The fig tree -Mark 11

It's very unnatural for the fit tree to produce fruits in the wrong season, yet Jesus demanded the fruit and He was quite upset by seeing no fruits produced.
It's very unnatural for Abraham and Sarah to produce a child when they were in the wrong season, as God withheld the blessings, yet by faith they went on an extra mile, put on extra effort and produced Ishmael. It's kind of like early fruit, didn't look as spectacular, but it satisfied God's hunger for extra faith.
Throughout the gospel books we see everywhere that Jesus was hungry for extra faith. Everyone's given a certain amount of faith, but those who went on an extra mile, produced fruit in the wrong season are the ones that got Jesus' attention and received their miracles, like the Syrophoenician woman in Mark7:25-30, the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus' cloak(Matt9:20-22), the man who climbed up the tree...etc. These were all examples of people who produced something in their wrong season. They stepped out, by trying to make things happen. And when the Lord sees that early fruit produced in the wrong season, although they can look funny and not even fruit like, they'll satisfy the Lord's hunger for extraordinary faith and the prayers will then be answered. If there's no extra faith demonstrated, no extra work or act (early fruit)showed, then their prayer will be like the fig tree, disappeared in passive waiting.
Reinhard Bonnke is a kind of fig tree that produced fruit in wrong seasons. When he first went to Africa, he found out that Africa wasn't waiting for him. But he wasn't just waiting for his season to come, he made all kinds of effort. He'd even pretend to be a beggar singing and playing piano accordian at the bus stations and as soon as he got someone's attention he'd preach. And this early fruit resulted the massive productions when the right season did come.

Meanwhile there are so many others that're called, but Jesus didn't see any fruit when He's hungry, and as a result their callings never got fulfilled.

So if you feel called into something and you're in the wrong season, nothing seems to work for you, just remember, Jesus is hungry, produce anyway! If you try hard enough, take an extra mile effort,do something unusual, you'll find a way to produce some kind of early fruit, and when Jesus' hunger is satisfied, your fig tree is sure to prosper.

From the beginning -- Mark 10

Mark 10:6-9"But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man seperate."

From the beginning God made them male and female; from the beginning God made the two; from the beginning God has joined the two together, therefore this two shall leave the influence of the parents and be independantly joined as one, and let no man seperate this two (by any social agenda, culture influence or family tradition) that were created and designed to be one.

Gen48
Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, the son of Rachel.
It was a very formal(at the time), almost sacred ceremony.
Jacob meant to pass his bloodline blessing down through Ephraim. He made the choice. He ordained it this way.
But in the end God quietly shifted the blessing. God didn't honour his choice and his ceremony. God's choice was Judah.
Although Judah didn't get the formal ceremony of passing the blessings, he was the God ordained person.

This reminds me of other ceremonies we have in life. Like weddings, ordaining a minister, or a leader of a country or a certain group,etc. We make the choices, and we perform the ceremony. We say God honors our ceremonies.

But does God really honor those choices and ceremonies?
I think sometimes God can be quite stubborn. If He's already made a choice, He doesn't like any men twist it around. And if He's not in the choices, He doesn't have to honour our ceremonies. He'd only give the chosen blessings to His chosen ones.



What I have learned most from Joseph's life this time of reading is that Joseph's a vessel used by God to serve His chosen people, his family.
God gave him tests to get him ready, then gave him spiritual gifts to raise him up, and placed him in a position of great honor, wealth and power. All these was for the purpose of achieving to serve and save the rest of the family.
Joseph achieved most of the calling. But he also attempted to use that glory for himself.
God gave him honor, not for himself, but for others.
It's very hard to remember, in present days, God can still raise people to positions of high honor, not for themselves, but for the purpose of serving others, and to achieve God's plans in other people's lives.

The spiritual gifts -Genesis 47

How powerful are the gifts of the Holy Spirit!
Prophetic dreams, gift of interpretation, words of knowledge, words of wisdom...
God gave Joseph these gifts, and the gifts turned him from a prisoner to a powerful richest man in Egypt.

