I’ve begun mine again, and I’d like to share three gems I see in today’s reading from Genesis.  I don’t want to keep them to myself!

In Genesis 16 we see the familiar story of Abram and Sarai trying to fulfill God’s promise of a son carnally by Sarai giving Abe her maid, Hagar.  Not a good idea.  The new thing I see here this morning is in verse 9.  Sarai and Hagar had a dispute and Sarai kicked her out of the house and Hagar went into the desert.  Actually Hagar had not done anything wrong but found herself pushed out of the house.  In verse 9 God told her that He would honour her prayers and bless Ishmael but He told her to “return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand.”  Wow!   God honours a situation when we obey Him and in this case it was to be under the authority and covering of Abe and specifically Sarai. We often take too lightly God’s view of submission.

Secondly I love the way God describes Himself in 17:1.  “When Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God (El Shaddai), walk before Me blameless.’”  God is El Shaddai, Almighty God.  Don’t you love the sound of that?  Is He El Shaddai in your eyes?  Later on in 18:14, in response to Sarai’s laughter about the promise of a son, God says “Is anything too hard for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”  Is anything too difficult for the Lord?  Soak in this today for your life.  May our faith rise in 2012 to loving God as El Shaddai.

Lastly, I am going through the 32 hour teaching conference of Henry Wright called “For My Life.”  Today I listened to a teaching on the principality of bitterness.  The teacher taught there were 7 other aspects of this that are demonic areas that need to be dealt with, each getting progressively worse.   If you are interested, here are the seven:

1.  unforgiveness  2.  resentment  3.  retaliation   4.  anger & wrath   5.  hatred    6.  violence    7.  murder

We were also taught that rejection often opens the door to these sins and bondage in our lives.  The situation with Cain and Abel is a good example.  Cain felt rejected by God and took out his resentment on Abel and retaliated against him, ultimately by murdering him.  You can see the progression in Cain’s heart.

Now back to Genesis 17.  Abraham wanted and expected God to fulfill His promise of a son through Ishmael.   God said He would bless Ishmael and multiply him “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac.”  (17:21)  It is easy to see how Hagar and Ishmael would feel a huge rejection from God here.  History shows a similar pattern as Cain.  Ishmael  felt rejected by God and took it out on Isaac and the Jewish people.  This rejection opens the door to Satan coming in with unforgiveness resentment, retaliation, anger/wrath, hatred, violence and ultimately murder.  This gives much light even today to see the hatred and animosity of the Arabs towards the Jews.  The seven steps above are being played out today ending in a spirit of murder towards God’s chosen people, the Jews.  The world stumbles over them and over God’s blessings upon them.  I believe the root problem in the Middle East is not land for peace or battles over borders or walls, but hatred, violence, and murder originating in jealousy and rejection.  The final lesson in this is that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age … (Ephesians 6:12)

This time of year there is so much going on.  It is a busy time of year.  There is increased stress for many, increased burdens and things to be concerned about.  It seems to me this year that there is also increased spiritual activity, both good and bad.

I awoke this morning and felt this way.  Then the Holy Spirit reminded me to bring all of my concerns to Him.  He loves us so much that He is constantly there to receive our concerns and give us His peace, His love, His acceptance, His joy, His forgiveness.  When we see things in ourselves we don’t like (and if we don’t He probably doesn’t either!) then He knows the keys that will free us.  If there are things in us that need to be dealt with and we don’t even know where they come from, He does.

In short:  HE IS OUR EVERYTHING.

Let Jesus be that for you this Christmas.

Along this theme of remembrance, tomorrow, in our Sunday morning service, we will be remembering Edna Waldouck who passed away recently.  She was in her 96th year.  Edna had been with us in our church for 16 years and has many Christian friends in this area.   Sunday will be a time of rejoicing in singing and testimonies of the many memories we all have of her life.

Edna’s memorial service will be at St Michael’s Parish Church in Sunninghill on Monday 21 November at 12:00 noon.  If you knew Edna and would like to come, celebrate her life and pay your respects to her family, please come along.

We see this in Jeremiah 1.  God tells Jeremiah in verse 10 “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”  Wow!  How is that possible?  The answer is in the previous verse:  “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me:  ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.’”

As we fast and pray during this season let us ask the Lord to show us specifically how to pray, what words to pray into situations.  I have already had this experience a couple times in the last week.   Just ask Him to give you the exact way to pray.

