Retail confusion

I walked into a retail store this evening, to find a very weird sight. The promotion table right in front of the door was filled with Easter Bunnies and Hot Cross Buns and right behind them was a table of chocolate Santa's. Now come on people, can't they make up their mind anymore as to which retail season we are in.

All right I get it. The Santa chocolates are going to go stale, but really, Christmas goodies went out of fashion on Old Years Eve. Easter is a good 2+ months away and there is still Valentines day in between. Kinda just made me sick for a minute. All for a buck!

The question is, do we do the same thing in our Christian lives? I'm pretty sure we do. Jesus certainly dealt with it in His time. In fact that's the only time we see the Lord get righteously enraged. Traders were doing business in the temple and He had seen enough of it for Him to do the one thing none of us would have expected, He gets a whip and starts lashing people and turning over their money tables.

I'm certainly not against retail stores, we need them and they have their place, but I do think there is a line between supplying a market and exploitation. Jesus message runs deeper than that though. His message was that God's tabernacle needs to be kept Holy. When we come to God's church to worship, let us do it with hearts that are free from worldly entanglements and open to the presence of God!

Just another lamp

A candle is a candle and a lamp stand is a lamp stand, right? You would think so until you look at the Menorah, which is the lamp stand found in the Holy place. This simple piece of temple equipment or furnishing is filled with so much symbolism, you simply cannot squeeze it all onto one page let alone a quickie blog.

I will however attempt to illuminate you (excuse the pun) with some of the meanings of the Menorah. The 6 outer branches of the Menorah are believed to represent man and the 7^th inner branch the eternal flame of God. The almond blossoms speak of first fruits in spring and that we are the head and not the tale. Almond blossoms also speak of the divine election of the individual saint for ministry.

The menorah held enough oil to light the Holy Place from sundown to sunrise. Only the center candlestick was kept burning 24 hours a day. We can infer that the menorah is representative of the inner life of the believer, which is to be constantly illuminated by the Spirit of Christ.

When we are lit with the eternal flame of God during worship, our heart will burn with love for Him forever. As Christians we can know that we are divinely chosen by God for a specific purpose. When you come to God in worship, know that you are unique and that in God's presence you will find the light of truth you need to live every day to the full for God.

An hour at the mirror

We all know the time. It's date night and it is time to get looking spiffy. Us ladies will spend copious amounts of time, creaming, blow drying, doing make-up, perfuming and dressing all to look our best for our date. All of this puffing is done to avoid any embarrassing moments and the phrase that paid in the 80's, “I nearly died!” Well for the priesthood that may well have been a reality.

The brazen laver served a similar purpose. It is the second of two objects located in the Tabernacle's outer court. It was placed between the tent and the altar and its purpose was to be used to wash the hands and feet of the priest, thus purifying themselves in preparation for ministry. Failure to do so would result in death. The brazen laver was made of polished bronze and it was polished until it obtained mirror like qualities.

The ministry of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for Jesus. He preached repentance of sin and baptism in water for remission of sin. Jesus changed the nature of Baptism when He came to John to be baptized. Although He was without sin, Jesus was baptized to fulfill the model of the Brazen Laver that required purity through washing prior to entering ministry. Jesus changed the form of baptism when He came up from the water and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Jesus was therefore empowered to enter into ministry. In doing this Jesus was then able to baptize others with the Holy Spirit, therein empowering them minister with power and have a deeper relationship with God.

How does this apply to our lives today? As Christians when we are baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit, we receive power from God to do the same works the disciples did and the ability to connect with God on a personal level. How does that apply to worship? When we praise God with the power of the Holy Spirit active within us, we are able to experience a powerful and intimate connection with God. This power gives us the strength to live every day with God as our source.

Sweet nothings

In relationships don't we just love those moments when our loved one tucks their arms around us and whispers sweet nothing's in our ear. Usually if the sweet nothing is about how wonderful we are, our partner scores brownie points.

