Door opening

Door opening.

This is something that I have been pondering on for sometime now.

Are you a door opener?

Okay, let’s backtrack bit.

Firstly I want to say that, yes, absolutely, God is the ultimate ‘door opener’. Seasons are in His hand. He has crafted each one of us, and His hand is on each one of you. He knows what is in your heart, the plans and purposes, the dreams and visions.

And I think that yes, many of you will agree that you have been in a season of being hidden in Him. And for some of you that season has been long, for some it has been challenging, for some, you have all but given up.

So what happens when the season begins to change?

You see, I look across New Zealand, and I feel the season is beginning to change. I think of folk with God’s anointed messages in their hearts, business plans in their dreams, songs on paper,  prophetic words in their journals, hidden, not yet released. And I am beginning to feel a stirring.

Now, I love to sit under well known ministries. The fore-runners – with the impartations, the faith building stories, the anointings, the revelations, the wisdom, the teaching. Come on! That is all good.

But, the stirring I feel tells me, that there are anointings, revelations, teaching, prophetic messages, music, etc that God is wanting to begin to release in New Zealand , that right now are hidden in homes, churches, towns, marae, across this nation.

So let’s begin to think as door openers. Because God always works in partnership with us doesn’t He?!

We pray for open doors, we declare doors to be open, we look for open doors, we are ready to receive open doors. And that is all good. The keys of the kingdom being released. But, who is doing the opening? (Remembering that I said although God is ultimate door opener, He uses His people). If all we are doing is looking for doors to be opened, then there is a problem… and will be a problem.

Some may call it being a releaser, or raising up the next generation… but I see it as more broad than that. A door opener carries the heart of a giver, of an encourager, of a visionary, a supporter. It is not aged based.

It is seeing what God has created in someone, and providing space , resources, an open avenue, opportunity,   for that person.

Remember in Galations, where it is written of Paul, that due to his revelation, he decided to double check with others that he was on the right track..

  and when James and Cephas and John, …, perceived the grace that was given to me… (ESVST) Galations 2:9

They perceived the grace on him. As door openers we need to perceive God’s grace on others. Just because someone’s revelation, gifts, skills, call maybe radically different, we can still open doors for them, or accept them as the people who God leads through the door we opened.

So,

Who is in your sphere? Who do you know that you can open a door for?

Or what doors can you open, and see who God leads through?

Remember the 11 disciples deciding to cast lots to see who would replace Judas? They opened a door, and God lead Matthias through.

Let’s be door openers and look for opportunities to release the giftings and dreams of the folks around us.

Quietly contemplating humility

If you happen to be a tramper, bushwalker, hiker in northern New Zealand, then undoubtedly you have heard of kauri dieback disease. A fungal infection killing off the beautiful ancient kauri trees, and destroying our forests. Some tracks have now been closed. We are no longer able to enjoy those places and sites. In other areas, before entering a track, one must cross the ‘disinfectant zone’. Boots are scrubbed and sprayed to cover them in disinfectant before entering or exiting a track, to aid in the long term future of those trees.

What’s this got to do with humility?

Allegory.

Because I have been contemplating humility. Yes, that’s correct. Humility.

The way I picture it, we are on a journey discovering God and His kingdom, discovering His glory, we have a future of greater intimacy with Him, of encounters, visitations, being caught up in the Spirit.. and seeing Him minister to the folks around us. It is a beautiful journey, the most stunning scenery, – even if the track gets a bit bumpy from time to time!

And I can see that, for this journey to continue, for greater clarity, for experiencing more of Him, I need to pause at the ‘disinfectant zone’. That is, I am pausing this past week or two, at the vital place of humility.
Contemplating the necessity of humility. How I need it to be increased in my life.

I see how Jesus, when He was on earth as The Son of Man, walked in, lived in, ministered in humility. He is humility.

For us to experience more of the supernatural power of God, to minister out of encounters, to love furiously, consistently, long-term, I am struck by how great a part humility plays in this. 

1 Peter 5 says we are to clothe ourselves in humility.

Col 3:12 speaks of ‘putting on’ humility (along with kindness, meekness ..).

