I have known for years I should be writing.
What to write exactly, has not been evident, but write I
must. In the last months God has started touching my life
through prayer and the word and I feel I should just write
about what I am going through and if it helps no-one else
but me that is also OK. But somehow I know that God uses all
our gifts and talents to grow his kingdom. So let’s see what
happens when I follow the prompting of the Spirit.
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Romans 1:1Paul,
a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an
apostle and set apart for the gospel of God
When we come to Christ we are
automatically set apart. The word of God teaches us
that whilst we are in the world we are not part of
the world. We know that we battle the flesh and we
continuously strive to bring the flesh under
submission.
Romans 7:14We
know that the law is spiritual; but I am
unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15I do not
understand what I do. For what I want to do I do
not do, but what I hate I do.
But nevertheless I am set apart, just
like Paul. This is in the spiritual sense in that we
are being transformed into his image but also in the
practical sense in that we are to become like him,
imitators of the Lord.
My prayer is that I may remember I am
set apart and to cling to that which the Lord has
promised.
Tags:
set apart
Andrew Wommack was preaching and he reminded
me of something that has become really important to me -
It is a sign of a lunatic who keeps doing
the same thing over and over again and thinks that
somehow we will get a different result.
If last year was not the year that we look
back on and say “that was a wondeful year” then we cannot
afford to do the same old things we did last year and hope
that the results will be any different. We sometimes think
change comes from the outside, but change must come from
the inside.
Wommack was saying that if there is one place
to start it should be in the way we approach the word of God
(Bible). We should plan to read and study the word of God
more passionately and purposefully than ever before. Then
change will come. Jentezen Franklin says that Joshua speaks
of studying the word of God morning and night and when you
do that the result is you will prosper in all things.
Tags:
word of god
Psalm 103:17
But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is
with those who fear him, and his righteousness with
their children’s children.
When we have crises of faith, or just plain
periods of doubting, it is good to remember the basics. God
loves me. Whenever we doubt, it is a sure thing we have
forgotten about his love which is from everlasting to
everlasting. It is mid month and we have had a good week,
but we are far from safe. So I look and say thank you God
for what you have done, but could you not speed it up a
little? Could we not perhaps for once get ahead of the
curve, instead of hanging in there in faith and hope for it
to all come right?
My trainer bailed on me. So now I am
scrambling to reschedule dates for a later time. I was
hoping God could have made a way but then again God knows. I
have to trust that as one who loves me, he has my best
interest at heart. When I look at his word, I am reminded.
When I look at circumstances sometimes I question. God does
not mind the questioning, so long as it is done in faith
like Mary. Zachariah also questioned like Mary and he was
struck dumb for asking the same question. But I reckon he
asked in doubt whereas Mary asked for an explanation.
So God, thank you for loving me, and now
please answer me…
Tags:
doubt,
love
Today was spent at our church vision leaders
conference at CBUC. Our pastor shared with us the vision God
has laid on his heart for this year and maybe the years to
come and that is the slogan used in the title. The day
started with a talk on leadership by Rose Roode from
Fishhoek. She shared her walk in leadership and I have to
say it was inspirational to say the least. She spoke for an
hour and it felt like 5 minutes. Then she asked for people
to come up if they wanted prayer. I never go up for those
things – I mean never. But as she started to ask about
people wanting prayer it was as though I wanted to rush to
the front. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and
she recently prophesied over my wife and it was such a
powerful word and force in her life that I knew this lady
was for real. So I was excited that God had something for
me.
The prophecy that she had for me was pretty
amazing. I will get the tape from the church and write it
out. But God said there is a breakthrough coming and Lord I
receive that. Praise God.
The interesting thing was that she prayed for
what must have been to or three minutes for each person and
every person had a different prayer. Some people told me she
had prayed things about them that no-one knew, but
themselves. I always find that so great. Then I think the
best conversation I had was with the pastors wife and she
said to me “wouldn’t it be amazing if we saw each other in
the same way that God sees us”. Boy aint that true.
Tags:
prophecy
1 Corinthians 13:
9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10but when perfection
comes, the imperfect disappears.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I
thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12Now we see but a poor
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to
face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even
as I am fully known.
13And
now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the
greatest of these is love.
We don’t have all the answers! Costa Mitchell
from Vineyard ministries shared with us about eldership
yesterday and one of his final points was brought out by the
above scripture. I had a discussion with my dad in law some
weeks back about church unity and why it is that with people
who say they love God (Christians) – these same people are
unable to agree enough to just get on with church unity and
being of one mind. We then had a discussion on elders and
whether or not a church can have women elders.
I asked Costa this same question yesterday to
get his response as to what the Vineyard church’s view on it
is, and he shared a number of scriptures which they believe
shows clearly that men and women can serve equally in every
sphere of church leadership. For some churches the
sacraments of communion and baptism are non negotiable, for
others the issue of women leaders is non negotiable, for
others speaking in tongues is non negotiable. So we are back
to square one.
No wonder there is no church unity. We all
believe we are right and we have the right interpretation of
scripture based on our studies. And if that is so, we are
right and “they” are wrong. But luckily we have this passage
from 1 Corinthians 13. We don’t know it all, we only know in
part.
Thank goodness for that. Now if we all agree
on that point at least there may be hope for church unity.
Tags:
1 Corinthians 13,
baptism,
communion,
elders,
leadership,
unity