Don't cower in the corner...

for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Joel 2:13b

If you feel like you've missed God i.e. you have missed the mark either due to neglect or disobedience or whatever reason... don't hide away from God, He is full of grace and mercy, indeed of great kindness & compassion and regretful of any evil against you. I remember the first time I truly understood  Hebrews 12:24 which tells us that the blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Abel... I always thought... yes ofcourse this is the blood of my Lord, yes yes it is stronger but I didn't quite fully grasp it's meaning until a man of God explained it and I caught it... the blood of Jesus speaks mercy whilst Abel's blood cried out for vegenance - for justice but the blood of Jesus speaks more than justice, His blood speaks mercy on our behalf - herein we see mercy triumph over judgement.

We see God's mercy saying, they should be judged but I accept their repentance and the blood of Jesus which covers their shortcomings, therefore justice has been assayed by mercy. Someone I used to know once said God takes no pleasure in our shame or bringing us down... therefore today friend if there is something that is holding you back from fully enjoying fellowship with God, you feel you have failed and don't deserve a second chance, maybe it's in a particular area, maybe it's life in general, I am here to tell you today, that Jesus says I am giving you a second chance ...maybe it's your fifth chance, God's mercy is available for you today. And not only will He fully restore you, He will surpass your expectations. I always tell people about my Daddy the over compensator... yes He's my Daddy... my Papa... the Elohim of me. Don't just take my word for it, take His word for it 'I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust (big problem or small problem), the other locusts and the locust swarm (other locust - the uncommon locust... the uncommon problem or situation... the unique issue - maybe you can't even tell anyone about it and the swarming locust - they have come at you in hordes, you feel like an army is arrayed against you), My great army that I sent against you (because of sin and disobedience, you became an enemy of God and His army came against you). Joel 2:25

Now God is saying if you will return to me, with your heart not just saying it and not meaning it, if you will leave what you are doing, priotize getting right with me over all other seemingly pressing committments 'Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber' Joel 2:16b

'Let the priests who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar, Let them say spare your people O Lord...' Joel 2:17a

'Rend your heart and not your garments' - Joel 2:13a. God is after your heart... there are no pretences with God, if you are coming back, He expects you to come back all the way and that begins with the state of your heart before God... your resolve to do all it takes to be right with God, your willingness to obedience.

And this is what He said He will do after repentance and you have to wait for it, you have to tarry before God to receive it and you have to be willing to ask for it.

In vs 28 of Joel 2, God says 'afterward I will pour out My Spirit on all people...' The spirit of God Who can keep you from going back to having to cower in the corner and making the same mistakes again... ask God to be filled with His spirit, for that is the grace we all need to live a holy life.

And this is the conclusion of the matter vs 32 'For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance...' Mount Zion is the mount of holiness and in Jesus there is deliverance.

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death. The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12: 18-24

Jesus loves you!

I am there....

Hand over your heart
Why are you weeping
Why do you cry
Did you know, that when they hurt you, they hurt Me?

I am there, in the midst of your deepest pain
Your hardest sorrow, I am there
Your pain, My pain
Your tears, My tears
Your heart, My heart
I am there
Yes, I am there

I never left
I am with you always
Hand over your heart
I am there
Yes, I am there

Psalm 73 vs 17 "Only when I came into God's holy place did I [finally] understand what would happen to them" Take heart when the world laughs at you because you love Jesus...they are not just laughing at you, they are laughing at Him Who is with you. Unlike the world, the Lord will never leave you at your darkest hour, all you need to do is reach for Him ...He is there.

Jehovah Shammah - The Lord is there.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in prayer

I'd been standing in my front yard for over 15 minutes now, trying to unlock the door, I could feel my palms beginning to sweat, if I was fairer skinned I'd be a nice shade of red by now, I was smarting with embarrassment. I wondered what the neighbours were thinking, grateful that I hadn't heard the sound of sirens yet ..the nosy old lady from across the road must be out or maybe it was just my lucky day ..some lucky day though.

Reading Luke 11 vs 1-13, I had always wondered why the Lord said in vs 13 "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Why is the Holy Spirit mentioned ?

Verse 1 shows a disciple asking the Lord to teach them how to pray. We see the Lord giving us the template for prayer in the Lord's prayer (1), we see Him teaching on the effectiveness of faith reflected by boldness in the parable that followed (2) and then we see Him concluding in verse 13 with the Holy Spirit (3).

Rather than standing in the front yard like the scenario described above trying one key after the other. The Holy Spirit allows us to access God's mind to find out what He thinks about a situation, this is what the Bible refers to by saying we have the mind of Christ, if we have His Spirit then we have His mind. It is by the ministry of the Holy Spirit that we have the mind of God revealed to us. Rather than walking about in a haze without any real confidence that we are praying according to God's will, we can cultivate the habit of leaning on the Holy Spirit for direction in prayer (how to pray) and steps to take after prayer, on whatever our issues are (what to do).

