Fight Back! Fight Back! Fight!!!!!

Moses writes in Exodus that the Lord is a warrior.
David says in Psalms that it is God who trains him for war and makes him so strong that he can bend a bow of bronze.
"The warfare", says Paul" is Not carnal but mighty in the Holy Ghost to the pulling down of strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ."
 Fight the good fight of faith.
After doing all to stand, stand and put on the entire armour of God.

None of these, and there is a ton more, tells me that we Christians are suppose to play possum. We are not suppose to roll over and let the devil play soccer with us. We were created for God's glory and NOT for the enemy's entertainment. We were endued with power to stand against the viles of our enemy not to be timid and cower under his attacks.

Time to get angry! Time to get like the guy in the book of judges that took a sword and defended a hill of beans from the Amorites. It is time that we say, enough is enough. It is time that we recognize the power that is in our hands and call those things which aren't as though they are.

When the enemy attack on one front, don't just defend. You will always dance to his tune if all you do is react to his actions. Start going on the offense. It goes something like this: When we first got married and started a church, Steve will disappear at night and the enemy would tell me that he is out having an affair. I was young, broken and unsure of myself. I would try to focus on other things, Bussy myself with the children or pray for my husband. But the next time he would disappear I would have to go through the same torture. Until one Saturday night he went out and did not come home until after midnight. I put the kids to bed at their regular bedtime and settle in to do my usual waiting routine, fretting and fighting anxiety...... this was before cell phones. This night I got mad at it. I started praying for the salvation and deliverance of every person on our block. I prayed for about an hour.  Never prayed for my husband. Got in bed and went to sleep. The enemy only attacked a couple more times like that but every time I did not engaged in his fight, I prayed for the neighbors. I kept praying for the neighbors. Our direct neighbor got saved, after two years and brought her mother, sister, brother and best friend in along with their families. The enemy never used that attack on me again. The other neighbor  were saved and delivered from drug addiction. We filled up a church because our neighborhood got saved. Now, we can get into a fight that is not ours and get ourselves killed like King Josiah but as long as we know and understand our jurisdiction lets take the fight to him.

Yes, we ll pray for our loved one who is suffering and sick. We will call on the healing in the name of Jesus Christ but we will also pray for salvation and deliverance for the sons and daughters of our families and friends. We will call upon the power in His name and His blood to deliver those in bondage and enslaved in addiction. We will pray for revival to come to the hearts of the spiritual leaders in our area. We will draw the sword of the Word and the Spirit. We will fight like those who know who the Captain of their salvation is.

I do not believe that poverty brings any glory to God. I do not belief that suffering and sickness and disorder comes from God. I do not believe that families divided and at enmity is from God. I do not believe that old people getting attacked and stabbed in their own back yard is from God. I do not believe that children being kidnapped, sold and abused is from God.

You can see where I am going with this.

We have the authority to speak to these situations.
We have the power of His name.

Don't you think it's time that we start using it?!!!

We Are Family!!!

I am the middle of three sisters. Our oldest sister died last September. Earlier this year I received a lengthy letter from my younger sister. At the end the summation was that she was done with me and did not wish to ever hear from me again. My response were considerably shorter. "I do not blow that way" She is my sister and I love her. During my visit to South Africa in September I showed up at her house with a bag of snacks and asked for tea.  We enjoyed two days more together.

Why bring this up?

I was thinking of my other family, the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, the family of Believers. We are ONE family. We are born from ONE Holy Spirit, by ONE Father, with ONE brother, Jesus Christ who died for us all. 

Often we get angry at one another. So what!

Often we offend one another. So what!

Often we disagree with one another's actions, theology or understanding. So what!

So what!?!? 

Yeah, So what!!

We are family. 
If you love God; If you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; If you have surrendered your life by faith to the Holy Spirit's working; then we are family. You are my brother. You are my sister. 

