with singing? Quieting our hearts with His love song for us? Have you ever sung or seen someone sing to a fussy, or frightened baby?
Do you know the verse…Psalms..Psalm 131:2 AMP
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting].
NKJV Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

What a picture...and Father rejoices over each of us with singing... Because we are perfect? LOL I doubt that.
Just because he loves us.
Even when we are messy and dirty and stinky... our Father loves us and His desire is to sing over us and calm our hearts.

PRAYER From the internet...
Father, I pray that You would give me ears to hear Your love songs over me. I pray that I would be able to silence the busyness of my life so I could hear Your soothing lullabies and Your bellowing melodies. Thank You for being with me and for taking such great delight in my life that You rejoice over me with singing. In the name of Your beloved Son Jesus I pray, AMEN.
http://www.fathersloveletter.com/Devoti ... ional.html

Two other "E" words, attributes of God are Eternal and Everlasting.

God is eternal...His song is eternal. When we feel we are falling and nothing is right...He is there. When all is well, in our lives...He is there. He is eternal God. Everlasting God. Deuteronomy 33:27
The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He drove the enemy before you and thrust them out, saying, Destroy!

Another passage about God's love being everlasting and eternal is Romans 8:31-39. Let's just look at and listen to that passage, shall we?
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”[a]
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Plus many other verses which speak of how God rejoices over us. Here are a few:
Deu 30:9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:

Psalm 147:11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Psalm 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

Isa 62:4-5 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For [as] a young man marrieth a virgin, [so] shall thy sons marry thee: and [as] the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, [so] shall thy God rejoice over thee.

John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.

Will he discipline us? Of course, as we learned last week. But he will do it to direct us and bring us back to a place where he can bless us and sing over us.

Will you spend some time this week, simply resting as Father God rejoices over YOU with singing?

What is your “happy place with God?” I love creation. I especially love when the breeze touches my face. When I feel the breeze or see a sunset, its almost like I can hear God singing over me.

Song Story that always touches my heart. It is called: Daddy’s Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcbtPEQUUsE


This song is a story about a Father who sings over his child a song of love. The child loved his Father and always heard the song and sang it back to him. The love of Father was his world. Then one day, the “world” enticed the child to neglect time listening to his Father’s song. He went into the “world” for affirmation and all he need. Father was still there though and in the end the boy begins to sing back to Father God and .... well you can listen to it. This is a powerful song, its long, so save it. And let GOD minister to your heart as you listen.

