Baptism of Anointing

I want to express my commitment to God which was made this day, last year, outside at YWAM Oxford, approximately 9:45 pm, having a Baptism of Anointing symbolizing my desire to give myself wholly to Him.

3 1L bottles of Olive Oil were tipped over my head, from top to bottom. To this day, the clothes I wore still reek of olive oil (I tried to get the smell out)

This post is also a response to what God has asked me to do this morning, "Remember this day" and a commitment to publish what has happened a year this day ago for another year. It will finish on the 2nd of May 2013 (according to the Jewish calendar)

By God's grace, empower me to make this known for a whole year without missing a day.

Amen

Enjoying Shabbat: Keeping, Observing and Obeying Shabbat Law

Isaiah 58:13 "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, [From] doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy [day] of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking [your own] words,"

A few scriptures that are highlighted regarding the Law and specifically Shabbat.

These are the very words of Jesus.
Matthew 5:20 "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Hebrews 3:15-19 "while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, [was it] not all who came out of Egypt, [led] by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? [Was it] not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

Romans 7:23-25 "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

Today, while having a conversation with Kent, He asked me a question "So do you want me to help you move the mattress?" To understand this question I have to rewind a little. During the time that Jesus walked on earth, The Pharisees and Chief Priests were in eldership of Israel. One of the things that they say in the law is this:

Deuteronomy 17:8,9 "If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge [there] in those days, and inquire [of them]; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment."

Chief priests and lawyers were in a position of authority over the nation as to the way certain cases regarding the law were to be handled.

As we are aware, one of the biggest parts of the law is Shabbat. I will say in essence, Shabbat is a day of no work. Not just saying "I will rest" but "I will refrain from doing this, and that, and this and that on Shabbat - so that I will rest. Because the Shabbat day was given by God, and consecrated Holy, and a delight - to rest" a day where traditionally the time is spent thinking of God and the word of God.

I want to say, that the teachers (Rabbis) are right in their estimation of Shabbat, saying it is a day where work must not be done. They correctly divided this law. For all the 4000 and more regulations on Shabbat have been given as a delight, and the essence is to make this day a delight. O, that righteousness like this is seen on the earth!

Jesus, reveal to us the importance and joy of Shabbat!

In fact, Jesus also had alot to say about Shabbat. In John 5 he states:

19,20: "Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel."

a definition of miracles is mentioned here, "What he sees the Father do" Saying that all the works he does are miracles. By saying this, Jesus is saying "I cannot work, it's only the Father who works" - He fulfills the law of Shabbat, because if we are attaining to a righteousness, we need an example to go from. Jesus perfectly fulfills Shabbat law, because He perfectly obeys the Father. In fact,the Father is still longing for the same kind of fellowship as He originally created - where we walk with Him in the garden.

People think that part of becoming a Christian is getting rid of the law. But without the law I can never be conscious of my sin. It's only in knowing the law that my sinfulness if revealed. The law is good to us because it kills our flesh. Make no doubt about it, our flesh deceives us, and kills us, it says "these things are good for you" when they are not - and being ignorant we die. We are to hold the two in balance - in tension. The law of sin in our mind, and the law of the spirit of life in our hearts. Without the law we will never be keen to the motions of the Holy Spirit.

In finishing, I have to say something else. If the Shabbat has been given to us as a delight, showing us that we can't do anything, surely it should not just be for a single day? Yes, that's right! God has given Shabbat to us, as a kind of way to live out the rest of our week, when we get it right on Shabbat, we will get it right for the whole week, God does not want us just not working on Shabbat, but also for the rest of our lives, enjoying rest.

I want to stress this, the essence of Shabbat is to do no work. So we cannot condemn Jews who have accurately divided this word rightly. But without the Spirit we cannot expect to fulfill the righteousness that God is asking of us. As a follower of Jesus, His delight is my delight, and Jesus is excited about seeing His Father heal a paralytic, on Shabbat. How much then do I want to obey the words of Jesus in attaining righteousness greater than the Pharisees?

In finishing then, I want to tell the story. Kent asked me "do you want me to help you move the mattress" immediately in my mind I thought "I cannot lift a single finger on Shabbat - to move a mattress" then I listened to Him speak and said "Yes! of course! that's the whole point!" Thank you Spirit revelation. It's good to do no work on Shabbat, it is better to obey. And I will forever obey. I am compelled to obey.

(The reason that we do not enter into rest, is because of disobedience, in multiplying laws, we know that it makes it harder to obey, in the end, only the faithful will attain to righteousness)

I'm making a stand

For OBEDIENCE.

Let the world know that I am no longer going to be rebellious, I'm becoming a slave to OBEDIENCE. OBEDIENCE is everything. OBEDIENCE is freedom. OBEDIENCE is the NARROW way, it costs everything to obey God. OBEDIENCE can sometimes not make sense at the time, we do it because He said it, and we love Him and trust Him that it will work in the end. He is not labouring for vanity, He is labouring for a good purpose.

Sex and drugs

I am habitually addicted. The feeling is like sex. Illicit and dark - the pleasure is in knowing that no one sees what I'm doing. And can I get away from it? it's a surprise that I don't do it all the time everywhere. Now would you like to know what I'm referring to? I am addicted to video games. Does that surprise you? Should I be afraid? I choose to think I'm not sharing anything more than would be advised. I'm not apologizing for my behavior. In fact i'm disgusted by my behavior. Does that surprise you? It's like the thing that I enjoyed doing is becoming a callous on my heart. How can I bear with it? would i dare go back and say "Nothing's changed"? It is a strange thing, but God knows me perfectly, and even now, it's to your benefit and to my benefit to speak about this. Does it matter that God wanted me to share this in Church today and I didn't? He gives me the choice. Does He know me that well? Does He ordain things to happen, and people to meet, Because He loves me and because He wants to? Is that true?

Being Anointed of the Lord

I would like to continue the story and let you know what God has done this last week.

On Monday, the 2nd of May, 2011, I, Nathan Sinclair have become wedded to Jesus. The ceremony begun at roughly 9:45pm where after a short reason for what I was doing, I was anointed with 3 litres of olive oil as a symbolic declaration of my love for Him and being betrothed to Him. These are the reasons:
1. I am entering into a year of being perfumed with fragrances. This is a commitment which will last until the 1st of May 2012 at which end, according to the scripture, I will have an audience with the King.
2. God is hotly pursuing me with desire and jealousy
3. He has done everything and His love is better than life
4. God delights in obedience, the past 3 or so weeks, He has put me out of my comfort zone to follow Him and he rewards me for my obedience. I can't go on at all without the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Everything I have is his. What a wonderful God, who counts obedience as being better than time, or money!
5. As a sign of extravagance I bought 3 bottles of olive oil from the Supermarket to pour out over my whole body, top of my head to the soles of my feet! And why not do it now? This is not something that can wait! I love Him!

Spiritual smells part 2

"The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!" (Song 2:13)

Each time you are excited about a new development, change, experience etc the effect is that it gives off an aroma. Each time you discern that you are growing in compassion or faithfulness or that you are any number of emotions it lets off a fragrance of new life. The more that you discern these changes the more excitement and more rejoicing that happens!