"Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever" Psalm 23: 6
"What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me?" Psalm 116: 12
Was reflecting upon how good God has been to my family for generations past. How in my own life I have experienced His strong love, protection and provision. He has been faithful just as He has said of Himself. My life has been truly blessed, so much so I often wonder why the same life God has so kindly bestowed upon me is not the life He has given everyone else. I could have so easily been one chosen to be given to a family living in a poverty-stricken land with a corrupt government and neighbours who would only want to take me away for their personal gain once I was of age. I could have been born to a couple who would repeatedly abuse me or be completely negligent of my needs as a baby and child. I may have had to labour for my own keep from the time I could stand and move without aid. I could have been brought to a home entrenched in ancestral and idol worship, and be offered to the gods, by ignorant parents, for perceived protection. But I wasn't. How did God choose where to place each and every one of us? I have come to realise, by observing and listening to the lives of various ones, that God equips the person for the place and situations He brings them to. That's not to say they don't suffer or that many never discover this inner strength and capacity and lose their mind and heart. I am grateful and at times ashamed that I complain so much when others are going through horrendous circumstances and some, even rejoicing in God's goodness. They have truly come to understand what it means when we say that God is good. He cannot be defined or comprehended with limited human knowledge. It is only by His grace and through the Holy Spirit we find this revelation, this amazing truth.
"God is better than we think", my pastor's wife said last Sunday. "Yet we may not see or feel His goodness because of sin" (in my understanding, this refers to our own sin and that of others leading them to make poor decisions that hurt us). Our pride, self centredness, self reliance, lack of faith, folly, lust, greed, inconsideration...hinder us from experiencing God's goodness in our lives because we're choosing our own way instead. He wants us to know that He is good. That He is love. He has blessings in store for us. "He is able to do immeasurably above and beyond all we can ask for or even imagine", as the Bible tells us in Ephesians 3: 20. We need to come back to His Word, realign ourselves with His thinking, follow His ways. As we determine no longer to conform to the world's marred standards and let Him renew our minds, we will then "test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will", as in Romans 12: 2. We will begin to desire after what is really good, what is beneficial and not simply permissible. He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37: 4)- meaning He will be the one to place the pure desires within us and bring them to fruition and meet them as we cling to Him. Easier said than done, perhaps, but true.
You have been crying out to God for deeper passion, for a renewed desire after Him. He will set your heart alight. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. your heart will be on fire for Him. It will be a fire that will bring you comfort and not fear. But first there will be a time of seeking after Him. I pray that you will cry out in desperation for Him. It is a time of going into the prayer chamber, of going into the secret place as He calls you, His bride. It is a time of preparation, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is with the Holy Spirit in you that you will have that deep passion for God, for things you have not had the desire to do up to this point (though you know they are good and you see others accomplishing them). It is with the Holy Spirit that you will have anointing, enablement, empowerment. It is God who calls you. You are a woman of purpose. You were not fashioned simply to stay home and bake muffins all day. But you have been called to so much more. God will bring about a freshness within you, a freshness to your spirit as you cry out to Him and are refreshed and renewed in Him. A freshness like that of bread just made. There will be a joy within you. A renewed vision. From the time of seeking, you will taste of the Lord's goodness and you shall be one to declare it. It is as if you are opening a scroll and with your lips you shall speak of His goodness, of "the wonders of God". You will prophecy and unlock doors to peoples' hearts that they too may come to know Him and experience His goodness in their lives. It will be as written in Acts chapter 2. They sought God and were filled with the Holy Spirit. It came like a fire upon them and they declared God to the people. There will be signs and wonders. God gives this to both men and women who walk with Him.
After writing down what Belle shared and reading through Acts 2 as she suggested, it dawned on me that Pastor Cho spoke of such things in his book on Church Growth. I've finished it now but there is so much I need to go through again to really grasp the message and to begin to apply it into my life. Let me try and consolidate some of the main points in relation to what I've written and put it together in another post. What is fascinating is that the theme of our Oceania Convention next year is signs and wonders. I think 2009 is going to be a trying yet exciting year that will stretch each and every one of us. Our response to where God is leading and how we are to get there is key.
