Miscellanies 50 - The resurrection of old sins

Those sins which for Long I loathed, for long lamented and once upon a time crucified. Those sins which through prayer and groans buried for years have now in a single day revived to haunt my pilgrim walk to Canaan. Pitiful sins, why have thou returned from sheol, to stare my soul and frown my countenance? Old pitiful sins to damp my assurance, to weaken my joy, to have me destroyed in hell with thee - as long and much I laboured before to rid me of thee, shall I again employ through much prayer and groaning to bury thee once more! 

K.Oni

My lover's love

Somebody please tell this soul with sorrow laden

If tonight the angels will come with a sainted name Amáre

Desolate in despair, 

The night gone to its Jupiter’s shore

Me begun bequeathed without my lover’s love

Undanced to the window drawing the silky curtain

Eyes fainting fast from want for my lover’s love

Perched upon the sill of once to see the sunrise set

Now deep into the darkness peering 

Fearing to doubt that my lovers love may no more returning

K.Oni

Defending Jesus Podcast - The Resurrection

Tune in and listen to Ken and Adam discussing the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on their latest podcast - why not comment on any of the points made. And also if you have any topic that we can be discussing please let us know at defendingjesus@hotmail.co.uk or just comment on this blog post.

K.Oni

The most important words in married life

I attended my friend's wedding in France, Lyon and the preacher presented these words in his talk which made me smile. I thought with all of love's gentleness to share it with you all. Although it was better with the commentary and the slides - I will only present the words.

¤ The most important words in married life :

            ¤ The 6 most important words in married life : I  am sorry, I was wrong

                       

            ¤ The 5 most important words in married life : You did a great job                          

            ¤ The 4 most important words in married life : What do you think

            ¤ The 3 most important words in married life : I love you                                                      

            ¤ The 2 most important words in married life : Thank you      

            ¤ The 1 most important word in married life : Us or God

 - If God is the creator of all there is and the reason for everything then it follows that to him should be all the glory and praise and even the first-fruits of our marriages. We are hidden in him - our existence should be overshadowed by his although we exist individually yet we should consider him and make him first in all things - for in so doing do we truly begin to live and our marriages truly glorifying to Christ. (Ken)

            ¤ The least important word in married life : Me        

- The two have now become one flesh. You no longer belong to yourself, nor does your body. (Ken)

The words below are words that married couples ought to remind themselves with each week 

 Take a cup of faithfulness, a glass of forgiveness, a few pinches of good will and a soup spoon of confidence

 Mix all of this together than add 100 grams of gentleness and a few drops of patience.

 Next, sprinkle it all with a lot of joy and put it to cook in the oven of the love of Jesus.

Once the dish is ready to serve, pour on top of it a good deal of humor and kindness and serve it up each and every day of the week ! 

Thanks to David Sutherland -  

K.Oni

Miscellanies 49: Behold how the Lord Jesus loved Lazarus!

Behold how the Lord Jesus loved Lazarus! Do you behold it? Can you see it as you see the words of this encouragement? O Jesus loved Lazarus so much that He would allow him to die. Yea, He loved his friend Lazarus and allowed him to die so that through Lazarus, His disciples, the crowd, the angels, the devils, those yet not born may behold his glory, may read of his glory, may marvel at his glory. O poor feeble soul downcast by your miserable circumstance, behold how Jesus loves you! Your miserable circumstance is not a despairing sign that Jesus has no love for you. O he loved Lazarus to the point of not attending his burial, for Lazarus to stinketh for four days and for the earth to be softened with the tears of his sisters. O Jesus loved Lazarus to that extent and he loves you poor feeble soul. He loves you so much that He may allow you to perish in your circumstances - are you in fear of prison, He may let you dwell there - are you sick, he may let you die in your sick bed. Are you in debt, He may allow you to loose it all. O poor miserable saint, you may die in your circumstances, you may rot with your poor lot but behold, behold He loved Lazarus and behold how he loves you. Was it not the Christ who said, ‘even though you die, yet you shall live’. Was it not the Spirit of Christ who uttered these words ‘And what/who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." For whose sake was Lazarus permitted to be buried? It was for the sake of Christ, yea it was for his glory. O sinner what more can you add to the list, add what you may but know this that nothing, nay, not even your feeble hands can separate you from the love of Christ. O weak saint, Christ Loves you, your Jesus loves you and although you perish in your sickbed, your debt overwhelms you, you rot in prison, yet because you are His, yea because he loves you to the end, you shall dwell with him in the freedom of eternity. As dead Lazarus was to the praise of his glory, you also shall equally be to the praise of His glory. My dear saint, replace your fears with joy inexpressible and full of glory, replace your sands with his rock, swap your ashes for his crown. Shall you not be among the saints marching in?

