Over the past few years I have had my share in more than enough comment wars. Though I like the fact that people have the ability to express their opinion, some use it just to argue. This morning I was reminded of one such comment war sparked by what I still think is was an awesome moment in my life.

Instead of recounting to you the length, breadth, and width of the argument, I would much rather share with you the particular experience that caused it.

So there I was, gathered with a couple of friends singing some songs to Jesus, when we started singing ‘There is none like you.” I have always loved this song. It is simple, truthful and fun to sing actually. If you don’t know it, the words go as follows:

“There is none like You

No one else can touch my heart like You do

I can search for all eternity long

And find there is none like You.”

While we were singing this chorus verse I saw what I would best describe as a vision of sorts. In it, Jesus was singing the same song. We were singing it to Him, but He was singing it back to us! At first I was like, ‘Wait, what? Why are you singing it to us Jesus?’

‘Because it is how I feel about you too.’

‘Uh… wow…’ (Yep, that was about how much I was able to say. My usual verbal diarrhea got given a divine Imodium.)

Daring to tell people Jesus was singing love songs to them is what sparked the particular argument. And I find it strange that one who professed that Jesus loves people would take such offense in me saying Jesus is expressing that love to people through song. Even after I showed him the following verse, he still soldiered on unrelentingly.

Zep 3:17 For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

Now close your eyes for a moment and listen. Just listen to Jesus singing to you. Telling you that there is none like you. And He has actually searched through all of time and eternity, found you, and can honestly say there is none other like you.

You were birthed out of Him, a holy bride for a holy Son. “It is not good for man to be alone”. (Gen 2:18) Adam was God’s son, a shadow of Jesus yet to come. Adam was put to sleep and out of his side was taken a woman, to be his companion, his helper, one comparable to him. A shadow foretelling of your and my true birth.

Jesus hung on a cross, and had his side opened up too. Out of it flowed blood and water, signaling the redemption and birth of the bride, the woman created for the Son. There are not enough eloquent words in all the languages of the world to describe the divine love story between Jesus and His bride, His companion, His helper, one comparable to Him.

How amazing is it to know that you and I are part of this love story. That we are the outpoured focus of His undying love. Take a couple of minutes, and just listen to Him singing to you.

“There is none like you

No one else can touch My heart like you do

I have searched for all eternity long

And found there is none like you.”

More peace, more love!

Cornel

This week’s funnies are brought to you by Frustrated Grace, created and illustrated by my friend PK Langley.

Have a great weekend!

Cornel

Without any question, any person would tell you that there won’t be sickness and suffering in heaven, that it will be a utopia of wholeness, peace and joy. And I will agree 100%. But many of these same people who believe that there is no sickness in heaven, actually believe that God desires people to be sick. How absurd can you get?

Does God have 2 wills, one for heaven and one for earth?

Is God double-minded?

Why did Jesus pray ‘Your will be done on earth AS IT IS in heaven?

If God did will it for you to be sick on earth, what would stop Him from willing you to remain sick in heaven for all eternity? He either wants you well or He doesn’t. Simple.

We read in Proverbs 29:18 that without vision people perish. That doesn’t mean you can just have any vision for yourself, your family, your ministry, your church and all is ok. No, you need God’s vision. Some translations use the word revelation instead of vision. Without revelation people perish. We need to adjust our vision to see and reflect the revelation of Jesus in everything we do.

When it comes to healing, I am often confronted with doubts, just like anybody else. I have seen many great healings, but I have equally suffered great losses. I have lost track of how many times I have been asked ‘Why doesn’t everybody get healed?’ If I had the answer to that, I would have told you by now. I am also still learning and growing.

But one thing that I have learned, is to not filter my vision through experience. When somebody I minister to doesn’t get healed, I don’t step back and think, ‘Mmm, interesting. This must mean God doesn’t want them healed.’ The moment you think like that, you have not kept your mind on things that are above. For me, that means keeping my mind on ‘as it is in heaven’.

