9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:9 | NASB When things on the ground bite us, we are apt to walk with our heads down. This is even more so when the bite results in our death, as in the Old Testament book of Numbers 21:9. Of course, we always assume we will know when we have been bitten. While this may be true in the case of a fully living, ground-crawling serpent, a supernatural bite from Satan may not show its impact for some time. The problem with constantly looking down is that we miss what’s going on around us and, equally important, what’s above us. I was reminded of this yesterday when walking with my wife Sylvi in a forest quite close to our home. A few weeks ago, while walking, Sylvi had twisted her ankle and subsequently damaged the tendons. Since then, when walking, she has naturally looked down to avoid a recurrence of her ankle damage. As we were walking, I noticed deer moving through the forest. I stopped suddenly and quietly pointed in the direction of the deer. Sylvi told me, “Whenever this happens, I miss so much because I have to keep my eyes towards the ground.” In the instance of the ‘bronze serpent,’ God had provided a supernatural vaccine for Israel against the fatal bite of the serpents. All they had to do was look up and cast their eyes on the ‘bronze serpent.’ The solution to their plight was in front of their very eyes. Yet many lost their lives due to fear. A fear that prevented them from seeing what God wanted them to see. He didn’t ask them to understand its significance, neither did He require them to pray and fast about it, He just wanted them to cast their eyes on the ‘brazen serpent’ that had been set on a standard. Jesus referred to this event when speaking with Nicodemus in John 3, when discussing the need for men to be ‘born again.’ As the ‘brazen serpent’ had been set on a standard and lifted up, so would Jesus also be lifted up; onto a cross. The ‘Cross of Christ’ is in itself a powerful symbol of victory over death. It’s a constant reminder of its purpose and power. Many of us walk with our eyes fixed on the ground; we miss the ever present symbol of our victory and our protection. Once again, the solution to the woes of this world stand before us. If only we would stop, look up. Even when our eyes fail to see, our spirits and our souls will openly rejoice at the sight of the cross. In times of great uncertainty, we must stop looking at what the world sees as solutions. It’s time to look up, today is your day to be healed from the bite of the serpent and everything associated with him. In the Kingdom of God there are no noughts only crosses, let’s keep our eyes fixed on the ‘Cross of Christ.’ Much love in Christ David Conlon Pursuing Holiness

1 CORINTHIANS 15 :31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 1 CORINTHIANS 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Our natural man is in constant conflict with the things of the spirit. The more I examine self-denial, the more I realise that it’s often misunderstood. We have spent most of our Christian lives and walks looking at how we can gratify our carnal man, pleasing and giving it anything it cries out for. We are brought up in a society where self is king, and services, businesses and products are created so that we can indulge in the flesh and satisfy the flesh with anything it demands of us. Whether it’s the desire to have more clothes, more food, more money, more sleep, more sexual gratification. You can name it all. Self has now made us its slave, and it sends us to honour, worship, and adore it. Nevertheless, we are called in Romans 8:3-4 to “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God.” The scripture is saying we shouldn’t yield and feed the flesh. We shouldn’t give it fuel or anything that would keep it active and in leadership in our lives. We have to clearly not only read but understand that if we feed the flesh, we will die. No question. This is the word of God. As long as our carnal man and fleshy man is alive as long as we keep feeding it and keeping it alive we will surely die. I don’t want to leave this point. I want to get it to really sink deep into our hearts and our minds. It so important that we grasp this and we reeducate ourselves around false Christian doctrine so we are able to understand the bible and the godly instructions in there. What often makes us ignore the truths in the bible is because we are so use to listening to gratifying sermons that feed the flesh. That is absent of self denial and full of self indulgent and gratification as a reward we should be desiring as we speak God. In 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul is calling us today to consistently discipline our flesh to be in harmony with the faith we proclaim. Also in 1 Corinthians 15:31 Paul shares his testimony and encourages the passionate lover of God to die daily. Will you die daily to please God or you will gratify the desires of your flesh? I pray that God will truly bring us to the end of selves so that we can encounter the fullness of His king both in this life and the one to come. In Jesus mighty name we pray, Much love in Christ, Your Sister, Ruth  Pursuing Holiness TV

