caring MORE for the Father's house than for our own

I have been a bit quiet on this blog, but quite regular on agodman.com :) and on facebook. Encouraged by some of the saints and family friends I decided to try something new: compile and put together the statuses on facebook and post them here on the blog! :) Since not many of the readers of the blog are my friends on facebook, why not present the riches in the Word of God to everyone!

This past week we were getting into the Building up of God's House, the Father's House, the House of Jehovah. You can read extensively on this subject via agodman.com, but I will also post below some of the statuses from Facebook on this topic. Praise the Lord for the depths of the Word of God and the ministry of the age which opens up the Word and brings us into the intrinsic meaning of what the Bible really says!

Lord, save us from seeking our own things! Save us from RUNNING after our own things while Your house lies waste! O Lord, IT IS TIME! We will come to build! We bring the wood and build the house! Gain what You are after, Lord, the building! We give ourselves to You for this, for the building up of Your dwelling place!

We need to have the sense that the church is the Father’s house – here the Father lives, rests, propagates His life, dwells with His children, and the desire of His heart is fulfilled. Today the Son is building a house for His Father, which the Father would call it home, and this house will match His characteristics and taste.

The Bible is a book of building. The central divine thought in the Scriptures is that God desires a building. Whatever God is doing today is part of His building work. The Lord's coming back depends on the building up of God's house, His dwelling place. Lord, gain the building! We come to build!

Saints, may the Lord have mercy on us that we may be unveiled to see, unloaded that we may receive, unoccupied to have the capacity to apprehend, and emptied that we may be filled with God’s heart’s desire to obtain His house, the Father’s house.

How blinded we have been, shut in with what concerns us, while God's house lieth waste - Lord, break through, overturn us! We'll go up to the mountain - bring wood and build the house. We will never say, Another Day! We will come, o Lord, to build!

Lord Jesus, mingle Yourself more with us today! Build Yourself into us. Make Your home in our heart. Lord, make us mingled persons who have their being fully mingled with the Triune God. Lord, more mingling today!

The extent to which we are the church in reality depends upon how much we are mingled with God. When we by the Lord's mercy allow the mingling of God with man and man with God to work and build in us, we will have the reality of the church as the Father's house, the house of Jehovah.

But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love (Eph. 4:15-16).

We need to let Christ possess, occupy, and saturate our entire inner being, so that He may build His house, the church. The genuine church life is actually an issue of Christ personally making His home in our heart to occupy every corner of our inner being.

Lord Jesus, soften us; / You know the source from which we came. / By calling on Your name, / Lord, let no earth unturned nor rocks remain — / Lord Jesus, grow in us. Amen, Lord Jesus, have a way to grow in us!

Read more on this topic by consulting the following articles:

• seeing a vision of God’s building and caring FIRST for the Father’s House
• seeing the significance of the Father’s house and being mingled more with God
• building up the church by growing in life and letting Christ make His home in us

Picture source: a dear sister on Facebook framed this verse.

finding my home in the church life, in the homes! (1 Picture + 1 Experience with the Lord) 30-day challenge

Most people who know me or have met me realise this particular thing about me - and hopefully about the ones I'm hanging out with - My Home is The Church Life, the Homes of the Saints! I'm not originally from the UK, and since I've been here I noticed that, especially in Central London, there's a tendency of being independent, not getting into others' business or home, each one with his own, etc. But I have to say, my pleasure and my salvation is that my home today is the church life! Praise the Lord for the house to house church life He puts us in!

1 Picture for Today - London Underground, inside the London Tube

Since I had to travel a bit by tube these days, here's how London Underground - also called London Tube - looks these days. They have definitely improved the quality of the service, the quality of the trains, the frequency of the trains, etc. The London Underground system is pretty good and always reliable - even when there are some portions close for works and repairs, they provide free bus rides / replacement buses! But even though the 2012 Olympics are not here yet, especially at rush hours, there are way too many people on the underground... :)

1 Experience with the Lord Today - Finding my home in the church life, in the homes!

This is both my experience and my desire. Being a single brother here in London, working, busy, etc - and away from my family back in Romania - I need to find a place I can call home (before I have my own home...). Just like David says in the psalms, I want to find my home in the church, the house of God. It's not that there are so many saints that I just go from home to home, but wherever the homes are, that's where I go! And there's a price I want to cooperate with the Lord to pay so that I would be where He dwells, where He finds His home... The Lord is in our spirit today(2 Tim. 4:22), but He also dwells in the church - in the practical church life, the local church! If you're in the church, you have His presence. If you skip the meetings of the church, no matter how much you think or feel that you enjoy the Lord, there's something really rich, which is on His heart, that you're missing!