We may not agree. My personality may grade at you. My methods, choices or believes may irk you. It does not change the fact that we are family. You are my family and I love you. You are stuck with me for eternity.  

Think on that for a bit.

Keeping Secrets

The older I get the more I realize that not everyone can handle everything that happens in a life. We do not purposely keep secrets, we are just a little selective in whom we share our intimate experiences with. The things we share bonds us together. Worship, actually true worship, is such an intimate vulnerable experience that it binds us together. "Let me sing of my Beloved, how He loves us, how we adore Him. He is fairer than ten thousand to my soul. I can't get enough of You, Jesus." This is the language of intimacy. This is an open heart letting it all hang out. Can we worship together consistently and not learn to love one another? How often I thought of someone: " I love how you love Him." I want to be swept up together with those that love Him to the point of pain. Tears streaming down our faces. Singing in English, Afrikaans, Spanish, tongues..... just singing and embracing Him with our voices and spirits. This is oneness, this is unity, this is the secret of Christians gathering together. This is why some of us risk life and livelihood to gather together.

When we gather together as one to adore Him, He starts to share His secrets with those who love Him and search for Him. We become aware of a new revelation, as fresh as a black forest chocolate cake that has to rest before it can be consumed...  Such is His secrets, His revelations, we have to let it sit inside of us and rest for a while. Let it percolate. Steep your soul in His words. Let it drench you. Let it become part of you. Keep it untill it becomes a river inside of you. Hold it untill it burns like fire shut up in your bones.

Then when He moves you, share it with those He wants in to the secret. Let Him direct your passion. Let the full body of the wine of His Spirit flow from you to the thirsty soul. See how the parts of you that have been soaked up in Him are changed and how it now has power to bring life.

Two year olds, toddlers, do not have the ability to immerse in something. They scatter things. The run through a room like a tornado. How many secrets can they keep? None. How long will we stay babes, infants, toddlers... not able to hear or keep His secrets.

"Jesus, here I am Your favorite one.
What are You thinking what are You feeling I'd like to know.
I am after Your heart!
I'm after You."

The Weapons of our Warfare

"For though we walk in the flesh, as mortal men/people, we are not on our warfare according to the flesh and using weapons of carnality. The weapons of our warfare are not physical - of flesh/carnal. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

These weapons are not the same as the armor of God listed in Ephesians 6. These are spiritual weapons that makes no sense in the flesh. They are to defeat and destroy the fortresses in the soul, the life of a human being. Look at what it says:" We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every lofty, exalted, proud thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God. These things have become strongholds inside of people to keep them from walking in an intimate, close relationship with God and to enjoy the fellowship in Jesus Christ of other people.

Weapons are useless and even dangerous in the hands of someone who do not know how to use them. I was maybe 10 when I fired my first rifle. Surprisingly, I had a natural aptitude for being accurate with firearms. Later on, I could reach targets with reasonable accuracy but I would be useless in a gun battle because this skill was never developed. A person skilled has to keep practicing every day to keep their skills up and current. Concert musicians practise every day to keep the quality of their performance at best. Athletes does the same and so does soldiers. We are in a war of eternal consequences. How much more do we have to hone our skills at using the weapons of our warfare? We need training in using these weapons and using them well. We need mentors and trainers to help us be effective. I used to be enthralled at the fencing skills of the knights in medieval movies. It takes some practise to stay out of the way of a blade coming towards you that hard and fast.

What are these weapons?

The first and most important one is Love; Godly, self-sacrificing, agape love. It is the same love that God the Father manifested when He sent His Only begotten Son to die in our place. It is given to us when the Holy Spirit is deposited in our hearts. Romans 5:5

How is Love a weapon? It destroys strongholds, fortresses of rejection, abandonment, incorrect self image, lies and a myriad of other internal flaws. It comes at a hardened heart that cannot feel anymore or to a high minded, arrogant, proud mind and melts these things away. It disarms and creates vulnerability. This kind of love does not give up. It stays no matter the return. Just follow the history of God and Israel. This is Godly love as a weapon.

