IN CHRIST – It Is Finished

Faith understands….

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. ~ Hebrews 11:3

I love this verse! First it tells us that faith understands. We know through Paul’s teachings that the faith we live by is not our own but it is Jesus’ faith in us. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Our faith is His faith. His faith in us understands! What does faith understand?

That the worlds were framed by the word of God. God spoke the worlds into existence. Genesis 1:1-2: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. There is so much in these verses! Some rabbi’s spend their entire lives studying Genesis 1:1. That’s what I love about the Hebrew language, it is a rich, meaningful language with layers and layers of meaning.

In Hebrew there are four levels of Scripture interpretation called Pardes. Pardes in Hebrew means orchard or paradise. It is an acroynm spelling: peshat (simple or direct meaning); remez (meaning hint — the deep, hidden meaning just beyond the literal sense); d’rash (meaning inquire or seek — drawn out meaning of the verse, interpretive meaning; and finally sod (meaning secret — a mystery hidden and only revealed by revelation of the Spirit). As a rule, the remez, d’rash, and sod interpretations never contradict the peshat – the simple, plain, direct meaning.

Today I don’t want to get in a deep study of it, I just want to look at the surface level of it. What I believe is the peshat of this verse.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and we know from later accounts of creation, ALL that He created is good. But in verse 2 we are told that the earth was without form and void. Without form and void in Hebrew is “tohu v’bohu.” It refers to something with no shape and no definition. Living Bible say “a shapeless chaotic mass.” The Voice translation says it lacked shape, was totally empty and had a dark fog. Then in the rest of Genesis 1 God takes the chaos, the dark fog, the formless and emptiness and brings order to it. Makes it into what He purposed for it. He takes it and makes it what He “created” in Genesis 1:1…. what He chose (bara in Hebrew). He did that with words…. Genesis 1:3: And God said! He commanded, He declared.

Faith understands that! God spoke order into the chaos, the fog and the emptiness… into the tohu v’bohu. Speak is rhema in Hebrews 11:3. We are speaking spirits, created in the image of our Daddy. Co-speaking just like Him. Forming our worlds just like Him. He formed the world to look like what He created it to look like… taking the not (the tohu v’bohu) and the dark and making them seen. Forming them from the Light He spoke into them.

I love that the Greek word for formed in this verse is katartizo. It is two words… kata meaning down and artizo meaning to adjust. It is to adjust to be in good working order (which is tov in Hebrew! Everything God created He said was tov.. it was good!). It is to adjust to make fully functioning… to mend and to restore. The root of this word is my favorite! It is viewed in terms of the present… the here and now! Complete, perfect, ready NOW!

Romans 10:8 connects the rhema to faith just like here in Hebrews 11. It says the rhema is the spoken word (rhema) of faith. Sometimes our worlds do not look like what God created them to look like. They don’t look like what He has said about us… that in Christ we lack no good thing. That we are saved: healed, delivered and made whole in every area of our life (spiritual, physical, mental, social and financial.) Sometimes, our lives look chaotic and empty. Lacking. It seems like we’re in a fog sometimes and can’t see the promises of God.

But faith understands! It understands that God spoke to and formed out of nothing what we can see with our eyes. Faith understands that just like our Daddy we are speaking spirits and can do the same thing. Speaking His words (rhema) of faith… calling forth those things that be nought as though they were.

We don’t have to wait til someday when we get to Heaven to see the manifestation of things like healing, abundance, restored relationships, wholeness in every are of our life, etc. Faith is NOW! And according to Hebrews 11:3 forming our worlds by our words (like our Daddy) also results in NOW!

Our words are powerful… and faith understands that. Jesus said in Luke 6:45b out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. He said that after he just said that out of the treasure (storehouse) of your heart you will bring forth good things. Bring forth is prophero meaning to move something to necessary manifestation! How do we move something to necessary manifestation? Through our words which speak and Heb 11:3 tells us that forming is rooted in the NOW… we can see it here in our lifetime.