It's not that easy when you work to choose to go and meet with the saints after you finish work. Even if you meet only in 2 home meetings per week and one prayer meeting - it's a day to day decision and a continual inward prayer to be strengthened to go to the meeting... But once you are there, if you "bring your bones into the meeting", the Lord's breath of life is there, the fellowship is there, the food (both spiritual and physical) is there, and the building up is there! It's almost as if all you need to do many times is get your body to the meeting - offer up your body as a spiritual sacrifice for the church life, Rom. 12:1 - and the Lord pours out His blessing, He feeds you, nourishes you, and gives your life purpose and meaning! The church life is so rich, the saints are so excellent, and the food is so good!

And the secret is - the homes! It's not the "big meetings", the conferences, etc - it's the homes of the saints where the Lord can perfect us, can nourish us, and can meet our need. We all need to be attached to a home - the children need to grow up in a home, the young people need to have their own home meeting with all the saints, the students are properly growing and flourishing in a home, the young couples need to open their home, the older saints need to be in the homes... All the ages, at any stage in life, need to be in a home meeting which we call "our own assembly". These are "our folks", our "family", and indeed, our home. In the homes of the saints we find our home.

Mmmm... the food is so good when you have it with the saints in the homes! You may cook the exact same food - or you may order it at the restaurant and it may actually properly be cooked, but the best food, the most delicious food, is in the homes of the saints. Even if it's the spagetti or the pizza, or any other small / easy to cook food, as long as you're in the home around the table with the saints, that food is blessed! And it is in this environment that you can open up your situation, you can bring some names of your friends / classmates / workmates that you're burdened for, you can ask questions, etc... The shepherding, the perfecting, the building up, the developing of our function, and the organic gospel preaching is done all here - in the homes!

When you taste this, when you see this, when you're part of this, you will do like Psalm 45 says, forget your father's house and be in this! Yes, you can pray and work with the Lord in bringing your own family into the church life, and bring the church life into your home - but once you see the HOMES, the 80% of our church life where the granular and vital linking / building up / perfecting / shepherding takes place, YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE nor will you choose any other way! Rather, you will find your home in the church life, in the homes! And if you meet someone at school, at work, on the street - you have a home to bring him to.

One more thing - the church life and the homes are NOT perfect, but they are genuine, and it is here that the Lord's sweet presence is. Maybe you say that there are not too many homes open, or that you don't know which home to go to... - where there's a will, there's a way. If there are some saints that are in your locality, you can just attach yourself to them and visit them. "The kingdom of God is taken by force" starting with the time of John the Baptist - if you don't have a home you're in now, you'd better find one and be desperate before the Lord until He brings you to one! We all want this, and we all need this - this is the God-ordained way to meet and to serve is in the homes of the saints, in the vital groups. It starts really small, it is so organic, and the increase is slow - at the speed of life. But THIS IS IT - It's the HOMES! Praise the Lord for the homes!

it's all going down unless you're growing in the Lord(1 pic + 1 experience with the Lord) 30 day challenge

There we go again, a quirky title, just like many of the catchy phrases you see on the advertisements on the streets, on the bus, at the tube stations, and literally everywhere in London. Sometimes even on the way to the Lord's Table meeting, as you're praying within and contacting the Lord, if you look around on the tube and glance at the advertisements on the wall, you get out of your spirit! Everything is catchy, gives you something to think about.... but today it's simple:

1 Picture for today - Topshop in Oxford Circus in London

This is a "twisted picture" of the Topshop in Oxford Street in London - Topshop Oxford Circus London - one of the most desired-to-shop-at places for many youngsters today. Everyone in London wants to go to Oxford Street, because anything you want can be found there: jeans, snickers, t-shirts, sports shoes, suits, electronics, mobile phones, jackets, underwear, etc. Among those shops is the TopShop - one of the many very expensive shops there, who sometimes has some reduced prices on stuff and everyone goes there! They sell clothing, designer collection, shoes, accessories, make-up, gifts, etc - visit their website to find out more (including pictures of skinny people wearing their clothes).

1 Experience with the Lord - It's All Going Down if You're Not Growing in the Lord!

I don't really know whether the title explains what I'm trying to say, but it's something like this: if we are not growing in the Lord every day, we don't "stagnate"; rather, we are "going down". The reason the picture above is slightly inclined is that the whole world today, with all the shops and the shiny stuff, is GOING DOWN. Morality is not present anymore, ethics are up to you, respect is not found unless you're a close friend, love is re-defined to include all kind of perversions and twisted inclinations, and people are not pure anymore.

No one is seeking God - not even one(Rom. 3:10). They think they re-define God just as they try to re-define love and marriage. There's a trend today towards immorality, disrespect, not caring for anyone but yourself, reading and doing your best to be influenced by people who think the way you do, refusing to think about God or talk about God, rejecting and despising those who believe in God and love God, ... - and, in general, doing what YOU want but in such a way that you ignore God and His Word.... - the world is going down to the extent that they would rather believe a lie than believe the truth(2 Thes. 2:11)...

WHY am I saying all the above? It is simply because if we as believers in Christ, as lovers of the Lord, as saints in the church life, and as young pursuers of Christ - if we are not DESPERATE to grow in the divine life every day, we are being swept away by the trend in this world, the current that culminates in the lake of fire! If we ignore the Lord today, if we don't pay attention to His speaking within us tomorrow, and if we are not willing to pay the price to meet with our companions and with the saints, then we are not "surviving" or "stagnating" - rather, we are being little by little swept away by the strong current in the world!

In these last days, before the Lord returns, we do not have time to waste. I waste too much time on meaningless things, and especially after a home meeting like tonight - where we enjoyed the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd as revealed in Psalm 23, we had some new ones, we all shared something of our enjoyment in the Word, and we had fellowship with one another around some nice Thai Green Curry and some healthy fruits as dessert... - I realized this even more: I need to Grow In Life More Today! I know I can't grow faster than the speed of life, and I can't grow by just "desiring to grow"....

Lord Jesus, grow in me! Gain us as mature young saints who are here as a stepping stone for Your return! Save us from being influenced or swept away from You by the current of this age! Lord, keep us close to You! Keep us in the middle of the church life. Make us those who seek You with our whole heart, those who are willing to pay the price of their soul life that they may gain You!

Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, or whether we want to hear this / know this or not - the whole world - with all its glitter and its mud - is lake-of-fire-bound, and unless we are actively building the testimony of Jesus today (like Noah did in the old days) no matter how strong we are, we will be swept away in this flow! Daniel HAD TO refuse the king's food so that he would not defile himself. We HAVE TO stay away from certain places, certain people, and certain situations - so that we would not be defiled. But we also can choose the Lord right now - today! We can turn to Him right now so that He would continue to grow in us more today!

not I but Christ; not us but the prayers! - one meaningful thing I did today (30-day challenge)

The title is pretty self-explanatory, but just to have a certain background against which the title may "shine out"... we human beings are amazing "creatures" - always developing, accumulating information and knowledge, growing, etc. We learn to walk and to speak(as babies), we learn to read, write, exercise, have performances in the classes we're interested in, etc. We are being trained to be "better people" our whole life. We go to kindergarten, grammar school, high school, university, post-grad, Ph. D, post-doc... all these things we do to be trained to know, to know how to do things, to invent, to be someone...