Romans 13:14 Paul writes about ‘putting on Jesus’ the ‘armor of light’.

See that? Putting on – clothing ourselves with Christ. Clothing ourselves with His attributes, that He appears to others through us.

We are to be humble. 1 Peter 5. God looks upon the lowly. Gives grace to the humble. 

Because we are earthen vessels, (yes loved, redemmed, seated with Christ, alive in Him), but still earthen vessels that He has chosen to place His treasure inside, we in our own strength, our own efforts , cannot walk in true humility. We need Jesus’ humility. We need Jesus. To be clothed in Him.
Downloaded with His humility.

As we humble ourselves, allowing and receiving Jesus to clothe us, His grace comes. (Remember: He gives grace to the humble).

I am loving Strong’s description of grace (charis)….

‘Especially the divine influence upon the heart, and it’s reflection in the life’

How awesome is that. How powerful. His Divine influence upon our hearts. His transforming power, His character upon our hearts. And it’s reflection.. wow. To reflect the Divine, that people see Jesus and not ourselves. That people encounter Jesus …

Clothe me with Your humility Jesus.

Prophetic dream regarding the children.

Thursday morning I woke from a dream. I woke exhausted, as if I had worked hard all night.

I dreamt of a child I know. She is eight years old, and the daughter of a friend. I haven’t seen her much in the last few years, not as much as I did in her baby/ toddler phase when our worlds connected more regularly.

In my dream, she was an adult, and she was in labour, about to give birth. I was her support person, encouaging her through the pain, rubbing her back, and reassuring her.

The dream felt it went on for hours, as though I dreamt her labour in real time.

After I woke, God unfolded what He was saying. This 8yr old girl was a symbol of her generation. Children now, but once they reach adulthood, God is going to birth something through them. And I (along with many of you), will be supporting them, encouraging them, mentoring them, as the Lord moves.

Awesome!

 

This year I am…

Sitting. Listening. That is what I am doing this year.

Isaiah 55:3 KJV

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Hear. That’s the word right there.

Psalms 46:10 KJV
Be still, and know that I am God

I want to be intentional in being silent before God. Waiting. Listening. In a much greater way than I have before. Not to replace worshipping Him, reading the Bible, praying etc, …I love my time with the Lord,…but in addition.

Because I believe there is more intimacy, more revelation, more discernment, more wisdom, more glory, more holiness, more goodness, more faith for the miraculous, in that quiet place.

And I for one, need more of all of the above!

Be still, and know that I am God has reverberated within me for over a year.

Recently I read of a conversation that  took place with Freda Lindsay. Here is an excerpt from the book The Panoramic Seer: Bring the Prophetic into the Healing Anointing by James Maloney

I was honored to be seated at a table next to her for lunch one day, and we were talking about all the many well-known healing ministers she had known for over half a century—which was just about all of them. She had put a pertinent question to each of them, “What in your opinion is the greatest key to seeing the Lord heal people?” She said they all replied without exception, every single one of those great men and women of God responded, “Silence.” Waiting before the Lord, quieting oneself so He could move through them. The miracles create a clamor, not the other way ’round.

And interestingly, I received an article earlier this month  by David Alsobrook on ‘Sitting before the Lord’.
Some excerpts..

Sitting before the Lord means emptying your mind of your plans about what you should do about anything.

Sitting before the Lord means allowing yourself to become empty and poor in spirit.

He wants our Awe to increase. When our hearts are filled with awe, He will bestow His all in our lives.

So, I”ve begun building silence into my day. And to be honest, that’s challenging in a day of school drop-off and pick-up, work, taking the young one to cricket practice, making dinner, homework supervision, watering the tomatoes, Bible study,…. but it is vital. Incredibly vital.

And incredibly exciting!!

Today.

Today is New Year’s Day. Happy New Year to you!!

Most often, at this time of year, we take stock of the past year, make adjustments for the year ahead, seek God’s directions for where to use our time and resources, and always eat far too much. Or hide our heads in the sand for a short period of holiday time.

