Shin, The Lord's Presence With And In Us

It is interesting that the Jews have a letter in their alphabet - 20th letter out of 22 - and it is pronounced as 'Shin'. This letter appears as the first alphabet in the name of God in 'Shaddai' and El Shaddai is the name given to ascribe God as God the Almighty in the Old Testament and it gives the picture of God the nourishment for us.


It is also interesting that this same alphabet appears right in the midst of the name of Jerusalem or Yerushalayim and it should come as no surprise to us that God told King Solomon that He had chosen Jerusalem that He may put His Name there (2Chronicles 6:6).

Take a close look at the relief map of Jerusalem and see the alphabet edged out by the three valleys - Hinnom Valley on the left, the Tyropoeon or Central Valley in the middle and the Kidron Valley on the right and they all converge at the bottom to form the letter 'Shin'.


It should also interest us to note that the same letter appears right in the midst of the name given to our Lord Jesus - 'Yeshua' and a closer look at a pictorial of our human heart, one can understand why the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:17 that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith.


No wonder the Lord told the prophet Ezekiel that He will give us a new heart and put a new spirit within us; He will take the heart of stone out of our flesh and give us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) and again in 2Corinthians 6:16, the Apostle Paul wrote, "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'"

Now that is awesome. This is our blessing in Christ. Amen

A New Creation in Christ - Galatians 6:15

Life in Christ Jesus starts the moment we receive Him into our hearts. He comes in the form of His Spirit (the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ in the New Testament) and indwells us (Romans 8:9 and 1Peter 1:11).

In Ephesians 1:13, the Apostle Paul wrote, "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." A seal signifies that only the rightful owner can break it and view the contents and because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit, obviously only Abba Daddy has the absolute right to break that seal and at the right moment. So when will that happen? I used to think that will only happen when we pass on and at the Gate of Heaven, He will break the seal to see whether we are allowed to enter.

No, I am beginning to see a slightly different picture now. I see the seal not as a seal like in a sealed envelope and only the recipient of the letter can open but as a seal in our hearts stamped with His mark and it is a permanent mark. And because of that seal, blessings from Abba Daddy gets attracted to us. Also that seal is a sign to the devil of God's ownership of our lives.

I believe that was what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote Galatians 6:15 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation." The religious Jews of his day were still looking for circumcision as a sign of being a Believer but Paul showed them otherwise.

And when the scriptures mentions a new creation, it is literally a new birth. Each of us Believers now carry the DNA of the Holy Spirit and because of this, we can stay healthy and blessed.

Faith working through love in Christ - Galatians 5:6

The Apostle Paul had to contend with the Judaizers in the church at Galatia who tried to bring back the age-old practice of circumcision as a mark of belonging to Yahweh. According to Judaism, all descendants of Abraham must be circumcised and they wanted to extend this practice into the church.

Galatia is in the part of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) overlooking the Black Sea and it had a sizeable community of Jews living in the province and so naturally, when the church first started, they met in the synagogues for worship and the study of the word. When Paul first preached the Gospel in Galatia, many of these Jews became Believers but they would still cling on to their tradition of circumcision and even insist that since Jesus was a Jew and Christianity started from Jerusalem, naturally the church needed to carry on its Jewish roots.

Paul preached strongly against the notion that a person can only become a Believer when he had gone through circumcision - Galatians 5:6, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love." Circumcision is only an outward sign having a mark on a man's body but if there is no change of heart through an act of faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, that person is still not a Believer even after he had undergone the ritual of circumcision.

When a Believer exercises his faith in Christ, an outpouring of love will be the natural consequence and that is a clear sign or mark of faith in Christ.

Unity in Christ - Galatians 3:28

It is interesting to note down through history that those place where the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ had reached had gone from strength to strength. Progress and prosperity came when lives are liberated and women were no longer subjugated once the community understands the heart of our Lord. Such is the power of the Gospel. The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus".

Once Believers come to grips with what our Lord's original plan for mankind is, there will be unity in the Spirit and our perception of each other changes. We will cease to view each other as superior-inferior and boss-employee but as redeemed of the Lord and therefore equals and hence the unity bonding begins.

I believe the sooner we understand the heart of our Lord, the lesser we complain about each other and we will begin to want to work towards a common goal. There is no necessity to apply pressure to bring about conformity. Alignments and unity will come naturally.

Wisdom of God in Christ - 1 Corinthians 1:30

In my last post one week ago, an anonymous person took offense at what I wrote about sanctification and said that people will be encouraged to go out there to sin if they know that there is no condemnation. Well, I feel like Paul in Romans where he defended himself and said that being saved and having our guilt consciousness removed does not lead one to sin. In fact, the converse is true. If I know that I have been sanctified by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, it would make me want to lead a life honoring what the Lord had achieved in my life.

Nowhere did I allude to the fact that there is no consequence to our human sins. All I shared was that our guilt conscience had been dealt with by faith in Christ and therefore we should not be having any guilt trip (conscience wise). However, we are still bound by the physical laws of the land and that has to run its course. So if one were to murder someone and he is caught, he has to face the music and serve his time as a result of the carriage of the law and in such a case, if he had already received Christ into his life, he can experience peace within himself as the holy Spirit comes and ministers to him even while he may be serving time. I never said that there are no consequences to our action.

Well, today i want to move on and share on another blessing we receive when Christ is in our lives. The Apostle Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians 1:25-31: -
v 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
v 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
v 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
v 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are,
v 29 so that no one may boast before him.
v 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
v 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord".

God's wisdom is just so wonderful that none of us would be able to say that we have mastered it; no, we would not even be able to capture an iota even through eternity. Men profess to be wise but he is foolish as he is incapable of comprehending the true Wisdom of God. 1Cor 1:30 tells us that Christ Himself became the Wisdom of God and that He had come to indwell in each one of us who received Him into our lives. And when He took on human flesh and died for us on the Cross, the key to our righteousness, holiness and redemption became embodied in Him and therefore, when we received Him, we are made righteous, holy and stand redeemed on holy ground.

Now that is what we stand to gain - our inheritance is in the Lord; there is no part for us to play but we enjoy the fruit of His work in our lives - redemption and resulting blessings.