When we praise God this is exactly what we are doing for God. We magnify who He is and how wonderful He is and what amazing thing that He has done for us. The most powerful thing that God has done for us was to sacrifice His Son and in the tabernacle we see this exemplified at the brazen altar.

The altar was usually on a small raised mound being a projection of Christ being raised on the hill at Golgotha. It was made of Acacia wood, which is symbolic in the bible of judgement, and then covered in bronze. The animal sacrifice had to be of a male animal without blemish. The person bringing the sacrifice would lay their hand on the head of the animal thereby transferring their sin to the creature.

The priest would slaughter the animal and sprinkle the blood, which is significant of atonement, in front of the veil to the Holy place. Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness. In Egypt at the passover the animals were slaughtered and then the meat eaten to protect the Israelite's eldest child from the Angel of death. At the last supper Jesus broke the bread and said to His disciples, “Take, eat, this is my body broken for you.” This powerful symbol of communion not only represents the death of Christ but brings to fulfillment the passover of Egypt.

When we come to God's tabernacle and praise Him for His work, let us remember the sacrifice of Christ and give God the glory He truly does deserve.

Staggering in

The hero in the movie comes staggering in, bleeding, battered and bruised and we applaud him because he has made it, he crossed the enemies fence back into allied territory. Truth be told that is how we often end up crossing the line through the gates of the tabernacle into Gods presence.

Psalm 100 v 4 reads, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” We follow this up in the popular chorus with, “I will say this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice for He has made me glad.” How did God make us glad? He sacrificed His Son for our sin.

How on earth do we enter Gods courts with praise, when we ourselves are battered and heart broken? Kirk Dearman's song gives us a clue.

We bring the sacrifice of praise, unto the house of the Lord.
We bring the sacrifice of praise, unto the house of the Lord.
And we offer up to You, the sacrifices of thanksgiving;
And we offer up to You, the sacrifices of joy.

When we come to God in the trials and turmoils of life: the agony of death; the sting of rejection; the pain of a broken marriage; a disease filled body; betrayal and deceit and we give up our right to anger, vengeance and and self righteousness, kneeling before God and weeping out our heartbreak, that is when our praise becomes sacrifice. When we rise and give thanks to God for His mercy and the good works He has already done our lives, that is true Praise!

You may enter

It is by comparison to today's standards remarkably small, yet this small portable tabernacle carried in it the presence of God and God's visible presence was over it as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, guiding all who sought forgiveness to the place of God.

To quote www.bible-history.com, “The study of the tabernacle is so rich in meaning to the Christian and so pregnant with Messianic significance that we can spend a lifetime in the study of it and only begin to understand the riches and the depth of truth that lies within the study of the tabernacle.” This being said, I will by no means be able to bring you to a full understanding of the tabernacle in the few blogs that will follow, but I hope that it will awaken within you a desire to research this topic for yourself.

God reveals through the tabernacle's design a pattern of worship that he desires for us to follow. When a person becomes aware of sin there is a desire to approach God. When you arrive at the tabernacle you are greeted with barrier of white linen (representing purity) except for one stretch that is known as the entrance gate which is multi-coloured in white (also sanctification), blue (righteousness) , purple (justice / royalty) and red (sin) and here you could gain entrance to the court. The court was an open place into which all Israelites were allowed to enter.

As Christians today, when we enter God's place of worship, and I don't just mean a church, we should enter with a knowledge that in Jesus we are sanctified (made holy), because His blood was shed for us to give us His Righteousness so that God's requirement of justice is met in us and we can become the Royal Priesthood that He has ordained for us to become.

Royal stuff up

Lies, deceit, adultery and murder are not your typical picture of a godly person are they? I think King David earned the noddy badge of 'Royal stuff up'. His life truly was a mess after everything he had done. Yet of David God declared that he was a man after His own heart. Why on earth would God say that about David after all the wretched things he did?

God did so because David had two attributes that set him apart. Firstly David humbled himself before God and repented. He not only asked God to forgive him but he also changed his ways to live out the rest of his days honouring God.

