A sweet smelling fragrance

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth (Ps.145:18)

God never changes. He is still the same God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob. God still has the same standard of holiness, and He is still inviting us to know Him intimately. He requires blood (of the slain Lamb -Yeshua) and incense for us to enter into His presence. Just as the High Priest had to offer incense from the golden altar to enter into the Holy of Holies, so we all serve as the priest of our own temple and we enter into God’s presence by bring the sweet smelling fragrance of the incense of our worship. And just as the High Priest anointed the mercy seat with the blood of the animal sacrificed for the atonement of the sins of the people, so we must enter into the Holy of Holies anointed with the cleansing blood of Yeshua as we repent of our own sins. Unless we mature into a posture of worship and humbleness before Him, we will forever complain than we can’t hear His voice, or that we feel far from Him.

The enemy’s tactic is to tire us out and to make us weary, but nothing can separate us from the love of God! Hebrews 13:5 says: “God has said, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Even though nothing can separate us from His love, our sin does put a distance between us and God:

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear(Isaiah 59:1-2).

In one of my favorite songs the artist sings: “Whisper His name, and He will answer you… Call out His name, and He will come to you…Shout out His name, and He will run to you…!” The Lord is so gracious towards us, that He forgives when we repent. He says in His Word that when we draw closer to Him, that He will draw close to us. He will never ignore you if you come to Him in the Holy of Holies through repentance and worship. That is the trading floor where we exchange our tears for joy. No one has a reason to stay outside. Yeshua paid the price for our atonement, and He wants to be one with you… no matter who you are, or what you have done in the past! It doesn’t matter what you are going through at the moment, or how far away you feel from Him…just call out to Him en come into His presence through the blood of the Lamb and repentance.

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there(2 Chronicles 7:13-16).

When I kneel down and meet with my Abba through tears and worship, I experience a love that I will never be able to explain in words.It is in this place of intimacy where Abba pours out His first hand revelations deep in our spirit – and it is what I call a kiss from YHVH. Let us enter boldly into the Holy of Holies. Come just as you are. Even if you don’t experience something in the physical, it is kiss from God that happens Spirit to spirit.

This is a busy month lying ahead of me. I am on an airplane on my way to Cape Town at the moment. I have to record a few short teaching clips for Radio Tygerberg this morning, and then I will be ministering at a camp in Somerset West for the weekend. Even this newsletter has to be done in between coffee and breakfast on the airplane. I am so privileged to be flying with a brand new 737 Kulula jet this morning. We even received glass eating utensils, and everything on the plane looks out of the box! I just receive it as one of Abba’s little blessings.

Tinus and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Aldo suffered an epileptic attack and Tinus and I stayed up with him until after 1 o’clock.Yes, this road to healing with Aldo is a step by step process. I no longer feel hopeless like I did during those first few years, because I know now from experience that Yeshua will lead me through His Spirit and that I will learn something new from every setback. I noticed that the attacks increased after we started working with his trauma again, and I know now that the epilepsy acts as a defence mechanism so that we won’t go near his “deep, deep pain”. Regardless of the difficulties, I give thanks to our wonderful King who leads us every step of the way; and even in the midst of our struggle last night, amazing revelations opened up to me that I never knew before. I am so thankful to be learning all these things, even if it sometimes feels like a very slow process.

My heart is quiet. It is never easy to see your child in pain. I don’t feel like talking today, and it feels as if I don’t have words in my mouth for the people who want to chat to me on the airplane.

“Be still and know that I am God…”

Thank you Abba that my spirit is one with Your spirit.

Love,

Retah and family

Wisdom says that He wants to give His children Kingdom-life here on earth – that means that the Kingdom of God must come down to earth. Wisdom asks: “Will you live Kingdom-life on earth?” That is what we are living. Thank you so much Lord that you give us the opportunity to live Kingdom-life here and now. There are not a lot of people who understand the blessing of Kingdom-life. My parents, will you please teach people about it? Because they think Kingdom-life is only possible once we get to heaven. Wisdom showed me heaven. I saw that the sea looks like glass made up of many colors, and it is where my mom exchanges her tears for joy. Mom, you can also see heaven. I see you every night when you come before the throne of God and He pours out His love over you. I heard Him say that He will finish what He started in Samuel. We are so happy because we are living Kingdom-life here on earth. It is such a pity that people don’t understand it.