What does ‘at any cost,’ really mean? John 3:16: ‘ For God so loved the world, that He gave’. He gave and gave and gave. His giving was and is unparalleled; who else can give eternally? He continues to pour out His pure and eternal love to a world in need. Such generosity is impossible for us to comprehend because the generosity set within John 3:16 is wholly unique. Many of us can speak at some level concerning being a receptacle of someone else’s generosity. I myself, on many occasions, have been such a beneficiary. Of course, our first instinct is to relate to generosity as being financial. But it has many other facets; opportunity and forgiveness being two of them. The fact that our Heavenly Father is eternal means His generosity is also eternal. It continues as long as He exists. He will never run out of time, generosity or love. The content of John 3:16 tells us that “He gave His one and only begotten son.” He never gave us a ‘thing’, but a son. The following text tells us why! So that we could be invited to live where He lived and love as He loves. Surely, no other invitation could have cost so much in the history of the world. The theology of the ‘Cross,’ is nothing less than awesome. Yet, the simplicity of the structure can never express the spiritual complexity or its profound effect on our world. It didn’t just happen; it wasn’t due to some local circumstances taking place in the City of Jerusalem. It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to overcome a stumbling block. There was timing and planning involved, on a scale us as humans will never comprehend. As the time approached for a new covenant and a new age to break forth, there was but one motive, ‘victory at all cost.’ But what does the term ‘all cost’ look like? I sense whatever my own perspective is; my heavenly Fathers are very different. Only when we allow our minds to openly explore all the elements and phases of the crucifixion can we begin to contemplate what ‘at all cost’ actually looks like. But we are unlikely to ever know what it feels like. Yet through His generosity of grace we can live in the knowledge that God was happy to pay the price. The ‘why’ is part of the mystery, while it’s appropriate to reflect, we should never allow ourselves to believe we know all there is to know. What we do know should impact us to the point of total surrender; however, there is much we still hold back, in spite of His overwhelming generosity. Why would God take the pain while watching the last drop of blood vacate the veins of His precious gift to our world? So that we can join Him in His holy dwelling! We can never adequately express what the cost was. Even when we believe we are being poured out like a drink offering, we can cry out, “God have mercy on me.” But who did the Father cry out to when the blood of His begotten son was being drained from His precious body on a humiliating cross at Calvary? The ‘at all cost’ is possibly summed up by His eternal love for all of us. A love that burns on so that we can live on! Our eternal life cost the Father eternal pain. Daily He lives with our rejection rather than our total submission. Yet the joy the Father must feel when another soul is saved from the fires of hell, somehow, makes perfect sense in His throne room and satisfies the cost. The ‘ALL’ was Jesus, the Father gave His ‘ALL’ so that we could have it ‘ALL.’ We seem to grasp the reality of the favour and the grace of God. But do we ever stop and ponder on the pain of God? There are many OT passages expressing Gods hurt due to man’s reluctance to fully commit to His ways. But to bring to mind the pain of God is the beginning of grasping the reality of the term, “at all cost.” His pain will continue as long as man continues to seek alternatives to His only begotten son. Our part must surely be to share what we have received, that being, the love of Christ. We must do this until we find ourselves in His presence, in His dwelling place. We need to do this regardless of the cost! Much love in Christ, David Conlon Pursuing Holiness

