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Author: Hope

Seasons – Stepping Stones

Seasons – Stepping Stones

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens :2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Beloveds, I want to encourage you today by telling you that the season you are in is exactly where you should be. If it is painful or joyful, know that God is with you in this place and He wants to either heal you or teach you something. For those that are hanging on by a thread – This season too shall pass! The most important thing to remember now is to be a good steward with what you need to learn or do in this space. You do not want to waste time by being bitter and angry while God wants to do something in you. You don’t want to do this season over with the same issues. Or lose out on what God wants to download into your spirit for the next season. Every season is preparation, a stepping stone to the season that follows.

Every season we face in our spiritual lives is under God’s supervision. Yes, if you have given your life to Him and you gave Him permission to take charge over your life, He will look after you. God knows what seasons we need to draw us closer to Him and to take another layer of bondage off of us. He knows when to release us to go work in the field and when to take us into a time of rest. The way you embrace your season is imperative! Do not waste time by kicking against where you find yourself. Make work with especially your pain. Open up your heart and tell God you are willing to learn and walk this season the way He has written it in Heaven. If you are stuck – Do not cling to what you have lost, but look at what you have right now and be grateful for it. Gratitude will help you embrace your season.

My Story

After my last post, my family and I have been very busy packing up, saying goodbye to my father that died, saying goodbye to dear friends, saying goodbye to our home of 16 years and moving away from a grandmother. A lot of emotions to work through. Being happy to go to the new land, but sad about that which was left behind.

We got to our new land, a land with much blessing and great peace…,but now we had to come into sink with a different pace and rhythm. I have been used to work, work, work. I’ve homeschooled our children for many years, did counselling, workshops and had many moments of intense inner healing – I am used to being busy. Our son finished matric last year and the season for homeschooling was over as well.

I had a bit of a struggle with what I needed to do in this new place. I have asked God many times before we left for the new place what He wanted us to do there. His answer was that it is a place of peace and rest. Mmmmm, I soon realized that I did not have an idea of what it meant to rest. I have been ministering and working in the field for many years, but for the last sixteen years I’ve never had a space where there was no work, but play.

Man, what a shock to me. I wanted to start studying because I just couldn’t sit around doing “nothing”. I felt guilty for not doing anything and my husband had to work while I am “resting”. I really had to wrestle with God concerning this. My husband did not know about my internal wrestling, but one morning he came to me and said he wants me to be at peace. He told me that he doesn’t expect me to be busy with work and studying and he wants me to really rest and do things that I like to do. (Thank You Abba)

I also had an issue with not doing much for the kingdom, but I soon learnt that I didn’t have to do that either because God was setting me apart to impart new revelation for the next season.

I asked God what season I was entering and He said it is winter. I started reading up on what happens in winter with plants and trees. I read up on fun things to do in winter seasons because I needed to recalibrate my body, soul and spirit – I had to change my pace. I decided to celebrate and embrace this season, even if I felt out of sorts and unsure. By doing this I realized that this season was enough for me. It is exactly what I need. The moment I started embracing and getting excited about “doing” winter I came to a place of contentment.

Beloveds, many times new seasons can be very scary for us and we can feel out of sorts, it is unknown – we have never walked here, but the more I chose to embrace this space and looked for the beauty (the fun ,not being negative) this season carries, my whole being came into peace.

Man, how I love how God loves us. He knows what season we need to go through before stepping into the next. If we don’t go through our season dealing with that which needs to be dealt with, we will not be fully equipped to enter our next season.

And this is what I believe Paul is speaking about in this scripture – Philippians 4:11-13 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

I feel in my spirit that God wants me to add this – Those of you that are in much pain and can’t see the beauty of your season or anything positive – This too shall pass. I invite you to choose to take Abba Father’s hand today, He is throwing a life line out to you – He has not left you. He has all you need to be healed and delivered right now from this place of despair. Take His hand now. Receive the oil of the spirit of the overcomer and rise above this, see Him, for His deliverance is at hand. Receive a fresh outpouring of strength and hope in Jesus name.

Isaiah 43:2 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.

Let us pray – Abba Father, I cry out to you today! I have been kicking against many seasons in my life because I don’t always understand what You want to do, especially the seasons where I have to deal with my pain and the bondages over my life. I repent for not allowing you to heal me, where I have blamed you for my pain and where I did not realize that You are near and that You want to heal me. Please forgive me. I repent of being bitter and angry and because of this I couldn’t see the bigger picture. I ask, Jesus, that You will cleanse me from this with Your blood and that You will restore my senses that were defiled by these sins. I ask that I will once again be able to see, hear, smell, feel and taste that You are good. I ask that I will come to understand that every season I go through, You are with me and that I am under Heavens supervision. Father, I choose to embrace my season, I allow You to come in and interfere and intervene in everything concerning me. I invite you today to come and take full charge over every season I will face in my life in Jesus name. I dedicate my seasons to You. You know what is good for me, You know when I am ready to face certain things. Come Lord Jesus come. Come and teach me what I need to learn and help me to be a good steward of my seasons – not wasting time. Lord, please show me what season I am in so that I can embrace it and come to a place of peace even if I can’t see much yet. Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen!