Our words speak forth what is stored in our hearts. His faith is stored in our hearts! We don’t have to rely on our own faith… we simply, like Paul, live our new lives by the faith OF the Son of God. Resting in His faith! Speaking forth His faith! Saying what He knows to be true about us. Forming our (NOW) world by speaking words of faith that say…..

I am righteous

I am holy

I am complete in Him

I have abundant life!

I am filled to the FULL with the FULLNESS of the Godhead!

He is the Health of my body!

I have ALL things that pertain to life and godliness!

I am saved – healed, delivered and whole in all the 5 areas of life… physical, spiritual, mental, social and financial!

I have NO lack!

I walk in favor!

This is what faith… His faith in you.. understands! I challenge you to go find out what God says about you and begin to speak it forth and watch the manifestation of His abundant life begin to form your world in this lifetime!

Because faith understands that just like Abba framed the worlds by His words….we also frame our world by our words!

~ Robin

Speaking Spirit

Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children….. Ephesians 5:1

We are to be imitators of God. Mimic Him. Imitate the pattern He has set. The amplified version says to imitate Him as well-beloved children imitate their fathers. The Message Bible says watch what God does, and then you do it. Like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.

I love that this verse starts with BE… just BE an imitator. You don’t have to work at it. You don’t have to practice it. You just have to BE. BE who you are IN CHRIST. You were made in the image and likeness of God. Genesis 2:7 says that He breathed life into man and he became a living being. In the Targum (the Aramaic translation of the Old Testament), the Jewish sages have translated “living being” as “speaking spirit.” He made us a speaking spirit….. made in His image….. to create our world through our words, just like Him.

Romans 4:17 says God calls those things that are not into existence…. He calls them – He calls aloud, utters in a loud voice, He calls them by name. Mark 11:22-23 shows us that God’s faith “speaks.” Job 22:28 says “you shall decree a thing and it shall be established.” And of course, one of my favorites is 2 Cor 4:13 But having the same spirit of faith according to that having been written: “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we also believe and therefore speak.

God is a speaker! He spoke everything we see around us into existence. Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. This is the faith chapter! It says faith understands…. it understands that the worlds were framed by the word of God. The word of God is the rhema word. The spoken word. Faith understands that the spoken word contains power to frame the worlds…. to accomplish or bring to pass what is spoken.

The word in Hebrew is dabar and is more than just the spoken word, it’s an act… something carried out or completed. Dabar is not just sounds… it’s words that have within them the energy or power to accomplish what is said. God said “Let there be light. And there was light” “We lay hands on the sick and say be healed. And they are healed.” We are speaking spirits just like our Daddy! The words we speak carry within them the power to accomplish what was spoken.

Isaiah 38:7b says “…… that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;” In Hebrew it says Yahweh will do this. Yahweh is the Covenant Name. It is the unspoken name in Hebrew. Instead of Yahweh, ancient Jews and conservative modern ones say Ha’Shem… The Name! This Name was so sacred that they would not speak it nor would they write it in full (they left out the vowels: YHWH). YAHWEH was the Holy One of Israel. In Hebrew it is spelled Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, which means Behold (Hey) the Nails (Vav), Behold (Hey) the Hands (Yod). Yahweh is Yeshua…. He is Jesus!

Then it says in Isaiah 38:7b, Yahweh (Jesus) will do that. What will Yahweh do? The rest of the verse tells us, this thing that is spoken (dabar). But right between “Yahweh will do” and “this thing that is spoken” is the untranslatable Hebrew word “et.” In modern Hebrew grammar it is a direct object marker, pointing out the subject of the sentence. But I believe that it is actually direct object marker pointing to Jesus. Alef tav in Hebrew is alef – the beginning letter of the alphabet and tav – the last letter of the alphabet. Jesus said He is the Alpha Omega… the beginning and the end in Greek. In Hebrew He would be the Alef Tav. It also means power of the Cross or power of the covenant. This little word “et” is scattered all throughout the Old Testament in various places. It’s an identity marker. A road sign if you will, alerting you to a New Covenant truth in the verse…. alerting you to God’s heartbeat. It is an object marker, so to speak, directing you to the Object – Jesus!

