Born.Again.Christian.

Song of Solomon illustrates the intimate relationship we can experience with Christ as Christians through the relationship between the ‘Shumalite’ and King Solomon. This relationship, whilst available to all, will only be experienced by those who are willing to become completely saturated in God’s love and abide under the Shadow of the Almighty ( Psalm 91). The intimacy described develops after a person has accepted Christ as their Saviour. It could be described as ‘advanced’ doctrine with regards to our spiritual journey with God. Jonathan loved David who was a King who defeated enemies in battle, just as we love Christ who defeated death. In comparison, the Shumalite woman loved King Solomon because as king and wise ruler, he was worthy of such love. It wasn’t for anything that He had done. We all love Christ for what He has done for us, for adopting us as sons of righteousness, but how many of us love Him for who He is? How many love Him for reasons other than ‘self’? Most...

When you learn a new skill whether it be acquiring a language, learning to cook or learning to play a musical instrument, the material you use to teach you the skill, whether it is a lesson plan, a recipe or a song book containing various songs, you will probably encounter the same words at the beginning of each material. The words being; ‘beginner’; ‘intermediate’ or; ‘advanced’. We tackle each lesson based on our skill level. Once we have mastered that particular thing we will move on to something more challenging to us. What is important is that we do not attempt things that are above our current level of skill. Whilst a beginner guitarist may be very good at playing a song with four chords, he would be lost and confused if he tried to follow a fast finger picking song or a complicated classical guitar strumming pattern. Whilst a beginner cook may cook a fine fried egg, their attempt at baking a crème brulee would result in disaster.   It is important to master what we kno...

We think like humans therefore it is very hard to obey the Lord’s instructions or understand the way’s of the Lord without putting our own spin on things. We often try to implement our own ideas to glorify God and sometimes even try to help Him to achieve what He wants, but He does not want us to do this. This is a recipe for disaster. Look at the problems caused by Abraham and Sarai who tried to fulfil God’s plan of having a son by their own means. Israel has had constant strife ever since. He wants us to have complete faith in Him, even when things may seem strange or even hindering to us. Take Lot as a perfect example. In Genesis 19 God was merciful to Lot and warned him of the coming judgment over the ‘cities of the plain’, which included Sodom where Lot resided. God planned to destroy every city within that plain, including a small city called ‘Zoar’ ( Genesis 19:22 ). God told Lot to flee to the mountains where he would be safe from God’s coming judgment, however Lot, ...

Mark 7:27-28: "But Jesus said to her "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs from under the table eat from the children's crumbs." It is not surprising that many misinterpret what the Bible is saying. Here is a perfect example. The meaning of this passage is arguably rather hidden and needs knowledge of both the culture in Jesus' day and also a Spiritual understanding which only comes when being filled with the Holy Spirit, "our helper" ( John 14 ) (e.g is only available to God's children). On the face of it it appears that Jesus is insulting somebody by comparing them to a dog, however that is not what is happening. Jesus here is talking about Israel. Israel are God's chosen people. They have been blessed by God immensely, from the bringing about of the nation, to taking them out o...

Matthew 10:41: "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." Muslims do not recognise Christ as the Lord, only as a prophet. Indeed the majority of mankind do not recognise Christ as the Lord. Some do not recognise Him at all whilst some recognise Him as 'a wise man' or 'good teacher'. I wish to mention Muslims for the fact that they see Jesus as a prophet of God rather than the Lord himself. As a result, Matthew tells us that they will not receive a righteous man's reward, but a prophet's reward. This begs the question, 'what is a righteous man's reward and what is a prophet's reward'? A righteous man's reward is eternal life in the presence of God; for only the righteous can physically be in the presence of God. It is impossible for somebody who is not righteous to be in th...