There is much written in the New Testament about this. Love, this God-kind-of-love is the theme of the Gospel of John, the First Epistle of John and of course the 13 chapter of 1 Corinthians. It sometimes takes a lifetime to learn how to skillfully love; how to have His love flow through us to those who needs it. His love in the heart of a human who are skilled in letting that love reach out to others, is a weapon of mass destruction to the works of the enemy. Love lifts us up. Love heals. Love validates us. Love conquers fear. Love makes us whole and gives us a hope and vision for  the future. It asks nothing in return. It has no strings attached. This is weaponized love.

The second, that comes as a companion to the first, is unity. Colossians 3:14 O, how inept are we at using this weapon. We are weak-wristed, dropping this weapon, and with so little skill end up wounded and destroyed. Unity, the true unity of spirit brings a blessing from God. Psalm 133 It fortifies against assault from the enemy and ward of temptation much like the herds on the African plain keep the weak and young in the middle. Unity that has been practised to the level of mastery will not allow offense to set in. It does  not allow stranglers or straying. Unity deals with issues in a mature and Godly way to keep darkness out of the camp. Unity reflects the Divine Trinity in our midst and it multiplies our strength. Unity is like a vacuum cleaner against the enemy's broom.

This weapon is not easy to master since there are many levels of unity. It is easy to pervert and unify around offense, issue or opposition. Unity is modeled in the life of Old Testament Israel and spoken about quite often in the  New Testament. Jesus prayed in John 17 for unity amongst His disciples. Paul writes about it in Ephesians 4. Interesting how people use this very chapter to justify their elitism and divisiveness.

Unity as a weapon puts the enemy out of the camp. It protects and brings a blessing from God.

Another weapon, spiritual weapon, is peace. It is told that when Wesley traveled to America via ship there were some Moravian Christians on the ship. During a particular nasty storm these Christians behaved in such a peaceful way that it impacted Wesley, founder of the Methodist denomination.

Peace takes skill to develop because there are a few counterfeits. Even Jesus mentions it:" Peace I give you, My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives, do I give to you." He continues to warn against letting your heart be troubled and fearful. Now this takes practise. It is easy to run around in hysteria and be swept away by every wind of drama. It is easy to be afraid, anxious and letting the storms of life take over our souls.

His peace rules and reigns if we let it. We have to allow peace into our souls and guard it to keep it there. It is like the armory on a military base, worth protecting.
We practise peace by being on guard about the things we allow into our mind, heart and life. When it robs you of your peace, you are not skilled  in this weapon. You can refuse to be robbed. You can keep the thieves out.

Peace keeps us from making hasty, wrongly motivated decisions. Peace keeps us from running in wrong directions. Peace umpire our hearts in teaching us to listen to God's voice. Peace guides, protects and leads. Peace is an effective weapon against the war, divisions and destruction of the enemy. When peace keeps us from fighting his way, we win.

The last weapon I would like to highlight.....and there are many more.....  is Faithfulness. Faithfulness says:"I will not quit. I have put my hand to the plough. I am not looking back. Faithfulness as a weapon destroys the enemy's  plan to destroy our destiny in God. If we get skilled in faithfulness we will receive our reward in the end. This is a difficult weapon to master because there is no immediate satisfaction. The victories are not easily noticed. We kind of wake up one day and  realize that a stronghold has  fallen. This has something to do with covenants, commitments and the courage to not give up when the  going gets hard. It has a bit of a stubborn streak.

Faithfulness works with every one  of the other weapons mentioned here and skillfulness in this will strengthen the mastery of the others. We are faithful when we love and keep on loving. We use faithfulness when we endeavor to keep the peace and not be swayed to walk away. We use faithfulness to keep the unity of the saints when we remember our covenant of oneness before God.

