Missions Paul

Lent day 28: Who is Nahor?

Luke 3 v 34 “the son of Nahor”

There is uncertainty on the name but the Hebrew would indicate it means either to snore or to snort!

So he is either asleep or angry!

I wonder which you prefer? Or what does the world see when it looks at us the Church?

Are we asleep? Are we irrelevant? Are we not connected to what is the important issues for their lives? Church is a place to sleep.

Or are we against things? Angry with sinners who are making our world even more sinful? Church is a place for angry campaigns against everything.

Are we snoring or snorting?

AW Tozer wrote that if the Holy Spirit were completely withdrawn from the Church, “95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference”. Sigmund Freud said that we do things asleep we would not do if awake! The problem is we may be asleep but we hate the alarm clock. It can be disappointing being part of a group who are snoring.

Three times Jesus finds his closest 3 disciples sleeping whilst he is going through his trials. Though there was little chastising by him we can sense the disappointment.

Surviving your Gethsemane will mean that you need to keep on praying despite even the closest disappointing you. The key is ‘the spirit is willing but the body is weak.’

Salvador Dali has a painting which looks really strange at first sight. He paints the Gethsemane scene and Jesus is the central and largest figure on the canvas. He paints him in such a way that it looks like his spirit is larger than his body, like it is enveloping it. He also has painted the 3 disciples in the bottom right hand corner as very small figures revealing the weakness of the body.

The prayer during disappointment is the prayer that brings the eternal part of you, the God-focused, Christ-centred, Spirit-dwelt part of you to the surface and to make this the loudest voice, the clearest vision and the most powerful thought over what your body is experiencing.

We need to wake-up the Church. But we also need to make sure the Church is not snorting at the wrong people. There are always a few angry people near us. They are in every Church. But they are not as powerful as they think they are. Louder doesn’t mean more able. They may have conviction but they have not been discipled to carry their convictions or temper them and we need to find ways to love them because Jesus died for them. However, we need to direct their anger to the right place. When Jesus walked around the Temple he was angry because of the exploitation of the poor which was happening inside the place of prayer. That is what we need to be angry about.

Nahor people are either asleep or angry and we need to know what to do with them.

Lent day 27: Who is Terah?

Luke 3 v 34 “the son of Terah”

Genesis 11: 27-32 “This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸ While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive. ³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. ³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.”

Settled is always a great word if that was your destination.

But if it is a stopping off place then it becomes a place of compromise;

a place where you gave up on the journey;

a place of dying dreams.

What have you settled for? Is it second best to what you intended or where you wanted to go?

Terah died neither in the place of his origin nor in the place of his dreams.

He had let go but had not took hold.

Not every dream should be fulfilled nor every journey followed.

His firstborn son, Haran, died. His name means ‘mountaineer’ but he was cut off in his prime perhaps and would never see his dreams and more to the point Terah would not see his son fulfil those dreams.

Terah’s name means ‘wanderer’ and this man who was an idol-worshipper seems to have lived up to his name in that in his grief he wandered off heading to Canaan but as we see never really set out with a solid intent of arriving there. Strangely and sadly for him they pass through the place of his son’s name, Harran. He cannot get past that place. He cannot move on. He had said goodbye to his son before and now he is stuck and cannot move away again. His grief and loss capture him and he dies there in Harran.

It is an incredible sad story all too prevalent today.

We must continue to do all we can to move on from hurt and loss.

Today we follow Jesus who has said there is coming a day when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Lent day 26: Who is Abraham?

Luke 3 v 34 “the son of Abraham”

So where do we begin?!

God changed Abram’s “exalted father” name to “Abraham,” “father of a multitude.”

I want us to look at a certain moment of Abraham’s life which he is famous for. It is the moment when the angel of the Lord (which could well have been a theophany of the Son of God appearing on earth for a short appearance in human form) says to Abraham these words:

“Now I know that you fear God” Genesis 22:12

Up to this point Abraham’s credentials to be the father of all nations and the father of 3 of the world’s largest religions was quite suspect!

A man more afraid than full of faith and more used to lying if needed rather than speak the truth despite the consequences. Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-13: in both passages he is afraid for his life and so announces his wife is his sister.

