A MORNING MEDITATION

Time with Jesus - Monday, 21 May 2012

Hi all,

God exceeds our expectations. In each and every field in which God and man relate, God is the dominant partner. Although this is always the case, He seldom seeks to dominate. We have a partial understanding of this. Fathers get great pleasure from seeing their children’s achievements. He is the Father of all!

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Monday, 21 May 2012
INTRODUCTION	DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	A MORNING MEDITATION
In yesterday’s meditation we explored the reaction of Mary Magdalene. Hers was almost tangible. You can almost feel her emotion as she finally grabs Him round His feet and says “Rabboni”. This morning I’d like to share with you something which took place in 1986. Personally, it was one of the hardest years of my life. The pace at work was increasing and this led to a nervous breakdown at the end of the year. Strangely enough, I’ve found that as the pressure of the work load builds up, God grace seems to multiply. It’s as though He compensating for what is happening in the physical world with what He is doing in the Spirit world. Of course I can’t prove this. But as I reflect on the history of the church over 2000 years, I’m amazed at how God’s people could endure the severest forms of persecution and remain faithful to Him. I suspect Paul had this in mind when he wrote: 20 The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God's grace increased even more. Romans 5:20 NIrV In those days I would get up early in the morning and spend time with Him. I’ve always believed that you can only get to know someone by spending time with that person. It’s particularly true when seeking to know more of Jesus. John tells us Jesus said, 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 TNIV This verse is usually believed to be referring to physical things; a new car, a washing machine, a better job. No doubt it does. But it occurred to me that if someone wanted to dialog with Jesus, a good place to start would be by asking Him questions. There is a major difference between asking God questions and questioning God. It’s His desire to talk with us. So if we ask Him about walking with Him in obedience, we can expect Him to answer. It may not be good doctrine, but I’ve found that God is more willing to talk with us than we will ever understand. I’d been “dialoguing” with Him for some months. The results were never spectacular, but always encouraging. So it was that on this occasion I wrote out my questions to God. Something I still do when I can. That morning, I received an extraordinary answer. The questions in prayer and His answer is the subject of today’s meditation. At the time I suppose I was a bit like Thomas in John 20:28 But as I went deeper into praise and worship, suddenly the light in my heart went on. It felt as though His presence was with me. His answer “blew me away”. It still does. As a result I was able to endure to the end. Sure, there were many trials. There still are. But these promises have helped me keep going! Jim & Phyllida Strickland	7 Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9 God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says, and He has invited you into partnership with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:7-9 NLT 21 She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus [He Saves], because he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21 GW 8 He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honour and gave Him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:8-11 NLT 25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." John 4:25 ESV 1 The Spirit of GOD, the Master, is on me because GOD anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, Announce freedom to all captives, and pardon all prisoners. Isaiah 61:1 MSG 45 We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. 46 Physical life comes first, then spiritual-- 47 a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:45-47 MSG 26 A week later Jesus' disciples were again in the house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then Jesus said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe." 28 Thomas responded to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:26-28 GW 13 You call Me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because that's what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. 1`5 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. John 13:13-15 NLT	PRAYER: For all that I am feeling; for the clouds up in the sky; For the chill of coming winter; for the fact that I will die; For the knowledge of time passing; for the mystery of age; For the going into battle; for the warfare we must wage; For these things most blessed Father that will happen to us all; Lord I lift my hands in worship and my Lord to You I call. You're the touch of golden sunshine on a bitter winter's day. You're a soft and gentle raindrop after clouds have passed away. You're the shade of welcome shadow in the scorching midday heat. You're a banquet of contentment when there's nothing we can eat. It is true most blessed Jesus; You provide eternally, And I lift my heart to listen to what You would say to me. You are better than the answer to a lonely maiden's prayer. You provide all we are needing through the wonder of Your care. You delight us with Your presence in an empty, lonely room. You have shown You are Almighty, raising Jesus from the tomb. So I greet You Holy Spirit and give thanks that You abide; In this world of joys and sorrows You are ever by my side! God the Father; Holy Spirit; Blessed Jesus; God the Son; God the Counsellor, Almighty, ruling all You've made and done; God the Triune; God the Lovely; God the Saviour; God the King; God the bringer to repentance; God the Lord of everything; Lord I come in expectation and bring praises to Your Name; Listen to Your voice a speaking and which always is the same. ANSWER: Saying, "Come to Me my servant; come to Me and be My friend. I will lead you and I'll guide you ever more unto the end. I will bless you if you'll follow and will do what I command. I will take you into Canaan for it is your promised land. For I love you and I change not; you are Mine forevermore, Be ye comforted and know that I have everything in store. Be ye trusting in the knowledge I am always in control, With assurance in your spirit that My Son has made you whole. So be confident and valiant; lean heavily on Me; I'll provide what you are needing; stop and look around and see. Were you ever disappointed in the things that I have done; Through My precious Holy Spirit in the Name of Christ My Son? For you'll find in Me contentment, be ye young or be ye old; There's delight for those who follow to the safety of My fold. There’s healing and forgiveness in this world of sin and pain; If you'll trust and honour Me, I'll cleanse your guilty stain! For I'm the One Who loves you. I'm Jehovah; Adonai; Elohim; The God of plenty; Everlasting; El-Shaddei!" Jim Strickland – Written 1986