The weapons of our warfare are handed down to us by our Master and Commander in Chief. It is however, our responsibility to practise and master the skills. We pray and ask God to reveal to us other weapons of spiritual warfare but also to show  us how to use these skillfully to defeat the enemy in our own souls and also in the Body of Christ.

Avoid Divorce By Getting Good Godly Counsel

...    Before You Fall In Love.

It always breaks my heart when a couple decides to call it quits on their marriage. So much goes through my head: "Where did things go wrong? When did things go wrong? Can it be fixed? Is there hope? What about the families?.....????"

Married in 1967...5 kids...still together.

I am convinced that most divorces can be prevented maybe not during the marriage but before the wedding. Few people, young and old alike, will listen to reason, counsel, advice when they are "in love". Family and friends who are not part of the whirlwind romance are much better suited to speak wisdom into the choice of a life partner. Once the hormones start raging, reason goes out the door.

It is important to knit a safety net long before this happens. Some people prefer courtship rather than dating for this very reason. The process of courtship requires a lot of relationships to be pure and in tact and Godly. Most families in our day are in different stages of brokenness. Courtship will do for those who are less broken. For the rest there is the safety net.

A safety net is simply a few people, two or three, to whom a person gives permission to candidly speak into this area of their life. The intention is to listen and seriously consider the advice, observation and counsel. - These counselors would be people who has shown their desire for your best interest in the past, knows you well and are honorable without any self-interest in your choices; A pastor or spiritual leader, a parent or grandparent or other family member or a good lifelong friend.

It goes without saying that a lot of praying or even prayer and fasting, to seek the will of God in the matter, is needed as well. Marriage counsel before the wedding is in my opinion one of the best ways to avoid divorce. That is if it is the kind of counselor that would ask the tough questions. Who controls the money? Would there be children? Who and how do you discipline, educate and raise the kids? What is your religious convictions? How important are they? What are the family's traditions? What and how are they to be incorporated into the new family? What are the expectations, honest expectations, of each person from themselves, their partner and Gods in this proposed marriage? 

It seems to me that truely special care in choosing a spouse, a life partner should take at least the same consideration and effort that we invest into choosing a career. If we truely expect to be married only once in a lifetime, would we not do this with a bit more care?

You may say: "What is the big deal? Everyone is getting divorced and remarried these days" The problem is that we do not live for ourselves. No man is an island. Whether we acknowledge it or not, our lives are tightly intertwined with the lives of other people. Our acts and re-actions spill over into their lives. If it was not so, funerals would have been unnecessary.

When marriage ends in divorce, it hurts not only the husband and wife, it rips a hole in the children, the parents, the friends, the extended families. If we truely understood the injury of divorce we would mourn every divorce as a death, as a great loss and do our utmost to help marriages work. We would do our utmost to choose the right spouse and be the right spouse and once we are married to work at it for the rest of our lives.

That said ladies, I am in no way, shape or form propagating staying in an abusive marriage. Please, please, please get help, get out and yes do it even with the children...... and that is another talk for another day.

~ Pictures in this section by:
   Licia Photography - Nelspruit/Pretoria
      072 470-2947. 

Does Sin Matter?

After a person is born again and become a child of God, does sin matter?  If Jesus' death, burial and resurrection covered all sin of all people for all times, does sin still matter? After we receive His cleansing blood and our will has been freed from bondage, is sin still an issue? Can we sin as much as we want to since it is already paid for?

Paul, the Apostle, in Romans 6 addresses these questions with a resounding: "God forbid" , "May it never be!". He says: "How can we who are dead to sin, continue in it?" We are no longer in bondage, slaves to sin, Satan and self to fulfilling the lusts, passions of sin. We actually have the God-given power to resist the devil. We can and must so "NO!" to sin. Our dead self has no longer any obligation to give in to temptations, we do not have to sin. In other words, Christians who sin, choose to sin.

Hebrews the 3rd and 4th chapters addresses these same questions on a different level. All actions originate from the heart. Here the author of Hebrews says that unbelief is disobedience is sin and it not only stems from a hard heart but also hardens the heart. Think back to Eden.... Did God really say.... ? In comes unbelief resulting in disobedience which is sin.

