God's Mysteries

 Are you a child of God? Are you a beloved son or daughter of the great Creator?
Or are you a lost orphan in a confusing world? Are you not sure where you will end up after you die?

God has a secret that he wants to share with you. It is well known and by no means hidden, but it is a secret because it is only revealed to those who want to love God with childlike trust.

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 1 Cor 2:9–10 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

If you respond to the sacrificial death of the Son of God is given a whole new spiritual life, with the ability to perceive and receive the spiritual gifts of God.

Does this world need saving? Environmental activists warn us that our planet is perishing. We are like children who soil our own bed.

God will restore this planet in the end.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. Rev 21:1 NIV

But God doesn't just want to restore his creation. He has a plan to save you and me, to give us an imperishable future.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Jn 5:24 NIV

The key to God's new world is faith, but what is faith?

You may have been taught Biblical doctrines as a child, but faith is not just agreeing with facts. It is personally trusting in God and experiencing God’s presence in your life.

Father God did not send his eternal Son into this world just to start a religion.

When Jesus was 30 years old, he began to proclaim the love of the heavenly Father, but not just to preach, but to save people from impossible problems.

And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10:38 NLT

Yes, there is a devil. The cruel horrors in this world do not come from God. We have an enemy, an invisible enemy, who makes us sick, who wants to deceive us so that we blame God for our sickness.
But then sceptical thoughts arise. This is too radical, too extreme. It's too good to be true?

Where do these thoughts come from? Perhaps from the no longer Christian world, but perhaps from the religious Christian tradition, from a watered-down version of the gospel.

Are you perhaps not sure what to believe? Why don't you ask God himself? He is not deaf and not dumb.

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NRSV

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NIV

Are You Ready for the Coming of Jesus?

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 20–21 NIV

It is so important to build yourself up in your faith. So many of us are too dependent on others for our spiritual inspiration. This is a sign of spiritual immaturity, but many Christians have been this way for years.

It's not wrong to ask a pastor or evangelist to pray for you.

But the Bible speaks over and over about your faith, your prayer, your devotion.

These two verses talk about your holy faith.
This includes your holy faith, your prayer in the Holy Spirit, how you keep yourself in the love of God, how you prepare yourself for the return of the Lord Jesus.

This text is not only meant for the church, but also for each individual Christian.

• You must build up your holy faith.

• God wants to hear your prayers.

• You must keep yourself in the love of God.

I love events where the blessing of the Holy Spirit flows, and my faith is inspired by the faith of others.

But neither Jesus nor Paul ever described the Christian life as a series of blessed meetings.

• Are you ready to stand before Jesus when he returns?

• Will Jesus ask how often you have been to church?

• Will Jesus ask if you have always been a good member of a church?

A very active young member of the church felt frustrated because his busy life made it difficult to spend quality time with non-Christians and he realised that he was not reaching out to people who needed Jesus.

He arranged to spend some time with a friend who didn't know Jesus, but this meant missing one of the several weekly church meetings he normally attended. His absence was interpreted as unfaithfulness by his group leader.

Unfortunately, this pressure to conform to church expectations is not uncommon. This religious pressure creates a powerless Christianity.

If you are constantly trying to please other Christians, it affects your relationship with God.

Jesus said:

How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Jn 5:44 NIV 

In Matthew 13, Jesus explains how the gospel is like seed. He who believes is like a plant from the seed.

“The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. Mt 13:20–21 NASB95

In difficult times, many Christians withdraw from the faith. What determines your destiny is not your regular attendance at church or your ministry in the church.

How is your time with God in your bedroom? 

Personal Encounters with Jesus

 Many people think they are Christians, but they don't know Jesus. True Christianity means knowing God personally and voluntarily allowing him to change your life from the inside out.

For God took the sinless Christ and poured our sins into him. In exchange, he then poured God's goodness into us! 2 Corinthians 5:21 (TLB)

God wants to do all this for you and then take you on a journey through a new life that never ends.

It all begins with a supernatural personal encounter with Jesus, the Son of God. He is here with you now. He died, but he came back to life and his love now fills the universe.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. Re 3:20 NRSV

A Muslim woman in Iran was watching a Christian television program and heard this message. She heard a knock at her door, and when she answered it, she saw Jesus standing there, a glorious man in a brilliant white robe. She invited him in and offered him something to eat.

That night, Jesus came into her life.

Whether you see Jesus with your natural eyes or not, makes no difference to the spiritual reality of his presence and his love for you.

When Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross, he paid the penalty for our sins, but he did not remain dead. As a real man, Jesus sacrificed his life for us, but as God he could not remain dead. God is eternal, and his supernatural life is an unquenchable fire.

When Jesus returned to life, he appeared to his disciples. Thomas was not with them and did not want to believe the story.

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Jn 20:28–29 NRSV

Hiding from God

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Ge 3:8 NIV

We are often like Adam and Eve. God wants to go for a walk with you and with me.

He also wants to have a deep friendship with you, but you hide.

We all hide sometimes.

Some hide behind intellectual objections or philosophical systems of thought.

We study theology and want to understand God as a concept, but no longer know him as Father and Friend.

Some hide behind activities in the church.

They want to prove themselves as good Christians and be recognised. But God does not want good Christians, but dear children and friends.   

Some strive for Bible knowledge and hide behind Bible texts.

But Paul said:
Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
But whoever loves God is known by God. 1 Co 8:2–3 NIV

Jesus also said:
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,

yet you refuse to come to me to have life. Jn 5:39–40 NIV

Some hide behind virtue and righteousness, but Jesus wants nothing to do with self-righteousness.

Some hide behind humility. They think and perhaps even say: ‘I am nothing, I can do nothing.’

Jesus told us about one such negative person.

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
But the Lord condemned the man who only appeared to be humble. Mt 25:24–25 NIV

What is true humility?

Jesus is our role model. He was and remains today the Eternal Son of God, God the Son, God who knows everything and understands everything.

But then he made himself small, weak and vulnerable. The Eternal Son of God became a human baby.

Jesus became like you and me, small, with limited intelligence. He had to grow up and learn step by step, just like us.

But he was totally open to his Heavenly Father. He lived in communion with the Father.
We can learn humility from the Christmas story.

We are all like Adam and Eve, who did not trust God, who did not believe God's word, who did not follow God's instructions.

We are all like Adam and Eve, who were ashamed and tried to hide in God's garden.

But you cannot hide from God. He sees everything and still loves you unconditionally.

He wants to find you in your hiding place, but not to punish you, but to love you and set you free.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Mt 11:28–29 NIV

Have you ever felt the need to meet God in person but felt as if God was trying to hide Himself from you?

Is it possible that God is not hiding Himself, but that you are hiding yourself from Him?

But perhaps sometimes God hides Himself, not so that you will not find Him, but so that you will seek Him and then find Him.