Greetings once again from the beautiful Bay of Plenty. In this issue I would like to share a thought on Love taken from a book by Larry Crabb. People who love are not always those who look most loving. Nice people are not hard to find. Churches and clubs are full of nice people. Gracious people who would never make fun of you are known to us all. Good people, responsible people, kind people, moral people, generous people do exist all around us. But loving people are in short supply. Compliments, warm smiles and affection never define love To love means to come toward another person without self-protection, to esteem others greater than ourselves For most of us, love is not the bottom line, self-protection is.

I found this piece quite enlightening and it helped me to understand what motivated people who, while professing their love for Christ, never seem to attain to the freedom in life that Jesus intended. Their problem is simply the protection of "self". I suppose it could be said that self-preservation motivated Abraham when he lied to Pharaoh about his wife, or Rahab when she lied about the spies she hid in her house. I know Adam didn't like being exposed and tried to hide his nakedness with a lie. However, as Ananias and Saphira found out, self-preservation is not the way of love. We may think we know how to live as citizens in the Kingdom of God, but everything is new and we must learn to walk anew, living a repentant life led by the Holy Spirit of God.

Pilate's Choice There's a sneaky little deceiver inside of me, That I don't want anyone to see. He rules me with lust and is quite unclean, No wonder I don't want the little creep seen. I really should throttle him when he gets in my head ... but it's easier to be a hypocrite instead. Now there's a battle raging in my heart, And the rebel is threatening to tear me apart. Jesus said for peace I need to walk in the light, And I'm beginning to think that He could be right. But transparency is costly and I'll not pay the price, So long as my friends think that I'm nice Imagine getting naked for all them to see, What's really living inside of me. Oh what a choice, which one to die, That rebel Barabbas is pretty darn sly

As with a new born babe, we must be very careful to nurture our new Holy Spirit life. It is important to recognise that Satan will continually attempt to sabotage the Holy Spirit's inner dealings with us. To avoid his deception we must keep our eyes on Jesus. Jesus said, Do not judge lest you be judged yourselves why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye, but do not notice the log in your own. We are to sit in the mercy seat and not the seat of judgement, for our judgement usually leads us to some vain attempt to show our brother the error of his ways.

Jesus warned His disciples about this. John said, Master we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. But Jesus said, Do not hinder him For he who is not against us is for us If you cause one of these little ones who believe to stumble, look out! By the time I'm finished with you, you will wish you had drowned yourself You'd be better off cutting out your tongue than using it to attack these little ones who believe I've called my disciples to be the salt in this world and if you wish to be one of my disciples you had better be salted with fire and at peace with one another - Mark 9:38-50 (paraphrased). Jesus knew there was a problem, it's not something that has suddenly caught Him unawares. He knew that Satan would sow bad seen amongst the good and told us to allow them to grow together lest while trying to separate the bad from the good, we root up the good as well. Jesus will have the reapers sort the good from the bad at harvest time - Matthew 13:24-30 (Paraphrased). I think Jesus has made it pretty clear we must not judge or interfere with others. That doesn't mean we can't warn people about the problem. But, our whole life should be that warning and not just our words, that's why we need to be salted with fire and at peace with one another.

That there is a problem is obvious. The suffering and destruction that we see, not only in the world but in the churches also, is not natural, it's supernatural; and I'm convinced that the only answer to the problem lies in the manifest presence of God in our lives. And I do not mean the phenomenon we have come to expect in Pentecostal churches, but rather the fire of God ignited in peoples hearts, that fire that burns within consuming those it possesses with Holy passion. It is this Holy Spirit fire that is so tragically missing in the Body of Christ today. In Malachi 1:10 we read that the old Priesthood uselessly kindled a fire upon the altar, and we as a Holy Priesthood are in danger of following in their footsteps when we won't allow our "self life" to be placed upon the altar, as a living sacrifice, for the fire of God's Holy Spirit. It is futile trying to call down the fire of God until we are prepared to lay our lives upon the altar, (In the New Testament the cross is the altar). Until we voluntarily lay our lives upon the altar we can not expect to see the manifest presence of God in our lives, for it is a life laid down in Spirit led repentance that is the fuel for God's Holy fire. Obedience is the way of Love and adds fuel to God's fire; while disobedience is the way of "self" and is like the water to God's fire. God's Holy fire will not consume us unless we lay our rebellious "self nature" upon the altar, daily.

This is the choice we have set before us; either a spirit led life or a "self" led life. Pilate's choice, who will you set free and who will you condemn to die. Jesus, or that selfish rebel we all have hidden within us. God will not share His Temple with a rebel and an execution is required. And don't think this execution is going to be done in private, secretly. No! That holy sacrament of secretly dealing with the sins of the inner rebel, while sipping on a silver chalice, is a communion designed for the preservation of "self". The putting to death of "self" involves exposure through real communion, whenever two or three come together for intimate, honest, open - heart fellowship in His name. God requires a clean vessel in which to burn and only in transparency with one another, in the light of the Holy Spirit, can we be washed clean by the Precious Blood of the Lamb. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin - 1 John 1:7. For the rebel of darkness to be put to death he needs to be exposed to the light. That means we need to become transparent in the light of the Holy Spirit and stand before each other without self-protection, just as Jesus came into this world without self-protection. If you are ready to be salted with fire then the fellowship of the altar may be for you.

Yours, because of His love,

Ken