Secondly David was a worshiper. He worshiped God and had a personal relationship with God. David personally experienced God's presence as he worshiped. That may not seem like a big deal to us, but you have to remember the times that David was living in. At that time, only the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holy's and that was only once a year. Then it was not to worship God as much as it was to plead for forgiveness for the peoples sins for the past year. If God was not pleased with the sacrifice, the results were instant death.

David's songs of worship in the Psalms have been emortalized in scripture and there is much that we can still learn from these Psalms today. If you are a new Christian or even someone who has attended Church their whole life but you've never experienced God's presence in worship, then I want to encourage you to take a journey with me over the next few weeks of learning about praise and worship and the impact that it can have on your life.

Update on book availability and new website

Hi Everyone,

Last week I sent out a notice advising that I had noticed a price discrepancy between the cost of my book as advertised on Amazon & Authorhouse versus that of Kalahari. I have done some digging and have discovered the following:

• Retailers are not obliged to sell the book at the recommended retail price that I agreed with Authorhouse prior to publication. Although this frustrates me, I have to respect every companies right to sell the book at a price that will be profitable for them.
• I have also learned that the reason the sales prices for South African websites appears to be higher is because the retailers are purchasing the books from a wholesaler and not directly from the publisher. I have and will where possible help to get these retailers directly linked to the publisher to reduce the cost, but I cannot guarentee that they will take me up on the offer. I also have no idea as to how to contact the buyers for some of the website companies.
  This being said, with my current workings it will currently work out cheapest for you to purchase the book from either Amazon or Authorhouse directly. The cost of the book plus courier fees will currently still work out cheaper than purchasing from a South African site. So please feel free to use one of the following:

www.Amazon.com

OR

www.Authorhouse.co.uk

I would however like to encourage you to purchase the e-book as apposed to the hard copy. It has all the same great content and a pinch of the price and is currently retailing just under R50 per book.

Standard e-book – www.Kalahari.com

Kindle edition – www.Amazon.com

There are however a stack of other websites carrying the book, so feel free to shop around.

New website

I have created a new website to promote myself as an author, which will hopefully in the future advertise all books that I may produce and any future book signing events. I will be focusing my attention with posting news events directly to this site. Please check it out and refer it to your friends:

www.Ronwyn0.wix.com/RonwynHughes

If you have already purchased a copy of my book, please take a selfie and send it to me, I would love to pop your picture onto the news page.

Thank you for your support, it is much appreciated!

Love and regards,

Ronwyn Hughes

Heat wave

One of my all time favourite movie opening scene's has to the the one from “Grumpy old men.” The song playing? “We're having a heat wave....a tropical heat wave.” Meanwhile its snowing outside, Lol!

Well all across the Southern Hemisphere temperatures are soaring. Australia and now also in South Africa we are experiencing scorching summer days with very little rain to cool things down. I'm definitely seeing the results of that in my garden with wilting flower and dried up leaves.

The same often applies in our spiritual walk. The heat of pressure, deadlines, traffic, studies and many other difficult situations have us panting for water. Luckily for us there is water, plenty of it and we don't have to wait until we get to an oasis to enjoy it.

What is this water? The living waters of God's Spirit. How do we bring the wonderful waters of God's presence into our lives in a moment? Through praise and worship. When we praise God for His attributes and worship who He is, we can be assured that His presence will engulf us in an instant and living, fresh water will sooth our soul.

Beans or tomatoes?

The really fun part about gardening is all the experimentation.  I love tomatoes and barely a day goes by when I don't either eat fresh tomatoes or use tomato sauce.  I naturally thought that growing some was the right way to go.  Needless to say I'm finding that the nuisance to benefit ratio is quite low.

What do I mean by that?  Well the tomato plants are growing at a rate that reminds me of an alien invasion, one with world wide domination as its goal :-P.  Trying to keep the tomato plants under control is quite a mission and the size and amount of fruit just doesn't warrant the gigantic plant.  On the converse side my tiny little bush beans are small and relatively neat but produce a stack of beans at an surprising rate.

