Series: Other Speakers

Sun am 25 September 2011 – Daniel van Eeden

Heb. 12:26; Heb. 4:12-13; John 8:32; John  2:1-10; Matt. 3:2; 2 Sam. 6; Ps.51:10-11; Heb. 3:12-13; John 3:2-3, 5; Eph. 4:15; Gal. 5:1; John 7:17; Josh. 5:13-15; Eph. 5:26

My openness to the Word will determine the effectiveness of the Word in my life. The world is waiting for the revealing of the Son of God – in the sons of God. It’s not about who we are in Him; it’s about who He is in us. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN” (Heb. 12:26). Everything will be shaken, because everything in earth is but a shadow of the heavenly things.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, …And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (Heb. 4:12-13). God sees all in all. Jesus was the Truth made flesh. In Christianity all our beliefs, understandings and concepts are going to be shaken until only the unshakeable remains – Christ, in us.

Jesus walked in to the marriage feast and instructed the servants to fill the clay pots with water – and they served a better wine (John 2:1-10). We are the clay pot – and the water of the Word within me is going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye when God speaks to me, into the best wine ever – so that I can give it out.

Everything is moving forward; it’s progressing and growing – technology, medicine, etc. But we are locked in mindsets and thinking patterns. The only thing that’s going to set us free is God shaking us. We need to change; to see things in a different light. How do we renew our minds? – By repentance. We have got to let go of the old.  Nature does not allow vacuums. Present truth must displace the old concepts and mindsets. We are in a season of repentance. Repentance is not weeping and wailing for something I’ve done wrong. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). The meaning of this word ‘repentance’ is ‘to change one’s mind or purpose; to turn back, or to turn away.’ You’re going to cry not because of what you’ve done; you’re going to cry because of what you have not become. If you cry about sin and call that repentance, you are in deception. Cry for what you have  not become; not for what you’ve done.

Repentance involves a change of mind; waking up to reality; seeing things as they really are and recognising the error of your ways, resulting in a change of direction. It’s a total change of walking with God. You live differently, you think differently and you act differently. Repentance includes forsaking old patterns, old habits, old priorities and all those things that have controlled you – gods that we bow our knees to.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk. 1:15). Repentance is a continuous, daily occurrence in our lives; we continuously change, and grow, and change our thinking; and we’re washed by the water of the word. Repentance is not a single event in my life; it’s a state of heart.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Thy presence, And do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me. Don’t ever take the Holy Spirit out of the equation; He is vital to everything we do. Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation. It’s the restoration; it’s going back to our first love.  And sustain me with a willing spirit (Ps. 51:10-12). It’s an attitude of heart.

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, that falls away from the living God. …”TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME” (Heb. 3:12-15).

Being born again is the beginning of a process of growing up into the head, which is Christ (Eph. 4:15). It was for freedom that Christ set us free; no longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1). We have to come out of our comfort zone; come out of the things that you understand, and know. There’s a new life waiting for us; there’s a whole new world that we cannot perceive in our minds. How can someone see the Kingdom of God, unless he is born again and repents? (John 3:2-3, 5).

The Kingdom is a lifestyle; it’s something that affects every facet of our lives. Unless the word comes and is alive in us, then it’s become a mental assessment – something that we understand and can talk about, but we didn’t become it. We are in this world, but we are not of it. We can’t apply this world’s rules and regulations and try to bring it into the Kingdom.

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”  That’s the attitude we need to have. And the captain of the LORD’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy” (Josh. 5:13-15). How many times are we standing on holy ground, and demanding God to come and sort my problems out – to do things my way – instead of coming to bow before Him, falling on my face – because he is the Lord of hosts. The moment Mary said, ‘Lord let it be done to me, according to your word’ – Jesus was conceived.