Ed Christian's World

The Omega Point…

Joseph was taken to Egypt and into Potiphar’s house. Potiphar’s wife lusted after Joseph. But she had no real idea who Joseph was or had any notion of his heart. She only wanted to use him. Joseph fled her advances and she was left holding nothing but his clothes.

The Church is called to be the Bride of Jesus. But much of the Church has become more like Potiphar’s wife. It wants the blessings of God, His comfort, His prosperity – but without really knowing Him or seeking to share His heart.

So it ends up, like Potiphar’s wife, left just with the clothing of Jesus, the empty outward trappings of religion – while Jesus, Himself, has long fled away.

Your walk with God is not primarily about the feelings, the benefits, the prosperity, or success it gives you. More than all of that, it’s about Him.

Set your heart to truly seek Him, to truly know Him – more than you ever have before, to know His heart, to share His heart, and to love Him. For the Lord called you to be the Bride of Jesus… and not Potiphar’s wife.

Take time to be in His presence, just to receive His love and share your love with Him. You are Jesus’s bride – and not Potiphar’s wife.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always

Ed

Reference: Genesis 39

The Gardener…

The Garden Tomb. Did you ever realize how strange, how unique, how contradictory, and radical it is. What’s a Garden? A place where life begins. What’s a Tomb? A place where life ends. So what’s a Garden Tomb?

It’s a place where life ends… and begins. Jesus wasn’t just put into a tomb, but into a Garden Tomb. Why? Because after the end of His life, would come new life – the Resurrection.

As everything began in a Garden, so now everything begins anew in a Garden Tomb. In the Garden Tomb is a cosmic mystery. The only way we can get to the Garden, is by first going to the tomb – only by dying to the old, can we live.

So don’t be afraid to let the old die, or to crucify the self, or to count your old life as gone. It’s nothing to be afraid of. It will only lead to blessing in the end, and it’s the only thing that does.

Do it as soon as you can. For the way of the Cross always leads to the Garden Tomb, and the Garden Tomb, always leads to life.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

What blessing, breakthrough, victory do you think God wants to bring in your life? What has to end, die, or be crucified for that to happen? Go to the Garden Tomb.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Tree..

In Genesis, we read of the fall of man. It all centers on the partaking of the forbidden fruit. All sin comes from this act, the partaking of the fruit. What about redemption?

Before He gave His life to bring redemption, Jesus celebrated the Passover. The Passover involves drinking “the fruit of the vine.” The Passover cup is filled with the juice of crushed fruit.

As we all fell in the partaking of Adam’s fruit, Jesus led His disciples to partake of the fruit of His sacrifice, for our redemption. And in the case of the Cup of Jesus, the fruit of the vine represents His blood, His sacrifice, His atoning death.

So we have two fruits. Now what’s the antidote to the fruit of sin? The fruit of Jesus. The more you partake of the love, the grace, the forgiveness, the sacrifice, the gift, the miracle of God’s gift to you, the life of Jesus given to save you from hell, the more your life will be free from the power of sin, death, and the fall. In the end, it all comes down to fruit, and which one you choose.

“Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Mark 14:25

Take time today to partake of the sacrifice, the love of God poured out for you on the cross. Let it soak into your heart, mind, soul, and emotions. Let it change you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Secret Of The Zeroah…

In Ezekiel 20, it’s written: “I will bring you out from the nations and will gather you out of the nations from which you are scattered… with an extended arm, and with fury poured out.”

This is a prophecy of the regathering of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. The word translated as “arm” is the Hebrew “Zeroah.”

The Zeroah of the Lord is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. There’s an entire section devoted to revealing it – Isaiah 53. It begins with “Who has believed our report, and to whom has the Zeroah of the Lord been revealed?” It goes on to reveal that the Zeroah of the Lord is Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus.

What does it mean? The Jewish people were gathered back from the nations, saved from destruction, by the power of God’s Zeroah, Messiah. They might not realize it, but their regathering is linked to Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus is the Great Gatherer. His heart is to gather us back from exile to the Promised Land. He’s still doing it, even with you. Let Him gather you, go with the leading of His Spirit, and your life will be continually led to the Land of Promise.

This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” John 12:38

Instead of going your own way today, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you straight to the Land of Promise.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

There Is No Country…

At the end of the Civil War, the Southern Confederate General Robert E. Lee was being pursued by the Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Lee told his associate he could not surrender his country, meaning the Confederacy. The associate replied. “There is no country, sir. There has been no country for the last two years.”

In other words, the Confederacy was, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. If Lee had only realized that it didn’t exist, he wouldn’t have wasted so much effort fighting a fruitless battle.

If Lee had only realized he had nothing to war about and nothing to lose, there would have been peace much sooner and Lee would have been a much happier man.

It’s the same with us. So many of our battles, our conflicts, our problems, our anxieties and before our fears happen because we still think we have something to lose.

