the need for spiritual understanding and divine revelation (LS 1 Thes msg 3)

Message three from the life-study of 1 Thessalonians is so rich and so exposing! In the first few verses of 1 Thessalonians Paul speaks of the church in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of faith, the labor of love, the endurance of hope, the manner of life, turning to God from idols, serving a living and true God, awaiting the coming of the Lord Jesus, etc. If you speak English, you understand what these words mean, but we don't really get the deeper meaning of these matters.

I was so exposed to see that I read the Word of God and I think I understand it, but I don't have an exercised heart, spirit, and mind to see the divine revelation in the Word. I take the Word of the Lord for granted. I can even declare, Praise the Lord, I have turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God! - but what does it really mean that God is living and true? Is God living to me? Is my God living to others through me? Am I in God and is God living in me? Is He real, living, and true to me and through me?


O, Lord... how much we need a spiritual understanding of the divine facts - we need to be enlightened by the Lord every time we read the Bible, so that in the organic union with the Lord the divine facts in the Word would be transmitted into us!  We need to have a spiritual understanding of the Word of God (in contrast with the natural understanding of what the Bible says) and the divine revelation in the Word (in contrast with our self-made light according to our natural mind when we read the Bible).

Lord, save us from thinking we know! We don't want to take Your word for granted! Keep us so open to You whenever we come to the Word! May the objective faith be transmitted into us to become our living and subjective faith, by which we are organically united with You! Lord, we want to have a view of what You are, what You have, what You have accomplished and obtained! Save us from our natural ways... we want Spiritual understanding and Divine Revelation!

[NB. There may be a few days ahead in which I may not post here from my enjoyment in the life-study of 1 Thessalonians - but I still do my best to read it, enjoy it, and maybe even share a bit about it. Tomorrow we start the video-training on the Crystallization-Study of the Psalms(part 2), and I will focus on getting these messages in... Lord, re-constitution!]

Glorious freedom, wonderful freedom! No more in chains do I repine... (1 picture + 1 experience with the Lord today)

Tonight is one of those very rare nights when I got home after the home meeting BEFORE 11.30pm! This is very rare indeed, since most times the home meeting goes on and we enjoy the Lord and being together up until close to midnight! Since most saints don't work the next day, most young people have no school on Saturday, and most students have no classes next morning, everyone chills and enjoys. And indeed, even tonight, what an enjoyment and what a good fellowship we had! To see how Psalm 51 is being applied today and how we as believers in the Lord can repent and confess our sins... It's one thing when you read about it in the Bible, and it's a totally different thing when you hear this from 13-year olds, 15-year olds, or even 18-year olds... Wow...

1 Picture for today - Even the Police needs AA

This picture was taken recently as I was walking home one night - it looks like even the police needs AA, that is, it needs to be towed away. I'm not sure whether they parked illegally ;) or maybe their engine just died - whatever happened, there were 2-3 policemen there and a car who took the police car away. Pretty cool, and also pretty mysterious... [I'll leave it like that!]

1 Experience with the Lord today - Glorious Freedom, wonderful Freedom, no more in chains do I repine!

This line is taken from a hymn we love so much, where the chorus says, Glorious Freedom, / Wonderful Freedom, / No more in chains of sins I repine. / Jesus the glorious Emancipator / Now and forever He shall be mine! This song mainly refers to the freedom which we get by believing into the Lord. He delivers us from Satan, from ourselves, from any bondage, from pride, sinful ambition, evil temper, anger, love of money, envy, strife, carnal affections, hatred, vain ambitions, worldly desires, fear and its torments, care and its pain, etc. Basically, once we come to the Lord, we are being set free!

We may say like the Jews in the Lord's time, But we are slaves of no one: God is our Father (John 8:33)! Well, I can tell you right now, we are being daily enslaved and oppressed. Especially when you get into a debt of money to someone or to the bank, you get enslaved. Also, there's all kinds of chores and regular things we owe to do towards others. Sometimes we make mistakes - for which we need to pay either with our time or with something else. All these things put a burden on us, they enslave us. We need to work in order to support ourselves, to sustain a certain life-style - this can enslave us.

And then there's the ambition and the desire to get something or be someone. There's the pride which rises up in us and we cultivate by going to schools, having achievements, accomplishing what we set out to do, getting some degrees, being praised by others because of some attainments we have or any other thing about us, etc. If there's not a career thing, then the cares of this age, the cares for this life, our family needs, the people we need to care for... the things at work, the people around us, etc - it's almost as if everything around us was designed by someone to occupy our time, take our time away from us, ensare us, enslave us, and bring us into bondage. We say we are free, but we are under much burden and in bondage to many things...

What about the entertainment and the media today? What about the new shiny and amazing gadgets? The new games, the new apps, the new music, the new movies, the new this or that.... The news, the pictures, the things happening - all these are "our food" so many times, and at the same time they are enslaving us, causing us to desire after them and not be happy until we get more.... There are things OUTSIDE of us that work together to wear us out and enslave us, and there are many things / thoughts / feelings WITHIN us that cause us to be burdened and enslaved....