John 14:13a says And whatever you might ask in My name, this I will do. Whatever you ask… whatever you call for. It also means whatever you understand. Remember Hebrews 11:3 says “faith understands that the worlds were framed by God’s spoken word.” Faith in us (His faith) understands that we are made in His image and likeness, and in Christ our worlds are framed by our spoken words. They have the power to accomplish what we say!

Let’s read Isaiah 38:7b in light of John 14:13 and include the alef tav marking. Yahweh will do this thing that is spoken (by us) IN CHRIST. We are in Christ and what we speak has power! We are speaking spirits just like our Daddy.

Prov 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of our tongue. One meaning of power is border. I like that… it’s within the “borders” of our tongue.. our words, what we say! One of the synonyms of border is hem. Hem yourself in with the IT IS FINISHED!!

A border is an edge or boundary of something. So begin speaking and framing your world with this as your border…… IT IS FINISHED!

I am healed!

I am righteous!

I am holy!

I am loved!

I am complete!

I am as He is in this world!

I am prosperous!

I am delivered!

I am FREE!

I am whole in every area of life – spiritual, physical, mental, social and financial!

There is nothing missing and nothing broken in my life!

I am favored, I have favor and I continually walk in favor!

I have ALL things that pertain to life and godliness!

I am more than a conqueror!

I have the FULLNESS of the Godhead in me!

I am anointed and know all things!

I am love!

I am good!

I am IN CHRIST!

I am co-crucified, co-buried, co-resurrected and co-ascended with Christ!

I am co-seated with Christ in heavenly places!

I reign in this life through the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace!

I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ!

