Archives for June 2009

What is Marriage, Video

June 30, 2009 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

Ps Chris Field recently prepared several videos for his Blog readers.
This video, “What is Marriage?”, opens the subject of Marriage and gets people thinking about the Biblical concept of marriage, rather than the cultural ideas they are presented with.

Other Videos by Pastor Chris Field include ….

SEXUALITY VIDEO – “Sacred Nakedness” http://chrisfieldblog.com/marriage/sacred-nakedness-video

MARRIAGE VIDEO – “50-50 Marriage?” http://chrisfieldblog.com/marriage/50-50-marriage-video

MANHOOD VIDEO – “The Manhood Call” http://chrisfieldblog.com/manhood/manhood-call-video

MANHOOD VIDEO – “Sacrificial Purpose of Men” http://chrisfieldblog.com/manhood/sacrificial-man-video

TRUTH VIDEO – “Where Does Your Truth Come From?” http://chrisfieldblog.com/ministry/truth-video

PARENTING VIDEO – “Heart of a Child” http://chrisfieldblog.com/parent/heart-of-child-video

PARENTING VIDEO – “Godly Seed” http://chrisfieldblog.com/parent/godly-seed-video

PARENTING VIDEO – “Child Discipline” http://chrisfieldblog.com/parent/child-discipline-video

Noah’s Ark Models

June 29, 2009 by Chris Field 2 Comments

Noah’s Ark has fascinated generations and recent recreations have shown today’s generations how real and practical the world’s most famous ship proves to be.

Two major efforts to create models are featured here. One by Johan Huibers in the Netherlands and another by Rod Walsh in Australia.

Another recreation of Noah’s ark was made for the Movie, Evan Almighty, starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman.

While the Evan Almighty model was made for the cameras, another large model of Noah’s Ark has been made for people to explore. It is located in Schagen, Netherlands.

The massive central door in the side of Noah’s Ark was opened to the first crowd of curious townsfolk to behold the wonder. Of course, it’s only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist, Johan Huibers, as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Biblical Scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been.

Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son, Roy. Construction began in May 2005. On the uncovered top – deck not quite ready in time for the opening – will come a petting zoo, with baby lambs, chickens, goats and one camel.

Visitors on the first day were stunned. ‘It’s past comprehension’, said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw the ark looming over the local landscape.

‘I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big’. There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theatre where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark. Huibers, a Christian man, said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands, where church-going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years.

“Now that I am old and gray…give me the time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all your mighty miracles.” Psalm 71:18

ANOTHER NOAH’S ARK MODEL….

In Geelong, west of Melbourne, Australia, Rod Walsh has made several models of Noah’s Ark, on a more modest scale to the Dutch version. Rod has given much attention to detail and his models reveal the amazing capacity and effectiveness of the Biblical boat.

Rod Walsh has not only recreated the Biblical specifications for Noah’s Ark, but has also created a model interior, which is not specified in the historical records. By doing this he has been able to show the enormous storage capacity of the world’s first ship.

Rod and Nancy Walsh spearhead CMI-Australia’s dynamic traveling Ark Van ministry. Rod and Nancy spend many months of each year traveling to remote parts of Australia (and also overseas).

Rod is a model-builder and has painstakingly crafted five separate Noah’s Ark models to scale. Each one conforms to the general biblical principles most creationists adhere to.

According to Genesis 6:15, the Ark measured 300x50x30 cubits, which is about 140x23x14 metres. Its volume was 43,000 cubic metres. This is the same volume as 522 standard American railroad stock cars, each of which can hold 240 sheep in total. Part of Rod’s mission, when he felt prompted to build the ark models, was to help people understand how real the Ark was.

Further information about Rod Walsh and his models can be found at:
http://www.noahs-ark.net
http://creation.com/the-ark-van-ministy

There is no Biblical evidence that Noah had help from the animals in making the Ark. But the makers of Evan Almighty thought it was a cute idea to show how animals lent help to the ancient builder.

HEROD’S TEMPLE MODEL …

Another model maker has created a huge replica of Herod’s Temple, from the time of Jesus Christ.

To see pictures of that creative model making effort, go to: http://chrisfieldblog.com/archaeology/herods-temple-model

Rejection 1 and Inner Healing

June 28, 2009 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

About forty years ago God began a work of healing my heart. That work completely revolutionised my life and became the platform for so much of who I am and how I bless others.

So it is my delight to share something of what the Lord taught me through that process. I have already explained the Steps to Release which outline the journey which God led me through. Those steps became the template for my personal and ministry capacity to gain freedom. What I present in this Rejection series is the more personal journey of my own deliverance from rejection.