A man who ‘Ishmaeled’ his ‘Isaac’ taking things into his own hands instead of asking God. Genesis 16:2-3

A man who couldn’t lead his own family very well. Genesis 16: 5-6 he is passive when Sarah abuses Hagar in jealous anger and in ch.19 his brother Lot has to be dragged from wicked Sodom and then weeks later his daughters decide to get him drunk so that they could sleep with him and become pregnant!

So there is hope for us all!

However our list of credentials would probably be longer than Abraham’s!

But how does God know we are ready to be blessed by Him? See the verse 22:12 above again.

Blessing is not automatic.

God would have delayed or even bypassed Abraham if he had failed the test.

So how does God know we are ready?

It is in what we will give up.

Will we let go of something precious to us?

Why is this important? It is because it mirrors Him. God gave up His only Son for us.

If as disciples we follow Jesus then we also are called to surrender and give to God our all, our everything.

When we do we will hear those words also “Now I know (you are ready for blessing)”

Lent day 25: Who is Isaac?

Luke 3: 34 “the son of Isaac”

His name means ‘he laughs’ and he was given the name because as only son of Abraham and Sarah they laughed when God told them they would have a son though they were way past child bearing. The New Testament uses his father’s obedience in being prepared to sacrifice Isaac as an example of faith.

Isaac’s heritage was one of the impossibility but this looks like it became part of his understanding that God can do all things. I am reminded this morning of an example of this from Genesis 26. “Now there was a famine in the land – besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time … ² The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. ³ Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you….”

Abraham had gone down to Egypt when the famine had previously struck. But Isaac was told by God to sow in the place of famine. God wanted to do something new. He wanted to do something in that place of famine.

V12 -14: “¹² Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.”

The result of obedience was God’s greatness upon his life. He became a threat to the Philistines. God’s purpose for your life is for you to receive His greatness upon you.

But see the challenge from the enemy: “¹⁵ So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.”

The enemy of our life has filled in the wells and many are stale, dry and burnt out.

V 18-19 “Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. ¹⁹ Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there.”

It is time to dig again, to reopen the well, to dig for fresh water.

Yesterday I spoke to one of my Pastors who described a new move of the Holy Spirit in his services that had just started in the last couple of weeks. A well had been redug.

V20-22 “²⁰ But the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled with those of Isaac and said, ‘The water is ours!’ So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, but they quarrelled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. ²² He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarrelled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, ‘Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

It won’t be easy.

There will be arguments over the wells. Many will dig out of their own strength.

But we are called to keep moving and leave certain battles behind us for those who are not well-people.

Later Abimelech wanted a covenant with Isaac. Isaac could have been proud. “You didn’t want me when I was struggling but now that I have become great, you want me!”

But that wasn’t Isaac’s response: “³⁰ Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.”

Isaac’s attitude was good. What about us? Are the dividing walls there? Unforgiveness? Hurt? Pride?

Isaac found water after the covenant, v32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, ‘We’ve found water!’ 

When we begin to covenant with each other then the springs of living water will surface again.

The Holy Spirit is in the garden of our hearts and we need to protect those places so He can stay. We need to redig the wells again, for He is here.

Lent day 24: Who is Jacob?

Luke 3:34 “the son of Jacob”

He is the grandson of Abraham, son of Isaac and as a result known as one of these 3 patriarchs of the faith.

He was also known as Israel.

Many know his name as ‘supplanter’, ‘deceiver’ or ‘holder of the heel’ because he twice deprived his brother, Esau, out of his rights as the firstborn son, Genesis 25+27.

We all want to be somebody and do something but God really only uses ‘nothings’ to manifest His power and glory.

We do not enter into the powerful, glorious realm of God’s Presence because our presence tries to dominate. Our presence needs to be broken by His Presence.

Brokenness became a way of life for Jesus long before he saw the cross.

He was someone who became nothing.

Philippians 2: 5-11

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature^[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus, the man above all men, the Son of Man, being the power and glory of God, bringing life out of death, healing diseases, casting out demons, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.” John 3:34.

The Father is just as willing to give us His Spirit but we need to follow the way of Christ and become nothing. The gauge for whether we achieve that is “In your relationships with one another”.