~ Robin

In Him Scriptures

IN HIM SCRIPTURES

In Christ

Rom 3:24; Gal 2:4; Col 1:28

Rom 8:1; Gal 3:26; 1 Thess 4:16

Rom 8:2; Gal 3:28; 1 Thess 5:18

Rom 12:5; Gal 5:6; 1 Tim 1:14

1 Cor 1:2; Gal 6:15; 2 Tim 1:9

1 Cor 1:30; Eph 1:3; 2 Tim 1:13

1 Cor 15:22; Eph 1:10;; 2 Tim 2:1

2 Cor 1:21; Eph 2:6; 2 Tim 2:10

2 Cor 2:14; Eph 2:10; 2 Tim 3:15

2 Cor 3:14; Eph 2:13; Philemon 1:6

2 Cor 5:17; Eph 3:6; 2 Pe 1:8

2 Cor 5:19; Phil 3:13-14; 2 Jn 1:9

In Him

Acts 17:28; Col 2:6; 1 Jn 3:3

John 1:4; Col 2:7; 1 Jn 3:5

John 3:15-16; Col 2:10; 1 Jn 3:6

2 Cor 1:20; 1 Jn 2:5; 1 Jn 3:24

2 Cor 5:21; 1 Jn 2:6; 1 Jn 4:13

Eph 1:4; 1 Jn 2:8; 1 Jn 5:14-15

Eph 1:10; 1 Jn 2:27; 1 Jn 5:20

Phil 3:9; 1 Jn 2:28

In the Beloved

Eph 1:6

In the Lord

Eph 5:8; Eph 6:10

In Whom

Eph 1:7; Eph 2:22; Col 2:11

Eph 1:11; Eph 3:12; 1 Pe 1:8

Eph 1:13; Col 1:14

Eph 2:21; Col 2:3

By Christ

Rom 3:22; 2 Cor 5:18; 1 Pe 1:3

Rom 5:15; Gal 2:16; 1 Pe 2:5

Rom 5:17-19; Eph 1:5; 1 Pe 5:10

Rom 7:4; Phil 1:11

1 Cor 1:4; Phil 4:19

By Him

1 Cor 1:5; Col 1:17; Heb 7:25

1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:20; Heb 13:15

Col 1:16; Col 3:17; 1 Pe 1:21

By Himself

Heb 1:3; Heb 9:26

By His Blood

Heb 9:11-15; Heb 10:19-20; 1 Jn 1:7

Heb 9:14-15

By Whom

Rom 5:2; Rom 5:11; Gal 6:14

From Whom

Eph 4:16; Col 2:19

Of Christ

2 Cor 2:15; Col 2:17; Col 3:24

Phil 3:12

Of Him

1 Jn 1:5; 1 Jn 2:27

Through Christ

Rom 5:1; 1 Cor 15:57; Phil 4:6-7

Rom 5:11; Gal 3:13-14; Phil 4:13

Rom 6:11; Gal 4:7; Heb 10:10

Rom 6:23; Eph 2:7; Heb 13:20-21

Through Him

Jn 3:17; Rom 8:37; 1 Jn 4:9

Rom 5:9

With Christ

Rom 6:8; Eph 2:5; Col 3:1

Gal 2:20; Col 2:20; Col 3:3

With Him

Rom 6:4; Rom 8:32; Col 2:13-15

Rom 6:6; 2 Cor 13:4; Col 3:4

Rom 6:8; Col 2:12; 2 Tim 2:11-12

By Me

John 6:57; John 14:6

In Me

John 6:56; John 15:4-5 ; John 16:33

John 14:20; John 15:7-8

In My Love

John 15:9

In His Name

Matt 18:20; John 14:13-14; 1 Cor 6:11

Mark 16:17-18; John 16:23-24

These verses do not use the specific phrases In Him but they convey the message of who you are, what you are, or what you have because of Christ (a partial listing only)

Matt 8:17; Gal 5:1; Heb 13:5-6

Matt 11:28-30; Phil 2:5; Heb 13:8

Matt 18:11; Phil 2:13; James 4:7

Matt 18:18-20; Col 1:13; 1 Pet 2:9

Matt 28:18-20; Col 1:26-27; 1 Pe 2:21

Mark 1:8; Titus 2:14; 1 Pe 3:18

Mark 9:23; Titus 3:7; 1 Pe 5:7

Mark 11:23-24; Heb 2:9-11; 1 Jn 1:9

Luke 10:19; Heb 2:14-15; 1 Jn 2:1

John 4:14; Heb 2:18; 1 Jn 3:2

John 6:40; Heb 4:14-16; 1 Jn 3:14

John 10:10; Heb 7:19,22; 1 Jn 4:4

John 14:12; Heb 8:6; 1 Jn 4:10

John 14:23; Heb 9:24; 1 Jn 4:15

John 17:23; Heb 9:28; 1 Jn 5:1, 4-5

Gal 3:29; Heb 10:14; 1 Jn 5:11-12

Rev 1:5-6

Led by the Spirit

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. ~ Galatians 5:18

I love this verse!

This verse begins with the conjunction if. If is a conditional word, which seems to imply that if I do something, then something will happen. But not all Greek conditions work like that.

If” in the Greek is the word “ei” and it is a first class conditional conjunction or a simple condition conjunction. It is based on the assumption of reality that invites the reader into the conversation, rather than just lecturing to him.

Because I had always read “conditional conjunctions” as “if and then” statements, my focus was constant introspection. Making sure I was always allowing Holy Spirit to lead me. Not straying from that leading. So that He wouldn’t have to tug and pull to get my cooperation. It was self-works on my part.

But Paul was inviting the reader into a dialogue… encouraging them to come to the conclusion of what was already true about their new life IN CHRIST.

When he said to the Galatians “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law”, the audience would most likely respond along these lines: “If we’re led by the Spirit of God? He dwells in us! Of course, He leads us! And since that’s true, this means that we are not under Law.” Remarkable!”

So our response should be….. because the Spirit dwells in me, I’m led by Him, and therefore I’m free from the bondage of the law.

The other thing I like about this verse is the word led. The word “led” is the Greek word ago, which described the act of leading about an animal, such as a cow or a goat, at the end of a rope. The owner would wrap a rope around the animal’s neck and then “tug” and “pull” until the animal started to follow him. When the animal decided to cooperate and follow that gentle tug, it could then be gently “led” to where its owner wanted it to go.

