Cords of a Man, Band of Love

I drew them with cords of a man, With band of love. Hosea 11:4a

God's love is divine, eternal, spiritual and heavenly, yet we, man are so fallen, fallen to the uttermost, rotten to the "odormost". But His love eternal none hinders to still love man. Thus to reach man, His love reaches man in the cords of man! From His being eternal he stepped out of eternity into time and stepped out of divinity into humanity. These cords includes all that God, in Christ has passed through in his humanity--incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, thereby becoming the life-giving Spirit to enter this man, then regenerates him, transforms him and conforms him to Himself and match Him in love to be an eternal couple forever unto  eternity.

What a blessing that I am a par t of "this man" whom God loves in Christ, and now as believer in Christ, He as the Spirit is in me,  working in me and transforming me! God in Christ as the Spirit has reached me with the bands of  love which are the cords of a man He Himself had passed through. This indeed is the best news and the greatest miracle under the sun. 

Even though man turns away from God and does things contrary to Him, still God's divine and eternal love none can alter, none can deter; instead, with the cords of a man and with the band of love, He woos and lures and gains man. That's how God gained me! This is my love story.

And I gently caused them to eat. Hosea 11:4b

As God romantically gains His beloved, man, He gently feeds him with Himself as the manna, as typified by the children of Israel eating manna in the wilderness. By such, He is reconstituted in him, His beloved, and makes Him an overcomer to be His bride to match Him and marry Him in love. 

This is exactly what God does to me; feeding me daily with himself as my daily manna, my daily bread, gaining me, reconstituting me, to be like Him in life and nature but not in the Godhead. This is indeed glorious, and He is worthy of all thanks and praises! Halleluijah!

Fellowship in Life

The Lord is so rich, so is His Body. Each member is under the headship of Christ and each member is member one to another. The supply of the Lord is from the member(s) of His Body to the other members. A visitation  of a brother and the fellowship in life were so rich these days. The Lord knows the need of each one and therefore speaks as He deemed best. 

I, as a member, too received a lot of help in life, in living and service. What a blessing to be in the Body! Without which I would be left starved, dry and empty. Praise the Lord for the Body and I am in the Body! Fellowship from a matured brother cherished me and nourished me unspeakably in the following points:

1. Touch the Lord: 

Sounds so simple and basic yet this is extremely important for a believer to go on stably in his Christian life in a normal and proper church-life. This is as crucial as breathing "pneuma (air)" for daily survival and breathing "Pnuema (the Spirit)" for revival. The ways are simple and basic; exercising the spirit day by day, even moment by moment. When a Christian lives such a life, he will love the Lord and will be very sensitive in his conscience; and would not allow any spot in his conscience. This is also related to the maturity in the divine life. When such is the case, his living will testify of his maturity in his purity and sensitivity of conscience. As such, down to earth matters, like money matter and the likes will be handled with utmost care and clarity.

2. The Word of God:

The stability, sincerity, sensitivity and soundness of a Christian very much depends on his understanding, experience and enjoyment of the Word of God. The Word is the very God and the very Spirit Himself. Without this Word and the understanding of it, a person is in darkness; he has no hope, no guidance and no future. Such is a blind man having eyes to see yet not perceiving, ears to hear but not understanding. The daily habit of eating and digesting the Word must be inculcated in every believers and must be his constitution and being. The Word must be studied with much carefulness and diligence, and that the Lord would shine on and through the Word revealing the deep things of God, His plan and His economy. It would not only be a famous dictum of the old, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path," but much more a life-line of a person's existence and a supply-chain of a person's abundance as blessings to others.

3. Service in the Church:

Any believer having been touched by the Lord and pursuing the Word will spontaneously live a serving life; serving man yet God. This is the universal priesthood the Lord so desired since eternity past, which somehow along the way was lost and is now being recovered from degree to degree. This service is out of the divine life, ministering the divine life and thereby building up the Body of Christ.

God All-Sufficient

God all-sufficient give you mercy before the man. Genesis  43:14

Jacob had been dealt with by Jehovah in every aspect of his being; from Laban to Leah to Rachael to his children. A supplanter, clever and cunning Jacob, after all the severe dealings both inward and outward was gradually transformed to become Israel, a "God wrestler?" and "a prince of God!"