The Blood Of The Lamb Silences All Accusations!

The Blood Of The Lamb Silences All Accusations!

Beloveds, I want to share this next thought with you. This is from a friend of mine that lives in the Netherlands.

I just want to share. I woke up this morning, saw the snow and I was thinking about that scripture in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

This says that even though our sins are like scarlet, He will wash it whiter than snow. I was journaling about this and told God how beautiful the white blanket of snow was over everything and what a visual reminder I now have of that scripture. But also of how *quiet* it seems to be when it snows. I read up about this and I found that it is because every snow flake’s shape is different and it allows it to capture sound, therefore making it a lot quieter.

I thought of how God spoke to Cain when he killed Abel, saying that his blood *calls out* to God. So, what if, when we receive forgiveness, Jesus’ blood does not just wash our sins whiter than snow, but also captures the enemies accusations against us – He silences the accusations! Because God says He will no longer remember our sins.

Just a thought…

Clarissa Viljoen

Beloveds, my question to you is this. Why then do you still hold on to past sins that are forgiven, silenced and God does not remember it anymore. If you have repented of it, it is forgiven. God has forgiven you, will you forgive yourself?

It is time to let it go and get to that place of quietness?!

Bracing For Impact?

Bracing For Impact?

I pray that you will not only read this post, but really go deeper with Jesus concerning what I will share with you. May this post truly encourage you to rid yourself from a slave/orphan mentality that is holding so many of us back.

Galatians 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Romans 8:15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

My family and I have been waiting for a promise from God to be fulfilled for six years now. One can try to imagine how difficult it is, but if you haven’t walked it you will never really know. We had many happy and sad moments, many disappointments, moments of “did God really say it or is this really what He wants?” We haven’t received the breakthrough yet, but we can see the finish line and we are filled with excitement.

In the meantime God has given us another endeavor, another FAITH test! God used these six years to dig deep within us to get down into the very root of things that have been holding us back from truly walking in the fulness of what He has purposed for our lives.

Our Story

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

At the beginning of 2020 my husband told me that he felt we needed to buy a house. I was very surprised by this, but I knew I had to make work with it because my husband has always been the dreamer between the two of us and I have learnt that when he comes with surprises like this, God is telling us something. I immediately brought this in prayer before the Lord and I asked God to prepare my heart for when the time was right for this to be done. I surrendered it all into God’s hands and I laid my preconceived ideas down. I left it in God’s hands and I waited until God would speak to me about it again.

Later in the year we went on holiday to a place we have never been before and we loved it there. ( I want to add this – Since almost forever, when we want to go on holiday, we always ask God where we should go. We always try to include the Lord in everything we do). A few days before we came home my husband said we should go look at houses, and we did. The first house we looked at spoke loud and clear to both our hearts and I knew this was God’s go ahead. I must say I was a bit overwhelmed because to buy house is a huge thing and we had to make sure that God was truly in this. I had asked the Lord the same question over and over for several days – should we really do this? Is this what He wants? Our six year’s promise is on the horizon and this doesn’t make sense. By His grace, patience and kindness towards me, He replied every time with His peaceful voice, yes buy the house.

So It Started

The ball was put on a roll. We signed many contracts and then we had to wait for the banks to grant us a 100% home loan. Long story short. Many banks came back saying no, one bank came back saying they can only give us 85%, but we had to reply within a certain timeframe or the grant would expire. I spoke to the Lord about this because if He wanted us to buy the house we needed a loan where we didn’t have to give a huge deposit. The Lord said to me to ask Him for a loan where everything is covered and that His will will be done. He reminded me of that word in Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

This was my anchor – Faith pleases God and He will reward those who seek Him. I said ok Father, I am coming hard and ferociously after You for this, I believe You and my faith pleases You. You said it and I believe You will do it, against the odds. I grabbed hold of this truth and I didn’t let go.

A few days went by and we didn’t hear anything from the other banks. One morning while I was busy praying, I saw my husband in the spirit. I saw He was standing , holding his breath, busy “bracing for impact”. The Lord showed me that my husband was bracing himself for the disappointment. (My husband has had many dreams and desires in his life that haven’t come to pass because the time was not right. The devil used these past disappointments to bring doubt that this that we are believing for will not come to pass). This is a problem, through thinking this way we can block our blessings that need to locate us. Therefore, the enemy can steal things from us because of us holding unto past disappointments and then operating in unbelief and fear.

