All of the tests you presently face are there to develop you into the person you need to be to live your destiny. Everything you are going through has been aligned by God to forge you into the person He has called you to be. Your destiny is unfolding before your very eyes. You have a battle to win, and He must prepare you for it.
When we embrace the idea that God has a plan for us, no issue should be able to stop us. The statement, “This situation will be the death of me,” is completely incorrect. The truth is that this situation will make you into who you are destined to be.
God partners with our present situation to prepare us for the future He has designed. He uses every test, every challenge, every hurdle, every issue to sharpen us for what is to come.
We can use the prophecies over our life to navigate our way through our present circumstance. God wants to establish intimacy as a way of life. He wants to cover us in His favor. This process starts by God establishing the fact that He is our source. Quietly and deliberately, God will strip away every crutch we have been relying on and obliterate anything that detracts from His ability to provide for us.
He wants to take away the false sense of security most of us have been clinging to. God is not in the business of playing second fiddle to anything—and certainly not to the many ways we try and take care of ourselves.
Lesson one is to go into the future and bring back the traits and intimacy we will need to fulfill our destiny. We must understand what that intimacy will look like. How must our relationship with God evolve and grow in order for us to become the person He has destined us to be?
When I was 31 years old, I had a dream about the kind of relationship with God I would have when I was 45. It was so alluring, so magnificent, so amazing, that I did not want to wait 14 years to get there. I was so hungry when I woke up that I immediately began to pray for that kind of intimacy to happen right away. I discovered something in the process of fighting for that word—I didn’t have to wait until I was 45 for it to come to pass. I had been looking prophetically at a 45-year-old who had lived in that intimacy for ten years!
Our timeline is not always God’s timeline. He often wants to bring breakthrough far sooner than we dare hope. I wanted that intimacy at age 31, thanks to God creating a deep hunger in me for it. I thought about it, meditated on it, prayed for it, and began to come into powerful times of worship. An hour worshipping God would turn into two and then three and sometimes six. I desperately wanted to know God, and God always answers an extreme desire for intimacy.
Prophetic words come to pass as our intimacy and reliance on God develops. Intimacy is a part of our destiny. Look at the prophetic words over your life and ask yourself about the intimacy you will need to live in that kind of wonder. Become hungry for that relationship, and your destiny will come into focus.
In Genesis 18:9, God says a remarkably simple thing about Abraham, His dear friend: “I have known him,” (NKJV). God wants that same intimacy with us, and has guaranteed that it can occur through the love and motivation of Jesus. Intimacy draws us and keeps us in the presence of God. Jesus taught on the importance of this relationship in John 15:4-5—Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Intimacy is a reciprocal act; there is exchange and dialogue. It is not a one-way street. There is interaction between us and the Lord Jesus, and that interaction results in us staying, dwelling, and remaining where God has put us in Christ.
The enemy wants to knock us out of that place of intimacy. He knows how key that relationship is to everything the Lord wants to accomplish, so he tries to poison it from the start. Without water, a seed won’t grow; the enemy wants to kill the seed of our destiny before we grow even a single inch. But our job is to be so established in an intimate relationship with God that nothing can come between us and Him.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” David sang in Psalm 139:23-24. That is the very crux of intimacy—allowing God to look deep into us and remove any blockage between Him and us. Everything in our lives, every situation we go through, is about growing our intimacy with God.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Tough love
Just last week, a tumour started growing on the foot of Tom Yam, my pet hamster. Took him to the vet, and because he's a small creature, surgery isn't quite an option. Amputation is, and the vet assured me that Tom Yam's quality of life would still be pretty good even if he were down to three legs. But we thought we would defer that drastic move. In the meantime, I am to swab the tumour every day with a disinfectant to prevent an infection.
I know it hurts or stings badly when I swab the foot because Tom Yam struggles and winces every time. The other day, this mildest of hamsters even bit me because I insisted on putting him through the pain for his own good. It was the first time he ever bit me, probably because he really wanted me to stop putting him through pain.
It reminded me of this principle: In the fire, and trial, it really is about understanding and trusting God's love. It may be tough love. But it is love alright.
Graham Cooke writes:
"If we really are going to rise to a place where our own personal anointing and faith level is high, then we need to know what real communion with God is. All ministry comes out of relationship. Power comes out of suffering and anointing comes out of intimacy. It is in communion with God that we learn how to humble ourselves under His hand. There is no point in complaining.
In communion, the Lord works a new level of intimacy into our lives. Standing still under the hand of God, wanting His will to be fulfilled no matter what cost to ourselves, is one of the most intimate responses we can make to Him. Kneeling down to kiss the hand that hurts creates an intimacy that truly glorifies God."
