Silent heaven

 

I was just eating some of my freshly gathered mung bean sprouts for breakfast when I realised something once again. Even when things seem to be dead and lifeless, even when there seems to be no sign of hope, and even when heaven is silent, there is still something happening – even though we do not see it. Hebrews 11 verse one is imprinted on my brain – FAITH is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN. Faith is a solid thing, full of promise. Take the mung beans for example. They are hard little round beans which I buy from the health food shop, they cannot be consumed in that state – but add the right elements and put them in the right conditions, and they will come to life, to fulfil their purpose, which is to provide life giving enzymes to my body.

Jesus spoke much about the life of the farmer, his parables were effective in using every day things to illustrate the Christian life. John 12:24 reminds us that if a seed does not fall to the ground and be buried, it cannot produce life. Is that happening to you? Are you feeling like a barren wasteland? Is heaven silent to you, though you scream to the skies? Are you feeling like all that you have known is now just still and silent? If the answer is yes, then you are not alone. There is still a kernel of life within you, it is just growing in the darkness, ready to spring up in the right season. Please don’t give up, the spring is closer than you think.

But what can you do in the meantime? The answer is to provide the right conditions for the seeds to grow. Diligently water them when the heat is on, even if it is hard to do so – read the word of God even when it seems like just empty words on a page. It is still nourishing you, even when you feel nothing. Pray, bring in the Son light. Plants need sunshine to flourish, so we need to keep up communication with our sunshine, the Son of God who is Jesus. Maintaining a dialogue even when you cant hear anything keeps the lines of communication open. I include him in everything, even when I don’t hear a word. He has promised that he will never leave me or forsake me, so I just accept that he’s allowing me to be here in this season, and that one day it will end and I will hear his voice once again.

Faith grows in the manure of ‘letting go’. Faith grows when we don’t have to know the reason, hear the voice or see the evidence immediately. When we let go, even though the heavens seem silent, we can still hear the heavens roar out in praise of our wonderful creative father. Go out into nature, hear the seas foam and waves shout, trees will still shelter us with their branches and the skies are still full of the glorious wonder of sunset and sunrise. God is not really silent, the heavens are not really made of steel. He is still there, because he is incapable of abandoning his children. He’s just allowing things to grow, so take a lesson from the humble mung bean, good things come out of silent seasons. New life will come, hope will blossom and joy will once again dance in your spirit. Never give up. He never has and never will. The heavens will not remain silent forever.

There is a beautiful song about God being a good father “your’e a good good father, and I’m loved by you, its who I am”.

Listen to it, and feel his arms around you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HUhBi-XpTI

Touching Heaven

It was an immensely solemn annual occasion. The High Priest dressed in robes which denoted his high status approached the Holy of Holies, the place behind the curtain where Jehovah lived. The tabernacle or temple surrounded by teeming flocks of animals, people, penitents, petitioners and priests. The smell of animal dung, the heat and the pall of dust as well as the smell of desperation as people aware of their own failure to achieve holiness flocked to Jerusalem for the chance to be cleansed from their sin for another year. The High Priest, responsible for seeking mass atonement for the sins of the whole race of God’s people, could only make this Passover journey once a year.

It was a messy and imperfect system, open to corruption and self promotion, and yet to date was the only way that Jehovah had provided for his children to be cleansed from sin. Behind that fine linen curtain emblazoned with purple, blue and scarlet embroideries, the pure essence of the most Holy God dwelt in the Tabernacle within the Ark of the Covenant. The curtain, designed to separate a most Holy God from a most unholy people, could only be approached yearly by the High Priest. With the stench of burning animal flesh roasting on the braziers in the outer courts, the sweetness of incense burning served as a deodoriser to mask the pungent smell of burning flesh. This yearly day of atonement was an imperfect model waiting for a perfect permanent solution, the one promised in Isaiah 53:12 where one would come to bear the sin of many and made intercession for transgressors.

And so he came, on that auspicious day, our perfect once and forever sacrifice, Jesus the promised Messiah died a horrific death on a cross on the hill of Calvary when he took the filth of sin and sickness on his own body as a sacrifice for all of mankind, then and forever. On that day of atonement, the thick curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the view of the sinner was ripped apart. As Jesus became the once and forever sacrifice, there was no more need for the sacrificing of animal flesh in order to be cleansed from sin. In the words of Jesus on the Cross as he breathed his last, and the last of his blood dripped into the dust he whispered “It is finished”.