Although the New Testament is written in Greek, Paul was Jewish and had a Hebraic way of thinking. Tugging and pulling at my heart until I cooperate so that He can gently lead me where He wants me to go is not a very accurate picture of how Holy Spirit leads us. It’s not the Hebraic mindset of leading.

The Hebrew word for lead is “nachal” meaning to lead or to rest. The more literal meaning of this word is a combination of both of these ideas — leading to a place of rest.

I love that! It is to lead one to a place of rest. Striving and bondage describe the yoke of the law – the yoke of the works of the flesh. Rest describes the yoke of Jesus – the yoke of grace. That is a more accurate description of Holy Spirit’s leading. He leads us to a place of rest.

Verse 18 really is an identity verse… telling us who we are and what our new life in the Spirit looks like

But the Spirit has led you to a place of rest, a refreshing place, free from the law and its fearful bondage.

So in verse 16 and 17, Paul told us that walking by the Spirit you will not fulfill the lusts (the desires of the flesh) and that the flesh opposes the desires of the Spirit. But before you can begin to feel like “oh man, I better make sure I’m ALWAYS walking in the Spirit or my flesh will take over”… or “I better DO this or else.” Before you can camp out in that condemning thought of “if and then,” he reminds us of who we are IN CHRIST and what the benefit of being IN CHRIST means in your new life….

But the Spirit has led you to a place of rest, a refreshing place, free from the law and its fearful bondage. Freedom from carrying out the desires of the flesh. He leads us to rest in the finished work of Jesus.

Oh, what freedom is released in that one simple statement. The more I’m understanding and resting in the finished work of Jesus, the more I’m seeing Scriptures more clearly. I’m no longer seeing them as rules and conditions or things I must do in order to please my Father and receive all He has for me. But rather as freedom. Freedom to live this new life IN HIM and as an expression OF HIM.

~ Robin

God’s great mercy………

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them. ~ Genesis 1:27

made in his image

That has become one of my favorite verses lately. It’s our blueprint… our original design. No matter what mankind may look like on the outside, no matter what sins we may commit, this is truly who we were created to be and how God sees us – because He always sees us according to our potential in Him not as we are at the moment.

The very first man walked in that design, and all mankind afterward were supposed to walk in the same pattern. But although Adam was created in that design and walked in it for at least a few days, he sinned and introduced sin and consequently death into ALL the world.

SIN DIDN’T MAKE US SINNERS

All men born after him forgot they were born in God’s likeness and image. Adam gave birth to Seth and in the verse the order is reversed… instead of image and likeness it says likeness and image. I believe that reveals man’s distorted view of who they were. Genesis 5:3 “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Sin had been introduced into the world through Adam’s disobedience.

Sin in the Greek is hamartia and means to miss the mark. To sin is to behave out of tune with God’s original harmony. It is to believe a lie about ourselves. It is to miss out on sonship. Sonship is our blueprint… our true, original, chosen design. Ephesians 1:5 “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…”

God’s timing was absolutely perfect.

He always had a plan to redeem us. He had found us in Christ before He lost us in Adam! Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” He always loved us too much to leave us in such a wretched state…. God never abandoned His creation! Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God’s great mercy is FAR reaching and ALL encompassing. Just as it took Adam’s one act of sin to condemn ALL of mankind, it only took Jesus’ one act of righteousness to completely declare ALL mankind innocent. Romans 5:18 “So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life.” Freely acquitted in the sight of God.

Through Adam, we were ALL were condemned and death reigned in BUT through Jesus, we are ALL declared righteous and life reigns in us.

Jesus’ death and resurrection reconciled us back to God (2 Cor 5:19) and to our original design of sonship. The sin nature has been completely removed and we received a new heart.. a new spirit… His Spirit. Ezekiel 36:26-27 “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.”

Jesus defeated sin and death ONCE and for ALL.