I baulked when I heard the line "kneeling down to kiss the hand that hurts creates an intimacy that truly glorifies God", because it is so hard to do! When God is stripping away the things in our lives that hinder love, it will hurt. And it will hurt bad. The human tendency is to resist, to decry the process. Would it be that we will have the grace to endure, knowing that when God puts us through a stripping process, it is only out of love.
I know it hurts or stings badly when I swab the foot because Tom Yam struggles and winces every time. The other day, this mildest of hamsters even bit me because I insisted on putting him through the pain for his own good. It was the first time he ever bit me, probably because he really wanted me to stop putting him through pain.
It reminded me of this principle: In the fire, and trial, it really is about understanding and trusting God's love. It may be tough love. But it is love alright.
Graham Cooke writes:
"If we really are going to rise to a place where our own personal anointing and faith level is high, then we need to know what real communion with God is. All ministry comes out of relationship. Power comes out of suffering and anointing comes out of intimacy. It is in communion with God that we learn how to humble ourselves under His hand. There is no point in complaining.
In communion, the Lord works a new level of intimacy into our lives. Standing still under the hand of God, wanting His will to be fulfilled no matter what cost to ourselves, is one of the most intimate responses we can make to Him. Kneeling down to kiss the hand that hurts creates an intimacy that truly glorifies God."
I baulked when I heard the line "kneeling down to kiss the hand that hurts creates an intimacy that truly glorifies God", because it is so hard to do! When God is stripping away the things in our lives that hinder love, it will hurt. And it will hurt bad. The human tendency is to resist, to decry the process. Would it be that we will have the grace to endure, knowing that when God puts us through a stripping process, it is only out of love.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Revival: Don't Substitute Praying for Obeying (Tozer)
So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." (Samuel 15:22)
Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of
late-and how little revival has resulted?
Considering the volume of prayer that is ascending these days, rivers
of revival should be flowing in blessing throughout the land. That
no such results are in evidence should not discourage us; rather it
should stir us to find out why our prayers are not answered....
I believe our problem is that we have been trying to substitute
praying for obeying; and it simply will not work....
Prayer is never an acceptable substitute for obedience. The sovereign
Lord accepts no offering from His creatures that is not accompanied
by obedience. To pray for revival while ignoring or actually flouting
the plain precept laid down in the Scriptures is to waste a lot of
words and get nothing for our trouble.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; show me any wicked way that
needs to be corrected in my own life before revival can come. I'm
praying for revival; help me to also be obeying. Amen."
Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of
late-and how little revival has resulted?
Considering the volume of prayer that is ascending these days, rivers
of revival should be flowing in blessing throughout the land. That
no such results are in evidence should not discourage us; rather it
should stir us to find out why our prayers are not answered....
I believe our problem is that we have been trying to substitute
praying for obeying; and it simply will not work....
Prayer is never an acceptable substitute for obedience. The sovereign
Lord accepts no offering from His creatures that is not accompanied
by obedience. To pray for revival while ignoring or actually flouting
the plain precept laid down in the Scriptures is to waste a lot of
words and get nothing for our trouble.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; show me any wicked way that
needs to be corrected in my own life before revival can come. I'm
praying for revival; help me to also be obeying. Amen."
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Longing for the fire to fall
Many of us long to be baptised in the Holy Spirit - for His fire to fall on us - the same way it was at Pentecost.
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." (Acts 2:1)
The Old Testament equivalent is this: after Solomon had finished dedicating the temple through prayer, "fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple". (2 Chronicles 7:1)
In the New Testament, we are meant to be that sacrifice. "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)
Tamara Winslow writes: "OT worshippers expected fire to fall. Heavenly fire fell on acceptable sacrifices, and if it didn't fall, for some reason, heaven didn't approve of the offering. The acceptable sacrifice is like a magnet, attracting God's approval and fire (Acts 2:1-3), Holy Spirit visitation and outpouring."
Here are some questions to ponder:
1. Why doesn't the fire tangibly and visibly fall today?
2. Have we failed to offer sacrifices that are pleasing to God?
3. Per AW Tozer's devotional message below, if the fire were to fall, will it give off a sweet smell or a rancid one?
Worship with a stench - AW Tozer
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. --Isaiah 1:16
Let us suppose we are back in the old days of the high priest, who took incense into the sanctum and went behind the veil and offered it there. And let us suppose that rubber - the worst-smelling thing I can think of when it burns - had been available in those days. Let us suppose that chips of rubber had been mixed with the incense, so that instead of the pure smoke of the spices filling the temple with sweet perfume, there had been the black, angry, rancid smell of rubber mixed with it. How could a priest worship God by mixing with the sweet-smelling ingredients some foul ingredient that would be a stench in the nostrils of priest and people?
