Renew The Mind; Transform Your Life

Reform, Relent, Repent!

I'm regularly asked to record Bible Readings for the Good News Church in Wimborne.  These are from the NIV (UK edition)

Notice here God's intention to always forgive.  We must turn - the key meaning of the word 'repent' in the New Covenant.

Thankfully for us, and for Jeremiah, he had Divine and human support.  Some of the sensible Elders of the Land cited history to support Jeremiah and YHWH's cause.

Every day is a good time to reform our ways, to relent from evil intent and action, and repent - turning, instead, into the Lord's ways.  I am reminded of the verses that say, 
"‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Image credit: my own image captured in The British Museum

Breaking the Yoke

I'm regularly asked to record Bible Readings for the Good News Church in Wimborne.  These are from the NIV (UK edition)

"And I give it to anyone I please..."  How fascinating that this is what the devil claimed when tempting Jesus - clearly a lie.  (No surprises there.)

The yoke is a powerful concept in Scripture.

Compare this with Jesus's great invitation in Matthew 11

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

Christ's Way is not about freedom from the yoke but rather a transfer of yoke.
The anointing of God's Holy Spirit breaks every yoke of bondage, and then we are invited to take up our cross, God's yoke, and walk in His ways.

Isaiah 10:27

"It will happen in that day that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil."

There was a tendency at London Bible College to call the NIV the, "Nasty Idiomatic Version."  I think that was pretty arrogant but on this occasion the NIV completely loses the impact of the anointing:
"In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat."

Personally, being overweight, that idiom sounds like fun, but let's not be mistaken, it is the Anointing that breaks the yoke of burden.  Jesus said to His top team, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing..." and commanded them to "Wait in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on High."  This is the language of the Anointing - the Promise of the Father - the Holy Spirit.

Remember also that the religious deceivers of the day were said, by Jesus, to be in error because they did not 'know' the Scriptures (they read them, memorised them, but did not know them) nor the power of God.

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Image credit: my own image captured in The British Museum

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Part of the reading plan used by Good News Church, Wimborne.
The congregation take it in turns to do the Bible Reading.
https://www.goodnews-church.co.uk

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Come near, you nations, and listen;
pay attention, you peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
the world, and all that comes out of it!
The Lord is angry with all nations;
his wrath is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy them,
he will give them over to slaughter.
Their slain will be thrown out,
their dead bodies will stink;
the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
All the stars in the sky will be dissolved
and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall
like withered leaves from the vine,
like shrivelled figs from the fig-tree.

My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
see, it descends in judgment on Edom,
the people I have totally destroyed.
The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood,
it is covered with fat –
the blood of lambs and goats,
fat from the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
And the wild oxen will fall with them,
the bull calves and the great bulls.
Their land will be drenched with blood,
and the dust will be soaked with fat.

For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.
Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her dust into burning sulphur;
her land will become blazing pitch!
It will not be quenched night or day;
its smoke will rise for ever.
From generation to generation it will lie desolate;
no one will ever pass through it again.
The desert owl and screech owl will possess it;
the great owl and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom
the measuring line of chaos
and the plumb-line of desolation.
Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
all her princes will vanish away.
Thorns will overrun her citadels,
nettles and brambles her strongholds.
She will become a haunt for jackals,
a home for owls.
Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures will also lie down
and find for themselves places of rest.
The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
she will hatch them, and care for her young
under the shadow of her wings;
there also the falcons will gather,
each with its mate.

Look in the scroll of the Lord and read:

None of these will be missing,
not one will lack her mate.
For it is his mouth that has given the order,
and his Spirit will gather them together.
He allots their portions;
his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it for ever
and dwell there from generation to generation.

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Woe to you, destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, betrayer,
you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying,
you will be destroyed;
when you stop betraying,
you will be betrayed.

Lord, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress.
At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee;
when you rise up, the nations scatter.
Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts;
like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.
He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
The highways are deserted,
no travellers are on the roads.
The treaty is broken,
its witnesses are despised,
no one is respected.
The land dries up and wastes away,
Lebanon is ashamed and withers;
Sharon is like the Arabah,
and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.

