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Month: June 2020

Trials

Trials

Why do trials sometimes take long before breakthrough comes? Can’t it just happen quickly?

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Something that we as human beings are not good at – Patience. We live in a society where everything is instant and we tend to think that it is the same in the spirit, but God requires us to be patient in our trials, walking them out and not looking for a quick fix.

So, we have a problem, we don’t want to struggle and we don’t want to feel pain. The further we can stay away from it, the better for us. We always want to dodge getting hurt and we want things in our lives to be quiet and peaceful. Plainly said, we do not want to go through trials, ever. The word of God says that trials build our character and we will grow in our faith. Think about it, if we don’t have trials, will we ever need to trust God for anything?

My mother in law is an amazing lady. One thing I have learnt from her is to embrace life with all it’s curve balls and make the best out of something terrible. I remember one time my husband was on his way home. The highway got backed up due to a huge accident so he decided to take a detour off the highway down a muddy track with the four wheel drive car. He got stuck in mud. He phoned me to come lend a hand (I had the real 4×4), but I couldn’t assist him effectively. By that time it was dark and our little children were hungry and tired. We were cold and dirty from all the mud. We phoned my in-laws and they came to help. By the time they arrived we were annoyed and not very happy. My mother in-law jumped out of her car, took the children with such a big smile and told them what an awesome adventure we are having. Immediately all of our attitudes changed and we started enjoying the “adventure”. It wasn’t long and all were sorted out.

Isn’t that how it is? The moment you roll with it and not get bitter, things just get sorted out much quicker. The more we push against the uncomfortable situations we face, the more we become miserable and actually make it worse for ourselves.

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

First of all, God says we should be happy when we face trials because it will produce unwavering faith. We all will agree that we as children of God need to grow more in faith, we do lack in trusting God in everything concerning ourselves. The part of the verse that says:”that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing“. This means that there may be nothing lacking to complete your character.

How we approach our trials will either make or break us.

One thing I believe is that our Lord is never taken by surprise by the trials and tribulations we have to face. He knew it was coming and He has all the resources available to us to get through it. I have learnt when trouble is in my camp to say to the Lord, Father, I am in this space and You know exactly what is going on and how I will get through this, what do I need to learn here? I also push against myself by choosing to change my attitude towards my situation, rather than grumbling and fighting against it I turn my attention towards the Lord and who He is.

There is such liberty that comes when we immediately surrender to the Lord’s will in our trials, when we immediately give Him permission to intervene and interfere. If we start kicking, screaming and throwing tantrums about what we have to face it usually takes much longer to get through.

My husband is truly a man of integrity and uprightness. He is such a loyal and committed person. Especially in the workplace, he loves working hard and putting effort and excellence into everything he does.

Years ago, he had been working for a company for about 9 years and all of a sudden they started giving him bad reviews. They said his work was brilliant, but they accused him of not being a team player and said that people don’t like him (I immediately heard the accuser of the bretheren, the devil, trying to break my husbands character down by saying he is not accepted and he is not good enough). So, when time came for his annual increase it was lower than the national inflation rate (the company would generally give all its employees at least an increase equal to the national inflation rate). I couldn’t understand this, he was a hard worker, he worked overtime without being paid and he was brilliant in his work.

My heart was very sore for him, but immediately I seeked God out and I waited on Him to show me what and how to pray. I had to go through all the Chapters in Psalms and I had to find all scriptures on God vindicating us, God silencing the mouth of the lier (the devil), God bringing justice, God bringing judgment on the enemy and God delivering us. I highlighted all those scriptures and every morning in my prayer time I would start proclaiming these scriptures over my husbands situation.

3 Months past and they did another review – again, the same report. I was really not happy, I had been praying everyday, diligently, pushing against the onslaught. The Lord’s response – “just keep at it”. I did, every morning, praying and proclaiming the same scriptures over and over. God showed me that I was busy hammering at a huge wall and as I keep at it, hammering at the same place the wall will start crumbling. It meant that I had to patiently endure until something happened.

I am not saying that this is easy. It requires you to find a rhythm, like running a long and far race – you can’t sprint it! Most of all you have to constantly choose to keep your attitude right.

After a year (praying the same scriptures), it was increase time again. Nothing! The same – lower than inflation. I was tired and I felt very bad for my husband. I wrestled with the Lord about this. His reply;” So, are you going to back off because the enemy is in your face, frightening you?” That was all I needed, I said ok Father what else can I add to my prayer? I started blessing and praying for the people in authority’s hearts.

It was after a year and 9 months of prayer: during a one-on-one his manager reviewed the latest reviews. His team members were now saying what an amazing person he is; how they loved working with him. The report started changing. Almost 2 years had passed and another company (out of the blue – sent by the Lord) approached my husband and offerred him a job. God told us what salary to ask for and it was much higher than what he used to get. They agreed and my husband was appointed at the new company.