BUT there's a GLORIOUS FREEDOM that we can experience! This freedom is not only initially when we touch the Lord, but it can be experienced and it SHOULD be experienced by all the believers in Christ every day! We can turn to the Lord - we can just open up to Him! He came that we may be free indeed - and in His word we are being delivered. We need to read His Word, enjoy Him in the Bible, and allow the Word of God to deliver us. There's a freeing-from-bondage effect in our praying over the Word of God and in spending time with the Lord personally. The other things are still there, all around us, waiting for us - but we take time to spend with the Lord... and we are INWARDLY FREED!

I think that this is our experience every day - maybe not the above mentioned items, but for each one of us there are some things, some matters, some situations, that enslave us, put us down, and we have to "take care of them" and be under them. And you know what? God doesn't want us to escape those things necessarily - He wants us that right there, in these things and in these situations, we would open to Him. We need to turn to the Lord and take Him in as the fresh breath of spiritual air. Pray over His Word - with your heart being turned to the Lord, and You Will Be Freed! We can and we should experience the glorious freedom TODAY and EVERY DAY!

this is not normal - you cannot just GET USED TO IT! (1 picture + 1experience with the Lord today) 30-day challenge

I almost didn't do the small article for today, since my laptop is now in repairs... you really need to be careful with these devices, one wrong move and something breaks! And then trouble starts, money needs to be paid, time is spent with no PC...., but hopefully tomorrow the laptop will be returned safe and sound, as good as before(or even better). It's the same with everything / everyone: we need to be careful in our dealings and interactions with one another, or else someone may just "break down" and then a price needs to be paid to re-connect or re-establish the trust...

1 Picture Today - An Accident almost Right In Front of my Eyes!

The picture above is of an accident I almost witnessed on Holloway road this afternoon as I was doing some shopping. Everyone was out in the streets, it was a 26 degrees Celsius evening - very hot - and people were shopping or walking around, many of them being in a hurry to get to the Arsenal game tonight... And right there, in the middle of the street, on a busy road, two cars crashed into each other. What's more crazy is that people who witnessed the accident were not that much interested to help the ones in the crash, rather - every one was watching, taking pictures, and commenting about it.

This is Not Normal - You Can't Just Get Used to This! One experience with the Lord today

The truth is that in London these days we see all kinds of strange and crazy things - less than 2 weeks ago there was at least one fatality in a similar accident just up the street. We see people dressed in a crazy way walking around on the street, people with strange piercings and tattoos everywhere, people dressed with strange clothes and some with less clothes than others, people with hairstyles that defile you by just looking at them... Normal human beings dressed in a normal way and with a normal haircut - these are very rare(they are so rare that sometimes you're being stared at because you're not trying too hard to look as cool as they do]. It's becoming common to have all kinds of gang fights, teenage stabbings, thefts, muggings, etc here in London. ... And this is just something outwardly that - when you think about it - it sounds abnormal and crazy...

But you know, even in our personal life and in our private time, where no one sees us - if we think about it, we spend so much time online on websites like YouTube, Facebook, twitter, google+, social networks, news, entertainment websites... We are randomly browsing and watching... And the videos we watch... The news we hear and see... The conversations we have with people... Many times, if we think about all these, we have to admit that it's just not right, it's not good, it's not pleasing to the Lord... Just being online and reading / saying / doing stuff there - if you check with the Lord, He is NOT happy with that...

Everyone these days wants things out of the ordinary, not being "normal" but being someone unique and special... And the price we pay for this is all kinds of terrible things happening. I tell you, I have never seen or heard of so many accidents, riots, stabbings, gangs and fights, open violence, rebellion, disrespect, thefts, and evil speaking until recently - and we all kind of consider that, That's the way things are, we need to adapt to it and accept it! ... I want to say it again,

No, this is NOT normal, you can't just Get Used to This!

What's the solution? We can't really change the world, and it's obviously clear that there's no way to cure the people today... The best thing we can do is RIGHT now touch the Lord and give ourselves to Him. All we have is now - now, as the Lord touches us, we say AMEN to His word! Just a little opening to the Lord right now, and then again in a few minutes, as we do this and that... will keep us not only surviving and being sane, but will keep us growing in the Lord!

Wherever we are, whatever we are about to do, we can choose to turn to the Lord and enjoy Him! This is NORMAL, and we should get used to this! It is normal for us believers in the Lord to enjoy Him, even to have regular times set aside to spend with the Lord! This is normal, and this is good! This is the solution to the situation today - it starts with ME, I need to enjoy the Lord right now! Everyone is going their own way, being swept away by "a flood of dissoluteness"; what saves us from being in the same current is our enjoyment of Christ, the One who is really life and can live a life for God's purpose!