God did not love us more once we were reconciled. Reconciliation simply made us free to realize how much He has always loved us and free to enjoy our redeemed original identity — made in His image and in His likeness. To see ourselves as He sees us — IN CHRIST. Free to enjoy sonship and all of it’s joys and privileges. And not just to see ourselves in this new light, but our old ways of seeing others is over as well (2 Cor 5:16). We are now to see everyone through the eyes of our Redeemer.

He has made us ambassadors or ministers of His reconciliation with the world. Our lives are now to exhibit the urgency of God to persuade everyone to be reconciled to God — because Jesus took their life to the Cross in exchange for His resurrected life in them. He did a finished, completed work on the Cross for ALL mankind.

The language of the Old Covenant… of the old written code was “Do in order to become”. The language of the New Covenant is “Be, because of what has been done.” It’s simply a matter of saying yes to God through faith in the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus. It’s simply a matter of the lost awakening to their righteousness… of seeing themselves as God already sees them…. IN CHRIST. So that then they will be able to say “I once was blind, but now I see.”

God’s great mercy for mankind is seen in the riches of His goodness toward us and His absolute passionate refusal to let us go. His Covenant love for us is because He continues to hear the echo of His image and His likeness in us.

I love the Mirror Translation of Romans 3:23-26:

Humanity is in the same boat; their distorted behavior is proof of a lost blueprint. (24) Jesus Christ is proof of God’s grace gift; He redeemed the glory of God in human life; mankind condemned is now mankind justified! (25) Jesus exhibits God’s mercy. In His blood conciliation, God’s faith persuades mankind of His righteousness and the fact that He has brought closure to the historic record of their sins (not by demanding a sacrifice but providing the sacrifice of Himself). Jesus is the unveiling of the Father’s heart toward us. (26) All along God refused to let go of mankind. At this very moment, God’s act of righteousness is pointing them to the evidence of their innocence, with Jesus as the source of their faith.

It is the revelation of God’s goodness that leads men to repentance, not our repentance that leads to God’s goodness.

~ Robin

Shevat 5777 (2016)

blessed-1 Wow, it’s been almost two months since I’ve written on this blog. I’ve meant to, but life sometimes just gets busy. And time does fly when you’re having fun.

We spent seven weeks down in San Clemente at the end of the year, and it was lovely. We rented a condo that had a panoramic ocean view, and I spent the time just relaxing, reading, and spending quality family time with my husband and kids. Just allowing God to refresh my soul. I slept better than I had in a long time. I spent dinners, coffee dates and beach time with good friends who have become more family than friends. Just simple, pleasant long chats with girlfriends who encourage me, build me up and cause me go farther with God. I was also teaching the book of Hebrews at our church down there as well as doing my weekly online teaching of the book of Romans. The Hebrews study is finished, and we are wrapping up our Romans study next week. So, I’ll now have more time to devote to this blog, and I’ve been putting together notes and studies for a book I’m working on.

We are almost at the end of the month of Shevat. Shevat is spelled shin-beit-tet in Hebrew. Shin is a picture of a crown. Beit is a house, household or family. Tet is the letter for goodness. Shevat is a reminder that God has crowned our households…..our families with goodness. Psalm 65:11 “You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drip with abundance. Another translation says even the hard places overflow with abundance.

Asher is the tribe associated with the month of Shevat. Asher means blessed or prosperous and comes from the root word “ashar” meaning to go on, to advance or to make progress. Asher was blessed with the potential for every earthly blessing – abundant resources, the most fertile land in Canaan, many children, peace with the other tribes, the favor of God and security from enemies. He is known as the prosperous one.

His blessing from Moses indicated both prosperity and pleasure. Asher is the blessing beyond the norm – to be given more than what is necessary for just basic survival. 2 Cor 9:8 “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others (New Living Translation).” 1 Tim 6:17b “….. place your confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” We are meant to not only be prosperous but to enjoy that prosperity, both the spiritual and earthly riches.