God has given him much more than what he had before. I asked the Lord about what he was busy doing in my husbands life in that time. God was testing his heart, that even though when they were raising against his character, he stayed true to who he was, he did not change himself to fit into their molds and even though it was tough going to work daily, having bad vibes in the office, he still gave his very best.

Two years may seem really long to you. But I can tell you our faith is much stronger and the Lord has truly polished some of our rough edges. We have learnt to trust only in the Lord and His Word; to stand, to not give up even if there is no change; to keep our integrity; to not lash out when people are damaging our character and to patiently wait until something happens.

Beloved, your trial may just be starting, or you have been walking it for many years. You might not see what you have learnt or how things will change, but the Lord is with you in this fire. He may not neccesarily stop it immediately, but you can be assured, He will take you through.

Isaiah 43:1-2 But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Beloved, pace yourself by praying what you feel God is showing you. Don’t try to speed the process up with your own ideas. This is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. Surrender (give over to God’s will and way) to what God wants to teach you and give Him permission to interfere in your situation because He knows what must take place. You will get through. Seasons do change, you will not stay in that place forever. Most importantly, if you have been praying and proclaiming and nothing has changed, or you cannot see anything positive: when you are prayed up – don’t deviate (trying to follow your own ideas), stay the course by standing on God’s word.

STAND, HOLD YOUR GROUND!

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  

Let us pray:

Father, I am in the fire. I ask, as you were with Daniel in the fire, that You will be next to me. I acknowledge that You have all the answers and You have all the resources I need to walk through this trial. I ask that You will download to me that which I need to overcome and to walk in Heavenly wisdom. Father, I do not have the answers, but You do. Please guide my steps. Please guide me to be effective in prayer. Most of all, please show me what it is that I must learn. I surrender Father, I am letting go and I am letting You intervene. You have full permission to let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in my life, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen and amen.

I Pray that God will strengthen you with power in your innermost being through His spirit, so that you can run the race with patient endurance in Jesus name.

Here is a song for you to listen to.

Come To The Altar

Come To The Altar

This post is for those that have been waiting for such a long time for desires to be fulfilled.

Genesis 22:1-12 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

God gave a promise to Abraham that he would give him a son, but Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years for the son that they had longed for to be born. Then came a time where God asked Abraham to sacrifice this only beloved son.

I don’t know about you, but man, can you imagine actually sacrificing someone or something that is so dear to you?

Let me tell you what I have experienced concerning this in my life.

I had to fight through many issues in my life concerning self-worth and rejection. The biggest longing in my heart was to marry someone that would love me for me and would stay with me through thick and thin. Like many of us, I had my fair share of dissappointment in men and I was just tired of looking for someone.

I made a deal with the Lord where I told to Him I am done looking for someone and that I give it over to Him to choose my person because I obviously don’t know what I am doing and I don’t know what is good for me. I gave Him permission to pick my husband. I did write a little list with the things I would like in my husbands appearance, but I left his character up to God.

Two years went by and I only focussed on my relationship with God – I stopped looking for someone, I just carried on with my life. Long story short, I went to a new church one Sunday when I saw a guy walking up and down the aisle. I will never forget the evil pride that manifested in me and I had a thought pop up in my mind that I could never love a man like that. Hahaha, really!

As time passed by I got to talk and spend time with this man. We were in the youth group together and we spent time with one another at home church every Wednesday night. I started developing feelings for him. He was not like anyone I would’ve usually been attracted to, but oh man, he was exactly the right person for me. Everytime we were together, he would speak the things that were in my heart. God really started touching my hardened heart. I was 17 at that time and, he was 19.

After a year of dating God asked me to place him on the altar. The same way Abraham had to sacrifice Isaac, his only, beloved son. I was scared because it meant that I had to give over that which I had longed for for so many years and that which was very dear to me. I did wrestle with the Lord about this, but I gave my boyfriend back to God and I allowed God to interfere and remove him from my life if we were not meant to be. I chose to trust the Lord with this because I had asked Him to help me after all.

My boyfriend was not removed from my life, Praise Jesus. We got married after 3 years of dating.

After our first child was born, I found my self-worth issues surfacing badly and I struggled to keep my head up. At that time, I would hide behind my husband. I would not speak to people, he would, I would not start a conversation, he would. He was my hero, my rock, my protector etc. Then God came again with the request: “Will you lay him down on the altar?” Again? The blood drained out of me and fear took hold of my heart. Why? I need my husband, he is helping me and keeping me safe – I can’t lose him so why would God ask me this?

