Spiritual treasure in clay pots

A couple of days ago as I was in prayer I saw a vision. In the vision clay pots were broken with what looked like a hammer. They were smashed into million pieces. I asked God what this meant, and then I realised that the sound of the hammer reminded me of the sound of Jesus being nailed on the cross.

After that, as I was reading the Bible, I came across a passage that explained this vision to me:

2. Corinthians 4:5-12

⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

 ⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

 I have never been more glad about the fact that I'm not perfect. That is why God can show His glory and power through me, and that is why everyone can know that this light that shines in my heart is from Him.

The temple of the Lord?

On Saturday as I was driving I had an urge to pray, and as I prayed, I felt that I need to pray for the people of Finland who now have turned from God in different ways. Today as I was reading the Bible I felt that the passages that I read were not only concerning Judah, but today's Finland as well, expecially the Lutheran church. These passages are quoted from Jeremiah 7:

 ¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : ² "Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: 
      " 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. ³ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" ⁵If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, ⁶ if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. ⁸ But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. ⁹ " 'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, ^[a] burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"-safe to do all these detestable things? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

¹⁶ "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. 

 ²⁰ " 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched. ²¹ " 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. ²⁵ From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. ²⁶ But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.' ²⁷ "When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. ²⁸ Therefore say to them, 'This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. ²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

 I felt terrible especially when reading the verse 16. I feel that God has decided to pay the people of Finland according to their deeds. At the same time I feel confident that true followers of Christ who remain faithful, independent of church or congregation, will face troubles at first, but then trade their believing to seeing, and sorrows to joy. I do not know what to do, other than wait and continue to pray that many more will accept the truth and be saved.

Rest in Jesus

There is always so much to do and there never seems to be enough time. There's work, studying, housework, hobbies, and you try to squeeze in some time for family and friends too. But there is a type of rest that "charges your batteries" in a sense, and it's a type of rest you should not miss. I'm talking about rest in Jesus.

Let's see what the Bible says about resting. Again, all the quotes are from the New International Version.

Exodus 20:10-11 (New International Version)

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

So we can see that even God rested on the seventh day. We can only imagine how little the Creator of all things would have extra time in His hands for resting, but still he wanted to make time for it.

Hebrews 4:9-11 

9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

So the Bible clearly tells us to rest following God's example. This rest the Bible talks about is meant for everybody, whether busy or not.

But what is this rest that the Bible talks about? Where can we find it? Is e.g. watching TV a good way to rest? David writes in Psalm 62:

Psalm 62

 1 My soul finds rest in God alone;

       my salvation comes from him.

 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

...

5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

So the rest we need is rest for the soul and it can be found in God alone. We can rest in God because we know that our salvation and hope comes from him. We can rest in him independent of the circumstances, because we know we can leave all our worries to God.

Can we find this rest by meditating, by looking into ourselves to find peace? No, we can only find rest in Jesus:

Matthew 11:28-30

 28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

So we have to come to Jesus to find rest. Because any rest that the world may give will never give rest for our souls. Only when we come to Jesus and pray for him will we truly find rest. Jesus told us how to rest in him:

Mark 6:30-32

 30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

 32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

So whenever you have some time for yourself, go to a quiet place and pray there, and you will find rest in Jesus.

Blessing after blessing

Yesterday when I was walking outside I had this children's song on my mind that's from my daughter's cd. In Finnish it's "Jeesus sua rakastaa, tosi paljon rakastaa, tahtoo sua siunata, johdattaa ja varjella..." Translated in English: "Jesus loves you, he loves you very much, he wants to bless you, guide you and keep you..." I was actually a bit annoyed because I had the song in my head the whole time I was walking around our little town, about an hour. But when I was nearly home, when someone came walking past me, and I still had the song in my head, I realised that I had blessed all the people that I saw on my walk. I think that God had put that song in my head as a reminder for me to bless the people I see and to bless my hometown. I browsed my Bible again and found some good passages about blessing others.

First, who should we bless? Of course those who are close to us, family and friends, but not the people we don't want to bless, right?

Luke 6:27-28
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.


Romans 12:14
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.


So that means everybody. Especially the ones we don't like to bless. God wants to bless us all, and He actually has blessed us:

John 1:15-16
John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

Furthermore, God's blessing is not like any blessing:

Ephesians 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

It's nice to receive blessings, but why should we bless others or join in their sorrows? Look at the following passages:

1 Corinthians 9:22-23
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have became all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1 Peter 3:8-9
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with each other; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

So we should bless so that we may be blessed by God's incredible blessing. So start blessing the people that come your way, and you will be blessed yourself.

Be joyful always

There have been times when I've asked God "Why?", "Why do I have to go through this?", "Why me?" But a while ago when I was in one of those situations, I started thinking about the numerous speeches I've heard about being thankful in every situation. It's easy to be thankful when everything is going great, but how can you be thankful when you think that there is no way out of this situation? I wanted to understand the true meaning of thankfulness in every situation, and so I browsed through the Bible to find out what it says about it. This is what I learned and what thoughts came to my mind. (I'm using the NIV.)


First of all, does the Bible really tell us to be thankful? Here's a passage that makes it quite clear:


Colossians 2:6-7
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."


So we should "overflow with thankfulness". Seems quite a lot when it's one of those days when you want to give up trying because it seems that it's no use anyway. You could also ask that "does the Bible really tell us to be thankful in those difficult situations as well?" Here's an answer to that question:


Colossians 3:15-17
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."


So "whatever you do". There's no question, it means the hard times just as the easy ones. But then you could say that "Well, it's easy for you to say. You haven't experienced half the troubles I have". That may be true. But it doesn't mean that you should not be thankful. Think about Jonah. When he had been swallowed by the fish, he was thankful! Look at this passage:


Jonah 2:9
"But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord."


I can imagine that Jonah didn't feel very thankful, but he still chose to thank God. And I believe that God will help you in your situation, whatever it may be, if you only choose to thank him. Look what happened after Jonah's prayer:


Jonah 2:10
"And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land."


So the Lord saw Jonah's situation, and helped him. However, you may wonder what we should thank about. Well, there are always things you can be thankful about, for example family and friends etc. But the one thing that should make us most thankful is the future we have when we walk with Jesus:


Hebrews 12:28
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe"


So we all have a share in this wonderful kingdom! Independent of our situation now, and whether we're rich or poor, we are receiving the kingdom. And there's even more to thankfulness, it really makes a difference:


Philippians 4:4-7
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."


So we should not be anxious about anything, because when we choose to thank God and pray to him, he will guard our hearts and minds. For me that sounds like a really safe place to be. Guarded by God himself.


For me, I've found that in those difficult situations there is always a way I can thank God: If I feel I can't do anything else, I can always sing a song of praise or just say silently in my mind "thank you God". And I feel that every time I choose to thank God it becomes easier to thank him. And the best thing is that when you choose to thank him, he will give you a thankful heart! To sum up, I hope that the following passage will be a blessing in your day today and everyday, be it a difficult or easy one:  


1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."