When Abba Father Sifts

photo source


And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon!

Indeed Satan has asked for you,

that he may sift you as wheat.

But I have prayed for you,

that your faith should not fail;

and when you have returned to Me,

strengthen your brethren."

-Luke 22:31-32

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven."

Now this, "yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

- Hebrews 12:25-29

For thus says the Lord of hosts: "Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory." says the Lord of hosts. "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine," says the Lord of hosts. "The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former," says the Lord of hosts. "And in this place I will give peace," says the Lord of hosts. 

- Haggai 2:6-9

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

- Matthew 3:12

For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
- Amos 9:9

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,

And He who formed you, O Israel:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by your name;

You are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,

Nor shall the flame scorch you.

- Isaiah 43:1, 2

Certain friends of mine are in pain and hurting. They are in a season of sifting in which God is teaching them valuable lessons the hard way. Circumstances in their lives are happening not the way they planned or intended it, and I consider it a privilege to be an agent of healing in their lives, even without a full understanding of what is going on behind the scenes.

It is easy to point the finger, and accuse.

But I choose not to look at them with judgment or condemnation but to believe in what the Father is doing in this difficult hour in their lives.

Oswald Chambers says that the Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to correctly judge... for He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding.

I truly appreciate and agree with what he writes in one of his devotionals:

There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about,

in every person's situation.

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From another angle, people have pointed out wrong and sinful responses. Their assessment seems correct, when things are viewed from where they stand.

But it is also true that there is another angle, and one more fact about them, which we know nothing about.

Abba Father alone knows the real score.

photo source

Dear friends,

It may be a painful season for you to be in, but Abba Father knows the real score.

May I be to you an agent of healing, understanding, and peace in the midst of what you are experiencing.

May your hearts be soft and pliable, tender and flexible in the hands of the Father.

May your healing process go deep, and may the restoration be complete.

May this result in a humble response of obedience and extending forgiveness to those who have wronged you.

Above all, may God our Father be truly glorified in all your responses.




The Journey

Now I'm struggling with what has always been
And I stumble underneath the load of sin
The questions to the answers never end
Can I ever find the peace within
But You loved me through it all
Your grace embraces me every time I fall

I know this is a journey
I can't walk alone
Carry me Jesus
I can't make it on my own
When I can't understand
You guide me by Your plans
Carry me Jesus
My life is in Your hands

When I think of how Your love has rescued me
On a lonely cross You died to set me free
Looking back it isn't hard to see
How Your loving arms have always carried me
Lord You loved me through it all
Your grace embraces me every time I fall...

Through the fire
Through the flood
Carry me Jesus
Surround me with Your love

When I'm broken
When I'm weak
Carry me Jesus
You're everything I need...

When I can't understand
You guide me by Your plans
Carry me Jesus
My life is in your hands

Kintsukuroi

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart--

These, O God, You will not despise.

- Psalm 51:17

He heals the brokenhearted

And binds up their wounds.

- Psalm 147:3

For I will restore health to you

And heal you of your wounds, says the Lord

Because they called you an outcast saying:

This is Zion;

No one seeks her.

- Jeremiah 30:17

If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, 

and do that which is right in His eyes,

and give ear to His commandments,

and keep all His statutes,

I will put none of the diseases on you

that I put on the Egyptians,

for I am the LORD, your healer.

- Exodus 15:26

kintsukuroi - n.

lit. golden repair

the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer resin dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique

(Source: Wikipedia)






I came across a beautiful post on Facebook a few days ago. It was about the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery, called kintsukuroi.

It deeply touched my heart for it is such a beautiful picture of how Abba Father heals our brokenness.

As a philosophy, kintsukuroi speaks to brokenness and repair becoming part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

I have been thinking a lot about this the past days, and the possibilities of being made beautiful, even after being shattered and smashed to pieces by the painful events of life, just blows my mind away.