After reading the above referenced scripture in Luke 11, the Lord opened my understanding to begin to cultivate the habit of leaning on the Holy Spirit for direction on how to pray aright. The disciple had asked to be taught how to pray, the last step in the 3 step answer the Lord gave was: ask for the Holy Spirit. In asking for the Holy Spirit to help us in prayer, we are essentially asking to know the mind of God. We are welding God's mind and power in prayer to bring about His will. We are accessing Heaven for details ..for depth. We are accessing for solution, We are accessing for peace, We are accessing for the best. We are optimising our prayer.

There have been instances where based on my human reasoning, I would have probably taken a very different route from the optimal route revealed by the Holy Spirit. I have learnt to simply say 'Holy Spirit I don't know what to do about this situation, pls help me to pray aright ..in essence teach me to pray'. I am seeing wonderful changes in my prayer life, hearing His voice within my spirit saying 'ask for it to be like this' or 'go and do this or that' so rather than trying key after key without any direction, I am learning to locate the right key. Being able to walk in the confidence that I have the right key ..the right path (God's will) in the face of opposition maintaining my peace & confidence, fearing the judgement or criticism of no man or foe.

1 Corinthians 2 vs 9-15 'But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.'

Rev 4 vs 1-2a: After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit

God is saying come up here, let me show you the details for your life, come up here let Me share with you the good things I have to give you ..a future and a hope ..an expected end, come up and let me share My heart with you. Will you come up? Will you access His vision for your life by the Holy Spirit? Are you tired of standing in the front yard trying key after key? Tired of dictating the outcome of a life for which you really only have a limited view or blue print? The Holy Spirit has been sent to earth to help you optimise your life, let Him help you.

Selah ...pause & think about it.

I shall become a tree...

Luke 13: 18-21
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches. Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to?  It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

The Lord showed me that the garden and the dough signifies the child of God. I know this because in John 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." & Luke 17:21b says "the kingdom of God is within you" NKJ, the literal Greek to English translation of the scripture is "the kingdom of the God inside of you is" http://www.scripture4all.org/

The text above from Luke 13 has a two fold meaning for me, the Holy Spirit showed me that I could take a stand based on that particular scripture and believe God in the face of doubt or opposition. Whenever doubt rises on the inside of us causing us to want to shrink back, telling us that we will never get there, that our beginnings are small, that we don't amount to much spiritually, this is what the Lord says in return: You will get there though your beginnings are small and you started off as a little mustard seed of faith in Him, you will become a tree where others can and will perch drawing on His strength within you. This is the confidence we have as we serve and continue to seek Him. I felt God's encouragement & comfort when I read this text in a very real sense, enabling me overcome doubts & opposition.

Here comes the second part on how we become trees: the woman in the parable takes some yeast and she mixes it till it is worked all through the dough. The yeast is the kingship of God that is His authority over us. As we make way for His will in our lives, His authority & sovereign rule leading, guiding, working in and through us, permeating the whole of our lives, allowing Him to spread through every area of our lives, holding nothing back, then like dough which rises because of the yeast applied & kneaded all through the flour, we too will rise becoming the trees we are called to be. The key to this is we stop compartmentalizing our lives from God, wherein we let God in only so far, but beyond a certain point He is not allowed in to rule & have authority.

I learnt something once, I discovered the sovereignty of God. That if He rules in our lives, we don't tell God what to do, He tells us what to do, we depend on Him. We find out what His will is on a matter then we seek it, not the other way round. When we don't know what His will is, we ask Him to guide us and trust Him to lead us to it. We also have the word of God which shows us what His general will for all of us is.

Simon Peter was afraid once when He looked at His own humanity I can't do this ...but Jesus said don't be afraid see Luke 5: 8-11. This same Simon Peter leaving everything & following Jesus, walking in the power of God's strength went on to turn the world upside down!

When the Mountains Flowed Down....

The Scottish Revival (Western Isles) -  Duncan Campbell

Duncan Campbell: Duncan Campbell (1898-1972) was raised in the Highlands of Scotland. He came to know God as a teenager and served congregations of the United Free Church (Presbyterian) and as an itinerant evangelist. In addition to his involvement in the Lewis Awakening, he was much in demand as a speaker throughout the British Isles.

All Scriptures KJV: This article is adapted from a taped message delivered by Mr. Duncan Campbell approximately thirty years ago to the students of the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh, Scotland. It chronicles some of Mr. Campbell's experiences and insights related to the revival from 1949-1953 in Hebrides Islands off the northwestern coast of Scotland.


Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. Isaiah 64:1-3

I never read that third verse without my mind going back to what actually happened in the parish of Barvas on the island of Lewis. At the outset, let me make it clear that I did not bring revival to the Hebrides. I had the privilege of being there and in some small way leading the movement for about three years but God moved in the parish of Barvas before I set foot on the island. Revival is still a sign which is spoken against, and you cannot believe every story you have heard about the Lewis Awakening. Down through the years things have been said which have no foundation in fact, however, facts are powerful things.