Sometime during our life the Lord Jesus, the Immense Magnet in the universe, attracts us to Himself and captivates our attention - we believe into Him and are captivated by His charming beauty(Heb 12:2 + note). When we are regenerated, something interesting happens - we receive another life, even another Person into us! Until now we decided to do, say, be things - but now there's another Person, Jesus Christ, living in us! He is "bothering us" and "speaking to us", giving us life and peace - or giving us the sense of death / uneasiness / unpleasantness when we are in some places or do some things that the Lord doesn't like! We who used to do "whatever we want" now listen more and more to this Wonderful One within us.... - and this brings me to,

Not I But Christ; Not Us But The Prayers! - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today

As believers in Christ we daily learn that if we turn to the Lord within, if we exercise our spirit, we get more LIFE and we become more like Him! So we choose to turn... There's conflicts between us and the Lord - we hold our ground, choose things according to our pleasure and preference... loose the Lord's presence - then return to Him and repent + confess... fail again, make mistakes + return to Him... until there's a choice to be made - just like Paul said in Gal. 2:20,

I am crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me! And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

More and more in our daily life and in our experience we have this deeper realization - Lord, no longer I but Christ! I want to enjoy You and experience You to such an extent that the old self is crucified, even my person without Christ is on the cross, and Christ is the One who lives in me! Christ organically replaces me to live in me! But it is still I who live - Christ is NOT "using me as a mindless robot to do His will" - NO! I still live - I live in faith, in the organic union with the Lord! This faith is not of me - it is of the Son of God, who loved me and just gave Himself up for me!

The Lord will get us to the point where we realize that IT IS STILL I WHO LIVES - though we love the Lord, we love the Word, we love spending time with the Lord, it is still Stefan who lives, not Christ! When the Lord shows us this, we desperately pray and give ourselves to Him, and we learn to give Him more ground in us, allowing Him to make His home in our hearts... - until little by little, it is "some of me and some of Him", "less of me and more of Him", "none of me and all of Him". Christ WILL be formed in us; Christ WILL live in us, and Christ WILL be fully expressed through us - today we are learning to cooperate with Him in this....

On the other hand, in working for the Lord, coordinating in the church life, serving the Lord in different practical services, helping with the children of the young people, serving with the students, etc - in all that we do for the Lord, He wants us to FIRST PRAY. The younger we are in the Lord, the more full of natural strength we are to do things for Him. More and more though, as time goes by and the Lord is faithful to speak to us and expose us, our natural strength and natural capacity - in His mercy - is running out and is being exposed to the uttermost as being useless to Him! And then we come to the conclusion, I CANNOT DO THIS, I CAN'T SERVE THE LORD!

This is going from one extreme to the other - from "I can do this - bring it on!" to, "I can't do it, I give up!". What the Lord wants us to realize is that yes, we can do it, and no, we can't do it! First of all, we need to PRAY! Before we do or speak anything for the Lord, we need to pray. Why do we try to work so much(and yet accomplish so little) when we can accomplish much more by our prayer than by our working!?! What are we trying to DO FOR THE LORD? He is Almighty, He can do everything - what can we do for Him? It is an insult to the Lord to try to do something for Him without first consulting Him and praying to be one with Him....

When David in the Old Testament wanted to build God a house, God told him that He wants to rather build Himself into David first and then what comes out of David(Solomon) will build a house for God. First of all, we need to be thoroughly mingled with God by praying ourselves into God. And then, once we are in God, one with God, we can do something for God - and this is actually God doing something in us and through us. So then it is No Longer Us, but the Prayers! We pray ourselves into God, we pray God's prayers which are put in us, and we pray out God's will to be Done! We execute God's will on earth by uttering the prayers that He need to move on earth! Wow...

<< the above is just something I realized today while I was doing my job at work (and I realized that it is STILL STEFAN WHO LIVES, NOT CHRIST) and as I was walking home after the home meeting (and I realized that IT IS SO MUCH OF ME TRYING and not so much of praying...). So today I want to choose the Lord - to be infused with Him and mingled with Him to the point that it is Christ living in me! Also, why try to do so many things - which things, by the way, need to be taken care of - when you can call a brother and pray together to be built up into the Triune God and be mingled with Him!?! >>
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This article may be one of the last ones on this theme - on this challenge - since I have to "change the challenge", the 30-day period is almost up now... What do go for next? On the one hand I have been encouraged by all the testimonies and sharings and comments of all the readers - either here or on twitter or via facebook - to go on... But I think I want to go for something a bit different but on the same topic kindda... What about... "One London Picture (with description) + One Verse I enjoyed today(with a short sharing)"? - I am eagerly waiting for your comments on this matter - I want your opinion / feeling on this(that is, if you have read the entire article until down here)!