THE JEWELS OF SPEECH

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 20 May 2012

Hi all,

Most of us of us have several favourite Scripture passages. One of mine is the one we look at in our meditation. It’s about Mary Magdalene and Jesus in the garden outside His tomb. This passage touches me deeply. There is so much more here than a distraught woman, desperately trying to find the man she loves. See what you think!

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Sunday, 20 May 2012
INTRODUCTION	DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	THE JEWELS OF SPEECH
To the best of my knowledge, Mary Magdalene was the first person to see and recognise Jesus after He had risen from the dead. Many people have asked, “Why did Jesus appear to Mary first?” It’s a good question and there are no real answers. What can be said is that this appearance was perhaps the most poignant of all. The dialog “oozes” love in an extraordinary way. Her grief that He was not in the tomb where she had last seen His body. Her extreme anguish as she blurted out her request to the “gardener” asking where they had put His body. There is a tone of desperation in these words that speak volumes about her love for Him. Then, while her eyes were looking anywhere and everywhere in a frantic desire to find Him. It only took one word. “Mary” spoken in His familiar voice in a tone of loving understanding. She spun round and threw herself at His feet in abandoned joy while crying out the word, “Rabboni”. “Master, my Master” or “Teacher.” All her pent up emotion since the crucifixion exploded out of her. If you look hard enough you will find expressed in this one word the voice of humanity. The trial is over. The guilt and shame of the fall pours out of her. It’s is said in a way that only the pure devotion of a woman for the man she loves supremely can be expressed like this. This is the sound of the Bride of Christ desperately, passionately wanting to be with Him forever. It may be knowledge of this which prompts Him to gently release Himself from her adoring grip on His feet. “Not Yet Mary” He seems to be saying. “First I must Go to My Father and your Father!” I must prepare a place for my bride. Then in the fullness of time I will come back for you and bring you to where I am. If I’m reading more into this than I should, I must say it comes from my imagination. A gift from the Lord that I enjoy. It also gives me the opportunity to speak what is on my heart. They tell me that silence is golden. By logical deduction, speech must be silver. Today’s meditation was composed in 1998. At that time it was composed to bring encouragement for a certain brother in the Lord. In a way he was looking round desperately to find direction. The poem helped Him get focussed on Jesus so that he could love and serve Him to the best of his ability. I could sense the desperation in his quest. It reminded me of Mary Magdalene at the garden tomb. Our love for Him and His love for us inspires much like Mary’s love for Jesus. He has become an unquenchable fire in the heart which only He can satisfy. All else is secondary. “Rabboni” we cry. Jim & Phyllida Strickland	16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him. Then she cried out in the Aramaic language, "Rabboni!" Rabboni means Teacher. John 20:16 NIrV 1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 