When I don’t see the healing results I prayed for, I ask myself, ‘Will this person be sick in heaven for all eternity?’ My immediate answer is of course a resounding no. My next question is, ‘If they will be whole in heaven, is it God’s will to heal them?’ My immediate answer is of course a resounding yes. My next question is, ‘What do I tell this person? What do I leave them with?’ There is nothing worse than apologizing for not being able to get heaven out of you and into another person.

Jesus’ disciples failed too. They also asked why it didn’t work. Jesus advised His disciples to fast and pray in order to rid themselves of unbelief, which was the culprit in that case. I wonder sometimes if we have missed something in that, especially in the grace revolution. We immediately disregard anything that sounds like it might be works. Fasting and praying can be done with a works mentality for sure, but I do believe it can be done with a grace mentality too.

Don’t fast and pray in order to get something you think you don’t have. Fast and pray in order to learn how to release something you already have better than how you are currently doing it. However you choose to go about it, get before Jesus and ask Him to teach you, to instruct you and to help you. Also, start to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit more. He is not just some abstract force to be used by spiritual Jedi’s. He is a living breathing person, equally God and equally Son. He is the personification of the power you and I are sometimes struggling to release effectively. Don’t leave Him out of the equation.

My prayer is that you don’t you get sidetracked by regret or blindsided by unbelief while you learn how to minister more effectively, while you learn how to love on purpose, with a purpose and for a purpose.

In the next post I will write a little about my thoughts on fasting and why I think it could still be a good practice for believers in the New Covenant if approached correctly.

Peace and Grace!

Cornel

It is so easy to get caught up in antisocial websites like Facebook and Twitter that we yearn for a break from it all. We think striving to enter His rest means striving to win comment wars and get the last say. We argue over the smallest little things and yet Paul wrote to avoid empty arguments about the law because is it unprofitable. Please note there is a monumental difference between a discussion and an argument.

A discussion allows for mutual encouragement. An argument needs a winner and a loser. Can you guess which is the unprofitable one?

Below I have written a few points for you to ponder over. Sort of a ‘Do I need to take a break test?’

Score yourself on the points below, and remember, this test is scientifically proven and accurate… Initial testing was done at the International Sarcasm Institute. Please contact them if you have any questions.

If 2 or less of the points apply to you, you are still ok.

If any 3 to 5 of the points apply to you, take a chill pill and go away for a long weekend away. Leave all electronic communication devices at home.

If any 6 to 10 of the points apply to you, you have moved from anointing to annoying…

If any 11 to 15 applies to you, please delete your Facebook account with immediate effect, throw your computer out the window and please for the love of all things pure and holy, don’t drink the koolaid at the next meeting…

Ready? Here goes:

1.  You comment on status updates by typing in tongues. Shakarakboomba…? Really?

2.  You have adopted some kind of spiritual sounding word as a middle name. Cornel superBlessed Marais. Mmm, can’t wait to have kids to do this for realsies!

3.  You have anywhere from 5 to 10 Bible verses ready to copy and paste to prove your point in any argument which makes you sound kinda like an audio bible stuck on repeat. Stuck on repeat. Stuck on repeat…

4.  YOU TYPE EVERYTHING IN CAPITALS SO PEOPLE CAN KNOW YOU MEAN BUSINESS!

5.  You try to express and convey your recent spiritual experience as a status update. “Whoaa! Surfing on a rainbow of forgiveness sprouting from the little toe of peace while being showered with joy petals! And how’s your afternoon been?”

6.  ”Speak the truth in love”, “You are so judgmental/angry/critical” and “Repent!” ranks at the top of your most used thread comments and replies. This is usually followed by a delete comment action or yet another block. You mentally tick your ‘Persecuted For The Gospel’ list.

7.  You spell ‘glory’ with extra A’s. ‘GLORAAAAAY!’

8.  You like certain pages only to keep tabs on the people you actually don’t like. This is called trolling. Don’t worry, Jesus loves trolls too. I think?