So how can we worship God acceptably when there is within our nature something that, when it catches on fire, gives off not a fragrance but a smell? How can we hope to worship God acceptably when there is something in our nature which is undisciplined, uncorrected, unpurged, unpurified - which is evil and which will not and cannot worship God acceptably? Even granted that a man with evil ingredients in his nature might with some part of him worship God half acceptably, what kind of a way is that to live?
"Purify my heart. Bring to my remembrance anything that might be a stench in Your holy nostrils. Cleanse me, that my worship this morning might be a sweet perfume, pleasing to You in every way. Amen."
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." (Acts 2:1)
The Old Testament equivalent is this: after Solomon had finished dedicating the temple through prayer, "fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple". (2 Chronicles 7:1)
In the New Testament, we are meant to be that sacrifice. "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)
Tamara Winslow writes: "OT worshippers expected fire to fall. Heavenly fire fell on acceptable sacrifices, and if it didn't fall, for some reason, heaven didn't approve of the offering. The acceptable sacrifice is like a magnet, attracting God's approval and fire (Acts 2:1-3), Holy Spirit visitation and outpouring."
Here are some questions to ponder:
1. Why doesn't the fire tangibly and visibly fall today?
2. Have we failed to offer sacrifices that are pleasing to God?
3. Per AW Tozer's devotional message below, if the fire were to fall, will it give off a sweet smell or a rancid one?
Worship with a stench - AW Tozer
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. --Isaiah 1:16
Let us suppose we are back in the old days of the high priest, who took incense into the sanctum and went behind the veil and offered it there. And let us suppose that rubber - the worst-smelling thing I can think of when it burns - had been available in those days. Let us suppose that chips of rubber had been mixed with the incense, so that instead of the pure smoke of the spices filling the temple with sweet perfume, there had been the black, angry, rancid smell of rubber mixed with it. How could a priest worship God by mixing with the sweet-smelling ingredients some foul ingredient that would be a stench in the nostrils of priest and people?
So how can we worship God acceptably when there is within our nature something that, when it catches on fire, gives off not a fragrance but a smell? How can we hope to worship God acceptably when there is something in our nature which is undisciplined, uncorrected, unpurged, unpurified - which is evil and which will not and cannot worship God acceptably? Even granted that a man with evil ingredients in his nature might with some part of him worship God half acceptably, what kind of a way is that to live?
"Purify my heart. Bring to my remembrance anything that might be a stench in Your holy nostrils. Cleanse me, that my worship this morning might be a sweet perfume, pleasing to You in every way. Amen."
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Whom God confides in
Today's reading from Ellel's Peter Horrobin is a great reminder of the privilege that we as children of God have - that of hearing the voice of our God. But it is also a reminder that the measure by which God confides in us is in proportion to the measure by which we are in right relationship with Him.
In Genesis 18, God says something that is remarkable to me! God has decided to judge Sodom and Gomorrah. And this is the Lord of all the Earth. But before He carries out his plans, it seems that He feels compelled to share His heart with a man. Not just any man though, but with Abraham, whom God says will "keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just".
Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.[c] 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Here's what Peter Horrobin says:
“The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.”
Psalm 25:14, NIV
When you confide in someone, you are doing two things. Firstly you are trusting them and secondly, you are sharing with them things that you wouldn’t necessarily want anyone else to know about. This remarkable verse expresses an incredible and amazing truth - that the living God, the Creator of the Universe wants to trust us and share with each one of us personally in just this way!
He wants to trust us and then He wants to share with us things that are precious and important to us that are not for anyone else to hear. But if we want to be one of those who is able to hear the Lord speaking in this sort of way - and sharing His heart with us, then there is a condition that we need to fulfil. It’s a very simple one - have we learned to “fear the Lord”?
When someone fears the Lord, they are not afraid of Him because he’s a frightening person. But because they love Him they will always seek to walk in His ways. Their first choice will always be to do those things that please Him. And it is to these that the Lord reveals the blessings that are to be enjoyed through understanding His covenant. Someone who has the ear of the Lord will not need to be alarmed, in case they accidentally transgress the commandments of God - for they will constantly be aware of the Lord’s gentle confiding voice showing them what is right and what is wrong, what is within God’s covenant provisions and what is not.