ESV 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. John 10:3-4 ESV 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:16 TNIV 19 But God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: "The LORD knows those who are His," and "All who belong to the LORD must turn away from evil." 2 Timothy 2:19 NLT 14 Now that we know what we have--Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God--let's not let it slip through our fingers. Hebrews 4:14 MSG 9 Next take two onyx stones and engrave the names of the sons of Israel on them in the order of their birth, Exodus 28:9 MSG 12 Fasten the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the Ephod--they are memorial stones for the Israelites. Aaron will wear these names on his shoulders as a memorial before GOD. Exodus 28:12 MSG 15 "Now make a Breast piece of Judgment, using skilled craftsmen, the same as with the Ephod. Use gold; blue, purple, and scarlet material; and fine twisted linen. 16 Make it nine inches square and folded double. 17 Mount four rows of precious gemstones on it. First row: carnelian, topaz, emerald. Exodus 28:15-17 MSG 21 The twelve stones correspond to the names of the Israelites, with twelve names engraved, one on each, as on a seal for the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:21 MSG 30 Place the Urim and Thummim in the Breast-piece of Judgment. They will be over Aaron's heart when he enters the presence of GOD. In this way Aaron will regularly carry the Breast-piece of Judgment into the presence of GOD. Exodus 28:30 MSG	The colour of the jewels God wears upon His crown Are black and white and yellow and sometimes red and brown. These colours are His people; The jewels He has made To bring mankind deliverance; To comfort those afraid; Each child of His is different and each one has a gift; And God has made you eloquent so that your voice can lift The people to His presence; To minister with fire; To speak of what is on your heart, so that you can inspire His people with the message which He desires to bring. So thunder with compassion; Erupt and duly sing A new song to His people, though they be black or white. Spread wide your arms to call them home and you will see the sight Of people in repentance before His royal throne; Of others with a heart of flesh made from their hearts of stone! For men will be delivered through what you have to say. The power of His Holy Word will hold men in His sway To do what He desires. You'll be His instrument To bring about revival and cause men to repent! So use all of your learning to exercise your tongue; Speak forth the word of wisdom and prophesy among The people you are sent to. Like Barnabas and Paul, Be strong in your anointing. Lift up your head! Walk tall!!! Declare The Lord our Righteousness and all His Holiness And watch His Holy Spirit move out to save and bless The men and women listening. For that is what must be. For you've been called to minister for Christ, His Majesty, To those of different colours! To black and white and grey! Be not afraid of what's ahead, but hurry to obey! For then you'll know His fullness far more than you can think; Of green and blue and purple; Of orange and of pink! A multi-coloured people of huge variety Alive and well and living for Christ eternally. Jim Strickland – Written 1998

IT IS WRITTEN!

