The Tabernacle

I have just noticed this on the base of an Email from our friends who have a Tabernacle Ministry in the hills near Jerusalem.

Emmaus Way is more a concept than an organization.
It stands to mark the path to a life lived in the Presence of God.
It defines life’s goal as being with Him on earth…
while on the way to be with Him in Heaven.

I was so encouraged as I read this as I really related to it, sometimes what God asks of us is just so far from the norm and the standard that the normal language and concepts just don’t apply. What we are working towards and striving daily for is to be ‘in a position to be hearing the voice of God and then obeying it whether or not we understand it.’ Of course the first part of this is a life time work, to be constantly battling busyness and all of the distractions that steal from us that we ‘do not’ and ‘can not’ hear God. Then the second half which is to obey what we hear Him ask whether or not we understand it. I don’t want to limit God to just what I know of Him or how I might expect Him to react or act. As the God that I have come to know is far bigger than that and far more creative and spontaneous. It is the Greek way we have been taught to think that says man must understand everything, or that everything is subject to our minds, whereas the Hebrew mindset is that we already know that we mere humans cannot understand the ways of God and that everything is subject not to us but to the Creator God Himself. This I believe is far more accurate view of reality.

It comes.They will be tested.
They will be tried.
Even now the armies of heaven stand & gather their shields and spears.
Even now the Prince of this earth runs around in mischief
deciet
seduction
and bluff.
Even now my eye is upon the sparrow…and the fox. (Song of Songs 2:15)
A great awakening is taking place in the hearts of the saints,a great stirring in the evening hours.
For this is a time of great repentence.
A call to my people
before the captain of war sends forth his troops.
They gather and assemble as a great and mighty black storm on the horizon.
They have my saints
my chosen ones
my first born
in view, in their sights.
This is a day of unparalleled power.
This is a day to be sure
of hidding in the chambers
a day of victory and triumph
and of fall.
The storm gathers
so must my people.
Gather together
gather with my people – the chosen ones of Israel.
This is a day of gathering
as a mother hen gathers her chicks
so shall I, who listen to me.
I am on the move.
Watch for me.

I came across this web presentation and thought it was very interesting

It came from a Chinese friend of mine Phil born & bred in the UK. He assures me of the accuracy of the Chinese translation.

Phil & I had had a previous conversation of how the Chinese character for busy is made up of 2 separate Chinese characters – “Death” and “heart” So busyness could be viewed as death to the heart. A very apt view in light of Tabernacling with God, and what stops us from doing this.

Presentation link

God will use whatever He wants.

He will use & move you to places & circumstances to bring on the birth of His purposes. We do not see with eyes of the natural, we see with eyes of the Spirit. God takes us to a level where we can see what He does.

But only if we turn down the noise level & sit at His feet. Such was the choice of Mary when Jesus came & visited. Strategically this preceded Lazarus being raised from the dead.

We are being called to contend with God for the birth of His purposes. Contending is an aggressive thing. On the emblem of Australia, the Emu & the Kangaroo appear. Uniquely these two animals cannot go backward, they only know how to move forward. Moving forward is about contending. Arguably, one of the greatest challenges is contending for moments to sit at the feet of Jesus.

I had an interesting download/revelation today, we had the Bible on CD playing and as I was walking through Genesis 24 was playing with the story of Abraham sending his servant off ‘back home’ to find a wife for Isaac. It is where the servant waits at the well and then a beautiful young girl (Rebekah) comes out and gets him a drink and then voluntarily also gets water for his 10 camels.
The servants task was to Gen 24:4“Go to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac”. As I was listening to the story the response of Rebekah’s family shocked me. ‘ v50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The Lord has obviously brought you here, so what can we say? 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.” ‘
It struck me that the servant had found people of ‘Faith’ they obviously knew the Lord and were at a point in their journey with Him that if they discerned that something was of God then they would do it. Even to the extent of allowing their daughter to leave with this stranger! Suddenly heaps of thoughts ran through my brain. We all knew that Abram/Abraham was asked by God to: Gen 12:1 “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.” I knew that Abram was obviously a person of Faith that he responded and left everything behind him and went, but I didn’t know that there was an established/ongoing community of faith back there in Ur. What a shock not only had the servant been led by God back to his masters family but that they were people of Faith that recognised the work of God and instantly surrendered to it. Wow.

My heart ached at this point as now for so long Helen & I have been longing for people to respond in a similar way to the vision of Tabernacle that we have been given by God. “The Lord has obviously brought you here, so what can we say? 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.” I suppose what we have been looking for is along the lines of ‘This is obviously of God’ ‘ The Lord has been revealing similar things to me, I will join with you in the pursuit of all that God is wanting to reveal here at this time. Actually we have had several people say to us the first part ‘This is obviously of God’ but our hearts long for the day when the right people will also say ‘I will join with you, I will make this what I do’. Please pray with us for the release of Rebekah’s who will leave all, that they will come with us to an unknown destiny to see God release ALL that He wants to release through TABERNACLE.

I have again just looked at the text and I see that soon after when Abraham’s servant was wanting to leave the family said, 24:55 “But we want Rebekah to stay at least ten days,” her brother and mother said. “Then she can go.” This is so interesting, its like the ‘rubber was starting to hit the road’ they were going to miss Rebekah, there was great cost here. The servants response was 56 “Don’t hinder my return. The Lord has made my mission successful, and I want to report back to my master.” So they then asked Rebekah and she was willing to go straight away.

I wonder what would have happened to this story if they had waited 10 days? Would it have changed the story? After ‘thinking’ about it would the family have decided the cost was too great and not allowed Rebekah to go? ‘She has this to do first! We wanted to do this as well. This is scary what will happen? Can you guarantee to me what will happen?’ It makes me think of ‘instant obedience’ to the word of God. Not theorising it or strategising it, but surrendering and submitting to the word of God and Obeying it. Not because we understand it or can see how it would work out, but because we believe the words to be from God and therefore we trust Him and do it whether we understand them and their consequences or not. That I believe is the true definition of Faith.