This year,
I roll into 2014 feeling full. (Yes, there were many chocolates, but that’s not the type of full I’m talking about – in case you wondered).

Rather, full of God’s goodness. I feel full of anticipation for what He is going to do, and for what I am going to see. His supernatural movings. For the last few months the phrase ‘you have not been this way before’ has echoed within me. And so I haven’t.

I have been, over the last year, and know I am still, in a transition period. And know many of you are.

I go into 2014 desiring to spend more time sitting in the presence of my God. Digging into my Bible. Worshipping Him. Encountering Him. Knowing Him more. Being in awe of Him more.

And I continue to be

Praying for greater discernment, faith and encounter. For greater compassion, grace and power.

The Vats are full. The Vats of His goodness.

so your barns will be filled with abundance, and your vats will burst open with new wine.

Proverbs 3:10

So exciting!!
I feel I am only at the beginning of the journey.

New Beginnings

New Beginnings.

Ahhhh. I drink it in. The fresh drops of a new season. And it tastes good.

It’s been a long parched season. Although un-enjoyable in it’s challenges and struggles, it’s been priceless in God using circumstances to crush, to refine, re-define, purge and shape who I am. Who He has created me as. The purgings of  God is a holy journey.

But there is the smell of newness in the air!  Do you smell it too?

A month ago I had a dream. The dream began with me inside a house with a few other nameless people. We were in a heightened atmosphere of anticipation. Apparently, a volcano behind the house, that had been inactive for a long, long time, was about to erupt.  Then we heard it thunder and we went around the house to look. My first reaction was of disappointment. I had been expecting and anticipating, chaos, a huge thunderous, spectacular eruption. But it was barely visible. What had happpened was powerful but hidden. It was almost like a private residential bore, a well like structure, which had a large pipe running up the middle, like an overflow pipe. I looked into the ‘well’ and it was filled to the brim with thick, molten magma, moving in a rolling boil type action. We went back inside. Then there was an enormous bang which shook the whole house. We went back to look. It looked exactly the same, but I knew that the boiling magma was to stay. It wasn’t going to subside down. It was now a permanent source of power hidden behind the house….  The next scene, I was walking up the road from the house when someone I know came rushing up to me. This person was excited, but the stronger emotion was that of exhausted relief. He told me that now both his parents were living in Jesus. (In other words, both his parents were now walking in a close, healthy relationship with God). His relief, I instantly could tell, was from years of praying for them. Instantly my husband, who had been next to me the whole time, turned to me and said ‘I prophesy it’s a season of new beginnings’. There my dream ended.

There is a lot in that dream to explore. Which I wont do here, but I do want to mention one thing.

We need God’s power. We need that active power. To be as Jesus was as the Son of Man.. ‘full of and under the power of the [Holy] Spirit.. Luke 4:14  . I so very much desire to see the miraculous power of God operate in my life, and to operate in the lives of others.

I am being stirred up. I have just finished reading The Dancing Hand of God: vol 2

Both volumes have resonated so strongly with my heart and spirit.  I am adding the link here, if you are interested.  There is so much in these books, that I am going to go back through them using them as study material, with my Bible.

A new season dawns. It has begun with fervour for His Word. I am hungry for the Word of God. This new beginning has begun with a desire to grow in faith, to have my faith added to, it has begun with a desire to hear and see in a far greater clarity. It has begun with a need for greater discernment. And most important of all, is my longing to spend time with Jesus, in the presence of God. In that secret, still space.

Pulsating Words

I am not much of a gamer. A farming app on my phone is about my scope of gaming. But I share my lounge with a well used PS3. And I observe certain things. That when the graphics begin to pulsate.. that is an indication of something needing further investigation.  A new weapon. A reward. A new doorway to go through. A new challenge.  One doesn’t just jump up and down, excited at the pulsating.. but instead, takes time to investigate.

God invented that.  His name is the Holy Ghost.

Scriptures pulsate when we read God’s Word. Pulsating with life and as an indication to stop and investigate.

What scriptures are surging in your heart today?

For me:

Habakkuk 3:

2 O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah

His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of His praise.
4 His brightness was like the light;
He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden.