K.Oni

The Joy of confession 19

Sinner: Dear Sir I have only thee to come for help, perhaps you may soothe my soul. For my heart condemns me to which I have not a reply. I can only agree with it which makes me weary and unable to attend God so I slip further into my depravity.

Sir: O my poor Son, open your ache to me

Sinner: It is Sir a reoccurring sin and never seems to still just as the earth spins all day. I wish for it to end but it is found deep in my heart. I cannot wash it away although I have tried yet some of its black spots remains which begets its seed and then grows into sin. It is as you have figured sir my imagination. I am forever lost to its twisted ways; I wish it a pause but it plays. It plays in the field of the devils given way to devilish thoughts as of jealousy, anger and lust. Yes, Sir these trinity of hell have their ways with me and although I know that some of the things imagined one would never do yet I feel their evilness and depravity in my Spirit.

Sir: My Son I see that you are very much alive to that struggle between the Spirit and the flesh - your imaginations are carnal. They contain much of this world and you have not so much set your mind on the things above. This ground is a bloody ground, those who dwell there without picking up their sword to fight have been slained by the flesh and carried off to the enemies dungeon.  They like Judas constantly heeded to the devil’s whisper, they tarry in the field of lust, they play in park of vanity and in due course they have received their reward, namely, death. My Son the war is real and it is won in your heart.

Sinner: I know Sir, I fear this death and I wish to enjoy a life with Christ but as long as I am here I can never enjoy him. O I am wretched, I hate this flesh of mine. I wish to transcend my earthly imaginations to heavenly ones where I think good of every man and sister. How do I win this battle?

Sir: My Son, it is as I have said that you should take up your sword. In those precious moments or hours when the devil fills your mind or you yourself fill your mind with unholy imaginations, it is in that hour that you ought to open your bible. Yes open it and begin to pray the words. Pray Romans 12, pray Romans 6 and you will begin to put out the flames of your devilish ways. Do not dwell to reason upon its effectiveness, just do it.

My Son, our desires are mighty and weighty. They are like gravity upon our existence. Man only does what he desires in the final analysis and you my Son need to have a greater desire for your heavenly saviour. It is only in having that greater desire, created by your reading of the scriptures in fighting your temptations will you begin to diminish your hunger and thirst for worldly things. Do it in the morning, do it in the day and do it in the night. Make every thought captive for Christ, yes every single one even those which seemed to be neutral and innocent, make them captive to Christ.

Before I bid you farewell my Son, I must impart to you a gift. The gift is the free gift of pardon. You See God has forgiven you in Christ Jesus and although He hates your imagination as well as the deeds practiced yet he has forgiven you and loves you with an unconditional love. With the omnipotent hands of love he has declared you righteous in Christ and with the endless potion of eternity he has granted you grace which never ends nor fails. Come into his arms today, he has forgiven you and forgive yourselves. Go now your way and sin no more. He that has the power of ultimate condemnation and judgement to hell as accounted you righteous and not guilty. Rejoice now and let your heart dwell on the vision of heaven as given to us in the scriptures. Meditate your heart on his divine principles and not on the pleasing ways of the earth. He loves you my Son, Go thy way.

K.Oni

Women of the Bible: Elizabeth, Anna and Mary Magdalene

Women Who Proclaim The Way of The Messiah


The Bible, the word of God, begins and ends with Jesus. It is almost as an umbrella, if you will, the handle in the middle being Jesus and all else, before and after, stemming from this point. Therefore, the biggest question surrounding the Christian faith is, and has always simply been; “Who? Who was Jesus? Who is Jesus?”

‘Then Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?”’ - Mark 8:29

In light of this question I wish to look at three specific women of the New Testament who chose to see Jesus for who he is and, in doing so, are themselves redeemed and chosen to proclaim the Truth.


Elizabeth – Luke 1:5-80

Elizabeth is the first recorded person in the New Testament to see Jesus as “Lord” (v43). She proclaims His coming and has her voice, as a woman, redeemed through it.