"What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me?" Psalm 116: 12
Was reflecting upon how good God has been to my family for generations past. How in my own life I have experienced His strong love, protection and provision. He has been faithful just as He has said of Himself. My life has been truly blessed, so much so I often wonder why the same life God has so kindly bestowed upon me is not the life He has given everyone else. I could have so easily been one chosen to be given to a family living in a poverty-stricken land with a corrupt government and neighbours who would only want to take me away for their personal gain once I was of age. I could have been born to a couple who would repeatedly abuse me or be completely negligent of my needs as a baby and child. I may have had to labour for my own keep from the time I could stand and move without aid. I could have been brought to a home entrenched in ancestral and idol worship, and be offered to the gods, by ignorant parents, for perceived protection. But I wasn't. How did God choose where to place each and every one of us? I have come to realise, by observing and listening to the lives of various ones, that God equips the person for the place and situations He brings them to. That's not to say they don't suffer or that many never discover this inner strength and capacity and lose their mind and heart. I am grateful and at times ashamed that I complain so much when others are going through horrendous circumstances and some, even rejoicing in God's goodness. They have truly come to understand what it means when we say that God is good. He cannot be defined or comprehended with limited human knowledge. It is only by His grace and through the Holy Spirit we find this revelation, this amazing truth.
"God is better than we think", my pastor's wife said last Sunday. "Yet we may not see or feel His goodness because of sin" (in my understanding, this refers to our own sin and that of others leading them to make poor decisions that hurt us). Our pride, self centredness, self reliance, lack of faith, folly, lust, greed, inconsideration...hinder us from experiencing God's goodness in our lives because we're choosing our own way instead. He wants us to know that He is good. That He is love. He has blessings in store for us. "He is able to do immeasurably above and beyond all we can ask for or even imagine", as the Bible tells us in Ephesians 3: 20. We need to come back to His Word, realign ourselves with His thinking, follow His ways. As we determine no longer to conform to the world's marred standards and let Him renew our minds, we will then "test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will", as in Romans 12: 2. We will begin to desire after what is really good, what is beneficial and not simply permissible. He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37: 4)- meaning He will be the one to place the pure desires within us and bring them to fruition and meet them as we cling to Him. Easier said than done, perhaps, but true.
You have been crying out to God for deeper passion, for a renewed desire after Him. He will set your heart alight. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. your heart will be on fire for Him. It will be a fire that will bring you comfort and not fear. But first there will be a time of seeking after Him. I pray that you will cry out in desperation for Him. It is a time of going into the prayer chamber, of going into the secret place as He calls you, His bride. It is a time of preparation, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is with the Holy Spirit in you that you will have that deep passion for God, for things you have not had the desire to do up to this point (though you know they are good and you see others accomplishing them). It is with the Holy Spirit that you will have anointing, enablement, empowerment. It is God who calls you. You are a woman of purpose. You were not fashioned simply to stay home and bake muffins all day. But you have been called to so much more. God will bring about a freshness within you, a freshness to your spirit as you cry out to Him and are refreshed and renewed in Him. A freshness like that of bread just made. There will be a joy within you. A renewed vision. From the time of seeking, you will taste of the Lord's goodness and you shall be one to declare it. It is as if you are opening a scroll and with your lips you shall speak of His goodness, of "the wonders of God". You will prophecy and unlock doors to peoples' hearts that they too may come to know Him and experience His goodness in their lives. It will be as written in Acts chapter 2. They sought God and were filled with the Holy Spirit. It came like a fire upon them and they declared God to the people. There will be signs and wonders. God gives this to both men and women who walk with Him.
After writing down what Belle shared and reading through Acts 2 as she suggested, it dawned on me that Pastor Cho spoke of such things in his book on Church Growth. I've finished it now but there is so much I need to go through again to really grasp the message and to begin to apply it into my life. Let me try and consolidate some of the main points in relation to what I've written and put it together in another post. What is fascinating is that the theme of our Oceania Convention next year is signs and wonders. I think 2009 is going to be a trying yet exciting year that will stretch each and every one of us. Our response to where God is leading and how we are to get there is key.
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