Consecration.

Communion is a time when we can come together before Jesus.  To worship Him. To humble ourselves before Him. Honour Him. To love on Him.. and to receive His love for us.

This morning’s message I shared a word I felt God was speaking to the church.

Consecration. To set ourselves apart to God.  We consecrate ourselves before God. The good, the bad and the ugly. Give Him our skills, our dreams, our relationship with Him, our relationship with others. Give Him our weaknesses, our sin, our struggles. Our disappointments, discouragements, loneliness. Consecrate ourselves as earthen vessels, that He would make holy, sanctified and filled with His Spirit.

Why? Among other reasons.. as the first step into a new season.

I heard the Word ‘Grow. Grow. Grow’.  A season coming of growth. Growth in skills and giftings, growth in intimacy with Jesus, growth in relationship, growth in knowledge of God’s kingdom, growth in wisdom.

 

So

Are there places in your heart that need to be consecrated.. brought before God?  Come before Him, get into His presence, wait on Him, and lay those things before His throne.

And perhaps the word ‘Grow’ is relevant for you too.  Where do you feel God is causing, asking, challenging, opening doors for you to grow?  In relationship with Him, in ministry, in your family, your job? Maybe a growing of fresh passions, of new ventures. Business ideas. Missions.

If this is you… take some time.. (you know.. that luxury in life) and come before God in consecration. It’s time to come before His throne.

 

Psalm 23:4

Let me back track to February this year.

I was getting ready to prepare a communion message.  Sitting on the edge of my bed with Bible and paper, I asked Holy Spirit what to speak on. Immediately He responded with the words of Psalm 23:4.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;

So I did.  I spoke on intimacy with Jesus, of being God’s presence.  In the midst of our adversary. Of our difficulties. Of our circumstances and situations.  His Table of goodness is prepared for us. His sustenance, strength, and love.  Looking towards Him.  Being in His presence. Soaking in Him. Receiving from Him.

Then in March, a visiting ministry came to speak.  Deborah Perez’s message.. Psalm 23:4.

As a side note, I love to discover fresh worship. God speaks prophetically through worship, so I love to hear new sound, new songs, His heartbeat.

Not long after this ministry came, I was having a listen to some worship on the net. I happened to drop in on a live worship session in Sacramento I came across, and heard a song which gripped me.  I sat weeping in the presence of God. She was singing Psalm 23;4!  I could find no link to listen to it again later, and had no idea if it was a previously recorded song, or was spontaneous, as I came in mid-worship.

Until now.  Although not exactly the same as I first heard, and the audio is poor quality, it is a beautiful worship song.

God prepares a table for you.  Today. In the midst of your circumstances.

Let me share it with you.

At the current Durban outpouring, Chelsea Regan singing The Table

 

 

Shaking mountains

I love the dramatic start to this verse.  Such a proclamation!  And a verse that captured my attention this past week.  A cry on my heart.

Isaiah 64

New King James Version (NKJV)

64 Oh, that You would rend the heavens!
That You would come down!
That the mountains might shake at Your presence—
² As fire burns brushwood,
As fire causes water to boil—
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
³ When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down,
The mountains shook at Your presence.
⁴ For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

 

We need you God. Your presence.

That the mountains in our lives, and those around us may shake in His presence. And that nations, families, people  – may tremble at His presence.  (We all need to tremble a whole lot more in His presence). Be enlightened to who He is in a greater measure.  Even Paul prayed this for people he knew who loved Jesus and each other…

Ephesians 1:18

New King James Version (NKJV)

^{18 [that]} the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;

 

Yes, I feel a fresh stirring to declare this verse from Isaiah. To see the mountains shake and come down. And fresh enlightenment to follow.

And I just read from James Goll’s February blog.

Yes, speak to your family mountain! Speak to your mountain of opposition and loss! In fact, release shouts of “Grace! Grace! Grace it it!” To every mountain of opposition release the revelation of GRACE! Speak to your mountain to be removed and cast into the sea.             

See Zechariah 4:6,7

 

May your mountains shake in His presence and fall!