Dayenu–You are enough…

 

Knowing the practices and customs of the peoples of the Bible and reading the Rabbis’ interpretations of some passages of the Old Testament have always greatly enriched my Bible studies. This week, for instance, an article from the Rabbis without borders’ blog has truly edified me: Dayenu – You are enough.

The Dayenu is a prayer which is sung during the Seder. The Seder (Heb: order) itself is a 15-steps Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the celebrations of the Passover, Pessa'h. The goal is for the participants to revive the sudden accession to freedom after years of slavery. The ritual is based on the following commandment: "You shall tell your child on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt,'" Ex 13:8.

Around the end of the fifth step –which retells the story of the Exodus-, songs of praise are sung, including the Dayenu, which praises all that GOD has done for the Israelites.

• If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them, Dayenu, it would have been enough for us!
• If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel, Dayenu, it would have been enough for us!
• If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Temple, Dayenu, it would have been enough for us!

In other words, the Dayenu is a proclamation that, had God performed any single one of the many deeds performed for the Jewish people, it would have been enough to obligate them to give thanks.

What depth and what wisdom! In a society and a Church where GOD is constantly on trial for not doing enough, let’s grab the occasion of the celebration of the LORD’s resurrection, to say: Dayenu!

• If You had died on the Cross for me and done nothing else, it would have been enough for me.
• If You had given me the breath of life and nothing else, it would have been enough for me!
• If You had only given me life/my kids/my job/my spouse/a family/my church/my house/Grace etc., it would have been enough for me!

It is not because we know that GOD can and will always do far more abundantly than what we think, ask or hope for, that we can dare not to appreciate EVERYTHING that He has already done for us. This would be the worst form of ungratefulness. He loves us; and even if He were never to do anything else, we should acknowledge that He has even done more than enough already and what He has done is priceless.

Let’s forget our requests for a while; let’s forget what we still want to obtain from Him. Let us consider the fact that He triumphantly faced death and the powers of darkness so that they would no longer have any power over us and let our whole being shout: Dayenu!

Happy Easter and GOD bless you!

Using the power (2)

 

I thought I was through with this article last week, but the LORD was obviously not. He reminded me that another reason why Christians lack power is because they are not known in the spirit realm. Tough they have been Christians for ages, they still haven’t succeeded in making a name for themselves. Do you remember the sons of Sceva? These seven young men thought they could cast out demons by adjuring them "by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims". Bad thinking! One evil spirit told them: “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” before leaping on them and giving them a memorable trashing, tearing their clothes apart (Ac 19:13-16).

Like them, many Christians are regularly beaten by life situations that they attempt to tackle. The evil spirits, princes, and powers ruling over their children, spouse, family, neighbourhood, nation, enterprise etc. have so molested them when they tried to resist them, that they no longer dare raise their little finger. Yes, they know Jesus heals and delivers, but they just no longer believe He can/wants to do it through them.

“Paul I recognise, but who are you?” These young men were not known in the realm of the spirit. We all probably know someone whose presence is equivalent to their absence. Whether they are there or not, there is no difference because they make no tangible/visible impact on their environment/entourage.

In one of her recent posts, my pastor writes how she asked her children why they were describing one their schoolmates as ‘average’. Her son explained that he had been with this guy in the same school for over six years and during that period, the guy sat by him me in the class a few times and yet, over 5 times, he found himself saying: “Hello, I am A., and you? Are you new here?” The pastor told him that maybe the problem was not the guy’s ‘averageness’, but rather his tendency to forget his year mates too quickly. To which his sister objected saying that one had to be forgettable to be forgotten!

Do you carry weight in the spirit realm or are you just average? Do angels and demons notice your presence or they have long since forgotten about you?

• Abraham was known in the spirit realm. Angels would regularly do spiritual transactions with him and the heavens would not hide even the imminence of Sodom’s doom to him (Gen 18).
• Jacob was also well known. He wrestled with ‘GOD’, with spiritual powers, and was a victor (Gen 32:24ff).
• Daniel and his friends were also known in the spirit realm. Angels made sure they were not harmed by the fire and the lions. When a prince of darkness tried to stop GOD’s blessings to reach Daniel, a chief angel was sent to unlock the situation (Dan 3:25, 6:22 & 10:12-13).
• Jesus was known in the spirit realm. He just had to show up somewhere for demons to start begging (Mk 1:24 & 5:7).
• Stephen was known: Jesus Himself stood up in the heavens to welcome him (Ac 7:55).
• Peter was also known in those circles: angels would lead him out of prisons (Ac 12).
• Not to mention Paul who had already visited the third heaven (2Cor 12)!