And so he as our great high priest made a way for us to come up to his throne of grace without the need for Old Testament sacrifices. Hebrews 6:20 reminds us that he became a high priest forever, in the form of Melchizedek. Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to boldly approach the throne of grace, where we can find help in time of need. No need to round up a poor old cow or sheep, no need to take it to the temple to be slaughtered and burnt. No need to walk downcast because of a heavy burden of sin and condemnation, because he made a way for us once and for all. Jesus flesh was the curtain to the Holy of Holies, it was torn once and for all so we can have free access to forgiveness from  sin. This is an enormously significant and profoundly loving action. But then, God is love and he just wanted us to find our way back to him. That is why he gave us Jesus.

And so, we can touch heaven. Prayer can be seen as a type of approaching the courts of Heaven, As Jesus approached Heaven as our redeemer, he became our Great High Priest in the courts of Heaven, our intercessor and mediator. Just as the Priests of old were mediators between God and man, Jesus became our once and for always mediator. He is a High Priest who is sympathetic to our human frailties, because he knows our every human weakness.  But as we confess them, and praise him, our prayers rise like a sweet incense to mask the rank smell of our sin and failure. As we approach that throne room in heaven in prayer, and ask for forgiveness, he faithfully buries our sin in the deepest ocean and will remember it no more.

So heaven becomes accessible. We can touch heaven because that is where his throne is. When that great transaction was made, the sacrifice that changed the course of history gave us the chance to have a personal relationship with our God through his son Jesus

When I picture that glorious throne room in heaven, where Jesus sat down at the right hand of his father, in that beautiful and heavenly place, I realise that we are encouraged to not just approach, but to boldly approach that throne. I see that intimate family tableau, our glorious Father God, majestic and pure and glowing with love, I see the gentle dove of the Holy Spirit and then Jesus, still bearing nail scars in his hands and feet, a memento of the horror he endured as he entered hell on our behalf to kill sin stone dead once and for all, and to make animal sacrifice forever redundant. He was and is our sacrificial lamb, and he occupies the place of honour at his father’s right hand. There is such love, such compassion, such kindness and understanding. It all comes together in the word ‘Grace’, his unmerited and undeserved favour.  It is this throne room and this throne that we have the right to access. It is a holy place, yet it is a place we can go to. How amazing and incredible is this is this mighty truth.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:19-23 ESV)

Do you touch heaven when you pray. Do you go and approach the throne room and talk to Jesus? Do you realise you have the right to do this, when you confess your sin and ask for his forgiveness. Do you realise that you have the right to walk in peace and confidence that you are free from your sin? Or are you still bound up in condemnation and fear? Do you feel the need to strive in your own strength and maintain redundant religious rituals to gain forgiveness? Does unbelief and doubt hound your every step? Do you feel you have to work to earn God’s favour?  I challenge you to assail the walls of doubt and unbelief and to take a strong grasp of your heaven imparted righteousness through our Great High Priest Jesus and march boldly right up to his throne of grace today, not because of anything you have done to deserve this, but because of his great love for you. I challenge you to throw yourself into his arms, place your tired head on his chest and allow his love and peace to just permeate your very being. I urge and encourage you today – touch heaven. He’s waiting for you.

Why Heavenlyjava?

Who is Heavenlyjava?

It is so easy to assume that just because you know what something means, that others will automatically know it too. One day someone asked me what Heavenlyjava meant? I explained the heavenly part, and she said, “No, what is java?” I was flabbergasted as I thought everybody knew that the word java was another way to describe coffee. It is the name of one of the islands in Indonesia where some types of coffee beans are grown, and it has become a slang term for coffee in some parts of the world. The word ‘java’ embedded itself in my brain as it was the aptly named favourite coffee shop I frequented in Christchurch last century before it was decimated by the earthquake. It was my hangout, they made the best latte ever, and it was populated by weird and unusual patrons who would amuse me for hours. In those days (pre return to God) I was a cigarette smoker, and my friends and I would puff away for hours as we discussed the nature of the universe and where the next party was going to be. Besides, it served coffee, which to me has been the nectar of life.