Revival Defined

First, let me tell you what I mean by revival. An evangelistic campaign or special meeting is not revival. In a successful evangelistic campaign or crusade, there will be hundreds or even thousands of people making decisions for Jesus Christ, but the community remains untouched, and the churches continue much the same as before the outreach. In revival, God moves in the district. Suddenly, the community becomes God conscious. The Spirit of God grips men and women in such a way that even work is given up as people give themselves to waiting upon God. In the midst of the Lewis Awakening, the parish minister at Barvas wrote, "The Spirit of the Lord was resting wonderfully on the different townships of the region. His Presence was in the homes of the people, on meadow and moorland, and even on the public roads." This presence of God is the supreme characteristic of a God-sent revival. Of the hundreds who found Jesus Christ during this time fully seventy-five per cent were saved before they came near a meeting or heard a sermon by myself or any other ministers in the parish. The power of God, the Spirit of God, was moving in operation, and the fear of God gripped the souls of men - this is God-sent revival as distinct from special efforts in the field of evangelism.

A Foundation of Intercession and Vision

How did this gracious movement begin? In 1949, the local presbytery issued a proclamation to be read on a certain Sunday in all the Free Churches on the island of Lewis. This proclamation called the people to consider the "low state of vital religion . . . throughout the land . . .... and the present dispensation of Divine displeasure . . . due to growing carelessness toward public worship . . . and the growing influence of the spirit of pleasure which has taken growing hold of the younger generation." They called on the churches to "take these matters to heart and to make serious inquiry what must be the end if there be no repentance. We call upon every individual as before God to examine his or her life in light of that responsibility which attends to us all and that happily in divine mercy we may be visited with a spirit of repentance and turn again to the Lord whom we have so grieved." I am not prepared to say what effect the reading of this declaration had upon the ministers or people of the island in general, but I do know that in the parish of Barvas a number of men and women took it to heart, especially two old women. I am ashamed to think of it - two sisters, one eighty-two and one eight-four, the latter blind. These two women developed a great heart concern for God to do something in the parish and gave themselves to waiting upon God in their little cottage.

One night God gave one of the sisters a vision. Now, we have got to understand that in revival remarkable things happen. It is supernatural; you are not moving on human levels; you are moving in divine places. In the vision, she saw the churches crowded with young people and she told her sister, "I believe revival is coming to the parish." At that time, there was not a single young person attending public worship, a fact which cannot be disputed. Sending for the minister, she told him her story, and he took her message as a word from God to his heart. Turning to her he said, "What do you think we should do?" What?" she said, "Give yourself to prayer; give yourself to waiting upon God. Get your elders and deacons together and spend at least two nights a week waiting upon God in prayer. If you will do that at your end of the parish, my sister and I will do it at our end of the parish from ten o'clock at night until two or three o'clock in the morning." So, the minister called his leaders together and for several months they waited upon God in a barn among the straw. During this time they plead one promise, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring" (Isaiah 44:3). This went on for at least three months. Nothing happened. But one night a young deacon rose and began reading from Psalm 24, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation" (Psalm 24:3-5). Closing his Bible, he addressed the minister and other office bearers in words that sound crude in English, but not so crude in our Gaelic language, "It seems to me so much humbug. To be waiting as we are waiting, to be praying as we are praying, when we ourselves are not rightly related to God." Then, he lifted his hands toward heaven and prayed, "O God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?" Then, he went to his knees and fell into a trance. Now, don't ask me to explain the physical manifestations of this movement because I can't, but this I do know, that something happened in the barn at that moment in that young deacon. There was a power loosed that shook the heavens and an awareness of God gripped those gathered together.


Breakthrough in Barvas

Now, I wasn't in the island at the time. I was in another area when word came asking me to come to Lewis for ten days. I had other meetings scheduled and wrote back that I would put Barvas on my calendar for the following year. However, due to circumstances I won't go into, my other meetings were cancelled, and I found it possible to go to the islands as requested. Arriving by boat, I was met by the minister of the church and one of his office bearers. As I stepped ashore, the office bearer came to me and said, "Mr. Campbell, may I ask you a question? Are you walking with God?" I was happy to be able to respond, "I can say this at any rate, I fear God."

They had arranged for me to address the church at a short meeting beginning at nine o'clock that night. It was a remarkable meeting. God sovereignly moved, and there was an awareness of God which was wonderful. The meeting lasted until four o'clock in the morning, and I had not witnessed anything to compare with it at any other time during my ministry. Around midnight, a group of young people left a dance and crowded into the church. There were people who couldn't go to sleep because they were so gripped by God. Although there was an awareness of God and a spirit of conviction at this initial meeting, the real breakthrough came a few days later on Sunday night in the parish church. The church was full, and the Spirit of God was moving in such a way that I couldn't preach. I just stood still and gazed upon the wondrous moving of God. Men and women were crying out to God for mercy all over the church. There was no appeal made whatsoever. After meeting for over three hours, I pronounced the benediction and told the people to go out, but mentioned that any who wanted to continue the meeting could come back later. A young deacon came to me and said, "Mr. Campbell, God is hovering over us." About that time the clerk of the session asked me to come to the back door. There was a crowd of at least 600 people gathered in the yard outside the church... Someone gave out Psalm 102 and the crowd streamed back in to the church which could no longer hold the number of people. A young school teacher came down front crying out, "O God, is there nothing left for me?" She is a missionary in Nigeria today. There was a bus load of people coming to the meeting from sixty miles away. The power of God came into the bus so that some could not even enter the church when the bus arrived. People were swooning all over the church, and I cannot remember one single person who was moved on by God that night who was not gloriously born again. When I went out of the church at four o'clock in the morning there were a great number of people praying alongside the road. In addition to the school teacher, several of those born again that night are in foreign mission work today.