We are in the decade of 70 on the Hebrew calendar which means ayin. Ayin is symbolic of the ability to see or perceive and the choice of good and evil. This decade (2010-2019) is a season to have increased vision. To open our spiritual eyes and begin to see from God’s perspective.

From God’s perspective everything He is ever going to do for us has already been done in Jesus. 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” Has given us… it’s past tense. It’s already done. All that we have to do is receive it and walk in it. To do that we have to change our perception and see it as God does. Sometimes our vision gets clouded by our five senses and by circumstances in life. At times, others words can cause us to see ourselves through their perception of us instead of God’s. God’s Word is a mirror. When we look into it, we see who we truly are. Created in His image and His likeness. We are joint heirs in Christ.

Exchange your vision for His. Begin to see that He has already given you everything you will ever need for life… and for godliness. Allow God to do the exceedingly, abundantly, above all you could ask, think, hope or imagine in your life this month in and through you!

This month walk in the revelation of all that God wants to do in your life… the prosperity He wants to pour out on you… not just enough but overflow. Prosperity AND pleasure! Walk in His goodness, in His richness. This is a month to go forward and continue on in the inheritance He has blessed us with. In Shevat, let’s remember to enjoy His bounty in our lives… to be happy…. full of joy, proclaiming “I am blessed with prosperity and pleasure in Christ Jesus”. This is a GOOD month.

♥ Robin

Abraham’s Journey part 3….. from Abram to Abraham

abraham in hebrew

So in our last 2 blog posts, Abram has been on a journey with God… a journey towards his destiny… a journey of finding the Abraham that God created him to be. This journey required that he leave behind his father, his family, and his country. God wanted to be a Father to Abram and to transform Abram into Abraham, the father of many nations. First, though he had to be taught what a true father is…. his father was not teaching him about a covenant relationship with God but rather covenant relationships with idols. Abraham made the choice to leave and set out on this journey to Canaan.

Abraham made the choice to leave and set out on this journey to Canaan.

He took his wife Sarai with him and all their cattle and servants that they accumulated in Haran… and verse 4 says that Lot went with him. In the Hebrew it says Lot walked (halak) with him…. halak means to live following a manner of life, to follow the precepts of God, to follow after. Lot was following Abram who was following God… reminds me of 1 Cor 11:1 when Paul told the Corinthians to “follow him as I follow Christ” or “imitate me as I imitate Christ”.

Jump ahead 5 chapters to chapter 17 and Abram is now 99. It’s here that God gives Abram a token… a sign of the covenant He made with him in chapter 15… after he rescued Lot and gave a 10th of all (tithe) to Melchizedek. This was a covenant of grace… Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. It’s here also that God reveals himself to Abram as El Shaddai….the God who is enough… Who is able and is everything we need. It also comes from a root meaning “to pour out”…I am that God who pours out blessings, who gives them richly, abundantly, continually.”

Then He tells Abram to walk before him and be blameless. At first glance, this looks like God is giving Abram a command in order to reap the blessings of the covenant. … to walk (halak), to follow after Him and to be complete, whole and if he can do that he can walk in the Blessing.. But remember back in chapter 15:17 “God caused Abraham to fall asleep, and then He came down in the image of a smoking

But remember back in chapter 15:17 “God caused Abraham to fall asleep, and then He came down in the image of a smoking fire pot and flaming torch and walked through the separated halves of the sacrificed animals by Himself”…… God was committed to upholding the covenant.. to blessing Abraham and his descendants whether they were faithful or not. It was a covenant established on grace, not works. God upheld both sides of the covenant… His and Abram’s.

God was telling Abraham to walk with him, to follow after Him and He (El Shaddai) would make him complete and whole… and would pour out The Blessing on his life abundantly and continually.

And finally, it’s here that he changes Abram’s name to Abraham. God added the Hebrew letter “hei” to Abram’s name. Hei is the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is a number for grace, goodness, and favor. It speaks of revelation and light. It is also the wind, breath…the Spirit of God…blowing on us. It is the divine breath of God breathed into Adam releasing His life into Adam. Adding hei to the end of a noun allows it to be fruitful and productive – it is the transforming power of the Spirit.