Returning to Australia, I settled down to do a degree in Writing and Narrative studies. Once again I found myself in story land, loving the act of dreaming and birthing stories or articles with a quirky bent. These never saw the light of day, unless read by my tutors or professors. I left the gift to quietly go to ground as I realised being a writer was never going to happen (or so I thought)

When I gave my broken life back to Jesus, I handed him all of the pieces and allowed him to mend me into the woman I am becoming today. It was and is a lengthy and often painful process. Jeremiah 29: 11 – 13 became my verse of hope and assurance.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” ESV version.

I had to believe that he knew the plans he had for me, I just had to be willing to grow and move into them, for this was not my first encounter with Jesus, I was returning like an Old Testament exile back to the hope of the Cross after ten years of living as a non believer. I felt God had let me down, after many years of feeling that my prayers had hit a leaden sky and a deaf God; I had walked away in despair. I had lost my hope.

This verse told me emphatically that he had plans for me, and they were for my good, and not to hurt me. I could have the future and the hope which I thought I had lost. I realised I had to seek him, call upon him, pray to him and that I would find him, but there was a condition, it had to be with all of my heart. All of my heart? But my heart had been broken, crusted over with wounds of disappointment, promises broken by man, rejection by family and encounters with depression and sadness. But Jesus can take the most broken heart, the most damaged life and breathe upon it with the love of the Holy Spirit, he can wash it with his own tears and blood which he shed on the Cross and he can restart the beat, break away the crust of pain and get the juices of joy pumping again. There is no such thing as a Christian who has back slidden too much or walked away from God who cannot be reclaimed. Such is his amazing love.

But back to Heavenlyjava. As I submitted myself to the mighty hand of God he cut away and rebuilt many things which needed to be changed. Joel 2:25 – 26 reminds that “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.” Although I had turned from my relationship with God to live a life of sin, he was giving me a second chance, and because I desperately needed him, then I could see that the locusts of sinful living needed to be destroyed so that restoration could be done, slowly and often painfully. Like the walls of Jerusalem which Nehemiah and his army of workers tirelessly raised from the ruins of destruction, my life has been redeemed and restored. I stand forgiven, just as if I had never sinned. My past is buried in him, and I now live out of a future and of hope.

But back to Heavenlyjava. I knew I could write, but I didn’t want to write about the world. I had a secular blog which was fun, but the stories were merely entertaining. I wanted to write words of hope and encouragement in a real and meaningful way. And so Heavenlyjava was born, from that first tentative post where I questioned the validity of the Proverbs 31 woman, to now, when I weekly seek God on what I should write, much has happened. See, I have had to change. I cannot write just empty uninspired mindless entertaining drivel, while I wait for man’s approval, I feel utterly driven to write words which encourage, inspire, make people smile but above all, offer hope to all in a dying world.

The beauty of a blog like Heavenlyjava is that the internet crosses boundaries of cyber space where I could never go. It can enter living rooms, bedrooms, cafes, colleges, shopping malls and places that I could never travel too in my wildest dreams. When I look at the stats and see that people in India, USA, Britain, Europe and more are reading it, my heart leaps for joy. I pray that my words will ignite hope, initiate salvation, encourage in the darkest despair and bring the living word of God from out of the computer screens, tablets and smart phones and into the living hearts of people.

That is why I do what I do, come home from a long hard day at work and curl up with my laptop and pray that what the Holy Spirit has been whispering to my heart will translate onto the keypad and into your hearts. It’s what I do, and it is what I love to do – to serve God using the talent he gave me.

Heaven and Java. Heaven is the place I will dwell with my dearest Jesus, his wonderful Father and the Holy Spirit forever when my threescore years and ten on this planet have gone. Java? Well my love for coffee is well known, it is the morning blessing which accompanies my time reading and praying. So, that is how the name Heavenlyjava came into being. As you read this, know that you are loved by God, and that he personally has an intervention plan for your life. Trust him, and see where it takes you. Peace is only the first stop on your journey to Heaven. I pray daily that what I write will be Heaven inspired, God anointed and that it will strike a chord in your spirit as you read it. God Bless you.