Not a single piece will be discarded from our lives when the hand of the Potter begins to repair our brokenness.

It is a process.

I can imagine that in heaven, our wounds will not be hidden, but will be displayed with splendor, because the healed and restored portions of our lives will be glorious to behold.

Abba Father promises to restore all the years that the locust has eaten.

This has a literal fulfillment here on earth, and an eternal fulfillment for each one of us, in heaven.

What a glorious day that will be! Another reason for me to look forward to heaven!

The moon will shine like the sun,

and the sunlight will be seven times brighter,

like the light of seven full days,

when the LORD binds up the bruises of His people

and heals the wounds He inflicted.

- Isaiah 30:26

My Sabbath Musings:The Aaronic Blessing

The Priestly Blessing

The Aaronic Blessing, Birkat Kohanim in Hebrew, is the priestly blessing recited by the Jewish priestly class, as commanded by God in Numbers 6:22-27.

And the Lord spoke to Moses saying:

"Speak to Aaron and to his sons saying,

In this way you will bless the children of Israel, saying to them,

'The Lord will bless you and He will keep you.

The Lord will make His face to shine upon you

and He will be gracious to you.

The Lord will lift His countenance to you

and He will establish Shalom for you.

And they will put My name upon the children of Israel

and I will bless them."

(One New Man Bible)

Reading it in English translated from the Hebrew is different from understanding it in the Hebrew language.

We look at the words bless... keep... face... shine... gracious... countenance... peace, and we understand them only in abstract terms.

The Hebrew alphabet is pictorial, and each picture refers to a concrete idea.

I came across an amazing blog (Christina Chronicles) that opened up my understanding of this blessing in a whole new way.

Here are flashcards for the Blessing and its meaning in Hebrew:

The LORD will bless you

and He will keep you

The LORD will make His face

shine

upon you / to you

He will be gracious to you

He will lift up

His countenance

to you / upon you

and give you (establish)

shalom 

Putting all these pictorial language together, we come up with an amazing, powerful blessing:

YHWH, the head of the house with His own work strengthens His own hand

By His work He binds and overpowers the destroyer using the authority in His hand

YHWH, the Chief Ruler, secures life and order, His teaching strengthens, His work secures the hedge, strengthening life

YHWH's strong pressing hand lifts up, His work adds living utterance,

He strengthens authority, His hand destroys chaos,

His authority covers, destroying the authority attached to chaos.

The flashcards used in this post were downloaded from Christina Chronicles.

Those Who Sow in Tears...

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy,

He who continually goes forth weeping,

Bearing seed for sowing,

Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,

Bringing his sheaves with him.

- Psalm 126:5-6

It's a cool and quiet Wednesday morning.

It's almost daybreak... 

Another day is upon us.

Already the promise of God's word fills my heart with so much hope, joy, and assurance.

These past months I have seen God working steadily to show me some answers to prayers that I have sown in tears.

There is a coming harvest of answered prayers. Thank you, Abba Father.

He who continually goes forth weeping,

Bringing seed for sowing,

Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,

Bringing his sheaves with him.

Here's a beautiful song by Esther Mui on Psalm 126:

My Sabbath Musings: A Sabbath Heart

Thou shalt remember the sabbath day, to sanctify it.

- Exodus 20:8 (Jubilee Bible)

A beautiful quote from Mark Buchanan's book The Rest of God:

Before we keep a Sabbath day, we cultivate a Sabbath heart. 

A Sabbath heart sanctifies time. 

This is not ritual. 

It's a perspective. 

And it's not a shift in circumstances.... 

But you make a deliberate choice to shift point of view, 

to come at your circumstances from a fresh angle 

and with greater depth of field. 

You choose to see your life otherwise, 

through a different lens, 

from a different standpoint, 

with a different mind-set. 

The root of the Hebrew word for "sanctify" means "to betroth." 

It is to pledge marriage. 