Playing Football with the Brothers - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today (30-day challenge)

Since today it is a Bank Holiday - no work, no school, etc - I had the whole day off, which is both unusual and kind of strange.... What do you do when you don't work? One thing I know, no matter whether I have work, school, training, travelling, etc - I need to have my Morning Revival Time with the Lord! Though I woke up a bit later than usual ;) I still managed to enjoy the Lord - we're now going through the Crystallization-Study of the Psalms, week 3, about the Excellency of Christ.

Though man failed God and did not fulfill the purpose he was created for by God, this only delayed God's purpose - but God became a man, and the Lord Jesus in His ascension was given dominion over all things, the lordship, and the kingship! Now God's name is becoming Excellent in all the earth because Christ through the Body - the church - is heading up all things, solving all the problems, and rules & reigns on the earth! O Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!

I also managed to go by the new Amana Trust bookshop in King's Cross - my first time - and I checked it out. Today they had lots of saints coming to help, and there's a great need for more help. The work is going on, and the Lord blesses the dear faithful saints who give their time for the Lord's use. After a short visit to the bookshop to see how the work is advancing - I'll put some pictures on Facebook :) - I proceeded to do,

One Meaningful Thing I Did Today -  Playing Football with the Brothers!

I used to play football all day long when I was young, and then I switched over to basketball... but football is "in the heart of every European man" :) So today the brothers - young people and students - went out for some football at Hackney Marshes, and I went to join them for a bit... It's so good to have activities together with the saints, no matter them being "outward" - there's something of God that is in us, and as we're being together, there's a building going on, there's a dispensing going on, and there's a blending that goes on...

I thought the game will be for 1-2 hrs, but after I arrived there and played for approx 2hrs straight, that was just the first half! 2 hours of playing football is not a small amount of time - if you're really into it, running about to kick that empty ball ;) and pass it around, .... it drains you and wears you out! You can "switch positions", staying in defense or even as a goalie, and then run again on the field... no matter how "small the field is", you still run about for a loooong time.... - FUN :) + TIRING :( I thought that going to the gym regularly helps, but it is "another kind of exercise" when you play football...

There were some brothers that play for a football team, and they were good - especially if they are put in the same team, it's wonderful just to watch them play (too bad if you're on the team against them!). Some other brothers know the game - they pass, keep an eye on the ones who need the ball, and dribble when it's necessary. Others just pass or simply go for the goal! Others were young ones / older ones that didn't play that well, but somehow they always gave these players a hard time - they didn't expect them to make those moves or to kick like that ;) Some collisions happened, ending in some fun and laughter, then others missed the goal, ... The funniest was having a 10yr old young brother in the goal - and he loved it! He was the BEST goalie!

O, my legs!... my whole body now hurts... even though I have the pleasure of recollecting scoring some goals, I had to withdraw from the game a bit earlier - 3hrs of playing football was enough for me! But others were just getting started - especially the young ones have lots of energy! Even while we were having a 10mins break they were still running around and kicking the ball... Praise the Lord, it's good to be with the brothers! It's good to play football together and learn to coordinate, play, and even learn their names(since we were approx. 16-18 of us) and where they are from, what they study, what they like....

Praise the Lord - we can be blended together in the Body! Also, praise the Lord - we are exposed when being with the saints! We think and are fully convinced many times that everything is OK about us - but when you're put in practical situations, or in this case a football game, with others, you realize that we're not fine! We are not OK! How much we need the perfecting, we need the training, and we need the Lord! I need the Lord! I need the Lord in my behavior, my attitude, my speaking, my demeanor, and in my whole being! I want to be saturated with the Lord more - to the extent that "it is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me!"...