In Church, Meadow, and Moorland


From Barvas, the move of God spread to the neighbouring districts. I received a message that a nearby church was crowded at one o'clock in the morning and wanted me to come. When I arrived, the church was full and there were crowds outside. Coming out of the church two hours later, I found a group of 300 people, unable to get into the church, praying in a nearby field. One old woman complained about the noise of the meetings because she could not get to sleep. A deacon grabbed her and shook her, saying, "Woman, you have been asleep long enough!"

There was one area of the islands which wanted me to come but I didn't feel any leading to accept the invitation. The blind sister encouraged me to go and told me, "If you were living as near to God as you ought to be, He would reveal His secrets to you." I agreed to spend a morning in prayer with her in the cottage. As we prayed, the sister said, "Lord, you remember what you told me today that you were going to save seven men in this church. I just gave your message to Mr. Campbell and please give him wisdom because he badly needs it." She told me if I would go to the village, God would provide a congregation. I agreed to go, and when I arrived at seven o'clock, there were approximately 400 people at the church. The people could not tell what it was that had brought them; it had been directed by the Spirit of God. I spoke for a few minutes on the text "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent' (Acts 17:30). One of the ministers stopped me and said, "Come see this." At one end of the meeting house, the most notorious characters in the community were on their faces crying out to God.

On a trip to a neighbouring island I found the people were very cold and stiff. Calling for some men to come over and pray, I particular requested that a young man named Donald accompany them. Donald, who was seventeen years old, had been recently saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit about two weeks later on a hillside. As we were in the church that night, Donald was sitting toward the front with tears falling off his face onto the floor. I knew Donald was in touch with God in a way that I was not. So I stopped preaching and asked him to pray. Donald rose to his feet and prayed, "I seem to be gazing into an open door and see the Lamb in the midst of the throne and the keys of death and hell on his waist." Then he stopped and began to sob. After he composed himself, he lifted his eyes toward heaven, raised his hands, and said, "God, there is power there. Let it loose!" And at that moment the power of God fell upon the congregation. On one side of the room, the people threw up their hands, put their heads back and kept them in that position for two hours. It is hard to do this for ten minutes, much less two hours. On the other side, the people were slumped over, crying out for mercy. In a village five miles away, the power of God swept through the town and there was hardly a house in that village that didn't have someone saved in it that night.


In one area of the district there was bitter opposition to the movement because I preached the baptism of the Holy Ghost as a separate and distinct occurrence following conversion. Those who opposed me were so successful in their opposition that very few people came to the meetings. One night, the session clerk came to me and said, "There is only one thing we can do to the correct the situation which now prevails. We must give ourselves to waiting upon God in prayer. I have been told there is a farmer who said we could meet in his home. He is not a Christian and his wife isn't saved, but they are God-fearing people." About thirty of us, ministers and elders from the district, met in this farmer's house. I felt the going very, very hard. I prayed. All the ministers prayed. One felt that the very powers of hell were unleashed. About midnight I turned to one of the elders and told him I thought the time had come for him to lay hold of God. This man rose to his feet and prayed for about half and hour. (Of course, you must remember that we were in revival, and in revival time doesn't exist. Nobody was looking at the clock.) The man paused, lifted his hand toward heaven and said, "God, did You know that your honour is a stake? You gave the promise that You would pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, and You are not doing it." I wonder how many of us could approach God with words like that on our lips? Then he said, "There are five ministers in this meeting, including Mr. Campbell, and I don't know where any one of them stands in Your Presence. But if I know anything about my own heart, I think I can say that I am thirsty for a manifestation of Your power." He paused again, then cried out in aloud voice, "God, Your honour is at stake and I now challenge You to pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground." And in that moment the stone-built house literally shook like a leaf. I immediately went to the Acts of the Apostles where it is recorded that they prayed and the place where they were assembled was shaken. As soon as this dear man stopped praying, I pronounced the benediction a little after two o'clock in the morning and went out to find the whole village ablaze with God. I went into one house and found nine women on their knees in the kitchen crying out to God. One woman saved that night has written some of the finest Gaelic hymns in our Gaelic hymnal. On the following Sunday, the road was black with the people walking two miles to the church. The drinking house in that particular village closed that night and has never reopened since. This is God at work. A God sent revival is always a revival of holiness.

