The Kingdom within

When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21.  Some translations have him reply “The Kingdom of God is in your midst.”

How could the Kingdom of God be within the legalistic Pharisees – religious leaders who shut people out of the Kingdom?  Jesus said “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” Matthew 23:13

How could the Kingdom of God be within them, or in their midst?  Well, they had the Word of God.  That’s it, plain and simple.  They were the scribes.  The Word was in the scrolls they read and taught from in the synagogues and temple. As for the Kingdom of God in their midst – they should have known from the Word who the King was.

The Kingdom of God is accessed from the Word of God.

The Bible is no ordinary book, as I discovered.  It’s a door.  Reading and seeking the Kingdom of God through the Bible will change you.  What does it look like when a person travels through the Word of God?  Come with me and find out.  I wrote what I learned and experienced in my story “The Kingdom, Here Be Dragons, Here Be Dreams.”

God’s sign language

What do you think about coincidences?  Is it God trying to get our attention?  Or, as Einstein said, “a small miracle where God chooses to remain anonymous?”

I think people often get signs and dismiss them as coincidences.  I don’t dismiss them, you can miss out on a lot when you do that.

Have you experienced God trying to get your attention?  Has He tried to sign to you or speak to you with a word?  To hear, you must have the Word.  Hearing comes from the Word.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

There are two kinds of Words in the Bible, LOGOS for general application and RHEMA for personal application, where the Holy Spirit will speak directly to you, bringing  revelation.

I think hearing with the Rhema word is something that is caught rather than taught.  When I heard people say ‘they heard from the Lord,’ I’d think ‘how?’  In time I caught on after meditating on the Bible.

If you don’t have the Word, you will be deaf and He will sign.

God communicated by sign until I understood the Word.  Now the sign and the Word tend to work together.

Here’s a practical example of a sign working with the Word;
My mother died with a row of sevens accompanying her.  She died at 7pm on the 7th day of the 7th month, aged 77.

The link is here if you want to read more and see the video I made for her.

Coincidence?  Noticing all the sevens, I asked the Lord if it was a sign.  The answer was in the affirmative.  He explained to me that Heaven is a place of rest, and He’d sent the sign wanting to reassure us she was at rest.

From the Word He showed me where Heaven is mentioned as the “seventh-day rest” in the Bible.  The Sabbath day is the seventh day;

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest … Hebrews 4:9

God used signs all the way through the Bible.  It’s standard operating procedure for him.

The sign either precedes or follows the Rhema word.

The Word is like a compass, the sign is like a landmark, and the discovery is like orienteering, navigating, or tracking.  You have to read and look.

My book is based on how the Lord guided me using His Word, coincidences, visions and dreams, with signs accompanying.

It’s the number one thing I hope to convey to the reader of my book – how to look for God and hear Him.

After His death and resurrection, the Lord worked with the apostles confirming His word with signs.

“And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”  Mark 16:20

He is still doing it today, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:18

We just need eyes to see and ears to hear.  Matthew 13:15-17

 

Seeking 1 out of 99 readers

God plays an active and unapologetic role in my book.  He appears as ‘The King’ in various roles.  Sometimes he refers to Himself as the Shepherd.  Why?  Well, we are all like sheep who have gone astray. 

Sheep can get into a lot of trouble.  Growing up on a New Zealand sheep farm I’ve rescued them from creeks, mud, and barbed wire.

I loved finding the lost lambs, and so does Jesus.  Here’s me back from the lambing beat, with a lamb in my arms, about a hundred years ago …

Ever heard the parable of the lost sheep?

Jesus told the Pharisees and teachers of the law this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:3-7

My book will appeal to those who understand the wilderness.  The reader I am looking for may not know the Bible, or God – but will love redemptive romance and a great good versus evil story.  I’m not writing for 99 people – I’m writing for one.  Come into the pages of my book.  The path will begin in a field.  Follow the butterfly.

Source of image: Deviant Art, Book by FantasyArt0102

The road few find

The road I grew up on was a difficult road that few bothered to travel without good reason. Our nearest neighbours were a mile away, so we could be as noisy as we liked. 

‘Mount Zion,’ the sheep station at the end of our road straddled two valleys – ours and Longacre, and part of it bordered our farm. Mount Zion could be accessed from a paper road which connected with our road – but you had to know where it was.  I used to ride there to get horses shod.

I learned to drive on that road and it was difficult, handling a motorbike on the gravel.