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. Galatians 5:17 (NASB) In our Adamic nature, we don’t have the natural desire towards God and towards holiness. Our default position is towards sin and the world. Our natural man cannot please God and cannot, however hard he tries, live according to the commandments that God has set in His word. The carnal man is opposed to God, and the carnal man and the Spirit are always warring for dominion in the life of the believer. The enemy of our souls is devious that at times, even though we in our natural eye believe all is well in our souls, deep within our inner world of the heart, our hearts and minds are entangled with the world, making it impossible for us to draw near to God in spirit and in truth. We can see this evident in our spiritual sluggishness and our lack of desire towards God or the things of God. Though we may fulfill all the external obligations of our religious duties, our hearts are far from Him. From birth, we have been taught to trust our senses, what we see, touch, taste and smell. So now, even as we walk on the narrow path, we all too often measure our spiritual growth and development on our works. How much am I doing or giving to the ministry? How much time do I spend in prayer and bible study? How well do I behave towards those who hate me? These should not be our focus as they are the fruit of intimacy with God. These things become natural produce that is birthed from a place of union, developed in communion with God. They are not the means or the ends. They are merely the character of Christ living in and through us, as we give the Holy Spirit access to our whole beings for Him to dwell and manifest His life through us. So how do we cultivate the desire towards God and holiness above the dictates of the flesh and the systems of this world? Our first step is repentance, yes repentance, even those of us who have believed for decades we have to keep coming back to God acknowledging our rebellious independence from God and our tendency to do Gods will in our strength and power. We have first to examine our lives in light of scriptures and see the person God is calling us to be and the life we are actually living. We have to be brutally honest, examining the way we use our time, money and words. Questioning our thought lives and our motives and with this, we have to humbly come before our father seeking His grace that He is so willing to give. To be continued….. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today acknowledging our total dependency on you. Lord without you we can do nothing. We pray for Your Grace, Mercy and strength. Forgive us for any way we have strayed or done things according to our own purpose, fleshy passions and desires. Lord, we pray for the Grace and strength to live our lives in a manner that glorifies you. Give us the power to live holy lives. Give us a new heart and a right spirit in Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen Much Love in Christ, Your sister, Ruth

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. As a fellowship, we have been studying Paul’s call to war and its implications for how we live the Christian life. In many different circles, warfare is often happening in an unknown realm, up in the sky. But when we read through the Bible, we see that this warfare is a battle that affects every dimension of our existence. Yet, in the midst of this, Paul calls us to be strong. From Chapter 5 of Ephesians, we see Paul’s exhortation of how we should conduct ourselves in family relations, husbands and wives, continuing in Chapter 6 with children obeying and honouring parents and bondservants obeying their earthly masters. It is at this point in scripture that Paul finally says, Finally, after all that he has spoken beforehand, we should be strong. From my own personal experience, most warfare can be seen and played out in our relationship with others, in how we respond and how we are able to stand in the day of conflict. How can we respond in love despite feelings of hurt and offence, and how can we stand strong in the gospel of Christ in the midst of mistreatment, judgement, and disagreement? When we look at the potential ongoing friction we encounter in our daily relationships, and we examine our responses in light of the love Christ expects for us to have for each other, which we can see in 1 Corinthians 13, we see that we need the strength of the Holy Spirit to stand in love, to suffer long and still minister in love, we need the Grace of God to stand to keep our families and communities whole. Lord, we earnestly pray for the grace to stand in love. In the midst of relational storms, may we not react out of our own human nature, but respond out of our love and communion with you. We humbly ask that when we falter and treat others in ways that lack love, you will prompt us to quickly apologize and make amends. Soften our hearts, Lord, and guide our thoughts, feelings, and actions, so that we can stand strong in Jesus’ name. Amen. Much Love in Christ, Your Sister, Ruth  Pursuing Holiness Biblical Counsellor | Spiritual Director | Leadership Coach

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3:8-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ I love this passage on so many fronts; first of all, the idea that Adam and Eve thought they could hide from God, thinking He couldn’t see them. Secondly, God humouring them by asking, ‘Where are you?’. It reminds me of playing hide and seek with my nephews; I can see my younger nephew’s feet sticking out from beneath the sofa, but with a playful, confused voice, I’m like, ‘I wonder where Noah could be’. I am going along with Noah’s desire to feel he has hidden well and can’t be found. God didn’t ask Adam because He didn’t know where He was. He already knew what took place, but God, in His infinite mercy, humoured Adam regarding His location as if looking for him. We see Adam and Eve in the garden; when they sinned, they ran and hid. But we can never run away from the presence of God as His presence is everywhere. As David says, where can I go to hide from your presence? There is no place too high or place too low that we can hide from the presence. The Holy Spirit is ever-present, even when we don’t feel Him or on those bad days when we feel alone. We must always remember the word of God that says He will never leave us or forsake us. Much love in Christ, Your sister Ruth  Still Pursuing Holiness