Conclusion

It takes the supernatural to break the bonds of the natural. You can make a community mission-conscious. You can make a community crusade-conscious. But only God can make a community God-conscious. Just think about what would happen if God came to any community in power. I believe that day is coming. May God prepare us all for it. Amen


Source: International Revival Network: www.openheaven.com
May be freely copied provided source and/or copyrights are included with the text.

Pickin

Me dey hungry
Me dey skinny
Me look, me look, me look, me no find food chop

Me dey hungry
Me dey skinny
E b like say I dey die..

D wicked d fly master
Everytime e dey come to dey pollute d food
Me belle e dey pain me every time I eat am

I stop

Me take me d eye look up
Me say me Daddy I dey hungry o ..no let me die
He send me d manna
He send me d sparrow bring me d seed
He send me d good aunty and d good uncle
Dem help me plant d garden

Ah I don chop again
E be like say dem pour fresh water for me body
Me body dey cool eh like so
I no die again

D friend of me e come visit me
E tell me say I dey look rosy O
Me dey blush for inside me brown skin ae
Me dey smile say na me Daddy O
Me Daddy no leave me

Even E send me d sparrow and make d manna to fall
But E tell me say me must to water d seed wey d sparrow give me
Me must to no keep d manna make e stale
But me go wait Him give me d fresh manna every day
Me must to bring meself come d place wey Him go put d fresh manna every day

Me must to plant d garden & dress am
Me must to remove all dem weed dem even d one wey I like d colour
Some dem weed dem fine ae! Like flower decorate d garden
But Daddy say weed na weed
Daddy say add d fertilizer every day, gather d seed wey scatter for d road
And drive all d birds dem commot wey wan steal d seed

So d garden go grow, make e dey gimme plenty plenty d fruit
Dis wey me Daddy tell me

Even though me Daddy don go for d distant land....far far away
Me still dey hear Him voice

Him voice na like d cool evening breeze after d hot Saro sun don finish hammer me
Me Daddy - Him Spirit no leave me

Are you HUNGRY??

This is for the hungry, the poor & the sober. If you are full, rich & laughing, then it's really not for you. See Luke 6 vs 20-26

When I listened to Leonard Ravenhill like I was telling my friend Mo I wept...fell on my knees before the Lord and wept, I didn't go to bed till about 2.00 a.m. that morning. It is as simple as that: I wept. Want to know one of the things that leave me speechless? This is it ...when a man speaks and I hear the very heart of God. I also said to Mo: he is very extreme - he seems to hate TV & what nots. Mo remembered a pamphlet he had written which she had back in our school days (sometime in the 80s probably), it had a picture of a man with his feet on a couch watching TV and written across the pamphlet was the phrase we wrestle NOT! ...get it? It means we do nothing ..the giant sleeps ..coasting through and it is still happening today.

We have designed our own agendas and set our own priorities, who are we lifting up? Is it Jesus? Or is it the by products of serving Jesus? "Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed." John 6:26-27

Jesus said "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me" John 12:32

Leonard Ravenhill speaks truth ...what he is against: is us being distracted from Christ as our No. 1 priority, from spending time with God in the prayer closet knowing God and anything that will seperate us from the presence of God in-dwelling & moving within us. Jesus spoke a lot about priorities - see Luke 9 vs 57-62 and it's still the same Jesus, He has n't changed.

The Lord had asked us for one thing and one thing only on our prayer line, He had asked for our hearts and the same night He led me to the video below. Jesus is after your heart as well as mine. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength Mark 12:30

Leonard Ravenhill was a man who pointed us to Christ, to learn to pray and cultivate the presence of God so that our lifes can be changed. We can not change the world when HE hasn't changed us yet and we don't carry HIS presence. We can only change when we spend time before God like Moses. When Moses came out from being in the presence of God, the reflection of the Lord on him was so strong. Exodus 34:30 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.

I like something Mr Ravenhill said: that you can not explain God to people because people have to experience Him. The interview is almost 2hr long so it's not the microwave type thing, this is baking ...real cooking. You know the kind of teaching like when Paul preached so long that Eutychus fell asleep ..see Acts 20 vs 7-12

All quotes except the Bible passages below are Leonard RavenHill's and they are life changing.

The question isn't were you challenged. The question is were you changed?" Isaiah 29:13 "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men"

“My main ambition in life is to be on the devil’s most wanted list.” Acts 19:15 "And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

•  Most Christians pray to be blest, few pray to be broken.
• There is a cost in discipleship-- God has no basement-bargain blessings.
• If Christ isn't worth everything you have, He isn't worth anything you have.
• You can’t develop character by reading books. You develop it from conflict.
• The law of spiritual progress goes like this: Process then crisis, followed by a process then crisis, ad infinitum.
• The Christian has every right to tell God he wants to be a saint, but the Christian has no right to tell God how to make him one.
• If a million people smiled on me while I knew God frowned on me, I would not be happy. But if God smiled on me while a million people frowned on me, I would not be unhappy.
• No man ever did, or ever will do God a favor - God does all the favors.
• God owed us nothing - He gave us everything pertaining to life and godliness in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

"You see, today we try to organize. We try to get a bunch of people together. God never did that. God takes individual men. He takes Moses to the backside of the desert. John the Baptist was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth. Jesus, the Son of God who had left the Glory, spent thirty years in training to minister! John Baptist thirty years in training. The apostle Paul at least thirty years. Moses at least forty years; and we want to go to Bible School six months and come out like a super prophet! It’s the time factor that kills most of us. Tell me how much time you spend alone with God and I will tell you how spiritual you are."