Poplars that had grown from fence battens the original farmers used lined the road. Number eight wire was used with the fence battens.  There were lots of interesting places along the road – even a cave, which is included in the video clip below.

This is the actual road, filmed by a motorcyclist.

So that’s my narrow road in the natural.  There’s another road, and another Zion.  Named as “the King’s holy mountain and the place where God dwells with man,” Mount Zion is referenced in the Bible at least 52 times.

The Bible points to the narrow road which leads to Zion.  Jesus said on the mountain, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  Matthew 7:13-14

In my thirties I wandered off, got lost and found myself on the wrong road.  I couldn’t find a lot of help when I wanted to get off that road.  After two unsuccessful attempts at counseling I gave up and turned to the pages of the Bible, because one of the King’s names is “Wonderful Counselor.”

This is his promise; “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”  Psalm 32:8

I had to get some help from somewhere.  So I went to the King for counseling.  It was the best thing I ever did.

In New Zealand we’ve had to be resourceful because of the difficulty sourcing stuff, being at the ends of the earth as we are.  We are known to “fix things with number eight wire.”  Using inventive number eight wire mentality, and thinking outside the box, I built a world I could go into and hear from the King, who counseled me on the way I should go.  I wrote down His words in my story.

As for the setting, God knew I’d write it into a book later on in life.  My book is a paper road that leads to Zion.  It’s for those who want a good, unconventional read from a traveler, a stranger, a sojourner on the road not well-traveled.  I promise you that you’ll never read another story like it.

Click on the Amazon link at the top right-hand side of the page to purchase the book.

Kaukatea Valley Road

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My first book review

The Bookworm, Carl Spitzweg

Try and imagine bookshelves lined with millions of books – and my book is just one of them.  And the bookshelves keep growing.  My book has gone from one in a million to probably one in two million by now!

I’ve probably got the worst person possible in charge of book promotion – me.  Marketing was my worst subject when I was doing the Dip of Business, unfortunately.  But I did learn about the five ‘P’s of marketing; People, Price, Placement, Product and Promotion.

It’s a struggle.  Who do I tell about the book?  Christians obviously, but I hope to get it to the New Age market.  I know they would love the King in my book if they read about Him.  As for the product – the book is in a genre all by itself.  I struggle to even describe it’s genre.  I said it’s a cross between a memoir and a fantasy novel, but my first book reviewer said it’s actually an Epic Journal. My book is unique; one in a million – and not just because of it’s place in Amazon. For placement, I’ve gone to where the readers are.

In order for me to promote the book, I need praise.  I mean, I can praise it – but I’m the author!  Today I got some much needed praise.  I joined Goodreads, and I’ve received my first book review from Valicity Garris, author of Cross Academy.

It was brilliant, five star review.  It’s helped me to keep going with my efforts to get the book out to the wider world.  So it’s made my day.  Come and read my first review, and celebrate with me.

Here’s the review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1523617863?book_show_action=false

The ultimate reveal

This is going to wander a bit, but I hope you’ll bear with me.  We’re going to go from clothes, to Chinese characters, to Mount Hermon, and back to clothes.  I promise you it will be interesting.  It’s based on the theme of “light”.

Lately I’ve had to take more of an interest in fashion.  My daughter made me an appointment with a style consultant at the shopping mall where she works.  It was to help me sort out which outfits and colour combinations suit me best.

I’d rather wear clothes that suit me than bow to the current fashion fad, and I hate uncomfortable womens shoes. I grew up on a farm wearing jeans and gumboots.  Now I work in a computer workshop, wearing pants and a monogrammed polo shirt. My daughter on the other hand, works in retail fashion, and has no trouble choosing clothes and shoes.  She was inspired to help women with clothes because of the difficulty I have experienced getting help and advice when shopping.

I was anxious about the consultation beforehand, but I needn’t have worried.  The stylist was really helpful and didn’t judge me.  She was amused at the contrast between me and my girly-girl, fashion-ista daughter.

Here’s a photo of us at work.  My daughter worked for us for three weeks while between jobs.  Here she is with her nail kit, filing her nails at reception!  It was so cliche, but she didn’t care.

While waiting for the stylist I thought about dreams where you are unclothed, or not dressed right.  Have you ever had dreams where you are walking in a public place naked or in pyjamas?  I’ve heard it’s quite common.

It makes me think about Adam and Eve, and their wardrobe malfunction.  Imagine it.  Here’s God walking through the garden, and they’re naked.  Eeek.  The serpent took everything, even the clothes.

The Chinese character for naked. Notice the word ‘fruit’ in the character.