This matter touched me  very deeply as I was studying his life from the Life-Study of Genesis. The manifold and magnitude of the dealings changed his being, transforming and eventually made him mature by the gaining of God as he is being emptied out degree after degree, until finally, he matured enough to understand the God of mercy who had been with him all the days of his life. Now being matured, he recognised the sovereignty of God in everything and experienced Him well as the God of mercy, the God all-sufficient meeting his need, and blessing everyone. That's when he could say with the robbing him of his heartiest choice, his beloved remaining son, Benjamin, take him "God all-sufficient give you mercy before the man." 

Today, I had planned to do certain specific things, yet I left it to the Lord. Unexpectedly, one by one, all the plan were either delayed or cancelled, and God brought to my office a brother and his mother, who is an unbeliever. In lieu of all my personal agendas for today, I ended up witnessing to this unbelieving aunty, for 5 long hours,  and finally led her to pray to receive the Lord. She willingly received the Lord. Halleluiah! God knows what is best at what time. 

This is my need of the hour; to be open to the Lord for whatever He will do. All the circumstances are just His perfect plan to gain me, deal with me, transform me and make me mature, and everything arranged  by  Him is perfect.

 Lord, amen to all You want to do, I give myself to You, transform me and make me mature.

Gain Gold and Be Golden

The tabernacle in the book of Exodus is a type of oneness of the Body of Christ. As I entered into the ministry of the Word on "oneness" with the "tabernacle" as a picture, the Lord touched me and reminded me of my urgent need for three important items:

1. The Golden Ring : A ring is for beautification and discernment. To be beautified by the Spirit of God and discerning with the Spirit of God. This golden ring signified by the initial spirit received at the time of regeneration, bringing into us the diving life and the divine nature, thereby beautifying us with God as the golden ring! And with these life and nature of God we begin to have discernment of what is of God and  what is not of God. This is the first prerequisite towards genuine oneness.
2. The Overlaying of Gold: The standing board made of acacia wood were overlaid with gold. This signifies our transformed humanity needs to be overlaid with gold. Only with the overlaying of gold, the forty eight boards have the appearance of one. The overlaying gold make them one. Nothing of the board could be seen, every part is covered with gold. The thicker the gold, the better. The gold should be thick to such an extent that there should be no possibility, no chance, no opportunity for the wood to manifest any of its features--good or bad. This brings in the oneness, the oneness is in the gold! More gold, more oneness; more God, more oneness. Not just that the gold be in us, much more that we be in the gold.
3. The Crossing Bars: Just the initial Spirit bringing us the divine life and nature is not enough, nor with the overlaying of gold. There is a need to inwardly strengthen the standing board by joining them one to one. This needs the crossing bars, to cross through each board and knitting them to be one. This refers to our being dealt with by the Lord through the cross; being able to receive the Lord's supply from other members and also being able to supply other members. Mutuality and coordination is brought in here. For this to happen, we need to love the Lord and one another, pray to Him for one another, open to Him and to one another, get into the Word and into the ministry,....

With these three things, there is the shining and testimony of God expressed through the tabernacle.

Lord this is my need today. Fill me with more of gold and overlay me with more of gold.
That I may gain more of gold, and thus be golden with other saints for the testimony and expression of God!

As Friend

Yesterday morning as usual, as I was about do my physical exercise, a deep sense and longing for prayer engulfed me; leading me on my knees. The time of intimacy with God, through the Lord Jesus Christ in my mingled spirit is so enjoyable. As friend conversed with friend, I just talked and had fellowship with God. Time seemed to be impatient, and when the fellowship was over, it was time to rush for office.

Oftentimes, the Lord visits in a very subjective-dynamic way, in spite of the fact that He is always within as the indwelling One. The whole day was in His sweet presence. O the joy of the presence of the Lord! Later, as my family visited a brother's family, it was all a horizontal fellowship to complement the vertical one in the morning. In the midst of fellowship, the Lord reminded me again and again, that I should not try to defend my opinion nor my understanding of the Scripture. Rather I must simply fellowship and minister Christ to others; in word, in prayer or in testifying. Of all, giving a living testimony is the most effective, I found. None can refute nor argue. It's an experience. Doctrine, teaching and interpretation often varies and is prone to differences. But a living testimony, none can refute. Its a testimony of the experience and enjoyment of Chirst. Not everyone who speaks or teaches, necessarily have the experiences. Nor vise versa. 