In our Christian lives what benefits out weigh the effort required to do them?  The small effort of a simple prayer can bring our hearts and minds closer to God and the huge reward is having His presence touch us when we need it most.  The effort of ministering to a friend in need is rewarded with the blessings of God that follow a kind act.

What gigantic tomato plants do you have in your life that require removal to make space for more productive bush beans?  I'm sure if you search you'll find them.  Ask God to help you put the priorities on these straight and receive the blessings that your efforts will bring.

Living canvas

I love the art of cosmetics and the fact that we can use our faces as living canvas. I have had people comment that I'm not wearing much make up, if only they knew. I work hard to keep the colours looking as natural as possible. There are days however when I'm in the mood for some colour, then simple changes make a big effect.

Our lives too are living canvas, God paints shades of colour mixed with black and white to change the scene and as our lives unfold before Him He views His masterpiece to enjoy the wonderful picture.

A masterpiece takes time to craft. At times we can only see a small part of the picture or even just an outline. As times go by the strokes God paints fill the canvas more and more. We need to learn to be patient as God works in us as over time we will learn to appreciate His craftmanship as much as He does.

Melted wax

Some time back during one of our power failures I had left a candle on my out door table. Being plastic I had a hard time scraping it off. On Saturday I decided to do a whole bunch of washing and was using all the outdoor furniture to hang clothes over to dry.

When I went to remove the clothes from the table I noticed some wax on my clothes. I had no idea wax was so soft that it could be melted by the sun. It made me wonder. There are things in life that we should cling to like hardened wax. Then there are instances where we should allow the sunlight of God to melt that wax and remove us from.

What are some of the areas where we should be melted? A hardend attitude towards life, unforgiveness and hatred, being rude and unkind, and there are probably many more. What are some of the things that we should cling to? God's grace and forgiveness, God's love and kindness, God's peace and joy!

Are you going to allow God to work in your heart to allow you to cling to or melt in areas where He needs to work in you?

Transforming hope

If hope gives us an anchor, then surely we should understand what hope is? The dictionary definition of hope is a feeling of desire for something and confidence in the possibility of its fulfillment. Hope is a word that draws our attention forward to the future.

Colossians 1:27 reads. “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery amoung the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” Why is Christ in us our hope of glory? Because when we realize what Christ has accomplished and that the power that resides in Him, being the power of His resurrection, also resides in us, then we have hope that the same power of transformation that resurrected Christ will also transform us!

Now surely if we have a belief that is pulling us forward to our ultimate glorification in Christ then the things which we suffer on earth are the things that God is using to transform us into the powerful beings that our eternal destiny moves us forward to become. If we can overcome death through salvation then no other entity, being, tribulation, trial, work strife, marriage tiff, financial lack, sickness or any other thing of this earth can prevent us from becoming what God has ordained for us to be.

Are you excited yet?? That means that nothing that we face can in any way stop us from attaining our destiny in Christ, and by golly that gets me trilled to be living this Christian life!

Changing gear

Today I definitely felt it, the gear change at work has begun. One of my esteemed colleagues is going on maternity leave and I'm filling the gap for her for the next 4 months. Honestly, I am quite excited about it as I know that I am going to learn more in these next 4 months than I have in quite a while.

The pace has definitely changed and I have to pick it up now even more and I'm loving it. I love being busy as it makes the time spent at work just fly by. In our spiritual lives the pace can change at a moments notice. One moment you are cruising along and next thing the storm breaks and havoc ensues.

Some storms, like a mild summer afternoon thunder storm, can be great. It breaks the heat and not much else, so the effect blow over quickly. Other storms like Tornado's wreck devastation and there are times when we simply cannot tell how mild or bad it will be until it hits you.

What can we do in times like that to keep our faith in God strong and ride it out? We need an anchor. In the same way a ship drops anchor to keep itself in place we too can drop our spiritual anchor and ensure that we are secure. What is our anchor? Hope! When we have hope in the future then no storm can take us off course and we are able to bounce back quickly after a storm.