What God Hates

What God Hates
Proverbs 6:16-19
There is often a correlation between the things we love and the things we hate. Because we love certain things, we tend to hate other things. On a somewhat trivial level, a person who loves the Boston Red Sox probably “hates” the NY Yankees.  I’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not that hatred is appropriate, but that’s the way it works. We hate the things that threaten the wellbeing of the things we love.
On a more substantive level, if you are a parent, you love your children. Because you love your children, you hate things that might violate or threaten them. The more intently we love certain things, the more we hate other things.
Something similar can be said of God. Because He loves certain things, He hates certain other things.
Tonight we are going to examine seven things that “the Lord hates” found in Proverbs 6:16-19.  As we work our way through this list, I think it will become clear that God hates these things because He loves other things.
Let’s me begin with a passage from another Proverb.
Proverbs 8:13 says:
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. . .
One aspect of the fear of the Lord is to love what God loves and to hate what He hates. If we align our lives with God and His truth, we will hate what He hates. Therefore this list serves to inform us of things we too should hate.
A (non-exhaustive) list of what God hates (from Proverbs 6:16-19)Verse 16 uses a literary technique known as “numerical laddering” in which the number of items in a list is mentioned and then the list of items is expanded to that number plus one:
16 There are six things which the LORD hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
This is the author’s way of saying that this list isn’t exhaustive. There aren’t only six things that the Lord hates; there are seven things. If there are seven things the Lord hates, there are probably eight or nine things He hates (actually 45 things, if the list I saw was accurate). Other Scriptures confirm this; God hates idolatry (Deut. 16:22), meaningless religious rituals (Isaiah 1:14), etc. Nevertheless, there are seven specific things in THIS list that God hates.
“Hate” is a strong term. It denotes the emotional attitude that a person has toward someone or something that they despise. These are things God hates. Actually, they “are an abomination to Him” – they are repugnant to God, these things turn His stomach. [Other things that are said to be an abomination to Him are child sacrifice (Deut. 12:31) and ritual prostitution (1 Kings 14:24).]
As we go through this list, I am going to first give a brief description of each item; it’s important to understand what God hates.   Why do you think this is important?  Well, if it is in God’s word then it IS important.
But next I am going to illustrate the opposite trait from the life and the teachings of Jesus. I am going to point us toward Jesus because He showed us what God is like (“If you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father”). Since Jesus is God with skin on, He will give us a vision for what our lives could be like if we hate what God hates and love what God loves.
Here’s the list:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19 A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
Haughty eyes. Haughty eyes, of course, are the outward manifestation of a proud heart. The term translated “haughty” is literally “high.” This describes someone who has exalted himself above others and is looking down upon them. We have all sorts of expressions that reflect this imagery:
• A proud person is said to be on his “high horse.”
• We say that a proud person “looks down his nose” at others.
• An arrogant person is sometimes called “stuck up.”
People look down on others for a dozen of different reasons; it might be related to their education, their accomplishments, their good looks, their nationality, their obedience, or their virtues. Pride has many different faces: some people are “holier than thou” while others are “worldlier than thou”; one person is proud of being so well-read while another person may say, “I’m not book smart; I’m street smart”; one person is proud of being fashionable while another person is proud of being oblivious to fashion; one person is proud of “going green” while another person is equally proud of not being “green.” Pride is an insidious, pervasive thing.
If anybody could make the case for having reason to look down on others with an air of superiority, it was Jesus. After all, He was co-equal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit from eternity past. And yet when He took on flesh and blood and became one of us, He didn’t come with haughty eyes. He didn’t come with an air of superiority – even though He was superior in all the ways that really count (e.g., knowledge of God, purity of heart, compassion, discipline, etc.).
When Jesus encountered people whose lives were an absolute mess, He didn’t look down on them with distain. No, His offer was, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). Whereas pride always distances ourselves from others, humility draws people close. Jesus came in humility because His mission involved drawing people close and bringing people back to God. Because God loves humility, He hates haughty eyes.
A Lying Tongue. Lying simply involves willfully making statements that are false. Occasionally you will find a pathological liar who lies for no good reason. But most people have pretty good reasons for lying. Maybe you’ve done something wrong and you want to conceal it
at all costs, so you lie about it. Maybe you think that the person to whom you’re talking can’t handle the truth. Sometimes you might lie because telling the truth would take too much time and would be too complicated. Whatever the reasoning, God hates “a lying tongue.” Not surprisingly, Proverbs advocates speaking the truth.
In 12:17, for example, we find:  He who speaks truth tells what is right, But a false witness, deceit.
The idea is that speaking truth exposes righteousness (what is right), whereas lying deceives people.
Jesus, of course, was Truth personified: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus didn’t answer every question that He was asked; He concealed aspects of His identity and mission from certain people at certain times. But when He did speak He spoke truth. He never deceived people. As a matter of fact, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught His disciples that their speech should be so truthful that they didn’t need to take an oath to ensure that they weren’t lying.
In Matthew 5:37 we read:   "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; and anything beyond these is of evil.
Instead of having to take oaths or tell people, “I swear that I’m telling the truth,” Jesus’ disciples should be so truthful that they are simply able to say “yes” or “no.” Since God loves truth, He hates a lying tongue.
Hands that shed innocent blood. Beginning in chapter 1 Proverbs warns against being influenced by those who “lie in wait for blood” (1:11). God loves life; God created and sustains life. God is on the side of the helpless and powerless. Therefore God hates “hands that shed innocent blood.” Since we are created in the image of God, those who shed innocent blood have a wanton disregard not only for human life, but also for God Himself.
We don’t have to think too long and hard to illustrate “hands that shed innocent blood” in the life of Jesus. Jesus was the only truly innocent person who ever walked this earth. After Jesus was arrested, Judas returned to the chief priests and elders and confessed, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4). Right after Jesus breathed His last breath on the cross, the centurion on duty reflected on what he has seen in Jesus and remarked, “Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47). Those who nailed Jesus to the cross had “hands that shed innocent blood.”