Jacob’s story of deception isn’t a nice read. But his story of brokenness makes up for it!

Genesis 32: 22-32 “²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. ²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” ²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” ³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.”

The struggle for the Presence cost Jacob his name (he became Israel) and his power (he became lame).

To know that God has looked into our lives and in His love has spared us: this is true brokenness. There is nothing stronger than someone who has been made lame by God. There is nothing more powerful than a Church community who will never be the same again because of a message, a worship moment, a weeping, a salvation and a healing, a restoration and a healed relationship. They have seen and been and they can never return. They have nothing left to prove and nothing more to fear. The old fight has gone, the old fire has been put out and the old aggression has been laid to rest. Within there is an emptiness now that only God can fill. An emptiness reserved for His Presence.

Nowhere is this more seen than in our relationships. It is where our discipleship is tested.

We may start out as a deceiver holding onto the heel of a brother but it doesn’t have to end that way we can let go of deceptive ways and channel the same strength to hold on to God. He will touch us and He will break us and He will re-shape our lives. Broken for Jesus.

Lent day 22: Who is Judah, again?

Luke 3: 33 “the son of Judah”

And so we reach the most famous of the 2 Judah’s in this genealogy.

The name in Hebrew is Yadah and it means ‘God/Yahweh be praised.’

Alongside ‘to praise’ it also means ‘to revere or worship with extended hands’ or ‘to give thanks’.

Judah was certainly not perfect nor pleasing to God in every way and yet when the dying Jacob called his sons to his death-bed and spoke prophetically to each of them, his words to Judah were:  “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.” Genesis 49:8

THE HAND OF PRAISE (Judah) WILL BE ON THE NECK OF THEIR ENEMIES!

Let me speak these words over you as you read them:

So long as your mouth is an instrument of praise, so long as you change your vocabulary, so long as you bring a sound of honour to God, it will be like your hands are on the neck of an already defeated enemy! Where a house is divided then do a sound-check, listen to the words of the house. The house of God is a Judah-house.

Every moment of praise to God is a declaration to Satan: Because of Jesus’ victory on the cross where you were stripped of your power and authority over my life I am going to squeeze some more victory out of you that is rightfully mine!!

If the devil can shut you up, stop you praising, it means that you will not experience what Christ has won for you.

People who are not Judah-people live in fear of what can go wrong. They worry about the ‘roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour.’ (1 Peter 5:8)

But there is another lion, a far greater lion and Judah-people who praise God live in trust of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

It’s worth a read even though there are several verses, read it slowly:

“Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirit of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:1-10

I love this! Can you see it?!

Jesus is announced as the Lion of the tribe of Judah who is able to open the Revelation of God. We picture a roar of victory praise! Strong, confident and fearless! Then John looks and sees a Lamb who had been slain and whose blood had purchased for God every person in the world!

We are not just Lion people. How annoying it is when we see nothing but hear the victory shouts of praise. It is like the shouts of the Israelites on the battlefield facing Goliath. “We are taking the land for Jesus” is our song and we have the vision statements and one-sentence strap lines, mission strategies, booklets and films to accompany all that we declare of how we are seeing the Kingdom of God built, but there is little to see.

We are Lion-Lamb people. We declare and we demonstrate. We shout praise and we surrender our lives. We boast of Jesus and we shed the blood of our own cross. This is how we fight our battles!

Judges 1: 1-2 “After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, ‘Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?’  

The Lord answered, ‘Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.’

 

Praise enters the battle first and praise fights the battles and praise wins the battles!

JUDAH!!

Lent day 22: Who is Perez?

Luke 3: 33 “the son of Perez”

The name means ‘to breakout’ or ‘to breach’.

His son, Hezron, means walled town which is interesting with the name Perez which suggests breaking out of that walled town.

2 Samuel 6: 8 When the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out for the ark of God, he was struck with judgment: “Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah”

God has ordained that there be a hedge of protection around your life, “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.” Job 1:10.

When God took down the hedge Satan brought great trouble to Job.