Many times the Lord within us wants to speak to us and He wants to draw us to Himself that we may just spend some personal time with Him! But we are too busy or too "drugged" with what's going on, what's new, what's the score, what our friends say on Facebook, the latest pictures with our friends, or even the news of what's going on in the world! Oh, Lord Jesus! How much we need to be de-contaminated, saved from the stupefying and drugging effect of the world, and washed in the water in the Word! ....

Lord, amen, save us from being swept away - we want to be those building the ark so that we may be saved from this crooked and perverted generation! Save us from being in the current of this age... Gain Your ark today - those full of vision, seeking You! Gain some who withstand the current of this age and who shine forth as luminaries in this dark age!

outrageous: this is total disrespect! - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today (30-days challenge)

I'm not talking about myself being disrespectful - even though I can't say I'm not(sometimes)... - but I'm talking about someone else being disrespectful. You would think that in a modern world people respect one another since there's so much propaganda about emancipation, feminism, equality in rights, no racism, no distinction between nationalities or races, no bullying, or even the principle of "no slaves and no masters". In the 21st century, with so many systems and policies in place - all of which are to help man relate to others in the best way possible - the people today are still very much inclined to be rather rude and disrespectful than polite and respectful. I'll tell you why and how in a bit via,

Outrageous: this is total disrespect! - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today

After I finished work today - yes, I do work half day on Saturday... - I was passing by an "open market", many of which are available all over London these days. You get fresh vegetables there, different kinds of cheeses, all types of foods (Carribean, Argentinian, continental European, Mediteranean, etc), all sorts of bread products and milk based products, etc. This one I was passing by was a small one, but there was something there that caught my attention - some nice vegetables!

Yes, I know you know I love Pepsi ;) and I need to cut it short - why not rather drink the pure water which can actually quench your thirst?!? - but it may surprise you that I also love vegetables! Probably because of the way I was brought up, I love having a salad on the side with almost anything - even when eating pizza, KFC, fish and chips(or any other fast-food/unhealthy dish), or a sandwich, bread with stuff, or any "second dish" in a meal. I love tomatoes, cucumbers, salad, radish, corn, cabbage, etc. I love both to buy them separately and make them in a salad AND the ones ready-made from the stores...

Anyways, to cut the story short, there was this lady who was selling nice vegetables, and I approached her to ask about the price, but she would not pay attention to me. She was engaged in a relatively meaningless conversation with another person who was selling some cheese,s and even though I tried to get her attention, she would not talk to me. I waited a bit, tried again - nothing. This is outrageous - I'm the customer, she's the seller, she traveled all the way here to sell her vegetables, and when I am interested to buy, she wouldn't talk to me! This is total disrespect...

The Customer is Always Right and the customer should always be served... - since I work in sales, I know this and, though I may not like it all the time, I apply this principle... So I went and took out some cash, calling on the name of the Lord to really touch Him within... You know, you can be offended or bothered by situations like these. Or if not, maybe they give you a bad taste, they disappoint you... I just called on the Lord's name, took out some cash, and returned to the lady - who now smilingly served me and was OK to sell me some vegetables :) [the story ended up well :) ]

I was thinking about this after it happened... so many little things can bother us or even offend us. What do we do then? Many people say, I'm FINE, It's Alright! - but something within feels uncomfortable, and there's a discontentment being built up over the days, months, and years... You never know how and why but out of the blue someone "explodes" and starts arguing with someone else. It's these little things, these little unconfessed and undealt with issues, that build up and eventually overflow from us.

The people in the world are bitter, disrespectful, not polite, and rude - because NO ONE is nice to one another! How can anyone be nice to others in a genuine way if he does not enjoy the Lord who is GOOD and can be the proper human being in us? Maybe some are nice outwardly, so "polite and respectful" - but when you get to talk to them to know them, there's nothing there, it's just a facade - the "British politeness" is very common especially in England (dah!). What about us though?

Lord, what about me? Am I a bitter, unpolite, and disrespectful person? O, Lord, is there bitterness being built up in me as I go on in life? Lord, what's my attitude towards other people?

One very important principle is that we as human beings and as believers in the Lord need to have a proper fear and respect towards God. If we fear God in our humanity, we will also respect others who are around us. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The more we spend time with the Lord, the more He shines on us and exposes us, the more we both love Him and reverently fear Him. This preserves us and protects us from many evils that can happen to human beings - the proper fear and respect towards God safeguards us against the evil one.

So.... as a customer I may be RIGHT and I can try to prove my point, get the seller's attention, argue a bit, make a big case out of it... or just "sweep it under the rug" saying, It's all good... But I can also choose to turn to my spirit and call on the name of the Lord. I can open to Him and confess my situation and my feelings... - and then something happens. It's not just that "I will be OK", but my attitude towards that person will be a proper one, a kind attitude and a good demeanor. O, Lord.... save us more in these little things of our human life!