‘Now will I arise,’ says the Lord.
‘Now will I be exalted;
now will I be lifted up.
You conceive chaff,
you give birth to straw;
your breath is a fire that consumes you.
The peoples will be burned to ashes;
like cut thorn-bushes they will be set ablaze.’

You who are far away, hear what I have done;
you who are near, acknowledge my power!
The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless:
‘Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?’
Those who walk righteously
and speak what is right,
who reject gain from extortion
and keep their hands from accepting bribes,
who stop their ears against plots of murder
and shut their eyes against contemplating evil –
they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,
whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
Their bread will be supplied,
and water will not fail them.

Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.
In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:
‘Where is that chief officer?
Where is the one who took the revenue?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?’
You will see those arrogant people no more,
people whose speech is obscure,
whose language is strange and incomprehensible.

Look on Zion, the city of our festivals;
your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes broken.
There the Lord will be our Mighty One.
It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
No galley with oars will ride them,
no mighty ship will sail them.
For the Lord is our judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king;
it is he who will save us.

Your rigging hangs loose:
the mast is not held secure,
the sail is not spread.
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided
and even the lame will carry off plunder.
No one living in Zion will say, ‘I am ill’;
and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
The fearful heart will know and understand,
and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
For fools speak folly,
their hearts are bent on evil:
they practise ungodliness
and spread error concerning the Lord;
the hungry they leave empty
and from the thirsty they withhold water.
Scoundrels use wicked methods,
they make up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
But the noble make noble plans,
and by noble deeds they stand.

You women who are so complacent,
rise up and listen to me;
you daughters who feel secure,
hear what I have to say!
In little more than a year
you who feel secure will tremble;
the grape harvest will fail,
and the harvest of fruit will not come.
Tremble, you complacent women;
shudder, you daughters who feel secure!
Strip off your fine clothes
and wrap yourselves in rags.
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vines
and for the land of my people,
a land overgrown with thorns and briers –
yes, mourn for all houses of merriment
and for this city of revelry.
The fortress will be abandoned,
the noisy city deserted;
citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland for ever,
the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
till the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.
The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert,
his righteousness live in the fertile field.
The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
its effect will be quietness and confidence for ever.
My people will live in peaceful dwelling-places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.
Though hail flattens the forest
and the city is levelled completely,
how blessed you will be,
sowing your seed by every stream,
and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the Lord.
Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster;
he does not take back his words.
He will rise up against that wicked nation,
against those who help evildoers.
But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God;
their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
those who help will stumble,
those who are helped will fall;
all will perish together.

This is what the Lord says to me:

‘As a lion growls,
a great lion over its prey –
and though a whole band of shepherds
is called together against it,
it is not frightened by their shouts
or disturbed by their clamour –
so the Lord Almighty will come down
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
Like birds hovering overhead,
the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem;
he will shield it and deliver it,
he will “pass over” it and will rescue it.’

Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against. For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.

‘Assyria will fall by no human sword;
a sword, not of mortals, will devour them.
They will flee before the sword
and their young men will be put to forced labour.
Their stronghold will fall because of terror;
at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,’
declares the Lord,
whose fire is in Zion,
whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Learn how The Contribution Compass with Motivational Mapping, mixed with the 27 Key Questions to Uncover Your Purpose, can open your awareness to the maximum contribution you can deliver during your time on Earth! Nothing too dramatic then!

The free bonus is PsychoGeometrics by Dr Susan Dellinger.

Clear audio, though not in my studio, where I've taken the feed from the video.
You can watch the video here: http://bit.ly/Habit4Attitude

In this episode, we talk about the attitudinal difference between a Pearl Fisher and a pearl crusher.  A Pearl Fisher finds an opportunity - possibilities even - in every adversity.  (A pearl crusher finds adversities in every opportunity.)  Written and recorded in the time of a great health crisis for the world, holding fast to the attitude of a Pearl Fisher means that we will adopt Possibility Thinking, not fear.

The programme also talks about 'Symbiosis' - God's ultimate model for collaborating in life with others for a Higher Win-Win result.