This time, I wrestled hard and long with the Lord, but because I loved the Lord, I placed my husband on the altar. I must add, it was done with fear and trembling.

God taught me why He asked me to place my husband on the altar. First of all, he was exactly what I needed in my life, but he became an idol to me. I had placed expectations on him to save me and help me get through my emotional pain. That was unfair towards my husband because it is not his place. I would’ve destroyed my husband by putting these high expectations on him and not allowing the Lord to heal me. I was placing my husband before the Lord. God was testing my heart, just like he did with Abraham. He was testing me to see if I can trust Him with my pain. To see if I would choose Him above my husband, so that He could be first in my life.

My husband and I have been married for 23 years now and we love each other more and more daily. We understand that we are not each others saviours and we don’t place these expectations on one another. When we have emotional pain, we talk about it, but we take it to Jesus and we only allow Him to heal it.

One other altar moment in my life was when our daughter went through a really rough time when she turned 12. For about 3 years she was in a bad spot. It was in that time that I realised that I couldn’t do anything for her, I couldn’t save her. I, in fact, made it worse by trying to save her; by controlling her and situations around her.

Then I had that moment again; the Lord tugged at my heart, and told me that it is safer for her and myself to allow Him to interfere. I had been trying to fix and help her, but in the process, I had been busy making a bigger mess.

I took a little pebble from my garden and I said to the Lord that this is my daughter and I give her back to Him. This wasn’t easy for my mommy’s heart. I had to back off, completely. Step back and allow God to touch her. All I had to do was to stop trying to fix her or trying to reprimand her and to love her unconditionally instead; even if she was behaving badly. The rest was in God’s hands.

Our amazing Abba Father has truly done what He is so good at – He touched her. Things in her just started changing and our relationship started changing as well.

She is such an amazing young lady with such a compassionate, gentle heart. Man, our Abba is good. He just needed me out of the way. He needed me to trust Him with her.

Beloved, the altar is your safe place. It is a dreadfully scary place, because it requires you to lay down all those very important things, those very desired things and those very longed for and awaited things. Give it over to the Lord and allow Him to release or remove it from you.

Let’s look at that scripture again. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Abraham had to sacrifice Isaac, he had to trust God that He knew best and that God will let it all work out. He obeyed God and He held unto God’s promise that He will make Isaac a great nation. He was willing to offer Isaac up to the Lord because he believed God could be trusted with his and Isaac’s life.

My moments at the altar were the times where my heart was tested severely, where I had to choose God’s way above my way, where I allowed Him to have His perfect will in my life because He knows exactly what I need. Not my will, but His will be done.

There were and still are many altar moments in my life; I have learnt to embrace the altar. Every situation is different and I can’t say it gets easier, but what I know for sure is that this is where I am kept safe. Never has the Lord let me down! Everything has always worked out the way it should have.

Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Micah 7:7   But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Beloved, the things that we want or desire can so easily become an idol and all we see is that very thing infront of us and we lose sight of our Lord. This is when we especially need to go to the altar and start sacrificing these things so that God can intervene in our affairs.

Will you take the risk to lay down those desires you carry, the things that you so dearly love and those things you so dearly want to change? Will you allow Abba Father to take charge and intervene in your life? If it is a husband, a wife, a baby, a rebellious child or a position. Whatever it is. I invite you to lay it down. He will bless you for choosing Him first. Faith pleases God.

I invite you to come to the altar so that Abba can release to you exactly that which He knows you need.

Let us pray: Father, I confess that I am scared of the altar. I have set my heart so much on ………………………………………… (insert applicable things that you desire). I know that my eyes have been on this for a long time and that it has become an idol to me. This is all I can think off, my mind is bombarded with thoughts on this. I repent and ask forgiveness for loosing sight of You and only having this in mind. Father, I am scared of being dissappointed. I am scared of loss and I ask forgiveness, I know that it means that I don’t trust You, I repent. Jesus, I choose You. I have been waiting, I have been trying by myself to make things work out, but it doesn’t work and I can’t change anything. Will you please intervene? I choose to place …………………………………………. on the altar, I choose to allow you to take over in the name of Jesus Christ. I trust that You know best for me and that You will let Your will be done, in Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen.

NOW WE WAIT ON THE LORD!!!

The War Within

The War Within

Let us take a look at the war between our spirit and our soul. The war within ourselves.

First of all let me give you a quick tour on how we are put together. We have a spirit (this is Not Holy Spirit), a soul and a body.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

BODY – Our body is that which we can see in a mirror.

SOUL – Is our mind, will and emotions. This is the place that needs deliverance. This is where the strongholds of the enemy are built. The war rages in our minds.

Romans 12:2 – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

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Therefore, our body and soul are areas that we are in touch with. This is called our flesh.