Studying their lives can help us understand how to make a name for ourselves in the spirit realm; how we can speak to any mountain or demonic situation in our life without hearing them say back to us: “Who are you to talk to me like that?” The whole Creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of GOD, i.e. : people who will show forth the divinity and subdue all things.

However, it is worth not losing sight of the fact that the ultimate goal of the Christian life is not power and authority, but salvation which is, spending eternity in GOD’s blessed presence. Thus, when the 70 disciples came back excited that even demons were subject to them, Jesus asked them not to rejoice for such trivialities, but to rejoice that their names were written in heaven (Lk 10:17-20). This was the real thing.

Have a great week and God bless you!

Using the power

 

Speaking of the Light of the world, the Word, the Christ, the Apostle John wrote (Jn. 1:11-12, KJV): “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” The Darby and others have, “…to them gave he the right to be children of God.”

Speaking to His disciples, Jesus also said: “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” Lk 10:19

If this is the case, if we Christians are to tread over ALL the power of the enemy, why then are there so much defeats, defeatism and hopelessness in the lives of many of us?

He gave the power… Have they all used it? After the two months following the presidential election In the USA, although he now bears the title of President-Elect and his life has totally changed (bodyguards, honours etc.), as long as he is not sworn into office, he can hardly decide on any important thing. In other words, what is power if it cannot be (is not) used?

Besides, the transfer of power to someone after an election is not enough to make a great Head of State out of them. It simply gives them the opportunity to become one. Every Christian has been given the power to become a child of GOD, but nothing says they will actually ever become one. The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:19). The potential is there, but the revelation of this potential –the expression of the Kingdom of GOD- may never be manifested.

He gave the right… Have they all realised it? Have they all enjoyed it? Like the brother of the prodigal son (Lk 15), many do not realise that they have the right to… and they don’t enjoy it. The elder brother of the prodigal son did not understand that EVERYTHING was his and that he only had to say a word and the servants – Creation, nature, angels and demons- would have immediately executed it. He did not know the difference between him, the heir, and his rich father’s servants/slaves. He was totally unaware of the fact that he could have a party with his friends every month if he wanted, without having to justify it. Unfortunately, this is also the sad condition of many Christians today.

Movies aside, it is not enough to wear a policeman’s uniform to work as one. It takes more than wearing a surgeon’s clothes to perform an operation on people. As the saying goes, it is not the cowl that makes the friar. If a policeman walks into a pub where people are fighting and breaking everything, everyone will stop and expect arrests. However, if the officer goes to the counter to order a drink and looks overwhelmed by the situation in spite of all the signs of power and authority on him, then, something is utterly wrong and the bedlam will quickly resume. This is what the world, angels and demons witness whenever a Christian doesn’t use the authority that he is invested with to bring order and peace back around him.

Paul said that GOD has raised us up with Christ Jesus and seated us with Him in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6). This is our position. If somebody is looking for us, they need to lift their eyes up to heaven where we are seated in Christ Jesus and wherefrom we look down on/at everything. From that exalted and high position, if we stand, we’ll tread on everything, automatically, just as Jesus said. How then can people as highly seated and as much hidden and protected, tremble before the enemy and panic in front of problems? Ignorance and lack of faith will lead us to this absurdity.

It is worthless having salt or a powerful lamp at home if you never use them. When you believed in the Lord Jesus, you received the power –the policeman’s uniform, the magistrate’s gown, the doctor's smock – to become a child of GOD. However, you’ll truly become one when you use the power invested on you, when you use your salt to stop the corruption and preserve the lives of many around you, and when you put your lamp where it can shine for many. Once again, the Word of GOD has come to His own, it has come to you; are you going to receive it so that you can become? Are you going to use the power that it is giving you?

Have a ‘wonderblessed’ week, basking in His presence and using the power He has entrusted you with.

The hidden treasure…

 

If a billionaire was to tell the residents of a certain neighbourhood that he has hidden $2 million in one of their public parks and that the treasure would be given to anyone who finds it, every nook and corner of all the parks would be thoroughly searched. People will even be willing to take a few days off their normal schedule for this purpose. Indeed, why would anyone continue to work with $2 million in their pocket?

Well, GOD is more than any billionaire and there is more than $2 millions hidden in the Bible. It has the keys that give access to anything that we could ever desire. Paradoxically, when it comes to scanning its pages in order to discover these keys, we are far less zealous than we would be if we were to look for the millions in a park. Why is it the case?