In the Old Testament God asked Israel, on one day of the year, to afflict their souls.  (Lev. 16:29 – 34)  This is called the Day of Atonement or Yom Kipper.  In 2011 this falls on Saturday 11 October.  On this day the High Priest would make atonement for all the people of Israel.  This of course Jesus fulfilled as the perfect High Priest.  But there are some keys here that help answer our question about how and why fasting works.

In Lev. 16:31 it says that the children of Israel were to afflict their souls through fasting.  In Psalm 35:13 David says “I humbled myself with fasting.”  Fasting is a manner of humbling ourselves before the Lord.

Fasting is also a way to bring our bodies into subjection (1 Cor. 9:27)  As Derek says “our bodies make wonderful servants but terrible masters.”  (Don’t we all know that?)  In Gal. 5:17 Paul says ““For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” NKJV.

Fasting deals with the two great barriers to the Holy Spirit that are erected by man’s carnal nature.  These are the stubborn self-will of the soul and the insistent self-gratifying appetites of the body.  Rightly practiced fasting brings the soul and body into subjection to the Holy Spirit.  By removing the carnal barriers we are better able to hear the Lord, empower the Holy Spirit to move in our lives, and to pray in perfect accordance with God’ will.

In church on Sunday mornings we have been looking at Ephesians 3:20:  “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,”  The power that works in us is the Holy Spirit of course.  Thus fasting makes a way for the Holy Spirit’s omnipotence to work the Spirit’s “exceedingly abundantly” of God’s promises.

Fasting is part of our arsenal in the things of the Kingdom of God to win our battles, to grow in Christ, to shape history and to draw near to God.  2 Cor. 10:4 says “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds …”

In the current sermon series “Sit Walk Stand” we began with an understanding of the fact that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.  (Ephesians 2:6)  Derek takes pains to develop the scriptural basis for the authority and power God has invested in us believers.  Psalm 110 is the most read Messianic Psalm.  It says Jesus rules in the midst of His enemies.  Jesus has a dual role in heaven — a Kingly role and a Priestly role.  As King He rules and as a Priest He intercedes.  We then are enthroned with Christ in heavenly places.  We are members of a royal priesthood enthroned in Heavenly places with Him.  We too have this dual role now ruling through our prayers and intercessions.

Jeremiah was commissioned by God as follows:  “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant.”  (Jeremiah 1:10)   Amazing!  Verse 9 gives us the key as to how this could be possible:  “The the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said to me:  ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.’”

God wants to use His Church to work and co-labour with Him now.  Let us seek the Lord for His will and His purposes in matters and then arise with the confidence, authority and boldness of being seated in heavenly places to rule and reign with him, praying and interceding for His will and purposes.

A game of poker is first of all gambling, often times having big stakes.  It is also a game of posturing, bluffing and intimidation, not just who has the best cards.  Some of the cards are in view and others are hidden.  You never quite know for sure what your opponent has and what he is going to do.  The game is all about winning the chips that are in the centre of the table, winner take all.

All of these descriptions are self-evident to anyone who is observing the game going on at the UN as the nations are posturing politically with cards that are not in full view — agendas, deception, half-truths, bribes, posturing, intimidation.

Here is the tragedy of the situation.  The pot they are all playing for is the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.  Do they not know that God is involved in all this?  Do they not know that He IS alive and active in the affairs of men and nations!  Yet there is no fear of God.  This is why the situation this week is so critical.  If I read my bible right the nations of the world are playing with fire.  We must pray for them.  I don’t know what should be done, but I do know everyone with a stake in this should be calling out to God for His answer.

Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.”  God is saying all the world is His by right of creation.  He then decided to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his sons Isaac and Jacob.  We read in Psalm 105:7-11:  “He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac, And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,” NKJV.

Psalm 83 has severe warnings to those nations who would “…take crafty counsel against Your people (Israel), and consulted together against Your sheltered ones.  They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

God calls Israel “My land” in Joel 3:2: “I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.”

Again, I don’t know what the nations’ leaders should do but I do know they should be very very careful.  They are playing with fire because God is involved and He has made promises to Israel that stand today.   Our leaders need wisdom from above, as Abraham Lincoln called for.