But in Jesus, our old life is over. So don’t be Robert E. Lee and keep fighting and striving and worrying about something that no longer exists. Your old life is over, be free. Because when you have nothing – you have nothing to lose.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

If worries and problems try to overcome you during the day, cast them aside. Remember that its only the old life – you have nothing to lose – be free.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

On Earth As It Is On Earth…

The Lord told us to pray “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s not only a prayer, it’s a secret to living victoriously in God. The key is to live your life on earth as it is in heaven.

Most believers live on earth as it is on earth. If we’re having troubles on earth, we live troubled. If we’re having setbacks on earth, we live discouraged. If we’re having people trespassing against us on earth, we live in anger or bitterness, or unforgiveness.

We let our peace, our well-being, and our joy go up and down – all because we’re living on earth as it is on earth.

Don’t live in your situation as it is in your situation, or in your emotions as it is in your emotions. That’s all on earth as it is on earth What matters is how it is in heaven.

Stop living “on earth as it is on earth” life, and start living “on earth as it is in heaven life.” In heaven, it’s blessed. And your life will be just as this when you start living on earth as it is in heaven.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

In what ways are you living your life “from earth,” from your problems, from your circumstances, from yourself? Start changing that. Start seeking to live your life in every way – from above.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Prisons End…

Theres a story about a pastor in Communist Eastern Europe who was abducted at gun point and thrust into a car. He was put away in prison, his identity stripped, his possessions gone, his old life now just a memory. He lived the next part of his life in an underground prison.

For most people, that would be a problem, an obstacle to ministry, and to God’s purposes. But the pastor didn’t see prison as a hindrance to God’s calling, or to ministry, or to the purposes of God in his life – but rather as an opportunity.

And that’s just what happened. In prison he learned to worship, to share the Gospel, to minister, and glorify God.

You too may be dealing with an unwanted situation in your life. It may seem like a prison, or a hindrance to God’s will, and you can’t wait for them to change. But don’t waste your time or your life living like that.

Your ministry is not what begins when God changes your situation – but what begins right now, when you change your heart. Whatever your situation is, start glorifying Him, fully and all out, right here and now, and you will never know prison – only His glory.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns. to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. Acts 16:25-26

No matter what the circumstances or situation, praise God today in all things, even try singing a new song of praise to your God.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Entering Your Priesthood…

When I was a child and my parents would tell me how early I had to wake up to be ready for school, I came up with a strategy.

Since I wanted to stay up late and sleep as late as I could, I would get dressed in the clothes I was to wear the following day, then put my pajamas over them.

Then in the morning, all I had to do was take off my pajamas and I was ready to go. But the problem was that I was wearing the clothes I had slept in the night before.

Many people in the Lord try to do the same thing. They wear yesterday’s clothes into salvation, the clothes of the old identity, the old attitudes, the old ways, the old beliefs, the old baggage, the old self.

So the Word of God says, take off the old self, put on the new. You have that power, to actually take off the old you, and put on the new you.

Do it. Because you can’t enter the new day that God has for you, wearing the clothes of the night before.

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new hself, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:8-10

What old clothes are you wearing in your walk with God? What remnant of your old self still crops up? Seek to put on the new self and walk today in the new.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Treasures Of The Morning Light…

An ancient fable tells of three merchants who were crossing a desert – one dark moonless night they came to the bed of a dried up creek.

There they heard a voice tell them to “gather stones and travel as far away as possible from there; in light of morning, they would be both happy and sad.”

So they obeyed the voice and when the first light of morning came, they opened their bags to see the stones they had gathered at the creek. But instead of stones they discovered they had gathered precious jewels.

They were glad with what they gathered, but as the voice had also said, they were sad – sad they had not gathered more.

So it is in this life. The voice of God tells us to use and give everything we have on earth for God, and we will have treasures in heaven. We don’t see those treasures yet – but we will. So be wise.

Give and use everything you have in this life for the purposes and glory of God, and you will store up for yourself great treasures, and only gladness, and no sorrow, in the morning light.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20

What do you have today that you don’t really need? What can you give away to those in need? What can you give to God’s work? Give it today and store up treasures in heaven.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Churches 0f The Dead…

Proverbs 21:16 says this: The man who wanders off from the way of understanding will dwell in the congregation of the dead.”

The Hebrew here is fascinating. The word for “kahal” which, translated into Greek, becomes “ekklesia,” which means “church.”

So it could be translated as this: The man who wanders off from the way of understanding will dwell in the church of the dead.

This is relevant to our day as we witness more and more churches and denominations wandering away from the Word of God in order to follow the ways of the world and the dictates of the times.

In doing so, many have even embraced what the Bible clearly calls an abomination. They’ve wandered off and so it’s no accident that these same denominations have largely become the churches of the dead.

It’s true of churches and true of people. All the more, in a day of wandering off and apostasy, you are the one who holds to God’s Word in everything. Be that person of no compromise, and you will never end up dwelling in a church or life of the dead.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Have you in any way wandered off the path of God’s perfect will for your life? Today take the steps you need to get back in the center of His will and calling.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed