In the leafy home of Eden, God provided abundant food for Adam and Eve; a table for them in the presence of their enemies.  But Satan convinced them not to restrict themselves to the Lords table, but to eat from things forbidden.   The serpent was only allowed in the garden, to strengthen Adams resolve and faith in God, by testing him.  We have an enemy – it’s a fact we need to get used to.  Our enemies are not given to defeat us but to strengthen us. We are not praying about how can we escape them but how we can overcome them?

Sometimes God is able to do His best work, in our worst times. When we’re in trouble we pray the most. We usually build increasing intimacy with God, in times of difficulty. So having no enemies, may be a “curse” more than a blessing” Even people that oppose us can help us grow.   God wants our confidence in Him to grow and even get to the place where we can see maybe some of our “enemies” as friends.  Judas brought soldiers to take Jesus to the cross and Peter sought to keep Jesus from the cross. Jesus called Judas His friend and He called Peter the devil, because only Judas was helping Jesus get to His destiny.

While Adam and Eve looked elsewhere for food,  David was confident His Shepherd still had food for him in the presence of his enemies!  “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over” ( Psalms 23:5).  The word “prepared” has a military meaning, to set provisions, in readiness for battle.  Faith and intimate fellowship with God had filled his heart with confidence.

You are at war but God has prepared His table long before the enemy of your soul showed up and everything you need to win is on the table. We have to feast before the battle!  God has provided for your delight and sustenance Jesus’s power and grace. It is laid out on the table of fellowship with God.  This is the way God does it. We don’t fight the battle then enjoy the celebration.  God says to savour and enjoy the victory feast that He has prepared and then join the battle.

Friend, don’t enter your daily fight, skinny in the Spirit – go full and strong.  Too many saints turn up to the battle hopeful but famished.  Most of our struggles in life, are not because the enemies are too big, but because our time at the table is too small.

The young man walked with purpose toward the busy mall. He had a bomb strapped to his chest. He never looked for cameras only for a crowd. Shortly he sacrificed his life to kill and maim as many as he could. In the same city, another sacrificed her life by giving it away in service to as many lepers in Calcutta as she could.   As has always been the case a person never rises above their own vision or concept of God. None of us will either in 2020.

The picture we have of God determines how we live. The prophets saw visions of God and it altered the orbit of their life completely.  Paul saw Jesus and he was transformed from a murderer to missionary in a moment.  What he despised became precious, and who he once hated, he now loved.

At Passover the disciples wanted to know who would betray Jesus so they asked John the "disciple who Jesus loved" to ask Jesus who it was. It seems a bit strange for surely Jesus loved them all the same.  It doesn’t say that Jesus loved him more than the others, however it does mean that John was the one that Jesus could fully love.  John was able to receive the most love.  Of all the disciples John understood Jesus the best. He understood how Jesus the Creator wanted to love and he knew how to love Jesus in response.  He correctly saw that the Creator wanted also to be loved, that He wanted to be leaned on and that He wants His people to be close. He wants to be trusted and He wanted men to be comfortable and un-self conscious in His presence.  John actions were changed by what he perceived in Jesus and He acted like no one else did because he saw Jesus in a way that no one else did! (John 13.23-15) 

Friends, in 2020 the clearest vision we need is of our Saviour, for the course we plan and the way we act in 2020 will be as correct as our vision of Him. Let’s lean back and look up at His face.

We stood in the darkness in the middle of a village in Punjab waiting for the meeting to begin. There was some scurrying and voices and suddenly the lamps in the village and our sound system bust into life and light. A small girl had climbed up on the highest roof and connected a wire to the mains power line passing over the town.

Many centuries earlier an angel filled a room with light causing Joseph to lean back with surprise and a touch of fright. As Joseph thought over what to do about his pregnant fiancée, the angel assured him “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Mat 1:23  "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which is translated, "God with us."  (Mat 1:21 -23)

What, wait! Did the angel just say call him Jesus when out of his own mouth he said the prophet Isaiah said to call Him Emmanuel (God with us)? Even the two meanings - he will save His people and God is with us, are different or are they?

No! These are effectively the same thing, for God can only truly save us by being with us and within us. Gods salvation is not just an accounting write-off of our sins but an impartation of His divine life. Since human history began, mans efforts to live up to his creators standard has flickered as a candle and failed. Jesus came to live with us and within us as our righteousness, our Life, our Light and our mighty Helper.  Emmanuel saves us by sharing His power with us. The evidence of His presence and power is not falling or shouting but being able to live in righteousness, peace and joy. To live in righteousness rather than compromise; to live in peace in the midst of trouble and to maintain joy among difficult people. The fact that He is with us, doesn’t mean there will be no enemies; it means that we are empowered to defeat them.  It doesn’t mean there will be no troubles but it does mean that we can over come them and live for a purpose and a mission more important and longer lasting than our troubles.

Friend, Christmas is the celebration of the great day when our Saviour made a new way of living possible for us all. The day He connected us to the “Mains”!

My Dad came back from World War Two with few stories and even less prized items. One was an American double edged commando dagger. One day I lost it in a paddock and never found it again. When I was fifteen I drove is brand new car into a river and ruined it beyond repair. I annoyed my father many other times. He still loved me but his love had limits!   God's love for us is incomprehensible according to Ephesians 3:19 but God tries to explain His love for us by human relationships like father and mother. Even these metaphors of God's love for us are inadequate because sometimes human mothers and fathers hurt their babies and some even kill.