I urge you to read the sermon on the website:  http://www.ravenhill.org/weeping1.htm and listen to the interview below.

    

Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, 'Leonard, you took Me too seriously'? Leonard Ravenhill 1907-1994

The burden....

I noticed the president was bothered about something. You could see it written all over his face that he was weighing something in his mind, the outcome of which seemed to concern him terribly. Being a member of his staff and well, me just being me, I went up to him and asked what was on his mind that concerned him so. Somehow I found myself sitting on a chair across from him, he was also seated. He said he would have to demote some people and this obviously bothered him. I shrugged saying something along the lines of well, life happens to us all. I wasn't feeling particularly generous, I still hadn't forgotten the financial tsunami that was 2009 and a few other events here & there. I for one had taken more than my fair share for Team Lara, therefore couldn't get into the sympathy groove much, more so I didn't recall seeing a sympathy envoy at my side when I was going through! I was learning that life was tough, that you take the good & the bad with it!

Then Mr President proceeded to speak with me in the way that only one person could...he went along the lines of not so Lara, when a, b, c & d happened I had your back. He took me through a no of events, showing how I had been protected although others lost their positions. Nepotism I hear someone say? Perhaps or I was just a really good worker he didn't want to loose. I took my leave at the end of our little chat headed for bed but not till I did one last thing; because I knew I was leaving him there, mulling over his thoughts still, I turned around and said to him....you have to take the bad with the good, when bad things happen, just think about the good things, they make up for them. He looked up at me and smiled, the warmest, deepest & most sincere smile, there was so much love in that smile and you would have thought I had just said the most profound thing in the world and made his day. Odd, this relationship with my boss right? Well, he treats me just like his child, I guess it helps that I sleep in the same bedroom as his daughters. I got into bed, the girls were already asleep so I turned in for my beauty sleep.

I woke up ...from my dream and realised that it had been the Lord. There is only one person who looks at me like that, face full of love & compassion, strong but yet meek, no condemnation ...this wasn't the first time I had encountered Him. Yes, it was nepotism and I hadn't really said anything profound. He simply loves and delights in me because I am precious in His sight.

I got up out of  bed, went up to the living room and somehow managed to dose off again on the couch. Then I heard someone call my name. I was expecting a friend of mine to drop off her kids that morning so that she could go to an appointment, she couldn't really afford to be late and I was conscious of that fact. I thought she must be at the door calling but I just couldn't get out of sleep despite how hard I tried to rouse myself. When I saw that that wasn't working, I decided to call in the big guns, I said Holy Spirit help me wake up, I don't want my friend to be stuck outside with the kids. Immediately I woke up, I looked at the time, it said something like 3.58A.M, it wasn't my friend who had been calling me. Yet I knew that I had distinctively heard my name, I was a little concerned at this point I must confess. Reluctant to go downstairs, I started to pray and as I was praying it dawned on me that it was the Lord calling, so I decided to respond like Samuel ....Yes Lord, open my ears and my heart, speak to me, what would you like to say to me, what would you have me do...something along those lines.

Three days earlier I had decided to wait on the Lord in prayer and fasting to seek His face, and now I had found it. The thing was though where I had my attention focused was not what the Lord had come to talk to me about, he did address directly some things that had been on my mind which I had acted out in the dream but He had come to share His heart with me....His agenda.

Over the months the Lord started to open my eyes to a number of things, through wonderful people He had placed in my life and through His word; I understood that I had to re-align some of my focus and the reason I am sharing this, is to urge you to do the same.

I learnt something from a precious man of God when he shared with us a revelation about the Shunamite woman and urged us to follow after her example. Here was a woman whose husband was advanced in age and they did not have a child, when Elisha passed by, she made a decision to make his journeys more comfortable and when she was asked what he could do for her, she didn't think to ask for anything, she didn't even think to ask for a child. Some might say, she didn't believe it was possible any longer...perhaps. But it is quite clear though that it was not the foremost thing on her mind, it wasn't her focus, rather she honoured God by honouring Elisha ...one would call that busy with the Lord's business. She was not consumed with or dominated by the need in her life (2 Kings 4).

The Lord once said to the Pharisees (Matthew 23) that they had neglected the weightier matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness and had gotten carried away with self indulgence, straining out a gnat (fly) - they had swallowed a camel ..rather counterproductive, don't you think? I mean look at the sheer disparity in size. He admonished them to clean the cup from the inside and not just the outside - which was where they had their focus.