9.  You have more than one Facebook profile. No comment. This is just plain weird. Both of you.

10.  You comment on articles/notes/blogposts without first reading the article to get context. No, I am not going to explain it all to you in the comments just because you are to lazy to read.

11.  You can argue with many people on 5 different threads simultaneously. 8 on weekends? Impressive.

12.  You are unable to answer a direct question. You still didn’t answer my question? “In 2 Opinions 5:13 it says…”

13.  You struggle to discuss something rationally without taking it personally. Hissy fit, hissy fit, no further communication ever.

14.  You constantly post cute / super-spiritual pictures and them proceed to tag people who don’t want to be tagged in it. Yes, you know you who you are. Stop it.

15.  You create groups and add people to it without first asking if they want to be part of it. Of course I want to be a part of the 1000 Cheerleaders Like Jesus group! Life mission accomplished!

I sincerely hoped this made you chuckle and not merely offended. Seriously, I was just poking some fun. Be as individual as you like! Say what you like in the way you like. Express Christ in your unique way!

 Enjoy His Divine Life!

Cornel

Here are some quotes from Living Grace, a book project I am involved in with 13 other authors. Below is one quote from each author’s chapter in the book. For more info on the book and the project, click here.

“Sin isn’t what causes separation – it is separation that causes sin.”

- Benjamin Dunn, “Union”.

“As a New Covenant, born-again believer, to go and ask God for forgiveness after you have sinned, is in fact, a sin! It is the sin of unbelief.”

- Ryan Rufus, “Totally Forgiven, Totally United, Totally Filled”.

“In reality, whatever you still feel guilty about continues to have power over your life.”

- Arthur Meintjes, “Guilt Free Living”.

“The reason why people say grace is radical is because they’ve never heard the law being taught properly.”

- Rob Rufus, “The Grace-Hating Spirit”.

“If leaders are full of grace, it stands to reason that our grace walk will become the grace walk of those following us.”

- Fini de Gersigny, “Grace and Leadership”.

“Your faith connecting with God’s grace becomes the catalyst for a never-ending river of blessing to flow.”

- Joshua Mills, “Living in the Glory by Grace.”

“If we are to imitate Christ and do the same and greater works that He did, we are going to have to start casting out demons too.”

- Cornel Marais, “Dealing with the Demonic”.

“I don’t give to get, but I give knowing that I’m going to get, so I can be a bigger giver.”

- Andrew Wommack, “Grace and Finances”.

“The Good News of Jesus and of His great salvation, is something that Christians themselves need to constantly hear!”

- Chad M. Mansbridge, “Titus: Stress These Things”.

“Instead of Christ with Paul – it was Christ as Paul.”

- John Crowder, “A Case for Divine Complacency”.

“Whenever we are taking away the Old Covenant and establishing the New Covenant, we are doing the will of God.”

- Paul Hernandez, “The New Covenant in a Nutshell”.

“Purity: Christian behavior that flows from nothing but un-manipulated love.”

- Wayne Duncan, “New Covenant Motivation”.

“I believe that we stand on the brink of the greatest awakening the Church or this world has ever seen.”

- Lucas Miles, “Unstoppable Grace”.

Kindle Version

For a hardcopy version, click here and you will be directed to New Nature Publications’ website for orders. All orders include free shipping anywhere in the world! 100% of the sales of this book go directly into translating it into as many languages as possible! None of the authors are taking a cent!

If you have read it already, I would love for you to write your favourite quotes in the comment section below.

Grace and Peace!

Cornel

Today’s funny Friday installment comes to you courtesy of Blimey Cow. Check out their Youtube Channel for more great videos! This video is a funny look at church and the weird stuff people do when they go there. (And it’s funny, because it’s true.)