Perhaps the story of Hosea the prophet and Gomer the harlot is one of God's best illustrations of His love for us. Hosea (Salvation), a picture of God himself, was told to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2).   We can imagine this was nobody’s first choice but God wanted to illustrate something that a faithful married couple or a faithful parent could never communicate. Gomer, whose name means complete failure had sold herself to many men previously but Hosea forgives and marries her.  In spite of the incredible love Hosea shows her, she still believes she is undeserving of love and runs away from only person to truly love her. She left love and went back to selling herself.  She knew sex but she didn't know love. She had children to different men but Hoséa kept forgiving her and taking her back.

Sometimes like Gomer, we don’t know how to receive that amount of love.  Gomer couldn’t believe that she was worthy to be loved so she lived as though she wasn't . She sabotaged her relationships, as if to prove that she is unloved and unlovable. If we believe were unlovable we will keep acting out who we think we are instead of who we truly are. You are now the immeasurably loved son or the incredibly loved daughter.

Friend, comprehending more of Father's love for us will change the way we live.   The story of Hosea shows you that as well as loving you as a father and mother, He also loves you as the Lover whose love will never end.   When we are unfaithful, He is still teaching us His love not teaching us a lesson.  His jealousy thrusts Him toward us, not away from us.  God’s love is that persistent, that huge and that good.

In the classic movie, “Casablanca” Bogart says to the beautiful Iisa “Here’s looking at you kid”. These must be some of the most well remembered of all the most meaningless words ever spoken.   But it does matter if some people are looking at us or not.  If you have ever been to an optometrist you know the feeling of having another peer through an instrument into your eyes.  We don’t see their eyes and even their face is sometimes obscured by the instruments of purpose.  But our confidence is not in the fact we can see their eyes but in the fact that we know they can see deeply into ours.

Seeking God’s face is not meant to be the new “works”. Rather it is our greatest delight and privilege but it is still by faith and sometimes we don’t see His face that clearly.  Our faith is not established by how well we think we see His face or seek His face but our confidence is established by the fact that He sees us.  Our God is the God who sees.

Hagar running away from home in the desert finally put her boy under a bush and walked away.  She didn’t want to see or hear her little boy as he died.  God saw and heard them both. Hagar called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You-Are- the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13).  He saw Israel’s trouble and came down to deliver them. “And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt…”( Exodus3:7).  He sees his followers before they are following. “And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen”( Mark 1:16)  He saw us in our need then and in our need now. “Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them so he came to them” (Mark 6:48). None of these people were good at seeing or even looking but He is awesome at seeing and revealing Himself and He did.   When we do get to “see Him” it is because He saw us first.

Plainly it is more important that God sees us than us seeing Him. Yes, looking is vital for he says  “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22).  But ultimately our salvation is not based upon our ability to see or to look but is based on the fact that he already looked upon us and decided to be our Saviour. If we are saved by looking upon Him how much more when He looks upon us.

One woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus. After Jesus silenced her accusers Jesus asked the woman who was left to accuse her. “She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more”(John 8:11).  A woman prepared to commit adultery in that society knowing the consequence was public stoning or at least lifelong public shame was a woman desperate for value, not sex.  He said to her to go and sin no more, and because she had met Jesus she found she was able to live differently.  With one look, Jesus the King drove away evil with His eyes. (Proverbs 20:8)   Just one look from her creator told her she was born for better things. She now knew she could live equal to her value because when you know the King has seen you-you can see yourself differently!

Friend, it means a lot to know that He is looking at you kid. It changes everything.

Jesus headed out of Jerusalem and walked toward a small town called Bethany. Of all the places Jesus went, Bethany was one of His favourite places. He went there often and he liked to lodge with His friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. It was a place where He could receive refreshing and support from friends. Bethany had the sort of friends, that Jesus is was looking for.
One was Mary. She was wasteful in her worship. Worship that isn’t wasteful, probably isn’t really worship. Worship is an over flow of devotion to God. It’s not measured out or a set quantity, it not an offering of 27.5 minutes of worship. That may be an offering but it’s not worship. The ointment she poured on Jesus feet was expensive and wiping His feet with her hair was shocking. Worship is costly; it costs you time and it costs you your pride. She worshiped the God who had no need because her need was to give worship and when needy one, gave to the One who had no need she found herself richer.

Not everyone there was happy. Extravagant worship always exposes the cold, pragmatic and practical mindset. While the thief was willing to be generous with someone else's money, the worshiper was generous with her own. Judas the betrayers' question was "why"?… Mary's question and every worshiper's question is "when and how do we get to?" but never why.

Friend, why don’t we make a Bethany for Jesus. He will turn up - He loves to be at Bethany and Hes still looking for friends.

Samson enjoyed Delilah but while he was asleep in the lap of compromise, he was shorn of his hair; and along with his hair, the strength of anointing that clothed his weakness. We are all weak without Him. We don’t we like weakness and we want to be in control; we don’t want things to be too big for us. We want the walls to be small enough to climb with a ladder if the shout doesn’t work. We don’t want to have to trust God; we want concrete, not water under our feet.
But nothing about being a disciple of Jesus is possible without miracles. It is impossible to live as Christians without supernatural intervention.   The task of changing hardened skeptics into people who will die for Jesus Christ, is, of course, impossible, apart from miracles from God and miracles only happen in the circumstance of weakness, need, and impossibility.

Gods plan is to work through weak vessels so he gets the credit. In fact, he even says “My power is made perfect in your weakness.” When Paul understood this he said, “Therefore I will gladly boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Can we say too, that we are more interested in Gods power being released through us, than in our comfort or ease?  Trials and troubles pull us to our knees but when there is no pressure, we drift toward the arm of the flesh and our spiritual effectiveness withers. Samson was a man who forgot where his strength lay. (Judges 16:17) Without God, he was as weak as any man.

Friend, it takes the full 7 locks of Gods anointing to fulfill our destiny. The saddest thing is that many of us are happy to live with one or two locks. Let's grow some “hair” in His presence today.