It is to choose to commit yourself, all of yourself, 

to this man or this woman, 

and then to honor that commitment in season and in out. 

Sanctifying time works the same way. 

You pledge to commit yourself, all of yourself, 

to this time, 

and then you honor that commitment 

whether it's convenient or not.

...Sabbath is time sanctified, time betrothed, 

time we perceive and receive and approach differently from all other time. 

Sabbath time is unlike every and any other time

 on the clock and the calendar. 

We are more protective of it and generous with it. 

We become more ourselves in the presence of Sabbath: 

more vulnerable, less afraid. 

More ready to confess, 

to be silent, 

to be small, 

to be valiant.

There is no day in all creation that can banish our aloneness, 

even while meeting us in it, 

like this day.

My Sabbath Musings: Pilgrimage

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out

to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.

And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he dwelt in the land of promise

as in a foreign country,

dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,

the heirs with him of the same promise;

for he waited for the city which has foundations,

whose builder and maker is God.

- Hebrews 11:8-10

To move outside the comfort zone is something Abba Father has asked me to do time and time again.

Just when something gets too comfortable for me, I get the nudge to fold up my tent and move on. 

Not in a literal way of course.

But just the inner discontent, the longing for something new, or something more.

Our God... He knows just how prone our hearts are to settle down.

But Abba Father wants us to taste what it is like to live in a tent where there is no sense of permanence. 

Because really, permanence is not His plan for us.

He created us for pilgrimage, a holy restlessness... a seeking for the deeper things of God.

Indeed, our hearts are restless until they find true rest in God alone.

The Apple of His Eye

This morning I am reminded of the words of Jesus in Luke 9:26 where He says:

Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.


Paul also writes something similar to this in Romans 1:16, and I stand with Paul in what he declares:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.


I am not a Jew, I am a Gentile believer, someone so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to understand the message of salvation. I am a branch that has been broken off from a wild olive tree and grafted into the cultivated olive tree, grateful for the roots that support and nourish me through which I have also become a recipient of God's redeeming grace that entitles me to eternal life.

In recognition of the Hebraic roots of my faith, I am among those who stand with Israel and fully believe in God's everlasting covenant with her.

The nation of Israel has always had an important prophetic destiny.


It is therefore unfortunate that many people are embracing a wrong understanding about the role of Israel in history.

I am talking about the increasing popularity of Replacement Theology, now being openly taught and creating confusion, especially in the minds of those who still have little understanding about the end times.

It was my beloved Pastor Jerry Osbron who first opened my heart to have a special love for Israel.
I will never forget how we would observe the feast of Passover as a small congregation way back in the 1980's.

That Israel has an important role in God's prophetic timeline is among the important legacies that our beloved Pastor Jerry entrusted to us. A legacy of spiritual truth that we as recipients would do well to treasure and pass on to the next generation.

In this day of increased knowledge, we need to ask Abba Father for soft and humble hearts, that we may not fall prey to the wiles and schemes of the enemy of our souls, the one whose name is Apollyon and Deceiver.

I am constantly reminded that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking for someone to devour. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus has come to give abundant life.

Like Peter I run to the Lord for protection, saying, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal Life." (John 6.68)

Jesus Himself said that the words He speaks are spirit, and life. (John 6:63)

There is something that works against us when we begin to treat God's word as mere information, and not as life.

Among Pastor Jerry's favorite verses was 2 Timothy 2:2 -

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses

entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

As faithful stewards, let us guard jealously the rich deposit of truths that have been entrusted to us.
(1 Timothy 6:20)

Let us carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to us. (2 Timothy 1:14)

It is for this reason that I have the courage to write this post. That I, as a faithful steward, may carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to us. And not simply watch what is happening in our midst without so much as lifting a voice, while others might prefer to be intimidated into silence.

At the end of the day, what other people believe is their own lookout.

