Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

When it all changes….then what?

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My plan for the day was to have a nice quiet Sunday, rest and do homework with my son…however that was not to be. My niece had woken up with a bad headache for a third day running and so we agreed to get a medical opinion. It was the beginning of a roller coaster ride. We went from check up for blood pressure admission to control blood pressure to emergency section in three hours. The parameters of assessment changed and we had to adjust regardless of how we felt.

As I was thinking about the whole experience again, it came to mind that this is the same premise that our walk with God operates on. This is platform God wants to deal with us on a day to day basis. Ok, let me break it down a little bit. Say he tells me to leave a relationship that has been very important to my survival so far and trust him to meet my needs totally how long will it take me to respond? A day maybe more? Probably more as I ‘weigh’ the consequences of the move. So let’s say that I now believe it is worth it and that I become obedient and begin to leave the relationship and there is a major fallout so that I lose my sense of stability and the comfort I had and I find that I cannot count on the same people I used to the extent I used to. Will I still walk in his will and way? Mmmmh.

I am reminded of the disciples in the boat when the storm came upon them. They were used to Jesus being in the forefront doing the miracles and astounding them each time yet in the two storm instances he did something different. In one of them he was asleep and the other he was not even there. What was their reaction? They were so terrified and they lost the connection they had to the reality of what Jesus could do. At just the right time, Jesus showed up and stilled the waters and their faith was restored. Then he took time to comfort them and teach them more about himself.

Do the challenges and shocks around you shake your faith? When things happen differently do you wonder where God is and what he is doing about it? I know often I am shaken even if it is only for a few moments and many times I am ashamed to admit it. My heart’s desire is to reach the place like Christ where he simply expressed his heart’s struggle and then moved into the Father’s presence to receive encouragement. He had checked into the reality that God is supreme and never fails His people or reneges on His word. His word never fails and it achieves all its purposes. How did he get there? He was connected with His father. He had faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, (Rom 10:17). Oh how I need to spend more time in the word and hearing and my faith will grow continually. Are you with me? Do we need to talk together? Let’s commit to this consistent walk of faith and find the peace that comes from being connected to the King of all creation and the Lover of our souls.

New Beginnings

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I never banked on this happening but now that it has I am so glad He caught me by surprise. Oh…I never imagined. One moment all was dull and drab and the next it was bright and sunshiny…what a joy….what a joy.

This is the season for new beginnings and my new beginning is extra special. This is a defining year for me and the high note of the onset is great. I had been searching for a deeper something since I felt that my life had become common and flat. It was kind of like eating sawdust over and over then expecting it to taste different each time.

Anyway, I begun to wonder if there wasn’t something better, richer, deeper? Oh I was still a believer but life seemed to be the same old same old day in day out. So I did the personal stock taking and could not really figure it out. Then I realised that I was going about it my way and had to stop, be still and hear God on what to do. I had been doing my own thing for a bit so it took some time to connect to the right frequency and gain full signal.

When it was all systems go I asked but He remained be silent. I ranted and raved and he was still silent. So I began to ask myself if I had done something to make him turn away from me. The questions were all good but the lack of answers really begun to get to me. What was happening? Then it struck me that God always answers and it is either yes, no or wait. So what was he saying to me? WAIT! I needed to learn to truly wait and hear him. I thought I had the waiting figured out and I thought I was patient yet he took the time to show me areas I needed to learn to stop. The moments of waiting proved more beneficial than I ever thought possible. I learnt to connect with him and his plan for me.

I learnt that God doesn’t assume I am ready for him to move but requires that I must be specific. I must ask that I may receive, seek that I may find and knock that the door may be opened. When I ask for more of him and stayed put seeking his face and presence he opens a door to me that is beyond my wildest dreams.

When he opened the door I found him. I found him arms open wide ready to embrace me and hold me close and speak his word to me. I found people he had put into place to confirm all his word to me. I found new connections with him that filled my heart to overflowing and removed the emptiness that I hadn’t admitted existed in my heart.

Oh the bliss of this new day. Every time I wonder if there is more and then he comes through and opens up something new that I never imagined. I only have a glimpse of his love and yet I want more. I desire to connect to the length, depth and width of this love that transforms everything it touches. So I must say I am transformed; made new; freshened moment by moment; still going strong. The love of God changes everything it truly touches.

Do you know that place? Do you want more? It is all in Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. He is the only source of love we will ever need. He is all in all and real contact with him never leaves you the same. Join me on this love journey that is a feast laid out for us in the midst of the thing we call life.

Realigning

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THE TRUMPET by Bill Burns — 3/1/11:

I am coming to you today as the wind, the water, the fire and as the rain — a habitation of My glory, so that you will flourish in My kingdom and no longer be distraught, condemned or oppressed.  I come to you to set you free and to call you forth into glory.  I am calling you to lay aside all that hinders you and to come by faith to receive that which I am doing.  I am sending you a fresh spiritual atmosphere that brings forth the baptism of My Holy Spirit upon you.  Come with expectation, with joy, peace and faith.  Come and receive.  No longer hold yourself from the water; no longer hide from the wind; no longer disallow the fire.  Come rather and enjoy the fullness of My expression and the fullness of who I am in you.  For, it is written that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of the living God; the God who transforms you, empowers you, helps you, keeps you in the Way and reveals His kingdom to you.  Come and learn.  Come and live.  Come and walk in My presence this day, says the Lord God.