Hebrews do not leave us in the mess but continues to propose the answer to our sin, disobedience, unbelief, hardened heart problem. It is twofold:

First; The Word of God will discern sin in our lives and bring to light the thought and intent of our hearts. The seed of our actions will be purified by it. In reading and studying the Word (logos=written word) of God, we guard our heart from unbelief, disobedience and hardness. Sin is deceitful. The Word of God will unmask it. As we submit to the Word our hearts will change and sin, disobedience, unbelief will become less and less of a problem.

The second part of the answer is to go to Jesus our advocate. He understands our every weakness. He was tempted in all ways just like us, yet never gave in to unbelief, disobedience, sin and hardness of heart. He suffered, He endured. He agonized about His approaching torture and separation from God the Father yet in all of this never gave in to the temptation to sin.

Because of our Savior we can now with confidence approach the Throne of Grace to ask for help in the day of evil, the day of temptation. It is the help we need to keep sin, disobedience, unbelief and hardness.of heart away from us. This is the victory in Jesus.

The answer to whether sin matters is: "Yes, it does."  It will lead to unbelief and hardness of heart. It will make you a bitter, cynical, angry, irritated human. It will rob you of joy, peace and prosperity. It will bring darkness, death and misery into your life. After you have been born again YOU have the choice to allow it in or by the Word and Prayer keep it out of your life.

Who is your Father?

This past generation had an inordinate amount of single mothers raising children without a good father figure. The men were either "unknown", abusive or just plain lazy and lame. The result are boys who became young men without an idea what it means to be a man. The girls have learned that they can't trust a man and if they want something done to do it themselves. This does not sound like a big change from previous generations untill these children  begins to pro-create. Their struggle to relate to their children is so great it screams to the Heavens.

Sadly the same thing happened in the spiritual/Christian realm. The role of the leader/pastor of a congregation is to lead the people to have a relationship with God the Father. Instead of doing this job during the past 30 years, the pastors were busy building personality followings and fiefdoms for themselves. What came across most pulpits were second hand, watered down, political motivated speeches. Pet doctrines, yelling at other preachers in their absence or the government, correcting behaviour via sermons, or whatever irked them for the moment were served up to hungry people not knowing any better. And of course I am generalizing. The result is a Christian people who do not have a clue who this God is that they are supposedly serving. It is evident in the things coming out of their mouths, their behaviour and the lack of power in their attempts at ministry.

Jesus said that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I came to show you the Father. 

This is eternal life, to know God and Him whom He sent.

My dear friends, Isn't it about time that we get to know the Father?

God can do it again

Early August 2010 I took the four loads of wet laundry to the laundromat some time at night. Our dryer was dead. I folded and stacked the laundry one at a time back in the baskets. After putting it all away I went to bed. Waking up the next morning my back would not straighten without excruciating pain. Somewhere near the bottom of my back something was out of wack. 

I took so many painkillers that my insides started to pour blood. After fourteen days the doctors took cat scans. They could see nothing wrong and surmise it must be arthritis. In which case I will have to learn to live with it. The painkillers they gave me, made my brain useless. I stopped using it during the day and only took it at night. I kept working through all this.  For thirty days I cried through the night and grind my teeth through the days.

 Last Sunday in August I went to a country church. A person got up and ask for prayer for a bad back. While the pastor prayed I said inside of me:" Lord, if he opens it up for anyone I k o  It's for me." Sure enough the pastor asked if anyone else needs a miracle in their back. My hand shot up. He called me.to the front. A couple of ladies started to cry and wanted to pray for me. They laid hands on me and said a simple prayer. I bend down but did not feel any different. 

The next morning I woke up for the first time in thirty days with no pain in my back. It has been pain free ever since. I do laundry carry heavy buckets of mail around, pick up my grandkids and still my back is fine.