Slave Mentality

The banks came back with bad reports, but I kept going after what God said, without backing off. One morning someone sent us a scripture, Exodus 14:13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. I was really pondering on this and I allowed Holy Spirit to brood over my spirit concerning this word. I was waiting on Him to tell me exactly what I needed to do with this scripture. This scripture was about the time when Moses and the Israelites came to the red sea and the Egyptians were coming after them to destroy them. The red sea before them and the Egyptians behind them. They were STUCK in the middle, they had nowhere to go. They couldn’t go forwards or backwards. They were doomed! No way out!(That is what they believed). Then the Lord gave me the key. He showed me that this was the Israelites “BRACE FOR IMPACT” moment. Their moment of fear and unbelief. Where they believed that they were not going to see their promised land because Pharaoh is going to kill them. They were still afraid of Pharaoh and his army. They were still stuck in their “Slave Mentality”, a mentality that dictates no good can come my way or this is too good to be true and it won’t last. Not getting excited about the new land, but waiting for the bad to happen!

Waiting for the bad to happen – “BRACE FOR IMPACT”

And this is where I knew that God was going to break this slave mentality off of my husband, but we had to make work with it. This slave mentality came in with all the past dreams that haven’t been fulfilled and the enemy used it to keep my husband in bondage.

My husband and I sat together before the Lord and we repented of this mentality, we brought his past disappointments before the Lord and we repented of the doubts and fear that have entered because of it. We allowed Holy Spirit to take us deeper in prayer and repentance and many things started bubbling out of him that had to be dealt with. Then God said: “Now trust me as if it is the very “first time ever” you are trusting me for something, NOT listening to past negative experiences whispering in your ears.”

Pharaoh Making Noise

That very same day, after we have done all this. We got bad news. God in His faithfulness immediately showed me what was going on in the spirit. My husband almost crumbled under this disappointment, but I could encourage him by telling him what God showed me. I said to him that we are in front of the red sea and it must open up for us, but Pharaoh (the devil) is making a huge noise that we will not make it, that he is going to wipe us out and there is only disappointment waiting for us. Then I said, but now we will ferociously push and believe harder and lift our rod over this sea and command it to open up. It was not over!

The next day while I was busy waking up the Lord said: “Tell your husband to petition your own bank for I want them to give you the loan. (Our bank was the very first bank saying no for a home loan – This was truly against the odds). Write a long letter to them. Holy Spirit will guide you”. My husband did this and we trusted God, ferociously!

Spirit of Adoption

It was exactly a week after we received the word about the Egyptians that we will never see again when the Lord gave me another scripture, Romans 8:15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Lord showed us that my husband had to receive his blessing from Him and say thank you, because he is called “son” and a son has right to what his father is giving and promising him. A son can freely take what his father is giving him, he doesn’t have to be shy to take from his father or think that his father does not really want to bless him – for that is a slave or orphan mentality. That morning I said to my husband:” Are you ready to receive your blessing today?” My husband gave a confident, yes! It wasn’t an hour after that and our bank came back with very good news.

Conclusion

Beloveds, this whole process took 2 months. Months that we’ve been so grateful for, but even more so, we are grateful for the six years of waiting, crying, pressing, getting up and carrying on. All of this led up to these two months where we could seriously deal with the slave mentality in us. For if we didn’t go through these tests of faith, we would never have known that we are still stuck in a slave mentality.

Let us consider how a slave thinks and behaves. Let us weigh it up against what it means to be a real son or daughter of God. If there is anything in us that is in contradiction with God’s word, we have an issue that needs to be dealt with. True sons and daughters believes, without a doubt what their Father says!

Won’t you bring your “brace for impact”, your slave mentality, your fear of Pharaohs intimidation and your doubts before the Lord! Won’t you turn your back on your past disappointments that has established this lie in you that you will never get your promise. Divorce yourself from it (from Pharaoh), from coming into agreement with your enemy. When all the repentance and letting go is done, choose to go after that promise as if it is your very first time you are trusting God for something. Without clutter!

Before we pray, use this prayer as a guide, but I encourage you to make it your own – where you add your own prayer, repentance and petitions. Ask Holy Spirit to guide you so that you can deal with everything that is holding you back affectively. God is good and He never changes, His word will not return void!

Let us pray: Abba Father, I am crying out to You. I have been believing the lies of the enemy. I have listened and crumbled under Pharaoh’s intimidation. I have a slave mentality, Father. I have been led by my past disappointments. I repent, please forgive me. I ask forgiveness that I did not take You at Your word. I do not know what it means to have a Father that is completely different than what I know in this earth. A Father like You Abba, a Father that does not lie, that loves unconditionally, that wants to bless me, that wants to see me succeed. I repent that I so easily give up and that I don’t trust You with ferocious faith. Please set me free from this mentality. I choose to get up and shake the dust off and start again. I choose to receive my adoption as son/daughter and to start walking and thinking like a son who has everything his Father has to his availability, in Jesus name. Holy Spirit, fall on me afresh. Set my feet upon the Rock once again and destroy my enemy’s influence over my life today. I ask that there will be nothing left of the Egyptians and their prints on my mind and thoughts. I pray this in Jesus’s mighty name, the name above all names, Amen and amen.