But the wonder of the cross is that all of this happened according to the sovereign plan of God (Acts 2:23). Because Jesus was innocent/sinless, He was qualified to bear the sins of the guilty/sinful. What others meant for evil God used for good. But since God loves life, He hates hands that shed innocent blood.
A heart that devises wicked plans. This phrase reflects the understanding that we think within our hearts. Remember that the heart is the “command and control” center of a person. It’s one thing to be caught up in some sin “in the moment”; it’s another thing to intentionally plot and scheme about some type of wickedness. In the Law, premeditated sins were judged more harshly than sins committed in the passion of the moment (see Joshua 20). God hates the heart that plots out and devises wicked plans because it signifies that the person is pursuing things that will be destructive to them and to others around them.
Jesus’ whole life illustrates the opposite of this fourth item that God hates. Jesus’ entire mission on earth flowed from a heart that devised plans that would bring blessing to this world. Jesus blessed people in a very premeditated way. On one occasion, for example, Jesus was talking with Peter (Luke 22) and mentioned, “Behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and you, when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” It was obvious that Jesus had spent time thinking about and praying about Peter. Jesus’ premeditated plan for Peter’s good involved praying for him and then encouraging him with the knowledge that after he denied Jesus 3x, Peter would return and be valuable in the Kingdom. Because God loves a heart that ponders righteousness, He hates a heart that devises wicked plans.
Feet that run rapidly to evil. The emphasis here is upon entering into evil with great energy and eagerness. As opposed to someone who is entrapped or lured into some sinful activity, this person has feet that run rapidly to evil. He can’t wait to go do that sinful thing. This suggests a heart that is inclined toward evil instead of toward God.
Again, this is the opposite of what Jesus did. Instead of running rapidly to evil, Jesus resisted evil with every fiber of His being. His feet – figuratively speaking – ran rapidly to do good.
Jesus’ feet literally took Him all across Judea and Galilee and Samaria to explain to people that the kingdom was available and to heal their diseases (see Matthew 4:23).
Paul later wrote that Jesus came so that we too would be “zealous to do good deeds” (Titus 2:14). This isn’t an attempt to impress others or to earn God’s approval. Being zealous for good deeds is simply the way we express that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Because God loves when we are zealous to do good deeds, He hates feet that run rapidly to evil.
A false witness who utters lies. We’ve already seen that God hates “a lying tongue.” Here we have a more specific type of lying. Here we see here that God hates a false witness – someone who commits perjury, accusing an innocent person of something that they didn’t do. This reflects the 9th commandment which states, “You shall not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16).
We’ve already seen that Jesus taught His followers that they should be truthful in what they say.
Jesus also prepared His followers for the day when others would “bear false witness” against them. In Matthew 5:11-12 we read: 11 "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 "Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus was pointing out that “bearing false witness” is a common tactic of people who oppose God in this world. David, for example, in Psalm 27:12 said that “False witnesses have risen up against me.” We’re told that at Jesus’ trial “many false witnesses came forward” to accuse Jesus of things He didn’t do (Matthew 26:59-61). The Apostle Paul had to defend himself against baseless charges that people brought against him (Acts 25:7).
Jesus assured His disciples that when this happens, they shouldn’t consider themselves cursed, but blessed. The truth will eventually become evident and your reward in heaven will be great.
Because God loves truth, He hates a false witness who utters lies.
One who spreads strife among brothers. There will always be conflict in this world – in families, in the workplace, and in the church. But “one who spreads strife among brothers” magnifies such conflict and causes disunity. Proverbs 10:12 speaks of two different ways of dealing with circumstances that have the potential of causing disunity:
12 Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all transgressions.
The person who hates makes a bad situation worse; the person who loves seeks to minimize the consequences of others’ offenses.
People almost always have great reasons for spreading strife within the church. People who gossip or slander others, for example, usually feel fully justified in what they’re saying. But whether or not a person feels justified in what they are saying is beside the point. God hates it when someone spreads strife. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t deal with conflict or admonish each other. But we should do so in a way that minimizes the strife.
Jesus very intently sought unity among His followers. Jesus prayed for unity among His followers (John 17). As a matter of fact, Jesus prayed that His followers would have the same degree of unity and singlemindedness as He had with the Father. This type of unity among believers is best experienced in churches and gatherings in which people have covenanted together to seek God and to live as the body of Christ. What Jesus had in mind and prayed for goes deeper and broader than we could ever imagine. Because God loves unity, He hates one who spreads strife among brothers.
Chances are that as we’ve gone through this list, you’ve realized, “There are things in my life that God hates!!!” So, by way of application . . .
Application: What do we do when/if we notice things in our lives that “God hates”? There are three things I’d suggest, yes there are four that I’d recommend. In other words, this is a nonexhaustive list of suggestions.
First, don’t panic. If you are a believer in Jesus and there is something in your life that God hates, that doesn’t mean that God hates you. There really is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus – none. God isn’t shocked that you feel fully justified in telling “little white lies.”
God isn’t taken off guard because you spend time thinking of all the nasty things you would have said to someone if you could have that conversation all over again. Don’t panic if you notice things in your life that God hates. He can hate those things and still love you.
Second, confess your sin to God. In other words, come clean; apologize to God for what you’ve thought, said, or done. Be as honest and specific as you can possibly be. Remember that sin isn’t some violation of a regulation buried away in the Bible. Sin is a personal offense against God. His heart aches when we choose to do things He has warned us against. Confession isn’t a punishment; it’s a gift that allows us to go to God for cleansing.
Third, learn to hate what God hates. We all hate some sins – typically those sins that others commit against us. But we also need to learn to hate the sins that we’re most prone to commit.
Fourth, learn to love what God loves. We do this in many different ways. As we’ve done this evening, you can “fix your eyes on Jesus” – stare at Him to see how He personified humility, truth-telling, premeditated good deeds, a passion for unity, etc. As you fall more deeply in love with Jesus, you will get a vision for what your life could be and you will begin to love what He loves.
This is how we pursue the fear of the Lord because those who fear the Lord love what God loves and hate what He hates (Proverbs 8:13).

I take no credit for this work but, unable to find the link to the author...will attach when I find. igotsunshine