God Is still in the miracle bussiness. 

The Mystery of Salvation.

I have had a conversation recently with a mother whose children were born again at a young age and now as adults lives like heathens. The absolute pain of seeing our children who were raised in the church, in Christian homes, being born again and yet choose to follow the world into the abyss is excruciating. It brings a person to re-evaluate what you belief.

The mystery of salvation is probly as mysterious as the mystery of natural birth. We all know the mechanics of making babies, carry them inside for about 9 months and then giving birth. That is the general idea. Hopefully the kid survives childhood, including the parent's ignorance, and grow into a responsible adult that contributes to life. That is the idea in the natural. The mystery is why some who seemed to have the best of everything still end up a giant flop and others who seem to have every obstacle possible thrown at them, survive and thrive.

Spiritual birth have so many mysteries to it. We all know the basic mechanics to it. A person believes the Word of God concerning Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross as well as His resurrection. This faith causes the life of God via the Holy Spirit to enter the person's spirit and cause a new life from within. Therefore the term: "born again". So where is the mystery? It is in the ones who do not make it despite all the effort from those around them and in those who made it even though they are  tossed aside and not taken care of like the allegory in Ezekiel.

Why does some people just get a hold of God and refuse to let go while others are ready for any excuse to quit on God? I honestly don't know. As many others I can surmise but there are so many variables. Suffice to say that I am convinced, absolutely 100% certain that God - in three persons - is fantastic. I know that does not sound very theological or religious. But really. He is the biggest adventure anyone can ever engage in. He is the most endless love , true love, to get lost in. I cannot imagine why anyone would choose anything above a relationship with Him.

Why do they? Maybe they never truely were born again. Maybe they never really got to know Him, and was left with the lies they saw lived out in the people who were supposed to mentor them. Maybe their heart were hard like a road, or covered with worries and shame or maybe they lost their faith somewhere in their pursuit of what this world can offer... and there is surely more maybe' s.

What can we do about this? I do believe that every prodigal can come home. I do believe God's grace is enough. I do believe there is power in prayer, love and forgiveness. I do believe that He who begun a good work in them is able to complete it. And I belief God who saved them will bring them back into a relationship with Him, if we can believe and ask Him in that faith.

Can anything be too hard for God?

FIRST.........LOVE.

When my children were young I once took our youngest two sons to a fastfood restaurant for lunch. They may have been 5 and 9. We were enjoying our sandwiches while talking. An elderly lady stopped by and said: "I've been sitting there watching how well you obeyed your mother. Now I would like to know, is it because you fear her or love her?"

Most humans and animals have a need for love. Love. Is a universal language crossing language and racial barriers. It breaks down walls and melts pre-conceived ideas. Love empowers, envisions and energies. Motivated by love, we endure , we sacrifice, we conquer, we lose ourselves. 

To know God's love is what is life- changing. To know His love enable us to love as He loves. We cannot begin to love and accept ourselves without an experiential knowledge of God's love for us. Without love and acceptance for ourselves we cannot love and accept someone else. His love gives us worth. His love opens life to us. It brings us from a mere, grey existence into a place of living, vibrant light.

God is love, perfect love. He is motivated by love. He proved His love by sending Jesus as sacrifice for sin. This removed the obstacle of sin so that we now have access to God. We can have a relationship with Him. Perfect love drives away fear. Fear includes punishment. Fear makes stupid decisions. Even if we obey because of fear we are selfishly motivated. It is only when we are moved by love that we give ourselves unreservedly, unconditionally.

Sin hardens our hearts so that we become callous about the love of God. This affects our faith. Faith works through love. When we know that God so loved us that He sent Jesus, we believe and this faith brings eternal life. This great love with which He loves us, is the first step. Know, really know, that He loves you. 

John 3:16, 1 John 4:7 - 5:3,  Galatians 5:6, Romans 5:8, John 14:34-35, Rev 2:4