When the Lord came, the rest of Israel could not recognise Him because they looked for an earthly liberation from Rome rather than eternal life & deliverance from sin, they chose to stay in darkness because the life of compromise was easier and their eyes were focused only on an earthly agenda. They could not understand a crucified Christ. That is why the gospel is said to be as foolishness to those who are perishing because you can not attain it by earthly wisdom, the cross comes hand in glove with the glory. "but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" I Corinthians 1:23

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Two things.... Paul was pointing to in Philippians 3:10....the power of his resurrection which is the glory and the participation of his sufferings which is the cross. Which is why Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matthew 16 vs 24)

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me Philippians 3:11. He poured out his life because Christ meant more to him than his own life or agenda. His life was a love song to the Lord, this was demonstrated by how he lived and what his priorities were. This was a man who died to self, he said I die daily..daily! (I Corinthians 15:31) Everyday he places Paul on the altar before God and rises up in Christ. That is the cross and the resurrection: he dies to live, he dies to the flesh so that he can rise to life in the Spirit. Lord help me to die daily!

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. Philippians 3:17-19

I've had to take a long look at my priorities, I urge you to do the same. Are you stumbling at the cross? That part of your faith which requires you to crucify your own agenda? Is this an offence to you? Or do you rather ignore it completely, telling yourself that it's all about the glory and seek the glory only?

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 4:17). What does the kingdom of God mean to us? Is the agenda of our life driven by the Holy Spirit or fueled solely by our flesh?

The burden I saw on the Lord's heart was people ...souls within the Church languishing due to misplaced priorities and ultimately souls unsaved outside of the Church. "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1 Peter 4:18

Revelations 1 to 3 - I urge you to read it, we as a Church need to see where we hold parrallels with the 7 churches of the revelation and address the issues identified there.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Thankfulness

Recently it struck me how God must feel when I am not appreciative.

I had been mulling over an instance, feeling a little unappreciated for something I had put a lot of effort in to...for the curious amongst my friends wondering what it was? Actually, I can't remember which one of u had fallen short of my good graces at that particular point ;) ...love keeps no record of wrong. One can sometimes experience ingratitude when the recipients are clueless about the amount of  your heart & effort that has gone into into what they have received, am sure all or most of us - self included have been guilty of same. Never the less I was probably half way through my thoughts ... how I was not going to over-invest myself next time et al when I had an epiphany and I heard the thought 'if you feel like this, how then must the Lord feel?' How many of His benefits are we benefactors of but yet fail to appreciate, sometimes we don't even notice all the little things He does, let alone acknowledge; needless to say my case seemed rather trivial afterwards.

I started thinking about all the things He does just for our benefit, how He holds it all together...the rain, the sun, morning dew, trees, flowers, birds chirping..the beauty of it all. Whao! He puts all that together. How I love Saturday mornings and in particular those ones where I get a chance to get up early and head to a park or am out in the quiet streets before most people are up and out..because then I can hear nature and the beauty of it all hits me; and I am not particularly outdoorsy (well, except on saturday mornings within the city or on holiday in the country :) but even I stop and notice how beautiful nature is.

I have a CD titled Songs of Angels I by Freddy Hayler (luv it, luv it & luv it), where he sings and describes a vision he had where he beheld the throne of God and he shares about how multiple commands go out from the LORD's mouth, how He speaks in multiple voices and the angels move responding to each simultaneous command...and you can just guess who the recipients of those commands are..you and I, Rev 1:15b "and His voice as the sound of many waters"

Look around the earth...it takes love to "sit down", orchestrate, design, create & order the beauty around us that we see, creating something just for the comfort & pleasure of another...think about it..it takes heart...those times that you have gone out of your way for someone else, what motivates you wouldn't it be love..some form of care or goodwill? Everyday we see the Lord's goodwill around us, everyday.

Everyday something new that is good happens on the earth because God has put His love into it happening and ordered it; the day He folds this earth it will also be because His love has gone into something more beautiful for you if you will receive it.

There is so much we often take for granted that didn't just happen, Somebody with a heart of kindness and love put their love into giving you water, food, rain, sun...the heart behind it is LOVE and even if that was not enough He became a man so that mercy will triumph over judgement concerning you.

Genesis 1 vs 26 -30 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Acts 14 vs 7: Yet He has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."

 Matthew 5 vs 45b: for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust

2 Corinthians 9 vs 12: This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God

Luke 17 vs 17-18: Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

How can we show our thanks - by giving Him praise, saying thank you Lord..ref text above, being appreciative from our hearts..if you notice the text above only the foreigner came back to say thanks, where were the children - the Israelite lepers that also received healing? Should we as children then take the grace of our Father for granted?

We can also show our gratitude by being a blessing to others like the Corinthian Church in chapter 9 vs 12...you can read the entire chapter and 8...they were meeting the needs of the Church in Jerusalem ..they performed a service of giving out of their substance to bless the Church in Jerusalem and that act of service & gift was regarded as a form thanks to the Lord.