Cornel

_____________________

This is one of my favourite songs. It is an old Irish hymn believed to be written by Dallan Forgaill in the 8th century. I particularly like Jars of Clay’s version (embedded below). Read the words below and then listen to the song. I miss proper songs like this, unlike the majority of songs today that just repeat a single line over and over and over and over and over for 40 minutes and labeling it worship or ‘soaking’.

Enjoy and be at peace in every aspect of your body, soul and spirit! He loves you with an everlasting love!

Cornel

——————————————————

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

The first 5 days after the weekend is usually the hardest, so to commemorate the end of the work week,  I have decided to make Fridays a day dedicated to some light hearted humour and funnies here on the blog. I love cartoons, memes, comics, jokes, video clips or just about anything that makes me laugh and will share some here every Friday. So pay forward the laugh and share it with some friends who are in need of much less seriousness!

So to kick us off, I have a few comics from the awesome website www.reverendfun.com.

Enjoy!

Cornel

(Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc – www.reverendfun.com)

Hi everybody

I am running a little promotion of my book So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed? on Amazon Kindle. For this weekend only you can grab a copy for only $3.00! (I wanted it lower but for some reason Amazon won’t allow it…) Click below to grab a copy and please share with your friends and family too! Please note this is only for the Kindle version…

Also, for those who have read it already, and those who are going to read it, I would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes and write a short review of the book on its Amazon page. Thanks!

Enjoy the weekend!

Cornel

Every once and a while a book comes a long that totally revolutionizes your thinking on a subject. You imagine yourself having a pretty reasonable understanding, until you realize you had no clue whatsoever! Frank Viola’s book ‘The Untold Story of the New Testament Church‘ is one such book. I can not put into words how much I have enjoyed reading it. And I am sure I will be reading it again and again as time goes by. I can also not begin to imagine the countless hours of research it took him to compile this tremendous work. Thank you Frank for your amazing dedication to the church!

So what is this book about? It is simply the story of the birth and spread of the early church from Jerusalem to the rest of the world through the apostles and of course Paul. It starts out by pointing out something that we don’t often consider, and that is that the order of the New Testament Bible books are totally out of whack. They have been grouped together by general theme, by author and by the length of each work. So if you read the New Testament from Matthew through to Revelation, you are actually reading the books out their written order. For example, Paul’s first letter was not Romans, it’s just listed first because it is the longest!

The other utterly amazing thing Frank has done is that he has taken the book of Acts as the backbone or skeleton to the story, and used the letters of the various other writers to fill in the body parts to form a more complete and sequentially accurate story of the early church’s adventures.

In great detail he describes the various cities, customs and cultures in which the early church grew with historical context and accuracy. He uses a technique known as ‘mirror reading’ to fill in the parts of the story we do not have a direct account of in the Bible. What this means is that when you only read a letter somebody wrote, you are only hearing one side of a conversation. Many of Paul’s letters were written in response to fasle teachings by various people and other events taking place in the different churches he planted. Frank uses the mirror reading technique to give us a pretty good understanding of why the letters were written, in what context, for which audience and during what time. I have never seen such a complete historical picture of how the church grew until now! And what a joy it is to read and even imagine yourself being there like a fly on a wall, seeing it all unfold!

It is not often that one reads a book that is so skillfully and well written that you will never forget reading it! If I think back to my early years and all the books I have read, there are but a few that fall into this category. If you have not read this book, I can not recommend it highly enough! If you have ever wanted the see the New Testament as one big picture, as an unfolding drama of divine proportions, then do yourself a favour and invest a little into yourself and read this awesome story. After all, the story of Jesus and His glorious bride is the greatest story ever told! This is where what you are now a part of originated!

Click here to link to Frank’s blog, Beyond Evangelical, which I also highly recommend!

Yours in Grace!

Cornel

Buy ‘The Untold Story of The New Testament Church‘ by Frank Viola through Amazon and Amazon Kindle. Just click below!

Hard Copy:

Kindle Version: