When in The Valley

Have you ever felt like you were passing through the dark valley of the uncertainty or fear or despair and even hopelessness? If you have never felt those times then I really would love to know what your secret is.

However God is impressing on me more and more that when I enter those times in my life I am faced with a choice. I can shut my eyes tight and hope the end is near or I can take a breath, look with intent ahead and not just make it to the other side but see this valley changed into a green field. You may be wondering what I am on about, well I believe that as a Christian I am not only meant to survive those dark valleys but I have an opportunity to see them transformed into light and spacious places in my life.

In Ezekiel 37 (a very well-known portion of scripture) Ezekiel is taken by God in a vision and placed in a valley, Ezekiel could see that the valley was full of dry bones – does not sound like a nice place to “hang out”. God asks Ezekiel if those dry bones can live and Ezekiel gives an answer that is so often our response – “Only God knows”. That is not a wrong answer but it can often be an apathetic one.

God is not satisfied with that answer and tells Ezekiel to Prophesy to or Speak to those dry bones. God never wants us to become static in these valleys but to press through and even be active in seeing it transformed. In Psalm 23 David refers to such a valley, he says in verse 4 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley” – note that in those valleys we are meant to be moving forward and not staying still. David would have seen such a valley when he arrived at the Israelite Army’s camp to deliver some supplies to his brothers and the commander of their unit. There he found the soldiers “dismayed and terrified” because of that giant that was taunting them, what was of interest to me when working through this was that the Israel Army was camping at a valley - “Valley of Elah”. To that army it must have felt like a Valley of Death as they would see and hear the enemy giant mock them, how on earth were they going to overcome that!!!

I did a bit of research on the Valley of Elah and found another very interesting fact – according to Wikipedia the valley so called after the large and shady terebinth trees (Pistacia atlantica) which are indigenous to its parts.

And also that

In the late 19th century, Conder and Kitchener described the Elah valley as being "one of the most fertile districts in Palestine. It is an open flat vale about half a mile across, and covered with corn; a narrow trench runs down the centre full of white pebbles worn by the water in winter. Here and there large terebinths grow along its course (Butmet Wâdy es Sûr), and solitary oak trees (Ballûtet Kŭssis). On either side rise the stony hills covered with brushwood and wild growth. 

So that sounds like a “not too bad a place” – a fertile place with large shady trees.

To conclude, what God has been impressing on me more and more is that we are not only meant to keep going forward through those dark valleys but that He is inviting us to see the darkness, fear and hopelessness transformed into a fertile place. That He is encouraging us to Prophesy or Speak to those places and see life take over, that those Valleys in our lives would be transformed to the green pastures and still waters that David refers to in that same Psalm 23.

Maybe, just maybe we can take God at His word. That those great biblical hero’s like Ezekiel and David could actually be you and me in this day.

Chimneys

Ever noticed how many buildings have chimneys?  Society used to gather around the presence of fire. Buildings were designed around the presence of fire. How many of all those chimneys are still in use today? Not many I would venture to say. Fire is Dangerous, its a Health & Safety risk. Fire has been removed and chimneys have been condemned, we have invented alternate way of heating. We have nice heaters that look like fire places and make a nice but fake flame. Fire has been removed. 

Has the church removed the Fire of God, the Presence of God and made ways of "faking" or replacing it with programmes, watered down truth, the feel-good factor and political correctness.

When His Fire comes it consumes everything. When Elijah confronts the King, the prophets of Baal and the people of Israel on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18 he says that the God who answers with fire is the true God. After the prophets of Baal had been calling on their god for hours with no result Elijah builds an altar and prepares the sacrifice. His has it "flooded" with water then he prays. Verse 18 says;
" Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench."

The Fire of God consumes which can be scary, its not a "safe and in control" place to be unlike a nice warm heater. But a heater can never captivate us like a fire does. Have you ever gazed at a fire burning and been captivated? Now ask yourself - have you ever been captivated by a heater?

By removing the fire or presence of God we can control our meetings but will never see the healing, restoration and freedom that comes with the Fire of God.

My prayer is that I would never block the fire of God in my own life by choosing a safe and in control way of life

What are the Odds?

The story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel is well known and has been used for all sorts of scenarios

It says in 1 Samuel 17:20 that when David arrived at the Israelite camp in the Valley of Elah that “he reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.” Despite this attempt to get psyched up by shouting / chanting their war cry as they went the atmosphere in the camp was one of hopelessness and fear.

It is into this atmosphere that David arrives and he is surprised at their state of mind and spirit and asks what will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel. He is not traumatised by the sight and sound of Goliath as the rest of the Israelites were and is in a way angered and annoyed by the impact Goliath is having on the Israelite Army. His dismissal of Goliath angers his brother Eliab who responds to David with belittling accusations. Even that does not dissuade David and instead of shrinking back or getting into a defensive argument with Eliab he turns aside to continue his enquiry.

We know how this story ends and many messages, inspirational talks and other stories have been based around this defeat of the giant Goliath by the shepherd boy David.

What is interesting to me is how the “odds” changed when David arrived in the Israelite camp. His unwavering belief and security in the fact that his God would deliver him from the giant is an attitude that we should be emulating. We as individuals as well as our corporate gatherings carry the Presence of the Living God and therefore the odd should change when encounter negative circumstances and situations in life. As with the Goliath scenario - Sickness, Infirmity, Poverty, Hopelessness and Loneliness should all be “disarmed” when a believer in Jesus Christ enters the fray but do we as “believers” have an assuredness as David did?

Another thing is, how often we see that when an individual or a group of people begin to rise up in that spirit of belief and trust in God that another member or group of the faith reacts with negative comments and even make it their “project” to bring belittling and slander.

Often the same response that Eliab had is displayed because the comfort zones are challenged by a lifestyle of somebody with unwavering belief and security. It brings out all the insecurities and wobbles in lives and then a defensive reaction is produced instead of allowing inspiration and encouragement to be imparted and the odds over lives to shift.

Let us be a spiritual generation of Odds Changes regardless of age, gender or nationality and see Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.  

A Reflection rather a Campaign

It has been a while, where does time disappear to?

I have been working through the whole “Let you light shine” thing with God over the last while and have reached a rather obvious revelation in my walk with God.

My passion is to see Kingdom more and more as part of my everyday life. While much of the day is taken up with the mundane tasks that must be done I am desiring to see these times filled more and more with “God moments”. Taking more risks is something a group of us are feeling encouraged to do more and more by God and we have been encouraged by the testimonies that we have been hearing.

But then taking a risk is exactly that – Risk, and the comfort of my “comfort zone” can seem quite appealing at those times. To take a risk will require me to maybe speak with a stranger or do something that will require courage which I may not always have an abundance of. In this journey of wanting to take more God risks and seeing more of Kingdom in my everyday life I have felt heard the voice of God tell me that He does not need a Marketing Department. How often do we as Christians feel the need to mention that we are Christians to preach the gospel if we were to take a risk in God but He said to me that He really does not need me to market Him. My role is to reflect Him which could be in many ways. When I engage somebody in any way I will begin to see more of Kingdom breaking out by reflecting Jesus and not by feeling the need to have to market Him. An act of kindness will reflect Him in greater ways and be more of an example for Him that stumbling over a bunch of words about how I am a Christian and why I have said or done anything for God.

As His bride – us the church need to stop trying to be the Marketing Department of heaven and just focus on Him and taking risks in Him. We will then be a reflection of Him and carry His presence which will be the only thing that will actually appeal to a world that is sick of being the target of marketing campaigns of all types on a daily basis.  

Stay true to the calling on your life

I recently had a conversation after a church service with somebody I had not met before and found myself being encouraged to enter into a discussion / debate on the subject of “who Christians should be voting for in an upcoming election” the latest End Times  theory that the Tribulation will begin in September this year. I am not somebody that is obsessed with End Times signs and theories and was feeling very uncomfortable with entering into the discussion as I had not been expecting it and more so it was not the time and place. I tried to steer the conversation back to less intense topics and suggested going for a cup of tea but to no avail. The harder I tried to politely change the direction of conversation the more intense it seemed to get. In the end I had to ask to cut the conversation but was accused of being too naïve and being “one of those Christians that bury their heads in the sand”.  I managed to end the conversation in as much of a polite manner as possible but found that I had been quite affected by it.

For the next couple of days I found myself questioning if I was naïve and not seeking God, not specifically regarding the signs of the end times but was there any truth in the accusation in any way. Was I as committed to the Word of God as a whole as some of the fanatics are with regards to a specific topic?

A very wise man who is also a very good friend then gave me the best advice that I needed to be hearing.

He basically reminded me that our focus should be Jesus in all things and that Jesus is in control. No matter the political climate of the day – He is In Control, despite the latest claims of revelation regarding End Times – He is in Control. We should be fanatical about Jesus and partnering with Him in building His Kingdom.

