Sunday 11 July 2021

Groundhog Day

 Scripture:  Micah 5 v 2:  "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."


Ecclesiastes 1 v 10 - 11: "Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
11  There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after."

When the Lord showed me in scripture these, and many other verses, that revealed that we had lived and been known by Him before the world was formed, I was extremely curious to know more about it.  I have often written about it in my blogs.

It is so vast a subject and I know I have only lifted a corner of the veil, but just this glimpse has blessed me spiritually for nearly forty years.  The Lord gave me "Groundhog Day" for today's blog and yes its six weeks till Spring in South Africa but I am not expecting to see Punxsutawney Phil come out of his home to announce it.

Groundhog Day, the movie, had one man relive this day over and over until he had completely changed his nature to be acceptable to someone he fell in love with.  And yes we are often going through things spiritually time and time again to be perfected in our lives, to be more like Jesus.

I never thought of Groundhog Day as what we all experience from the moment we are born in this world.  The big questions I had to solve at the beginning of this journey are why are we here on this Earth when we know our real home is in Heaven?  Why are we born in sin?  Why do we need to be disciplined to be good?

As far as I knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that was the beginning of His Earthly human life.  However, Micah prophesied His birth but added that His going forth from Heaven had been in the time everlasting, or eternity i.e. before Earth was made a suitable human habitat.

So many references like Jeremiah 1 v 4 - 5: "Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

Ephesians 1 v 3 - 4: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 
4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:"

He chose Jeremiah before he was conceived in his mother's womb; He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.  It was becoming obvious that some momentous things happened to us before we got born in sin on this planet. 

So why Groundhog Day?  It's because in the here and now we are reliving those experiences, terrible, ghastly, life-altering events that have warped us in ways that need correcting before we leave for Heaven. Salvation is easy when we get the message and need it.  Working it out once saved is the tricky part.

According to Ecclesiastes we have no memories of Heaven or what happened to us from there to here on Earth, but if we were born in sin, something went horribly wrong.  God made us perfect but we did not reach Earth perfect, we were hostages, captives, prisoners in the realm of sin and perdition, under control of Satan.

We were tormented, terrorised, brainwashed, beaten into submission and then sent back to our Father, whose Son, Jesus was the Ransom. 1 Timothy 2 v 5 - 6.

A ransom is a price paid for hostages to be freed.  Plus the wages of sin, things committed in Satan's Kingdom while hostages, killed us.  So God breathed His own life into Adam and Eve which breath continues to this day, bringing us life.  This life was compromised when Adam and Eve chose Satan the serpent in Eden, over the Lord God Almighty who walked with them in the Garden to inspire some memory of Heaven and Godly living.

The cycle of life continues with so many people never coming to the truth.  The horror God sees in His creation gone rogue demands correction.  This can only begin once a person is born again, then baptised by immersion in water, then  baptised in the Holy Spirit to equip each one with everything needed to walk the strait and narrow, to fight the good fight for ourselves first and then for others.

We do not need to know this background to be saved, but if it helps to have a reason for why we are here and living through our own Groundhog Day nightmares, then this is important information.  

It helps to know that people have been changed into beasts to perform Satan's revenge against the God who cast him out of Heaven.  That they actually chose to be that way because of lies, coercion, fantasy rewards and enjoying feeling of power, is not a real excuse but merely explains it.

God forgives anyone who acknowledges their sins, repents - changes their mind about liking it - and asks for His mercy and forgiveness.  He expects us to forgive those who have wounded us.  He washes us in the Blood to cleanse all sin. We are born again.

If we neglect to do this then we are in Groundhog Day mode until we do.  No way off that treadmill, very little peace, no great expectation of eternity.  Our Father has done His utmost to rescue us spirit, soul and body out of bondage and sinful living.  Let us not go only half way to meet His strict conditions.  Let us give our all to Him for His mighty love and plan for our salvation.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I have been amazed at You nearly all my adult life.  I share what You have revealed to me in the true hope that some who are struggling to come to terms with their particular Groundhog Day will understand it better now. Lord I pray that You will give them insight and help them overcome every barrier Satan twisted into them to block them from You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.