It is through this profound principle of covenant relationship with God that we are able to enjoy the guidance of the Lord in all of life’s many different circumstances. I can think back to times when I chose not to listen to God’s confiding voice and do my own thing - always those were proven to be bad decisions. I learned the hard way that the only key to guidance that really matters is also the key to being in relationship with the Lord - enjoying life living in holy fear of a holy God. Then the promise of the second part of the verse can be fulfilled - as our eyes are always on Him, the Lord will release us from snares laid on our pathway by the enemy of souls. No wonder Isaiah said that the Sovereign Lord would come to “proclaim freedom for the captives” (Isaiah 61:1)
Prayer: Lord, I would love to hear Your confiding voice, as you share with me Your truths and lead me along the path of righteousness. Help me to desire above all else to walk day by day within the provisions of Your covenant blessings. In Jesus Name, Amen.
In Genesis 18, God says something that is remarkable to me! God has decided to judge Sodom and Gomorrah. And this is the Lord of all the Earth. But before He carries out his plans, it seems that He feels compelled to share His heart with a man. Not just any man though, but with Abraham, whom God says will "keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just".
Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.[c] 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Here's what Peter Horrobin says:
“The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.”
Psalm 25:14, NIV
When you confide in someone, you are doing two things. Firstly you are trusting them and secondly, you are sharing with them things that you wouldn’t necessarily want anyone else to know about. This remarkable verse expresses an incredible and amazing truth - that the living God, the Creator of the Universe wants to trust us and share with each one of us personally in just this way!
He wants to trust us and then He wants to share with us things that are precious and important to us that are not for anyone else to hear. But if we want to be one of those who is able to hear the Lord speaking in this sort of way - and sharing His heart with us, then there is a condition that we need to fulfil. It’s a very simple one - have we learned to “fear the Lord”?
When someone fears the Lord, they are not afraid of Him because he’s a frightening person. But because they love Him they will always seek to walk in His ways. Their first choice will always be to do those things that please Him. And it is to these that the Lord reveals the blessings that are to be enjoyed through understanding His covenant. Someone who has the ear of the Lord will not need to be alarmed, in case they accidentally transgress the commandments of God - for they will constantly be aware of the Lord’s gentle confiding voice showing them what is right and what is wrong, what is within God’s covenant provisions and what is not.
It is through this profound principle of covenant relationship with God that we are able to enjoy the guidance of the Lord in all of life’s many different circumstances. I can think back to times when I chose not to listen to God’s confiding voice and do my own thing - always those were proven to be bad decisions. I learned the hard way that the only key to guidance that really matters is also the key to being in relationship with the Lord - enjoying life living in holy fear of a holy God. Then the promise of the second part of the verse can be fulfilled - as our eyes are always on Him, the Lord will release us from snares laid on our pathway by the enemy of souls. No wonder Isaiah said that the Sovereign Lord would come to “proclaim freedom for the captives” (Isaiah 61:1)
Prayer: Lord, I would love to hear Your confiding voice, as you share with me Your truths and lead me along the path of righteousness. Help me to desire above all else to walk day by day within the provisions of Your covenant blessings. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The Secret Place
It's interesting that in Matthew 6, Jesus teaches that giving, fasting and prayer should be done in secret.
In reference to these three things, He says, do them in secret. "Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
There is a place of hiddenness, a secret place, where God builds character, in order that the man of His choosing might be able to carry the anointing. It is a place where away from the gaze of others, He builds a deep foundation in His children, in order that they may carry His giftings.
It was so with Elijah, whom God hid at the Brook Cherith and in the widow's house for 3 years, before he came forth in power to take on the prophets of Baal on a single day.
It was so for Moses, who was hidden in the desert for 40 years, before he was used as an instrument to liberate the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery.
It was so for Jesus, whose preparation took 30 years, for 3 years of public ministry.
I like this quote by Leonard Ravenhill on the prophet.
"He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years."
It is in the place of hiddenness, the secret place, in communion with the Lord that God prepares His children to do mighty exploits.
It is only they that know their God who do mighty exploits for Him (Daniel 11:32). Would it be that we are a people of the secret place.
In reference to these three things, He says, do them in secret. "Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
There is a place of hiddenness, a secret place, where God builds character, in order that the man of His choosing might be able to carry the anointing. It is a place where away from the gaze of others, He builds a deep foundation in His children, in order that they may carry His giftings.
It was so with Elijah, whom God hid at the Brook Cherith and in the widow's house for 3 years, before he came forth in power to take on the prophets of Baal on a single day.
It was so for Moses, who was hidden in the desert for 40 years, before he was used as an instrument to liberate the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery.
It was so for Jesus, whose preparation took 30 years, for 3 years of public ministry.
I like this quote by Leonard Ravenhill on the prophet.
"He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years."
It is in the place of hiddenness, the secret place, in communion with the Lord that God prepares His children to do mighty exploits.
It is only they that know their God who do mighty exploits for Him (Daniel 11:32). Would it be that we are a people of the secret place.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Blessings (Laura Story)
Blessings
We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?
We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the achings of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?
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