He also reminded me to “Stay true to the calling on my life” and to walk in Freedom.

When I received that advice my spirit leapt again and I heard God say “Yes, now I have your attention again! Stop looking inwards and allowing distractions to rob.”

I was reminded of a verse in Geneses 26 v 18 where it tells of Isaac unstopping the wells that his father Abraham had dug which the Philistines has blocked up by throwing stones and junk in.

“ ¹⁸ Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.”

I had allowed the well within me to be blocked up by distractions, accusations and lies from the enemy which had meant my focus dropped from Jesus to myself.

I thank God for His faithfulness that even when we may not really know what it is that we are grappling with or that our focus has dropped from Him, He still reaches out to us just like He did when He reached out and caught Peter as Peter began to sink when taking his eyes off Jesus while walking on the water. I also thank Mike for being quick to respond with Gods encouragement to me.

So to anybody out there that may feel like your focus has dropped, I would say the same words to you that impacted me with such freeing power, clarity and love;

“Stay true to the calling on your life and to walk in Freedom”

A Thought; Am I Out of Breath or Out of Depth?

The 2^nd half of verse 3 in Isaiah 61 says this;

“That they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, for the display of his splendour.”     (New International Version)

Other versions like the King James and English Standard Version put that verse this way;   

“That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Who is it that the “They” in this verse this refers to?

Well it is anybody that has ever been Broken Hearted, Afflicted, Captive to something and reason to Mourn. That would just be about everybody but I know that I would fit into that category.

But because of Jesus my wounds have been bound and that I have been set free, liberated and vindicated. And even more so, I have been planted by God and called righteous by Him.

Ephesians 2:10 says that God has prepared “good works” in advance for me to walk in. By my walking in these “good Works” that God has prepared for me, His splendour is displayed and He is glorified. But do I know what these good works are? Have I sought God on them? In spending some time thinking on these verses and asking myself those questions I came to a conclusion that both excited me and terrified me. If God has prepared good works for me in advance (i.e. when He knit me together in my mother’s womb) and that His splendour is displayed when I walk in these good works then can they be dependent on my own skill and talents or education. I believe God has gifted each one of us and we are encouraged to stir up those gifting’s but so often I view my gifting’s in conjunction with my natural abilities. If this is the case then I have to ask myself this; “Can Gods splendour really be displayed through my life when I am operating from within my own ability, talents and education?”

The answer I came to was no. In order for God’s splendour to be displayed through me then I surely need to be out of my comfort zone and “in over my head”. This thought process did not bring condemnation and judgement but actually an encouragement from God to specifically place myself outside of my comfort zone. I want to live in or walk in all that God has for me here on earth and not to miss out on anything that He has prepared and waiting for me to step into. There is also a promise from God that He has already prepared good works for me and therefore He will be with me in walking in them. He will operate through me in fulfilling this promise and that it is not my responsibility to “perform” but to “position myself” in this.

Again this is by no means an encouragement to “work harder” but to trust God to use me way beyond my own talent and skill so that my life will be a display of His splendour.

Here we go

A number of years ago I was given 2 prophetic words which both included amongst other things about me starting to write and share what God gives me via the written like blogging.

Well I had never even considered blogging as I am somewhat of a technophobe and not that big into the social media world. I have a basic Facebook account but have never used Twitter or Instagram or any of the other social media sites out there and the concept of starting a blog frankly terrified me.

However I gave it a try in 2011 and blogged my 1^st blog however since then due to life’s business as well as my reluctance I have not given it another go………………………………...         Until now.

Why now after years of having a dormant blog site would I decide to begin posting? I guess the short answer is another question – “how can I truly say that I am sold out to Jesus and that He is my everything if I am not obedient to the things He asks of me?” I cannot even begin to imagine that day when I am standing before Him giving an account for my life and can only give excuses, you see we will not be judged on what we do but on what we were called to do. What do I have to loose anyway? If I go ahead and face the challenges of my fears and insecurities then that can only be good for me, however if God has called me to blog for whatever His reasons are then I want to “go for gold” that I would end my life being able to say that I did respond to Gods words and that I took a step of faith.

I want to hear those words on that day – “Well done My good and faithful servant” rather than being left with a mouth full of excuses. This has nothing to do with “works mentality” and I most certainly serve a loving and kind God and know that He desires more than me that I step into all that He predestined for me, not out of guilt or condemnation but out of absolute love, adoration and thanks to Him.