It is the work of our enemy to see the wall of protection around our life breached or broken down completely. The promise to the Israelites bound for the Promised Land was this: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites,Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.” Deuteronomy 7:1-2

There were walled cities that were impenetrable, “All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many un-walled villages.” Deut 3:5. But there was also un-walled cities or cities with broken down walls that were called Perrizite cities.

There is a giant that comes against our lives that seeks to destroy our defences and to leave us hopeless, un-walled and unprotected. It is the Perez giant.

If Satan can’t destroy you completely then he will destroy part of you. There is Divine protection but only as we abide in Christ, John 15:4.

Abiding in Christ brings cleansing, protection, security and confidence, our hurting heart is healed and strength for the fight. There is little the devil can do to you as you abide in Christ. But he wants you out of that abiding place. He wants you unprotected. He will tempt you to break through the wall. Look what Solomon writes, “Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.” Ecclesiastes 10:8.

Is there an area of your life where you simply do not trust the Lord but you keep breaking through the wall of His protection? Is there a gap in the walls?

Here are 3 declarations you can make:

1. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the Shadow of the Almighty. From this place of abiding in Jesus, He is a refuge and fortress for my life.
2. Jesus, I choose today to abide in you, to be faithful and obedient, pure and holy, in thought, word and deed. As long as I remain in you I am safe from evil attacks.
3. Satan, I have decided to remain in Christ, I overcome Perez and the Perrizite giant in the name and blood of Jesus Christ. I will not be enticed out from underneath God’s covering and you are not breaking in either.

Lent day 21: Who is Hezron?

Luke 3:33 “the son of Hezron”

The name means ‘a walled stronghold’ and was indeed a walled town given to the tribe of Judah as their inheritance (Joshua 15:25).

Psalm 9:9 “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble”.

Psalm 59:16 “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.”

Isaiah 25:4 “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall.”

Christ is our stronghold. He is our walled town. A city of refuge. Numbers 35:6 shows how a person who was guilty of unintentional manslaughter would find refuge from the victim’s family trying to get blood for blood: “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee.”

Christ is a refuge from the accusations that batter your life.

The accuser of your soul will keep trying to bring you to the court of justice before God.

He will not let go of your past. He has a record of every event in your life, underlines your failings, he highlights your sins. He reminds you of these things you want to forget. He is the accuser of the present: “Call yourself a Christian?!” He is the accuser of your future: “You’re a loser, a failure, you will never accomplish anything!”

But Jesus, is your refuge, He is your walled town, He is the Word of God who is living, active, sharper than any double-edged sword. His blood has freed us from all our sins (Rev 1:5).

 

Lent day 20: Who is Ram?

Luke 3: 33 “the son of Ram”

His name means ‘to be raised up’ or simply ‘high’.

The Greek translation has the name Aram which then introduces the picture of the nation of Aram (modern day Syria) who would relentlessly rise up and attack Israel.

Today you may wake to a rising ‘enemy’ over your life. They arrogantly overshadow your life. Perhaps this enemy is relentless. Maybe it feels like one man or even a nation of soldiers coming against you.

Choose a verse today!

Top of Form

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17

When Saul had sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him.

Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. Psalm 59:1

Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. Psalm 27:3

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Lent is a time to let go, of surrender and it is a time to fearlessly face your ‘enemy’ that rages against you soul. Jesus did exactly this and it is good to remind ourselves today as we think of this name Ram that:

God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2: 9-11

There is no one higher than Jesus, not even your Ram. Be reminded today.

Lent day 19: Who is Amminadab?

Luke 3: 33 “the son of Amminadab”

His name means ‘my people is willing or generous.’

Like many of the Old Testament people who never lived up to their names, Amminadab may have fallen short and yet it only shows the possibility that lies in the heart of God for His people.

I can say YES I am going to be a person of abundance (John 10:10).

I can say YES I can be a mirror copy of God who gives every good gift (James 1:17).

I can say YES when I see someone in need and I can meet it (1 John 3:17).

I can say YES to being a joyful giver (Psalm 16:11).

I can say YES to giving way above a standard measure (Luke 6:38).

In our journey to Easter be reminded that the life, death and resurrection was the gracious generosity of God: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9

Say YES today and have a willing generous heart. Be a YES person.