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Now this is surreal…just when I was wondering about many things I open my mail and there is this message. It is so interesting how God knows what we need to hear and when we need to hear it. This came like a lightning bolt at noon that fries all the electronics. Boy oh boy what a mighty God we serve.

 

I was sitting here thinking of all the things I needed to get done and totally clueless how to achieve it all. I was beginning to think that there was no way out of it, then again, there was no way out of it on my own. So as I sat and thought and brooded I realised I was not making progress. I remembered a conversation I had yesterday that got me thinking. I was reminded that in the midst of all things the one constant is the reality that God is in control and He doesn’t change or move and it is up to me to keep close to him and follow in His footsteps every day.

 

So if He doesn’t move then why do I at times feel like he is far away and not able to help? Could it be that I am the one who has moved away and lost the connection? Is it like a power cable strung from a house to an outside venue to cater for sound? There are several joints and so the cable is run along the grass to the point of need. Then imagine that someone doesn’t see it and then trips on it doesn’t the sound go off? Yup, it does. That is sometimes what happens to us in our relationship with God. Thing is that is how we often live our lives…we talk to God at different paces and sometimes we do not realise that we have moved ever so slightly.

 

You have heard the analogy of two planes flying in the same general direction but begin with a divergence of one degree. In an hour they will be so far apart they will not be able to see each other at all. Sometimes that is how we are with God. We start off well and are in tune and walk with God minute by minute so that it becomes usual. His voice is part of our lives and we are in tune. Then one day it just seems lonely and empty. Oh He is still at work and all but are you as close to His work as you were before? I find that sometimes things change and I need to realign to new directions and I didn’t quite get them clearly. I am aligning and realigning and it is interesting how good the peace that comes with that is.

 

It makes me ask you my dear reader, what does the above message mean to you? Where are you? What is God saying from these few lines? It could simply be a reminder that He loves you. A light tap on the shoulder to remind you how beautiful you are. What has He kept speaking into your heart about and you have had a hard time grasping it? I think it is a clarion call from the top of the mountain that He is interested in you.

 

Well, be like Mary in Luke 1:38 when she said, “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said…”

 

What my heart wants

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A couple of weeks back I was sitting with some girlfriends and we were talking about life and what we had always hoped to get out of it. I know we were all somewhat disappointed in the way had things turned out and we reminisce to what we always wanted to happen and make life what we always dreamed it to be. The most common ones were I want:

  • My spouse to help me with the work in the house
  • My spouse to take care of the devotional times and not be the one to initiate always
  • My spouse to take the kids to church
  • My spouse to understand me
  • Us to be free of the struggle to make ends meet
  • To be debt free
  • My boss this and that
  • My folks this and that

And on and on the list went and down the spiral of despair we went. At the end of the day we were not in good shape but we felt better because we had vented and got it off our chests. Misery loves company and at that point I did not realise I had just been in the midst of misery and had a strange feeling about that at the end of the day.

Much later I realised we were on the way to self-destruction if we remained on that road. The thought occurred to me that my life should be about more than what I want before God will come through and make changes. What do I mean? I never wanted it to be that I am the initiator of prayers in the home and I believe that it is the role of my husband the priest of the home. That’s cool but the real question is…what does God want me to do at this point? Now wait a minute: Where do the things I desire and want come into play? Doesn’t He say he will give me the desires of my heart? What will make life worth the living?

That is a foreign concept to most of us and I really struggled with that one. Then heard the man of God speak and many things clicked in and out. He said that the purpose of marriage is to depict the relationship between the Godhead. They are three, with distinct roles and yet they do not overstep each other’s bounds or fight. How many of us are like that. Then there is the purpose of the family and that is to raise a divine expression. This means that we need to raise the next generation of people who love God by choice and deeply to bring the kingdom closer to earth. In all this where is what I want? Where are all those things I have planned on all my life? NO WHERE!!!!! Isn’t that funny? I should really be asking “Lord what is your plan and purpose? What do you want me to do and become?” Not easy but that is the reality of my life. Wow!!!!

I realised that I am called to be more than just a regular believer but a change maker and earth mover. To be that, I must be clued into the will of God and choose to make his desires the desires of my heart. Yes, there are things that I desire and I make them known to him BUT when that is done I leave it ALL to him. Yes he gives me the desires of my heart but it is the renewed desires that he fulfils. When I am fully committed to him he will change the things I want to the things he wants.

John 6:56…As the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This got me on a new page just now…wow talk about revelation on the spot…If I live because of Him then I desire what he desires and he works actively in me. I am in the midst of a place that makes it easy for me to be connected and wanting what he wants and daily making the changes that I need to make. This is because I have finally got to the end of me and realised that there is nothing I can do that will work. I found that I must plug into him and find the way through obedience. It is an interesting walk because some of the things he wants me to do are different and humanly outrageous but yet not impossible. However, as I walk with him I am in the midst of making better choices in life. I still have things to change and I am changing everyday but I am also learning new things.

I am learning to concentrate on what God would have for me and not push for what I want. However the closer I get to him the more intertwined my desires for the same things he desires. This means that the life I live is full and happy despite the surrounding situation and I am above all things. I am above because nothing can hold me down when I am in his hands. I now want the things God wants for me and the level of my frustration in life is now non-existent. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in him who saved me…this is becoming my daily desire. I am learning to love life and live it to the fullest…