Now if only I could have some of Joseph's gift in the share market....

The baptism of fire - Genesis 46

Reinhard Bonnke preached about the baptism of fire at the conference. He meant power.
Robert Fergusson preached about the odyssey and the return a while ago. Without the odyssey, we'd always be the older son, life not lived to the full. First Adam is good, but the redeemed Adam is even better.
The baptism of fire is also for the use of purification of gold.

In Gen46 God's pushing Jacob, the people of Israel out for another odyssey.
Who caused the famine? Who sent Joseph ahead of everyone else to prepare for the journey?

"So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac."(v1)
Israel didn't seem to be too keen on journey this time. It almost felt like he's reminding and arguing with God that Beersheba was his place of destiny."Been there, done that, journey?....not too much fun for me." But God spoke to him:"I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes." It seems that Joseph's almost like a bait here: without him Israel would not be willing to travel down.

God wanted the people of Israel to experience fire: first the pain of the fire(life under Pharaoh), then the power and glory of fire(Moses, Exodus).
Posted: 17-Jul-2005 12:43

Pharisee's mindset -Mark 8

Mark8:1-13
When I close my eyes, I can feel God's calling in me to step out in faith, give him what I have and see Him do miracles, but I can also hear the pharisee in me began to argue, seeking yet another sign to prove it's Him. There's always this battle going on within me. It seems that this pharisee's mindset is the biggest enemy of faith.

V14-21
When there's a shortage of bread, it's easy to try to find some leaven to blow it up instead of trusting Jesus to multiply the bread.
When we're in need, we tend to seek answers from men first instead of asking and trusting God to meet that need. We always try to do it our own ways instead of yielding to His ways.

V27-38
The revelation of who Jesus is and the relationship coming out of that revelation(Follow Me) will totally change our lives.



I was reading Reihard Bonnke's book "Even greater".
Here's a quote from the book (P55): "Somehow, I believe this transition between obeying earthly authority and obeying God's authority is an essential test for those who serve Him."

If we have been Christians for a while, then we're somehow trained to be Pharisees. We're taught to obey the laws. There's nothing wrong with that. Just like kids, they need a lot of rules and boundaries. But there's a time that we're not babies anymore, we're not kids any more, but mature adults in faith. And this is the time the test comes to set us free from the mindset of Pharisees.

Mark 7

Mark7:36"And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it."

When there's real power demonstrated, there's no need for advertising and promoting.

Mark7:1-23
Men always try to rationalise God. They always want to make a tradition and then act from that tradition rather than God's living word.
Like Reinhard Bonnke's example, we try to put God in one room and have the rest of the house free to ourselves.
But God is a living God, He's not some dead theory or tradition that can't be changed. He's sick of being restricted into a box and He wants to be free!

Mark7:24-30
We're all given a certain amount of grace. But some people can argue with God and they're really good at bargain and can get a better deal. God really responds to faith well.

Emotional - Genesis 45

Gen45
Lucinda Dooley preached a few weeks ago about the movie "the incredibles", "let your secret identity be your only identity."

There's power when that identity comes out in the open. "He(Joseph)wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am Joseph!' "
(Gen45:2-3)
It's a very emotional moment for him. When he made the confession "Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt."(v8), he brought fulfilling power into his life and his family's lives.
God had placed a burden, a love in him for his family. And when he released his emotions, he couldn't control himself.

God's calling often comes with a supernatural love, together with a super strong emotions. This love can endure, this love can forgive, can be kind, can give generously far beyond human levels. It's God's love in him.