I could spontaneously identify with Fanny Jane Crosby's classical hymn, "I am Thine O Lord.."

O the pure delight of a single hour

  That before Thy throne I spend,

When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God,

  I commune as friend with friend!

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/387#ixzz1zpN5aWWp

See Clearly

When the Lord healed the blind man in Bethsaida in Mark 8:22-26, two steps of healing were involved. First He healed and the blind man could see, however, he could not see clearly. And there was the need for another healing touch, then only then, he could see normally and properly. There is a divine light in these.

First Touch--Seeing

He took hold of the blind man....He spat on his eyes and laid His hands on him....he looked up and said, I see men, for I see them as trees, walking. vv.23,24. Many have been touched by the Lord when in sinful and dark situation. And many did see the light thereafter. And many can graciously echo with John Newton in his marvelous hymn, 

"Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

  That saved a wretch; like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

  Was blind, but now I see."

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/313#ixzz1z3HOCf2N

Was blind, but now I see! Yes, seeing is fine, but what do you see, how do you see, and how clearly do you see? Perhaps, seeing "men as trees walking?" This is the sad situation of many believers today. Yes  they are saved by grace through faith. Salvation is not the problem, for they are saved genuinely. But is that salvation leading to God's eternal purpose? They see partially God's economy but not fully as God intended to. There is a greater need to see further, see better and see clearer. A second touch is needed.

Second Touch--Seeing Clearly

Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes,..and he began to see all things clearly. v.25

Many believers need the second touch of the Lord. We should not be merely satisfied with the first touch of salvation only, we need to see further why God saved us. Salvation is not God's goal. Salvation is the means for God to fulfill His purpose, eternal and divine. That the saved ones may grow in the divine life, be transformed to become precious materials for God's building work, and be built up as God's house, His dwelling place, His church which is His Body. 

These two seeings are very much aligned with the two parts of 2  Timothy 2:4. He(God) desires all men to be saved  and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.  All men to be saved happens with the first touch of the Lord, however this is not the end. A step further isneed, i.e., to come to the full knowledge of the truth. Truth here means reality, denoting all the real things revealed in God's Word, which are mainly Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the Body of Christ. 

Lord, grant us the second touch too, to see clearly.

Ashes

In the Burnt Offer in Leviticus 6:8-13, the ashes was very significant. This morning as I was musing and enjoying the word the Lord enlightened me on the "ASHES." The footnotes in the Recovery Version of the Holy Bible throws a great light into the depth of the holy word. O I love this Bible, helping and opening my eyes to see that the issue of the Burnt Offering is the "ashes!"

God's Acceptance of the Offering

Ashes signifies the heart of God's economy in dealing with man to gain man for His divine purpose. The very fact of the formation of the ashes from the burnt offering is a proof that the offering on the burnt offering is accepted. For the ashes would not have been produced if the offering on the alter were not accepted.

Importance

The ashes were handled by the priests putting on linen garment signifying the fineness, purity and cleanliness in handling the outcome of the offering, and thereafter, changing the garment to take the ashes outside the camp further portrays the stateliness in handling the ashes, which thereby signifies its importance.

Crucifixion

Ashes indicates the result of Christ's death, which bring to an end, i.e., to ashes. When we offer up ourselves to God as burnt offering, and if our offering is accepted the issue will be that we are crucified and that we are "no longer I, but Christ (Gal. 2:20a)." We do not belong to ourselves nor have any right over ourselves, we wholly belong to God to Whom we offer ourselves.

Resurrection

The ashes were put beside the altar toward the east, the side of sun rising, which is an allusion to resurrection. Everything offered to God as an offering, is accepted becomes "ashes" which is a sign that we are crucified and crucifixion is always followed by resurrection. The only way to experience resurrection is to be crucified by being burnt to ashes, terminating anything natural.

Transformation

Ashes if of high regard to God, for eventually the ashes would become the New Jerusalem! As we are reduced to ashes we are transformed to become precious materials--gold, silver and precious stones-- for the building of the New Jerusalem!

  

Lord, I offer myself to You afresh, laying my being at the altar of the burnt offering. Do what pleases Thee and burn me to ashes, transform me into precious stones of Thy heart's desire for the building up of the New Jerusalem.