My Journey

I discovered that I was a victim of feelings of inferiority and rejection which devastated my personal, social and spiritual life. God graciously opened my eyes to His Word and to the work He wanted to do in me.

Once I had experienced personal freedom I was keen to help others find freedom too. Many of those that came to me for help were also victims of rejection, inferiority, insecurity and related issues. Helping them come to freedom expanded my understanding and enabled me to see the more complete picture of what could be called a ‘rejection syndrome‘.

As I escorted people through the journey to their freedom I began drawing stick figures to illustrate what I suspected they might have been encountering. Those simple drawings were scrawled out over and over again and people would often point at the page and say, “That’s Me!”

When I met cartoonist Rig Bell, in the early 1980’s, he offered to create images that were better than my clumsy stick figures. He took my sketches and came back with the pictures which you will see in this series.

Setting Things in Order

Obviously there is a great deal I could teach about Rejection, Inner Healing, Deliverance and the like. Years of experience and so many different testimonies have given me a broad concept of some of these issues. However, my concern is to simplify things and set them in order, so that anyone could grasp them and apply the truth to their life.

The simple presentation which I will break open to you in this series is not the final word, nor all that could be elaborated on. It is simply my attempt to make the subject clear and practical.

My Inferiority

I have vivid memories of my desperate feelings of embarrassment, insecurity, blushing, self-consciousness and inferiority. I could tell you stories about how I lived with the intense sense that people were watching me and that I must be self-aware at all times. I was afraid to look people in the eye. I would blush and go red like a beetroot, blinking at 90 miles per hour, with tears streaming down my face.

I could not tell my teacher I needed to go to the bathroom (toilet), so I invented belly-aches so she would suggest I go to the toilet. I developed the habit of checking my watch as I walked, to create an air of having something important to do. Yet I would look at my watch about every four paces, out of sheer torment at the thought of people watching me.

It was pretty weird, but it was ‘normal’ to me. I didn’t know any different. I just had to live with that and I also had to develop my compensating strategies.

An Extrovert

Despite my intense inner feelings of inferiority I had a strong desire to be up front and in the limelight. That created great tension, which I dealt with by sheer bluff and determination.

I created several coping strategies, such as out-staring people, forcing myself into the limelight and throwing myself into things, and making more of my strengths than was reasonable, to compensate for my limitations.

My compensation strategies worked very well. I became a class-room hero. I championed the debating team. I excelled in lead roles in the school musicals. I represented my school and district in national public speaking competitions. I was the best joke teller in the school.

Still Broken

But for all my extrovert performance I was still broken on the inside. I needed God’s love and His grace to deliver me from things too powerful for me. I needed His wisdom and the truth of His Word to break the chains of my slavery.

And all my efforts to set myself free only became another layer of problem which I had to undo in the process of walking into freedom. I later discovered that the defeatist, extrovert and rebel can all be variations of hurting people. Despite the life pattern which is chosen as the survival or coping mechanism, these people are still hurting on the inside, because they are still broken on the inside.

Rejection Series

So, welcome to this Rejection Series. There will be more than two dozen articles and as many pictures, which will unfold the drama of my own journey and the truth of God’s gracious deliverance available to all.

If you suffer from rejection, inferiority, self-pity, extroversion or rebellion, or if you have a heart to help others, you will find this series an effective tutorial on how to lead people into self-awareness, truth that sets them free, and ultimately, to God’s deliverance. If you are searching chrisfieldblog.com for these posts you will find them labelled first as ‘Rejection’, then numbered in order. Enjoy.

Spirit of Offence

June 27, 2009 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

Years ago I became victim to a ‘spirit of offence’. I had forgotten about it until a few weeks ago when I sensed that one of my ministry friends had fallen victim to the same thing. I prayed for him and then wrote him an explanation.

I am sharing my letter to him with you, since it is just possible that you too have fallen prey to a Spirit of Offence.

What I Sensed

This is what I told my friend about what I sensed happening in his life.

There has been a ‘spirit of offence’ assigned against you, which has probably been at work for many years. I suspect that it traces back to your youth or childhood, in much the same way that a spirit of rejection works. You may be able to identify experiences you have had of feeling rejected, which cause you to feel emotionally vulnerable.

Anyway, the sense that came to me was that this offence issue is not a product of life experience, but a deliberate strategy of the enemy, to entangle your life in offences. It has a double edge in that it causes you to feel offended, rejected and unable to operate with welcomed acceptance, but it also causes people to feel some undefined sense of offence toward you.

My Past Experience

A spirit of offence was at work against my ministry in New Zealand, back in 1980, which an intercessor discerned and resisted. The first I knew of it was a phone call from a young mum in my congregation. She explained to me that she had suddenly felt a very strong feeling of offence toward me.