The first reason to this is unbelief. Most people do not really believe that there is anything worth more than $2 millions in the Bible. They are not absolutely convinced that the Bible can help them get the spouse, the job, the business, the family, the money, the car or the health they are looking for. The Roman soldier could say (Mat 8:8): “Only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” But people do not understand how powerful a (biblical) word is. Yet, Jesus said: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (Jn 6.63). In other words, “There is enough Breath of GOD backing every word of Mine to trigger/create the life you want: abundant life.” Unfortunately, this is so simple that people find it hard to believe.

The second reason is ignorance. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” the Bible says (Ho 4:6). Ignorance kills. People live in lack and do not prosper because they simply are not aware that the Bible contains a treasure, their treasure. The brother of the prodigal son did not know that ALL that his father had was his and he lived with him as if he was not entitled to anything. Read this story with me.* In 1957, the construction of a motorway forced the relocation of an entire monastery. As a result, the monks had to move the massive clay Buddha that they worshipped in the temple. During these operations, the statue, which was very heavy, cracked in different places. Then, it started to rain. So, the abbot decided to put the statue back on its base and cover it with a tarp to protect it. During the night, he came to inspect the installation. As he walked the beam of his flashlight on the statue, a shiny point caught his attention. Looking closely, he understood that there was another material underneath the clay and began to break it. After a few hours, he came face to face with a solid gold Buddha. It seems as though many years ago, some monks had decided to hide their precious Buddha under a thick layer of mud – maybe to protect it from thieves- and they all died with their secret.

Similarly, the LORD has hidden gold, diamonds and all sorts of precious stones within the pages of the Bible. However, to many, it is just a boring and obsolete book. What a pity!

Finally, people do not study their Bible because of laziness. Many are those who know that it holds the keys to their emancipation and happiness, but they are too lazy to bother to read every page and scan every line to find the key verse they need. People want shortcuts. They want someone else to do the job for them. It's like someone who is overweight and who knows that he/she should be doing some exercise but they don’t because it is too strenuous for them. They’d rather drink a miraculous tea to make all the excess weight to disappear.

According to my pastor, if you can still enjoy a deep sleep, then you don’t have great goals for your life, because if you did, you would hardly sleep. In the same spirit, I feel like saying that you do not really want to prosper yet. The day your prosperity, success or future is going to become a serious matter; you’ll lose your sleep and search/cram the Scriptures. I wholeheartedly pray for that moment to be ‘NOW.’

Have a great week and God bless you.

(*http://www.interbible.org/interBible/cithare/intuitions/2007/int_070508.htm – translated from French)

God is not in control… :-o !!!

 

I won’t try to be original today. I read an article last week that I liked and want to share some of the lines with you. The title is: “Don’t worry, God is not in control.” I received it as a newsletter from one Scottish ministry that I follow, New Wine Church.

I feel like stopping here and letting you wonder what’s got into them and into me as well, for even repeating such a thing; but I will not let you mull over it. I just liked the article because it was in line with a book by Kenneth W. Hagin that I read last week, “Create the world you want to see” and also in line with one of my bedside books: “Commanding your morning” by Cindy Trimm.

The author wrote that God knows our needs and as the responsible Father that He is, has already made provision for them all (Mat 6:7-13, 25-34). However, our seeking and asking are the controlling factors in regards to what we receive from that provision. Hence the importance of faith which is: accepting, holding what the Bible says as true and behaving accordingly.

He went on saying that there is something about simplicity that seems to injure man’s pride and provokes him to formulate more and more complex and difficult to understand theological concepts that remove people from the everyday experience of the fullness of the provision of a Father for his children.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 3:23

The gift of God is life: abundant life, in quality and in quantity. Life is the gift and faith is how we live the life! If it’s not by faith then it’s not really living! We were created to live by faith - faith that asks, seeks, and knocks - faith that receives, finds, and opens (Mat 7.7-11).

Creation is submitted to us. We have dominion (Gen 1.26, Rom 8.19-21). If it is not working it is because we are out of alignment with our Supplier and so the provision isn’t getting through.

Imagine that you are given a key of a storehouse which contains the answer to everything you would ever possibly need: food, clothing, cars, houses, jobs, money, marriage, children etc. You have the key; so, it is up to you to determine whether and when you want to go in, what you want to take and in which quantity you want it. Faith is that key.

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble… Give us this day our daily bread...” (Mat 6:34, 11)

Let us seek the Kingdom! Let’s not worry; God is not in control and withholding His blessing from us. He loves us and has already made full provision for all of our needs. He is in sovereign charge - but not in control, because He has sovereignly chosen to give us control in regards to accessing that provision! The supply is controlled by our faith, which works through the understanding and the revelation of how much our Father loves us.

You can read the whole article here.

Take control of your week and God bless you.