JOIN US TO PRAY & GROW Stronger Together is our motto and our heart . Even though we are a virtual community we are very much one in spirit and in truth. I love praying with community it gives me a sense of place with the breath and heartbeat of God at the centre. Praying in fellowship has been a blessing and a place of continual renewal and strength on those bad days and good ones. The Zoom family has also been a blessing as we develop our spirit man as we pray in the Spirit for hours. It’s been a place where our spirit man is ignited with the Grace and presence of God. Why not join us and grow in the things of the spirit and invest in your spirit man as you engage with the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do. Lord truly, who is like you?  Much love in Christ, Your Sister, Ruth  Pursuing Holiness

Family this is usually one of our favourite evenings in the week where we come together and sit at the feet of God as we meditate and reflect on Gods word and allow Him to speak to our hearts. Do you want to learn the bible in dept? Do you want to grow in deeper intimacy with God? Join us weekly Every Saturday from 6pm to 8pm (BST or UK time) on Zoom or Facebook live. Bless you, Much love in Christ, Ruth  Pursuing Holiness

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” Psalm 139: 1 – 4 ‭ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ The Holy Spirit knows everything. He knows every detail of our lives and every detail of the whole universe. The Spirit actually knows and understands your pain. How very often do we desire to have someone who understands us and what we are going through? We have that in the Holy Spirit. We have a friend who is closer than our breath, who sees every tear and puts it in a bottle. He has infinite knowledge. This should give us much security and power, especially when we know He loves us, desires us, and has our best interests at heart. So even when we are going through difficult times and situations, knowing that ‘all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord.’ Trusting God means putting our lives in His hands. Sometimes, this feels like jumping off of a high-rise building and not knowing if the power shot will release. His power shoot will release, and we can trust that no matter what it looks like, He is very much in control as long as we give Him the steering wheel. Lord I pray that you give us the Grace to trust you and to depend totally on you knowing that you are faithful, and you are a good good father who has the best intentions for us. Much Love in Christ, Your Sister, Ruth  Still Pursuing Holiness

All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls.” 1 Peter 1:24 “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” James 4:19 When I saw Chadwick Boseman’s picture, I didn’t know what had happened. His image kept on popping up in news feeds. I decided to stop and read. I was surprised not only by his death but also by my reaction. My heart melted. It was as if someone had stabbed me in the heart. I could feel the pain of losing a brother so young. He left a legacy of Black Panther, and Black Panther had died. He was so young and successful, but he lived a short life. I tried to unravel my feelings. Why did this hurt so bad? I’m not one of those celebrity fanatics; I don’t follow them or know them by name. However, Chadwick’s work on Black Panther gave black people a voice. It gave them courage and made them believe in themselves. It embraced the Afrocentric culture and liberation that many are yet to see. His death so young allows us to think and ponder our own. It makes the reality of our limited stay here on Earth a reality. Often, we get so caught up in this life that we spend little time preparing for the next. We have to realise that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to any of us and that we have to ensure our spiritual house is in order when the time to give account comes. The saints used to meditate and ponder their departure from this life as a method of urgency. That allowed them to seek God fervently concerning their souls. They didn’t take life for granted and lived every day as if it was their last. St Isaac said, “Fix your departure in your heart.” Let us remember that our lives are indeed like a vapour and live life abandoned to God. Dear Heavenly family, we pray for Chadwick’s family at this time as they grieve his loss. Comfort them and be with them. Lord, we also pray that his soul rests in peace. I pray that we will look at his passing and consider our own, Lord, give us the grace to be ready when our time comes. Lord open our eyes to see the actual condition of our souls and the grace to seek you for healing and inward transformation. Much Love in Christ, Your Sister, Ruth  Pursuing Holiness