Abel in Genesis 4 brought the fattest portion of his substance as an offering to God and that is something I really want to attain to...give God my best. The best of me O Lord, help me to give You the very best of me.

David said he would not give God something which cost Him nothing. 1 Samuel 24 vs 24: But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Father I offer my thanks to you...imperfect I am but I am loved perfectly...amazing love, how can this be?

Money, money, money.....

Greed is defined as excessive or rapacious desire especially for wealth and possessions. Christ warned us to watch out for it. In Luke 12 vs 15 the Lord says “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

The Lord said to watch out because He knew that greed was something that could easily creep in, He said to watch out because He knew the fear of being poor could be so real to us...the worry about what we will eat, what we will wear, how we would plan for our future...that it could turn into an excessive desire for wealth and possessions, even a form of pride and a measure by which we validate & applaud ourselves.

Instead He taught us to be rich rather towards God warning that one who accumulates wealth and possessions without being rich towards God is not being wise but acting foolishly. Luke 12 vs 20-21

These are the things that God taught me about wealth and possessions in relation to my faith:

• Christianity is not a means to financial gain and that anyone preaching gain as godliness I am to withdraw myself from such. (I Timothy 6: 5 NIV) "and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain." (I Timothy 6 vs 5 KJV) "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw yourself" 
• That money is a tool, it can not be my heart beat, and that it is quite liberating when I come into this understanding. The contentment that follows my knowing this is pleasant & satisfying to my soul. 
• That peace is one of the most precious gifts He has given me and I can enjoy that no matter how much or how little money I have in the bank, this is not a myth, it is real and attainable.
• That the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and if I were to persist in the love of money it will lead me to all kinds of damage & destruction.

 1 Timothy 6 vs 6-10 "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" 

Luke 12 Pls make sure you read the entire chapter, so that the message is fully meaningful to you

• That I am to seek God first and whilst seeking His kingdom (His dominion in my life and that His glory fills the whole earth, that His gospel is preached) and His righteousness (His character is moulded in me), as a by-result of this He will prosper me but it was never for one day meant to be my focus or ambition because it can be a distraction & detractor (a detractor subtracts from you).
•  That I need to be rich towards God, that that is the true measure of the balance sheet in heaven not the amount of riches I accumulate on earth.
• That God is mindful of me, my needs and all of my life, nothing escapes His attention. No matter what is happening around me and to me, He is fully aware and cares. He tells me that I am WORTH MORE than two sparrows, that the tiny grains of my hair are all numbered (so if one of the million strands of my hair falls, heaven records it and says Lara lost strand no. 900017 today). If I loose my house heaven records it, if I loose my life heaven records it, when I lost my Dad heaven recorded it) God takes notice of everything that happens to me, therefore fear has lost it's validity. I am not random and He can never forget me, He has not forgotten the sparrows so then how can he forget me who is worth more to Him. God is so attentive to detail, that plant life receives His attention, the lilies of the field are so beautiful because God designed their beauty and clothed them with it. The same God of detail is my Father, my Papa, my Daddy who knows about my situation and is mindful of my life no matter how it looks or what I face. Jesus went further to say "Do not be afraid little flock..." Why did He use that term, a term of endearment, one that describes that He understands my human frailty...my sheep, my children, my babies...don't be afraid, I know you are babies and there is a tendency to be fearful with you, to worry, but He says, cheer up, don't be afraid little one, I know you worry about how you will pay your bills, don't worry I know your needs, I will meet them, you are in my hands, I will come through over and over again, no matter how dire the situation seems, I am working out something in the big picture and it will all come together when the time is right. Regarding death - it is only your body, there is a greater death than that. Paul knew this & He was ready to be poured out, because of Paul & others, Rome is now a place where people go on a christian pilgrimage, the same Rome where Nero terrorised and persecuted Christians. In the times of great trial, I have seen another dimension of God. I have seen His manifold wisdom and I have known His great faithfulness, one new thing He has been teaching me is experiencing His great peace through tough times, sometimes I feel like jumping up and down with joy because of this discovery.
• That God has a soft spot which I have come to discover: when you seek the right things, He likes to overcompensate; See 1 Kings 3 vs 10- 13 "The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.  Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings."
• That I should be generous to the poor Luke 11 vs 40 & Luke 12 vs 32
• That I need to be prepared & ready for service and must keep my lamp burning because my master can come back at any time. Luke 12 vs 35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning." I must have extra oil in my lamp like the 5 wise virgins, I don't want to be found wanting because I only decided to go and buy oil just about when the bridegroom was on His way & it turned out to be too late. I remember when the word Maranatha was common amongst christians, where has that word gone now? Have we gotten carried away with the here and now? Have we started to act like the servant who because his master is delayed in coming starts to misbehave? See Luke 12 vs 45 Is there a marked difference in the things that we run after and the things that the world runs after, is it obvious that our goal is beyond the here and now and that we seek a country that is not of this world?  Hebrews 11 vs 13b-16 "...admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.