Do not go beyond God's grace -Genesis44

Gen44 Ps105:1-22
Today's psalm goes hand in hand with Gen.
At the conference Joyce Meyer talked about not to go beyond the annointing or grace that's been given.
Joseph in this chapter was tempted to go beyond his calling.
Ps105:21-22 "He made him lord of his house and ruler over all his possessions, to imprison his princed at will..."
Joseph's life calling is to save Jacob's family in a time of famine. God has prepared and enabled him for this task. But when in a position of honor, he nearly stepped out of this grace and acted on a personal level.
Thankfully, Judah brought him back into perspective and reminded him of his (God given)right role to play in the family.

God' s in control -Gen43

Gen43
God's in control of all circumstances.
For one moment, Joseph was traded as a slave, for one moment, he was put in jail with no hope in sight, yet for another moment he was given the greatest of honour.
We can't change our circumstances according to our likes. But we can trust that the almight God is in full control of all situations to bring glory to His name. We can't always put reasons down to why we encounter different things. But in God's hands, He can work all things out for good.
God doesn't always reveal the reasons behind everything; but if we can just trust Him, in the end we'll be able to see the full picture, His higher purpose.

Gifts - Gen40

Gen40
I'm blessed to see in Joseph that in the midst of the dungeon the gifts that God gave to him paved the way to many people's blessings.
God will make a way where there seems to be no way; Even though at times it seems that there's nothing we can do about our situation, the gifts that He has placed in us will open the way to His glory.

Drink with sinners -Mark 2

Mark2:17"and hearing this, Jesus said to them, it is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

It is good to seperate with the world when we were just converted. But after a while, it can become such a life style that all we hang out with are the "righteous" ones, we even forget there're still sinners around.
We stopped going to pubs, stopped going to unsaved friends' homes, stopped listening to pop music, stopped drinking(not even one drop), stopped smoking(can't even handle anyone near us smoking), stopped eating with them...We even try to put our kids in Christian schools so they get to grow up with righteous kids...
But gradually we take the light out of the darkness where it's needed the most!
It really takes guts to go back to those places, just to hang out with people, to eat and drink together... not to be influenced by them to sin again, but to bring light into the darkness, to let people see hope, and let God's love flow out to them.

Dream and jail -Gen39

Gen39
Joseph had a God dream. Then instead of seeing that dream coming to pass, his life went opposite the other way, the extremely opposite way. Although God was with him every step he went, he probably couldn't feel too confident about that dream. More over, he went through trial after trial. Prison, massive injustice...
However, God was in it every step he went. At the time he couldn't tell. But every step had a purpose.
If he hadn't be sold to the Egyptians, he wouldn't have achieved what he's called to achieve later.

Sometimes we'll encounter things that doesn't look like our dreams. But could Joseph figure out for himself and plan to go to Egypt in his youth? Sometimes we did all the right things but the result is very disappointing: Joseph ended up in jail by doing right. But can we see that God is bigger than jail and He does turn things around in time? Sometimes jail can interpret as the shadow of His wings? You'd praise Him for jail when you see the whold picture.
Isa55:9"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Tamar -Genesis 38

Judah married Canaanite, but God obviously wasn't impressed with his decisison and in a way He dismissed the marriages of the children.
I don't know where Tamar came from, I can't find proof who her fathers were. But she almost went through a faith journey like Abraham did.
Interesting that whenever the children of Abraham and Israel failed in their faith walk and almost got themselves perished, God would always raise someone else and cause them to walk a faith journey(vision-desert/waiting-trial...)and brought fresh blood back into the bloodline family.
Tamar,Joseph, Moses ...
The recording of Tamar was very brief, compared to Abraham, Joseph and Moses' stories, but I can see that she had extraordinary faith.
She also reminds me of Matt15:21-28

Absurd dreams -Genesis 37

Gen37
A while ago I received an email from someone talking about dreams. I really liked it, and I'd just copy it here:

Do your dreams seem absurd? Do they seem unattainable? Don't
worry because these are the true qualities of dreams. If dreams
were logical, grand AND reachable, then all you would have are
big goals. Big goals are not dreams.

Albert Einstein said that, if, at first, the idea is not
absurd, there is no hope for it.