However, if a person has the crucial role of being a spiritual leader and authority, then as shepherd of the sheep, he has an important responsibility to make sure that what is being fed the flock is truth based on an honest and intelligent study of God's word.

On him rests the vital role of leading the sheep to green pastures and quiet waters.

Will not the shepherd stand accountable to the Chief Shepherd?

Isn't  wrong behavior the result of wrong belief? Even just a slight deviation at the start will ultimately lead to a huge discrepancy from what is true. Wasn't that how Eve fell from grace? The enemy lured her with a half truth; the rest is history.

Let me use the analogy of being on a wrong bus: one may believe with all his heart that this bus will take him to his desired destination... but he will never reach it! He has to get off that bus and board the right one which will take him where he wants to go.

By your patience possess your souls. Luke 21:19 - This is one of the verses in Luke 21 that speaks volumes to my own heart. I do not want to fall into disputes and arguments which is what the enemy wants. But rather, with a genuine hunger for truth and patient trusting in the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things... we can save our own souls from falling into error.

The whole Bible is completely true and trustworthy. If God's word says that Israel is God's first born son, and that whoever touches Israel touches the apple of His eye (Zechariah 2:8, Exodus 4:22), His word stands as truth.

Replacement Theology is a  Biblically unfounded doctrine which affirms that "God has finished with the Jews" and that the literal Israel has been replaced by the Christian Church, as it now exists.

Those who embrace Replacement Theology also say that the present day established visible Church is God's Elect, and that today's church comprises "the chosen ones."

According to the tenets of Replacement Theology the Jewish nation has no future role in the purposes of God.

This is a denial of the promised restoration of all Israel as taught by Paul in Romans 11. It is also a denial of the promised salvation of the Jewish nation prophesied by Zechariah in Zechariah 12:7-13:1.

Replacement theology ignores what God is doing in and through Israel today.

Now the Lord had said to Abram:

Get out of your country

From your family

And from your father's house,

To a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

- Genesis 12:1-3

And I will establish My covenant between Me and you

and your descendants after you in their generations,

for an everlasting covenant,

to be God to you and your descendants after you.

Also I give to you and your descendants after you

the land in which you are a stranger,

all the land of Canaan,

as an everlasting possession;

and I will be their God.

- Genesis 17:7-8

Paul's exhortation to us in Romans 11 states the case quite clearly. There is a warning lest we be wise in our own opinions. All Israel will eventually be saved... That refers to the literal Israel: 

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery,

lest you should be wise in your own opinion,

that blindness in part has happened to Israel

until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And so all Israel will be saved,

as it is written:

The Deliverer will come out of Zion,

And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

For this is My covenant with them,

When I take away their sins.

- Romans 11:25-27

Rev. Malcolm Hedding, former Executive Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, sums it up so beautifully:

"Israel has always been God's vehicle of world redemption (Romans 9:1-5). In a way, she is God's microphone, the means by which He speaks to a lost world. Moreover, she has birthed all God's covenants into the world and has now come back to her ancient homeland, by the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant, to birth the final great covenant of history, the Davidic Covenant. Herein lies the ultimate purpose of her modern day restoration. Jesus will return to Zion as the root and offspring of David (Revelation 22:1-6; Psalm 2:1-12; Psalm 75:5-11).

"No wonder the conflict over Zion is so great. [ICEJ's ministry] is removing the stumbling blocks from Zion and thereby preparing her for the arrival of her great and most blessed King (Isaiah 62:10).

"Replacement theology is thus an instrument of the powers of darkness to frustrate the purpose of God, by disconnecting the Church from this final great redemptive initiative in history. We reject it and stand fully on the promises of God concerning Israel and the Church." Source


All throughout the Scriptures we read of the promise of Israel's coming restoration.

In that day I will raise up

the tabernacle of David that is fallen

and close up its breaches;

and I will raise up its ruins,

and I will build it as in the days of old.

- Amos 9:11

Restoration is God's heart for Israel. Who are we to say otherwise?