Urgent notice

Hello everyone,

I have noticed a pricing discrepancy on the Kalahari website for my soft and hard cover book.  The ebook is appearing at the correct price.  I am currently investigating the matter and will revert back shortly with updated information.

In the mean time, please feel free to continue using Amazon or Authorhouse for purchases.

www.amazon.com
 

OR

www.authorhouse.co.uk

My apologies for the inconvenience caused. 

Regards,
Ronwyn Hughes

Arctic Vortex

The words alone send a shiver down my spine when I hear them. Arctic vortex. Yet that is what the media are calling the latest cold weather phenomenon to hit America and Canada. It has even been reported that someone boiled a pot of water, took it outside and dropped it and the water in the pot froze before it hit the ice.

Here we were thinking that the scene's enacted in the movie “The day after tomorrow” were just science fiction nonsense, yet only a few years later they are actually coming true. Are these events indicative of the end of times? I have no idea. The truth is that every generation after Christ thought that they were The 'Final generation', I even recall a little chorus saying we were.

Unfortunately I see things a little differently. I see it as a call to responsibility. Why? Because I feel people wishing that Jesus must just return now are not willing to take responsibility for themselves or the world around them. They isolate themselves from a need to live a life that calls others to change the direction in which they are going and take another route. That call is the call to salvation.

The bible tells us “how can they come without a preacher?” Preaching is often seen in a negative light but the call to salvation is a call to a better life, so how then can preaching be bad? I may be off on a tangent, but the bottom line for me is that we each need to take responsibility for our own salvation and never shy away from the opportunity to show others the better life that they can have in Christ, which is a life filled with hope, love and victory!

Got the sulks

Ginger let me know this morning, in no uncertain terms, that my returning to work was totally unacceptable behaviour in his little kitty mind. He did so by curling up on the top of my kitchen cupboards and ignoring flat all attempts I made to talk to him. Lol! Lets hope he forgives me quickly.

What happens when we get the sulks towards God? “What,” you say, “I never to that.” I assure you, you do. We all do. How do we display this behaviour? We ask God to bless us with something we have convinced ourselves we really need, then when it doesn't happen or come to pass like we expect, we ignore God and stop communicating with Him. Sure enough as time goes by we figure out that God did us a favour by not giving us what we had asked for.

How does God respond when we sulk? Well He does what I will have to do with Ginger, He shows up and keeps on loving us. God knows the path our lives will take and what lies ahead long before we do. Learning to trust God and leave our desires in His hands can be very difficult, but that is part of our spiritual growth journey.

If you have unanswered prayers in your heart today, don't loose hope or sulk with God. Be patient, thank Him for His goodness and blessing in your life and keep moving forward in your relationship with Him.

The year of the Ronosaurus

During my trip to Durban we paid a visit to Gateway shopping mall which is a regular haunt for the Bate family. While their we stopped at the children's entertainment area where they had great big Dinosaur models and games. Feeling playful I asked my sister to take a picture of me gnarling out of the Dinosaur egg and thus the Ronosaurus was hatched.

What is the Ronosaurus? The Ronosaurus is a Dinosaur that has achieved something that other Dinosaurs have not achieved. It has breached extinction and forged a path into the future. This Dinosaur has a flattened mouth much like a Hammerhead Shark. With this is gorges through rough terrain and clears a path for others to follow.

The Ronosaurus has exceptional night vision and is able to navigate through life's dark times with an optimistic view on life. It does not allow itself to be distracted by small obstacles or challenges. It has a unique diet consisting of the Word of God and drinks the Chrystal clear water of the Spirit. It has its dwelling place in the presence of God. Most importantly though, the Ronosaurus has complete and utter faith that its creator has a clear plan for its existence.

What is the name of your Dinosaur? What is your Dinosaur's expectation for 2014 and what it holds in store? I wish you and your Dinosaur blessings and hope that you will be inspired to live for God fully in this year ahead!