Do you think the story is a myth?

Here’s some anthropological proof that the story is based on fact.  Did you know the ancient Chinese script contains the story of Genesis, long before the Bible came to be written?  Here we see the ancient character for fruit.  How on earth did the ancient Chinese associate the word ‘naked’ with fruit?

Here’s a link to a site that shows how the Chinese characters tie in with Genesis:

http://www.noahs-ark.tv/chinese/bible-evidences-chinese-language-characters-words-garden-of-eden-genesis.htm.

The Chinese character for LIGHT has MAN in it.  I wonder if Adam and Eve’s garments were garments of light.I know the Lord has a garment of light.  Psalm 104 speaks of his garment, and dimensions.  It is written that the LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent.  Psalm 104:2.

Jesus let three of the disciples see him clothed in light.
Here it is in Matthew 17: “Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”

Mount Hermon dwarfs the remains of the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi (located at the bottom center of the photo).

I believe the mountain the Lord took them up was Mount Hermon.  The reason I think so is because in the previous chapter of the Bible, Matthew 16, Jesus was at Caesarea Philippi, a town at the foot of Mount Hermon.

Caesarea Philippi was the place where Jesus stamped his authority over the gates of Hell after Peter confessed Him as the Messiah.  I wrote about this in my blog post: True confessions at the Gates of Hell.

It’s interesting that the “Hermon Hotel”,  the highest permanently manned UN position in the world, sits on top of Mount Hermon in the buffer zone between Syria and Israel.

In the Book of Enoch, Mount Hermon is the place where the Watcher class of fallen angels descended to Earth. They swore upon the mountain that they would take wives among the daughters of men (Enoch 6).

The mountain or summit, referred to as Saphon in Ugaritic texts, is the place where the palace of Baal is located in a myth about Attar. Source: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hermon.  Attar is also known as Ashtar and Ishtar; god of the Morning Star.

So here we have Jesus, the Light of the World, stamping his authority all over Attar, Ashtar or Ishtar as well.  It kind-of puts Jesus’s promise about the Morning Star being given to those who have not learned Satan’s so called deep secrets in a new light, don’t you think?  (Revelation 2:28, Church at Thyatira)

 

I believe Moses and Elijah may be the two witnesses of Revelation 11, but that’s the subject for another post.  I believe it because of what these two can do.  Elijah was able to bring down fire and cause the rain to stop for 3½ years; and Moses was able to turn water into blood and bring several other plagues upon Egypt. And guess what the two witnesses do?  They will also be able to bring down fire, stop the rain, and cause various plagues for 3½ years,  (Revelation 11:5,6).

Anyway, to get back to clothes – they’re clothed in sackcloth for their earthly mission.  Sackcloth represents debasement, mourning, and/or repentance.

Do you have any white clothes?  Jesus talked about being dressed in white when he wrote to the Church at Sardis in Revelation 3.  This Church has a reputation for being alive, but it’s sound asleep.  Jesus said if it doesn’t wake up, he’ll come upon it like a thief, and they will not know at what time he comes.
(This is not a time to be caught napping.  Jesus expects us to be dressed for work and have our lamps burning.  (Luke 12:35))
Yet he said there are some in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with him dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white.

How bright will the white be?

 

Within ancient ink there is a living God

Happy New Year!

Before Christmas I wrote about Jesus being the author and finisher of our faith. 

I wrote about his nail scarred hands writing and turning the pages of the Bible, the book he inspired.

The day after I wrote about it, this video clip was played at church;
https://skitguys.com/videos/item/study-says-the-writer

I like how it says; “Within ancient ink there is a living God.”

♥

The author and finisher; and the race

Did you know the author of the Bible wrote about a race?

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”  Hebrews 12:1

We’ve all got a race to run, a race that we were entered in before we were even born.  Think about that!

Do you know the race is on; and the author has got his eye on you?

It’s no ordinary race. Some of you may be already running. You may be the first in your family line to run, or you may be the last.

Sometimes you will run, sometimes you will walk, sometimes you will stumble and fall, and sometimes, you will rise on the wings of an eagle. Those are the best times, when you can stop running, wing it and see what the eagle sees.

I’ll leave you with this verse for the times when you feel discouraged
“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

I’ve written about my own race in Chapter 79 The year of inheritance, in case you are interested.  I have referred to myself in the chapter as “the Princess”, but I will be changing her to myself in accordance to the advice I got from Publishers. Anyway, here it is;
https://kingdom777.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/chapter-79-the-year-of-inheritance/