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 19 May 2012

Hi all,

Having God’s Word in written form is essential for us today. Very few men or women have cultivated their memories sufficiently to be able to memorise the entire Bible. In this respect the invention of the printing press has been a mixed blessing. It’s no longer necessary to memorise the Bible. Instead we have hundreds of Bibles. What a shame so few people even bother to read them.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Saturday, 19 May 2012
INTRODUCTION	DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	IT IS WRITTEN!
Most of us appear to have a “What if” mentality. For example, “What if Adam had not sinned?” There would have been major ramifications. Where would we be? What about Cain and Abel? Perhaps the Lord Jesus Christ would not have come? It’s a bit vague. We know Adam and Eve were put out of the garden. The details are sketchy but they are all we need to know. We know that there were fig trees in the garden. If not they wouldn’t have been able to sew them together. What they used for a needle and thread I’ll leave with the skilled seamstresses to advise me. The reason we know even the little we do, is because it was written down. Traditionally it is believed Moses did the writing. He is also thought to be the author of Genesis to Deuteronomy.  It’s a reasonable assumption with the exception of the last portion of Deuteronomy. These must have been inserted by Joshua – Moses was beyond writing, he was dead. The information recorded in Genesis 3 to 50 was probably handed down by the oral tradition. We don’t come across much of it these days. But back then it was the only way. Writing had not yet been invented. Furthermore since young Jewish boys learned the first five books (The Torah) off by heart, it’s not difficult to assume that the oral tradition functioned well in Moses’ day. Genesis 1 and 2 is a puzzle. The only way for Moses to get this information was directly from God. God may have dictated it for the oral tradition. It’s more likely that the Lord gave it directly to Moses. Moses, education must have included reading and writing so that would have been OK. Today we don’t have trained memories. We forget things. I tell people I don’t have a good memory. Instead I’ve got an excellent “forgetery”. So the only way for me to store information is to write it down somewhere. As a Rabbi, Jesus would have known the Scriptures “off by heart”. Since He was also the original “author”, He would have been able to quote Scripture instantly and accurately. So when Satan came to tempt Him in the wilderness, He would have been able to say, “It is written”. This was not just to defeat Satan, although that’s exactly what He did. He was also pointing out to future generations that the Word of God was in writing. I can’t fool you with so called Scripture quotations if it is written somewhere. You could easily say, “Show me”. Today we can say exactly the same thing. Certainly this is true for what was originally written. Those initial writings – the autographs - were copied by hand for posterity by scribes. These copies were in turn copied. This has happened all down through the centuries. Today the autographs have been lost. Probably they were so dog-eared by scribes they became illegible and were thrown away. The various schools of scribes demanded accuracy and rules were in place to prevent errors in transcription. So we are reasonably sure that what is available today is accurate. However, we know some men have changed the text to correspond with their own doctrines. Sad but true. They will be called to account. One day God will judge them.  He will deal with them very severely. No person has authority to change His Word. Jim and Phyllida Strickland	5 I can do this because of the partnership (fellowship) we've had with you in the Good News from the first day you believed until now. Philippians 1:5 GW 12 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts--limbs, organs, cells--but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. 13 By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain--his Spirit--where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves--labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free--are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 MSG 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 1 John 1:3-4 NLT 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 NLT 1 After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so He can give glory back to You. John 17:1 NLT 20 "I'm not praying only for them. I'm also praying for those who will believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. John 17:20-21 GW	I can’t remember all the things said to me by my dad, When I was busy growing up and was still just a lad. There’s lots of things he said to me concerning growing up; He laid the first foundation for my drinking from life’s cup. To me he was so special. The wisdom that he shared, Assisted me to know that I’d been properly prepared, To be the sort of father that Jesus Christ desired. And how to be a husband that my precious wife required! If I’d been really diligent, I’d have written in a book, Everything he said. Then I could always take a look, And know without a question, exactly what he said; Before my memory of things had vanished from my head. I should have kept a diary. I should have made a file, To keep all of his sayings in; to look back on and smile. The followers of Jesus, all heard the things He said. But in the course of history, they’d very soon be dead. Their first-hand information would have passed away and gone. They wondered how their followers could ever carry on. And so they started writing on some sort of ancient scroll, The things they could remember deep down within the soul! The task was rather daunting. They had to get it right. It needed to be accurate, so people wouldn’t fight, And say it never happened; or that it wasn’t true. So putting it on “parchment” was the proper thing to do. They had a secret helper who didn’t say a thing. The Holy Spirit prompted them, so that His Words would ring, Forever to His followers in future generations. They’d know they were not reading man’s vain imaginations. And so we have the things He said recorded in a form, That people kept and valued in a way that was the norm. We call it the “New Testament”. It speaks of Jesus’ day; And tells us just what happened as they walked along the way. And now this written record is the Word of God Most High. Nobody may alter it. They mustn’t even try, To change what has been written. To follow and obey, Their thinking of the things they feel that surely it should say! To do what Jesus taught us, will keep us in the light. It’s better to obey the Lord and get our thinking right. For no one has been authorised to change the Words He said. And everyone who does it will suffer when they’re dead. We cannot change the Scripture and think we’ll get away! To mess with what God’s written, will on the Judgement Day, Bring about a sentence too “bad” to think about! A place among the wicked. That’s sure; beyond a doubt. Jim Strickland – Written 19th May 2012