During a time in which women were passed from their father’s hands into their husband’s, and had little status other than that of child-bearers, Luke’s opening description of Elizabeth proves surprising. She is the first woman to be spoken of in the third synoptic gospel and yet is introduced primarily, not as ‘barren’ (v7) and not singularly as Zechariah’s ‘wife’ (v5), but as her husband’s partner and equal. She is celebrated as of a ‘priestly line’ just as he is from a ‘priestly order’ and, what’s more, they are notably ‘both righteous in God’s eyes’ (v6).

In recognition of their worthiness as a couple, the Lord chooses them to conceive John, later known as John the Baptist. This child consequently fulfils the prophesy of Isaiah 40:3-5, the most Biblically famous “voice … preparing a straight pathway for the Lord’s coming” (John 1:23). However, on looking back to his source we can see that his mother also recognises Jesus and, in fact, declares Him for who He is before all others in the Luke’s gospel. “What an honour this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me!” (v43).

Where Elizabeth speaks of Mary as being “blessed, because [she] believed that the Lord would do what He said.” (v45), I would suggest her to hold similar virtues and, as such, to be similarly blessed. She proves a woman of childlike faith, even beyond that of her husband. Where his response to the angel’s message of John’s conception was doubt (v18), her discovery is praise (v25). In such faith, it is she that is blessed to first see and declare Jesus as Lord.

Anna – Luke 2:36-40

Anna is the second woman of the New Testament who recognises Jesus as the ‘promised king’ (v38) and foretells his future. Yet it is her status, rather than her voice, that is redeemed through it.

As with Elizabeth, Anna proves an unlikely character to proclaim the way of the Lord. She is ‘very old’ and a ‘widow’ (v36). Yet her father’s tribe and marital status does not shape her identity in God’s eyes, as it did within her surrounding society. No, Anna is first introduced by Luke as a “prophet” (v36).

The title of “prophet” (Eph 4:11) in the Bible goes beyond that of the gift of the prophetic (1 Cor 12:10), and into that of an office or anointed position. She is therefore called to receive revelation from the Lord and declare His words on earth. Yet it is when Anna is old and holds no family/male security that she receives her most important prophesy of all. As she passes Simeon and Mary and Joseph she has an impartation of revelation of the baby Jesus as Lord and bursts into praise (v38). This parallels with the way in which Elizabeth responded to the revelation of her pregnancy, and asserts Anna to be another woman of faith. Redeemed, therefore, into the office of prophet from widow, Anna steps into the word and proclaims Jesus as the one “to come and deliver Jerusalem.” (v38).


Mary Magdalene – John 20:1-18

The final woman of the Bible to whom I would like to focus, as seeing and proclaiming Jesus, is that of Mary Magdalene. For it is she that is the first person to recognise the risen Lord, redeeming her own significance from death to life.

Mary Magdalene’s social disregard did not lie in barrenness or widowhood, as Elizabeth and Anna’s before her, but rather in the belief of her insanity. Mary had been crazed by seven demons that dwelt within her until Jesus set her free (Luke 8:2)! Yet, as with the two before her, the Bible neglects her social failures and instead emphasises her virtues. She too is a woman of faithfulness. This can be seen simply in her constant presence throughout the gospels, following her Lord even to the cross and grave (Matt 27:56 and 61, Matt 28:1, Mark 15:40 and 47, Mark 16:1, John 19:25).

Indeed, it is outside Jesus’ very tomb that she sees the Lord in all His glory (v11). Jesus’ question to her is unsurprisingly that with which we started; “who are you looking for?” (v15) Her answer, in “turning toward him”, in seeing Jesus, is that of recognition, “teacher!” (v17) and “Lord” (v18). As with Elizabeth and Anna before her, Mary recognises Him, believes His message of ascension (v17) and takes it to the disciples without question (v18) thus displaying, yet again, her faith.

In the fact that she is the first to see the risen Lord it is Mary’s worth that is redeemed. Historically women were viewed as invalid witnesses during the time of Jesus. It took two men to present any testimony before it would be seriously considered. Yet here Mary is redeemed from being, not only a woman unfit to give a testimony, but a mad being previously disregarded as making no sense, to the first person entrusted to proclaim the Truth of the Good News to others. What grace!

In conclusion, these three women, Elizabeth, Anna and Mary, are redeemed of their gender constrictions, because they hold faith in a God who sees them. They, in turn, see Jesus for who He is and, aside from their status in society, are given freedom and power by God to proclaim the Good News!

Rebekah Langham