Let us pray for the fear of God to descend upon the UN.  (“Fear God,” “fear of the Lord,” and “fear of God” appears 52 times in the Bible.)  Proverbs 9:10 sums it all up.  “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Lord we pray for wisdom for the nations of the world this week that comes from a reverential fear of You, Yahweh, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The EU and the Euro are at the breaking point.  Greece is facing default on their debt this week.  Italy may not be far behind.  S & P lowered their rating on Italian debt over night.  The domino effect of these events on the world’s economy could be catastrophic.  I’m even beginning to hear references to the Great Depression era of the 1930′s.

This week’s events at the United Nations in New York are eye-catching.  The politics, the pressure, the arm-twisting surrounding the Palestinian Authority’s plan to ask for a UN vote on an independent Palestinian state is enormous.  World leaders are flying in from every corner of the globe to have their say.  The backroom pressure on the parties must be unbearable.  One commentator said that no one, absolutely no one knows how all this will turn out by the end of the week.

This week alone we have had an earthquake in India, Nepal, and Guatemala.  With all the earthquakes we’ve seen over the past 12 months it seems the earth is literally shaking.

The one truth that brings sense and relevance to all of this is God.  I’m not speaking of any god but the God of the Bible, Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He says through the Old Testament prophet Haggai and the writer of Hebrews (New Testament): “… I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;  and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations.”  and also “Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven.  Yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.  For our God is a consuming fire.”

Everything is being shaken — the nations, the economies, the political landscape, the social fabric, the earth itself.  God Himself is shaking everything.  He is consuming those things that can be shaken.

I might have called this blog “But God.”  All of these current events are troubling and worrisome, even scary  — BUT GOD.   No one seems to know what will happen — BUT GOD.   Nothing seems to make sense anymore — BUT GOD.  No one is in control of things anymore – BUT GOD.

Let us who know God, who are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, pray.  Let us this week pray that all this shaking will cause nations and peoples to turn to the Desire of All Nations.  Let us pray that the Lord will raise up an Abraham Lincoln, a statesman who will have one eye on God and ask Him what to do.  Let us pray that the true Church will arise at this time in prayer and intercession for the purposes of God.  In a phrase:  “Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Derek begins his book with a copy of the words of Abraham Lincoln in a national call to repentance in 1863.  This of course was in the midst of the Civil War.  I repeat below some of the proclamation because it will shock you to hear it.  It is shocking to hear the President of the United States say such things.  We have fallen so far.  Can you imagine a current world leader making such a proclamation? Can you imagine David Cameron or Pres. Obama or any other world leader humble themselves before God?  You will see this proclamation completely fulfills 2 Chronicles 7:14:  ““if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

It is entitled:  “A Proclamation For a Day of National Humiliation Fasting and Prayer”

“Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation:

“And whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:

“And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People?  We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven.  We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity.  We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown.  But we have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious hand  which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!  It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness…”

Wow!  What might happen if our leaders would do this today?  Let us as a church have this attitude and pray to the Lord during this crucial season.

I want to describe the Daniel fast as that is what we are recommending this time.  As I said previously Daniel fasted from the Kings delicacies, from meat and wine.  He ate vegetables and drank water.  This is all we know about the specifics of his fast. (Daniel Chapters 1 and 10)

There is much written and available on the internet about different versions of this.  Basically you eat the foods that grow from the ground and stay away from processed foods.  You abstain from meat, fish, dairy, bread and sweets.  You eat vegetables, grains, legumes, and fruit.  Your protein comes from the legumes and natural peanut butter.  For more detailed information check out these two websites:

www.daniel-fast.com             www.danielfast.wordpress.com

This kind of a fast is a partial fast and is a very healthy way to eat for most people.  A fast should never be harmful to your health, so if you have any concerns you should talk it over with your doctor.  When eating this way for 21 days you will probably experience some detoxing from the caffeine and chemicals in your body.  When my wife and I last did this for ten days we experienced a real boost in our health, lost a little weight, and felt great.

The primary focus is to be spiritual.  During this time make a special effort to draw near to God, listen to Him, and pray.  Many churches do a Daniel fast at the beginning of the year.  We are doing this fast at the beginning of the biblical New Year.  This is a critical hour in the world, for Israel, for the UK, and for many Christians here and around the world.  These next 21 days are a crucial time for Israel and the Jewish people.  Daniel and Esther’s fast were both for God to intervene on behalf of Israel as her enemies were plotting to destroy her.  Little has changed.

We will talk more about this at church Sunday and try to answer questions.