All of this was added to Abram when he finally became Abraham at the age of 99. God poured out on him… added to him... grace, goodness, favor, revelation, light and of course the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to be fruitful and productive. Abram became Abraham – a man whose destiny is wrapped up in and made manifest through the work of God’s Spirit.

We also receive a new identity when we follow after God and walk in covenant with Him… we are now IN CHRIST…. we are then able to walk complete and whole, blameless before God…. in the completed, finished work of the Cross and Resurrection and we receive the Holy Spirit… Who transforms us, equips us, helps us, making us fruitful. We are new creatures IN CHRIST through grace and empowered by Holy Spirit to walk out our God given destinies…. Gal 3:14, Gal 5:22-23, Rom 8:14, 1 Cor 12:4-11, Eph 3:20 and Eph 3:1-16 just to name a few scriptures. The letter “hei” is all about GRACE…..the infusion of the very BREATH or LIFE of God within us.

Today allow Him to introduce you to your new self… to the you IN CHRIST, a new creature that never existed before!

~ Robin

Abraham’s Journey part 2… lech lecha

genesis 12;1

Genesis 12:1 begins with God telling Abraham to “Go for yourself, from your land, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” and then He gives him a promise as a result of doing that….And I will make you a great nation, and bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

And of course we know that this promise… the Blessing… is ours also according to Galatians 3:9 “So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.”

God didn’t just tell Abraham to leave his land, relatives and father’s house. He said to him “Lech lecha”. Lech Lecha is a unique phrase that God only spoke in the Old Testament to Abraham. To everyone else (Moses, Jacob, etc) He said “Kum” which means arise and is always spoken to those who need to come up to a higher level to follow God. Lech Lecha, on the other hand is an invitation.

Literally it means “you go” but it means so much more. Most biblical scholars say that adding Lecha to lech serves to make the verb more intense. God is telling Abram that this is not just a command to leave home, it is an invitation to journey to himself. Literally, it means “come to yourself”… find the you I’ve called you to be! Go to the Land that I will show you – where I will make you VISIBLE – where your “potential being” will be realized in various and unpredictable ways.

In order to embark on this journey he had to first do 3 things… leave his birthplace, his

leave his birthplace
his relatives
and his father’s house.

His birthplace implies boundaries and he had to cross those boundaries and leave them behind…. leave his past behind. He had to cross the “Euphrates” just like Eber did… to become a Hebrew (one who crosses over) on his own not on his ancestor’s merits.

His family implies influence. Abraham’s family worshiped idols. God wanted to be Abraham’s influence and wanted to make Abraham an influence to the world around him. He wanted to become the God of Abraham and through Abraham bless all the families of the earth. He couldn’t do that if Abraham’s family were his influence.

His father’s house implies control. Our fathers are our teachers whether for good or for bad. We are under their sphere of control for many years. As a result, it is difficult to separate from the need to seek our father’s approval. This is not to suggest that we should ignore, disrespect or dishonor our fathers. The simple fact is we must grow up. We must learn to seek God’s approval in place of our fathers’ approval. Our fathers are our teachers. They protect, correct and provide for our needs. They are responsible to God to direct us and to use their influence to guide us in the Word.

However, Abram’s father was an idol maker. He was an idol worshipper…. he was not teaching Abram to worship the one true God. Terah wasn’t guiding Abram to a relationship with God but rather a life without God.

God is also calling us… inviting us to journey to find ourselves in His Word. He is saying to each of us “Lech Lecha”. An invitation… an adventure to find who we are IN CHRIST and to fulfill the destinies He has for…as His sons… to be who He created us to be…. made in His image and likeness.

In order to do that we first need to leave behind any boundaries that keep us from God and from crossing over into the fullness of who He is… the abundance of His grace towards us. And also leave behind those things or people that influence and control us away from God. Even our own ideas and beliefs that keep us from being all that we are IN HIM.

The next blog we will talk about Abraham’s name change and the next part of his true identity transformation……..

~ Robin