SPIRIT – We can’t see our spirit.

John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Our spirit cannot be accessed in any natural way. God communicates with our spirit. The spirit is the place where all of the life and power of God flows through. The only way to discern spiritual truth is through the Word of God. The Word of God is the mirror to show you what your spirit is like. You cannot go by your body or soul (will, mind and emotions) to know what your spirit is like.

We constantly have this battle going on between our spirit and soul (the flesh). Holy Spirit ministers to, or guides our spirit in truth and life. Therefore our spirit wants to do that which is from God, but our soul (which carries the lies of the enemy) wars against our spirit and tries to take the wheel.

Galations 5:16-17 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another…

Here we can see the problem. Our spirit (which is influenced by Holy Spirit) and flesh (body and soul) are constantly at war with one another.

The soul responds to outward things (that which we literally see and experience) like people’s words, their behaviour towards us, violence, pain, trauma etc. We tend to get caught up in all the negativity that surrounds us and we become, hopeless, fearful, angry, sad and the list goes on and on.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We take captive every thought (soul) that is in contradiction with the word of God. The times when our thoughts are packed with negativity and evil desires, this is when we need to resist and choose to live by the spirit (which carries Holy Spirit’s influence).

Our spirit (this is not Holy Spirit, it is your spirit), carries that which is of God, that which the word of God speaks of. That which looks completely different than what the world looks like through our souls eyes.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

Our spirit hooks into that which is lifegiving, as this scripture above reads.

The problem is that our spirit is often overridden by our soul. Our soul overrides our spirit and we end up in a lot of misery and dissappointment because we live by what is seen through the souls eyes and not by what is unseen, which is looking through the spirit’s eyes. Our soul responds to the bad and ugly. We have to get to a place where we live by the spirit and not by the soul. It is going to require us to make a decision and to engage our will to follow it through in everything we do: to behave and respond to things in the way that word of God directs us to: To live our lives according to the word of the Lord and not according to our selfish, rebellious nature. For example, it is easy to get angry and respond in an unneccessary manner (this is when we operate through our soul dictating to us), but it is much more difficult to choose to be a peacemaker as the word of God directs (which is our spirit). We chose to follow Jesus and we love Him, therefore we want to do things His way. We cannot live double lives where we do a bit of evil and a bit of good. We don’t love Jesus half-half, we love Him completely!

This is how we war against ourselves, to force into submission that which our soul is dictating to us (that which is in contradiction to God’s word) by reverting to the word of God. Don’t agree with the negative report of the devil, immediately respond in positivity and that which God’s word says. If you don’t know what the word says about a situation you face, find all scriptures you can on that topic and start proclaiming it over your situation. Our souls receive many negative messages from the enemy and we often come into agreement with the devil. This is when we have to violently come against death that wants to creep in by proclaiming God’s word and feeding ourselves with life, so that our spirit can rise up and take charge over our soul.

Therefore we have to start getting fit in the spirit by getting to know God’s word better so that life can flow through us.

Let’s summarize:

Our spirit that carries the very essence of God, is supposed to override that which the soul dictates to us; that which is negative and evil. We have to allow our spirit to immediately override our soul when negativity comes. Instead of being bitter, we choose to forgive and we choose to love. That is how God’s word directs us. The soul is packed with lies of the devil and the soul needs deliverance, by the washing of the word. A brainwashing or reprogramming with that which is life, the word (Bible) of the Lord. The way to get to that place is to will the soul into submission to the spirit. I always say, ‘I have to push against myself”. This is exactly what is needed. It is not a once off thing. It is daily choosing to bend our soul into submission to that which is life and not death. That which is Holy and acceptable to God. That which is true!

This is how we die to self! Die to wanting to swear when we are angry, die to running to alcohol when there is too much pain, die to shouting at your children when you are under pressure, die to stubborness, rebellion and wanting to do things my way etc.

Beloved, choose today to die to self! Die to what your soul’s selfish desires are whispering to you. Let’s allow only life to flow from and through us.

Let’s pray – Father, my soul is too much in the way, I have allowed the enemy to use my soul to dictate to me. I ask forgiveness for not spending time in Your word and pondering on that which is lifegiving. Forgive me for entertaining that which is negative and miserable and agreeing with it. I want to be lifegiving to others and I want life to dwell within me. Forgive me for allowing death to dwell within me because I ponder on that which brings death. Please wash me with Your blood and cleanse me from death. I welcome You Holy Spirit, come in and breathe new life into my being and please help me to catch myself when I come in agreement with the enemy of my soul. I choose to feed my spirit with that which is Christ. Help me to make my spirit so strong in the word of God so that when trouble comes I will be able to resist and stand against the enemy. In Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen.