Ascension: an essential pause

Ascension!

How often do we pause to reflect on this final event of Jesus’ life on earth? In our eagerness to arrive at Pentecost, following resurrection, it’s easy to overlook his ascension or just give it a passing acknowledgement as we move on to the great feast that follows.

Let’s hit the pause button!

Without ascension, there would be no Pentecost! John notes in his gospel (Jn7³⁹) the Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. So let’s pause awhile and allow the significance of this great event to speak to us.

Here are five reasons the ascension of Jesus is so important:

1. Ascension affirms to us that Jesus came from God
2. Ascension sets our sights on heaven
3. Ascension paves the way for the Age of the Spirit
4. Ascension paves the way for God’s ecclesia to rule on earth
5. Ascension paves the way for Jesus to return in glory

If you’d like to listen to a short (25 min) podcast that expands on these points, you can find it here.

Rich blessings, as you reflect on this amazing, last act of Jesus on earth.

The fruit above and the roots below

I destroyed the Amorite …
though he was tall as the cedars
and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below
Amos 2:9

What an amazing statement of the Lord’s work of healing and deliverance, in our lives!

We’re having a bumper harvest of raspberries, this year! And it’s also going to be a good year for figs! Earlier, we had blackcurrant profusion! Going by the many requests we see from others to “please come and help yourself to our fruit/veg”, this looks like a year of fruitful harvests, all round. Even our tomatoes, that usually end up splitting on the plant, are beautiful and complete, this year!

How good it is and how thankful we are, when we can enjoy such abundance of good fruit. Then we know that the roots, too, must be good.

There are times, though, when we see the evidence of bad fruit in our lives. This may be in the form of negative self-beliefs, or damaging behaviour we can’t avoid, or relationships that are a constant source of hurt, or that nothing ever seems to go right, or any number of other negative experiences we seem unable to shake free from. And we know that the root bearing this fruit, lies deep within. And the root is not good. Yet we seem powerless to do anything about it.

The great news is that God’s promise holds true! In His words through Amos, the “Amorite” represented the enemy of His people. His promise is that whatever wars against us – the bad roots, however they got there, and the damaging fruit they produce – HE has destroyed, on the cross of Jesus, by whose wounds we are healed. We don’t need to live with bad fruit, nor with the roots that continue to produce them. As we take hold of the healing and deliverance available through the cross, we WILL receive and live in freedom!

At the 2016 Encounter Weekends we are exploring this in greater depth and uncovering the tremendous riches of Isaiah 53. There are still places available if you’d like to join us or know someone who would benefit. We’d love as many as possible to have the opportunity to be renewed, refreshed and restored!