That feeling settled onto her one afternoon and she found herself feeling offended by me and angry toward me. However, being more spiritually sensitive than some, she stopped herself from indulging the feelings which had come upon her. She demanded to answer to herself why she was feeling that way.

As she prayed about what she was feeling she realised that there was no basis to her feelings. I had not done or said anything to her or anyone else that could possibly cause such a reaction. She sought the Lord for wisdom about what was going on and what she sensed was that a Spirit of Offence had rested onto her, to cause her to reject my ministry.

She prayed against that spirit for a long time before she felt the feelings of offence lift from her. Once those feelings dissolved it became all the more clear to her that this was a spiritual attack against my ministry and was completely baseless.

Then she realised with a shock that she needed to pray for me and the congregation. She had discerned what was going on and had resisted it. But others might become completely deceived by that spirit and rise up against the work of the Lord. As an intercessor she then began praying against the work of that evil spirit. She phoned me to tell me what was going on.

Evil At Work

That spirit of offence caused people to feel offended or to take up an offence against me, for no cause. Unsuspecting people would fall prey to the feelings of offence and assume there must be substance behind them; otherwise (they thought) they would not be feeling those things.

When the intercessor encountered those feelings she was initially caught up in them, but then stopped to discern what was going on. She realised that the feelings were baseless, just as waking in a good or bad mood is completely random, not based on real circumstances.

She then resisted the feelings, praying against the spirit of offence, and the feelings lifted from her. There was no way she could then feel offence toward me. The feelings of offence were not based on substance, but were spiritually generated.

My Concern For My Friend

I advised my ministry friend that there has been a similar strategy to entangle him, and probably his family, in experiences where relationships have become strained by offence. Once one person takes up an offence they are trapped with it in their arms and it spoils the relationships around them.

I explained… “I expect that you have felt offended by the way people have treated you and responded to you at times. They may well have treated you poorly at times, because they were under this same spirit of offence creating a feeling of offence when no offence existed at all. Once the offence is taken up further offences occur, and this creates substance on a non-existent foundation.

I believe you need to become free from the offences which others have put on you, for good reasons or no reasons at all. The enemy has made ‘offence’ an Achilles heel to your ministry. It has been his master plan to entangle you and to besmirch your reputation with a cloud of indefinite negative feeling.

Claiming Victory

The Lord wants you to wear a spirit of Joy, based on the fact that you are “accepted in the beloved” and that no matter who or what stands against you it cannot separate you from the love of God. No weapon formed against you will prosper. You don’t need to take up offence, even toward those who have taken up offence against you without cause. If you do that, you will be “overcome by evil” instead of overcoming evil with good.

You need to become a man of awesome grace, giving grace to people who feel or express offence toward you. This enemy strategy has been broken, but it may still have after-shocks or ripples for some time. During that process you need to triumph in your spirit against this evil assignment.

I suggest that you even make it a discipline to remember those who have offended you, taken up an offence, withstood you, ignored you, rejected you and the like, and those to whom you have felt barriers or taken up an offence. You then need to pray blessing on them.

Remember the command of Christ to “bless those who curse you, pray for those who despitefully use you”.

Grace Wins Out

Your ministry of grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, will neutralise the residue of offence. As you become abandoned in blessing others, laughing when they misunderstand or oppose you, blessing them while they are trying to curse you, the dam will burst. All the grace which is yours but which has been withheld from you will break free and pour over your life and ministry.

It will sweep you to the nations, to be welcomed and loved and appreciated. Those who have neglected you and dismissed you, withholding the honour that is your due, will have a change of heart and find themselves full hearted in appreciation for who you are and what God is doing in and through you.

Now, every word is to be confirmed by the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses, so I’m not imposing this on you as some final authority. I trust who you are in the Lord and your heart to walk closely with Him. So I simply submit this to you. I’m barracking for your ministry. I have seen in vision form what God is doing with you and I want it to come to full fruition. So I bless you in the name of the Lord and humbly submit what I have sensed, confident that you and the Lord make a great team and can sort out what to do from here, whether I’m right or wrong.

Faith Factor 1 – God

June 26, 2009 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

God’s people are a miracle people. Christ works miracles in the lives and circumstances of those who trust Him. Faith, employed by Christians, is the most powerful force available to ordinary people in every generation.

So what is faith? How does it work? How do we get more of it? How can we build our faith so we use it more freely and see more of its fruit in our lives? These are the questions which I am addressing in this series.

Christianity is Faith

Christianity is based on Faith. Christianity is a “faith” rather than a religion. Christianity is more than just faith in and reliance on a set of religious writings and religious beliefs. It is activated and empowered by the active faith of its adherents.

Christians are called “believers”, because they cannot be Christians unless belief (faith) has been involved. You cannot inherit Christianity. You cannot have it given to you by someone else. Each individual Christian must have a faith experience, or they are not truly Christian.

Faith at Work

But Christianity does not just engage a person’s faith when they embrace Christianity. Faith goes far past any initiation into Christianity. In fact, the Bible repeatedly states the godly people must live a faith lifestyle.

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17

Faith is at work in the believer’s life for the whole of their life. And it is that on-going presence of faith in the believer’s life that I am concerned about in this series. Everything I describe here will be relevant to the initial belief in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, which brings a person into the amazing relationship with God as Father and that is a vital component of being Christian. But my focus is not in that initiation faith. I want to encourage Christians to turbo-charge, energize and accelerate their daily life of faith.

The Faith Fusion

Faith at work is a remarkable and exciting reality which brings to life the whole gamut of Christian experience. It is the powerhouse of Christianity and it moves heaven and earth.

Faith is an amazing fusion of the whole counsel of scripture into a dynamic working structure that produces results.

Faith being put to work is like the bringing together of elements for a nuclear reaction. My father told me of a man who would demonstrate radioactive reaction through a mechanical device which brought two radioactive objects close to each other. The objects would begin to glow, to the amazement of his audience.

Having all the pieces on the bench is not enough. When they are brought together in appropriate fusion there is an output which is awesome in its power and effect.

Faith is the process of activating the various components of Christian truth so that the fusion results in release of the power and impact latent within those truths.

Factor One is God

My favourite definition of faith is given in Hebrews 11:6. This definition places God on the throne of faith. Faith is not a toy which people can use for their own convenience. Faith is not some divine power which God has allowed humans to use as they will. Faith is not placed in ‘faith’, as a magical process in itself.

Faith is anchored, centred, focused, energised, made real and only ever relevant to God, Himself!

I have met people who have ‘faith in faith’. I have heard preachers who speak of faith as if it was a tool of the gods stolen by man. I have seen people try to work up their faith, accuse others of not having enough faith, pump up faith in order to get something they want, and otherwise abuse the whole reality of a life of faith.

But God is the principle factor in faith. Hebrews 11:6 settles that for us.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him (God): for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

God is God

The basis for faith is the reality of the God who is God. Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, creator of the universe, Lord of all, God of all gods, is the only one who can make the miracle difference in our lives. His love, power, grace, wisdom, purpose and awesome reality surpass everything else.

Faith is only faith when it is anchored in the person of Almighty God.

So, let’s see that in Hebrews 11:6. Faith pleases God. The reason faith always pleases God is that faith is anchored in the reality of God’s existence. Those who come to God “must believe that He IS“. We must believe Him to be who He is. God’s “existence” is the foundation of faith.

That’s why faith in faith is folly. True faith is not anchored in faith as some kind of supernatural force. Nor is it anchored in the heart and mind or the believer. Faith is not a secret weapon in the hands of people, but an extension of God’s personal reality.

Faith Factor #1 is God. God is God! God is who the Bible says He is. God is everything He says He is, despite all evidence to the contrary. Faith is the act of confidently believing that.

God is Good

The second truth anchored in God is His character. God is a good God! God is a God who blesses. God is a God of grace.

It is not sufficient to believe that God is powerful, great, awesome, incomparable, all knowing, all glorious and so on. We must also believe in His character as a Good God.

This confidence in God’s goodness is summarised in Hebrews 11:6 in the reference to God as a “rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”. God is a ‘rewarder’. God is not vicious, malicious, capricious, deleterious or any other negative “-ious”.

Again we see that Faith Factor #1 is God. God’s person, existence, reality as the one who He reveals Himself to be in the Bible is the first element. The second is that God’s character is loving, gracious and keen to bless. Faith is built on these two revelations of who God is.

Again we see that faith is not centred in man, nor is it an independent spiritual force or tool. Faith is an outworking of our revelation of who God is. To know God is to love Him, and to know God is to be encouraged in faith to rely on Him, for salvation, deliverance, help in time of need and every good gift that He has prepared for us.

Faith in God

Faith at work is faith in God. Any other expression of ‘faith’ is beggarly in comparison to the miracles that spring from our confidence in God.

If you want to build your faith then extend your contact with God. Dive into God’s Word. Be filled with God’s Spirit. Walk under the Lordship of Christ. Seek God. Meet with Him. Get to know Him for who He is. Share with His children. Meditate on His Word, the Bible. Listen to preaching from those who know and love Him.

Since faith is anchored in who God is then the best thing you can do for your faith is to meet with God. Remember that to know God is to love Him and to know God is to readily trust in Him.

In ‘Faith Factor 2′ I will show you that man does have a part to play. Then we can move on to activating faith for good outcomes.

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