Want to be a history maker? Don't throw out your absurd
dreams! Lay them out before the Lord and let Him purify them.
Then, embrace the dreams-no matter how weird, unreachable or
absurd!

When God gives you a dream that seems weird, unreachable or
absurd, it may because the dream does not fit into the context
of your present situations, circumstances, understanding or
knowledge. Or, the dream may be totally out of the expectations
of the people around you.

But, so what? You believe in a God of infinite wisdom, right?

Let Him guide you. Don't easily throw way His hidden treasures-
the dreams- that He has given to you. What about the comments
of those around you? Remember that you are ultimately
responsible to God, not the people around you. Certainly, God
has set up levels of authority in our lives in the interaction
with have with people. Biblical teaching includes how we are,
in love, to relate to those people. However, keep in mind that
one day, God will ask you what you have done about your dream
for which you are solely responsible. People around you do not
share that responsibility.

Have you given up on a dream? Have you stopped dreaming all
together because, at some point, you or someone else thought you
were strange to have those dreams? Get back to dreaming again.
Lift up your dreams to the Lord to see whether He gives them
back to you. If He puts them back into your heart, start taking
steps to manifest them. Faith in your dream alone will not get
you anywhere. You need to take actions. That is true faith.

Warmly,

Helen Y. Chen
Business & Life Coach
http://www.HYCCoaching.com

Early and late rain - James 5

James5:7"The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rain."
Early rain is also called autumn rain, is for vindication(Joel 2:23);
Late rain is the spring rain, latter rain, is for the harvest.
In a way the two rain's like the red sea and the Jordan river.
Between the two is winter, the desert, the journey, the fire.

Esau - Gen36

Gen36
Jacob moved and journeyed, had his odyssey and then found his destiny in God.
Esau however, experienced a few movements, but eventually settled back to the place where he came from: Seir, the place of the Horites. Nothing changed. He mixed and married into the ungodly culture and tradition of the local people. He's quite productive and enjoyed the result of his hard working hands.

Jacob's journey to destiny -Gen35

Gen35
The Lord is calling Jacob to leave the worldly place, the ungodly ties of peer pressure, the corruption of the unbelivers, where he can get hurt and easily tangled up, to "arise, go up to Bethel and live there"(v1)
Bethel means the house of God.
There comes a time of seperation and letting go, of spiritual cleansing.
Although it can look very disturbing, those worldly things really didn't have any power ove him
once he decided to leave(V5)
He committed his life and worship to God at Bethel.(altar)
V8"Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died..."The person who had been meeting with him basic needs(nanny's for chores, feeding, cooking, cleaning,etc), who had helped discipling him left. Or it could mean he graduated from foundation period of discipleship.
Then he met God again at Paddan-aram(V9), the place of His mother, who laid down her life and paved the way for him. And he found who he really was. Rebekah had always believed in him, she had a vision for him, and this is the time that he came to the revelation of his mother's vision for him.
Out of this revelation Jacob built a pillar of stone, a monument, a new stronghold in God, a new statement, and he named it Bethel. Now not only was he belonged to Bethel, the house of God, he's gonna be a builder of the house of God.
Then he came to a place called Ephrath, which is also Bethlehem. This is the place where the love of his life, Rachel died. And this is also the place where a born again mind of greatness was birthed. Out of the death a new seed was planted.
v21"Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder." The reference in my Bible leads the tower of Eder to Micah4:8"As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come - even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem." This speaks to me the fullness of destiny, the fulfilment of God's promise.
v22 speaks that some of his children are pinching his glory.
v27-28 Jacob remembered and recognised that he's a successor of Abraham and Isaac, that his spiritual blessing was built on the foundation of Abraham and Isaac's faith.

Dinah - Gen34

Gen34
Jacob is restored to faith. And he has found who he is. But he's still doing the world's business.He's still interfering with the world, and unavoidably he got affected. Dinah was defiled.
After these God called him to leave the place behind and enter into the ministry He has planned for him.