ANOINTING

I know I haven’t posted for ages but it’s definitely not because God hasn’t been SPEAKING, TEACHING, SHOWING me volumes or doing amazing things in my life… thankfully! J

In the natural world these past months I have been busy travelling (hence adversely limited by the vicissitudes of bad or non-existent internet connections, a hectic schedule, and most specifically my lack of abilities to tap type well on modern tablet technology which is akin to tearing one’s hair or having fingernails dragged down a chalkboard repeatedly!!!

Anyway this post is inspired by a relatively basic concept based about something I was heard about in theory but witnessed again in very convincing reality recently…

And that is one of ANOINTING. God has made us “wonderfully and fearfully”… we are all unique individuals with distinct characters and skill sets or abilities. In this way we each have unique gifts from God. Some of us may be fine speakers, some of us may have a compassionate and caring nature, some of us may be physically skilled, while others may be successful in making money for example.

When most people discover God and how wonderful He REALLY is they sincerely desire to please him…so typically they make a lot of concerted efforts…to serve at church, to lead a ministry, or to go to theological college and become pastors or preachers or missionaries as these are what most in the human mindset would recognise as the “ultimate” way for us to serve God in the human world. The problem is this.

If God hasn’t called us to do something but we have decided to do it our own mind without being led by the Holy Spirit, we ultimately lack His power or anointing to do that service…

I have witnessed this spectacularly now on two memorable occasions. One was a pastor who had just graduated from bible college…when I spoke to him of the spiritual realm and asked him to pray…he didn’t seem to understand that was THE most important way he could help….more worryingly he acknowledged he didn’t know much about these things and photocopied me some notes out of his bible college theological textbook on the issue :o!

Needless to say within a few months when I tried to recontact that pastor I found he had “moved on” and the church had virtually disintegrated. When a church cannot even maintain its numbers let alone increase them, I posit that there is some issue with the leadership there, namely that they are not moving in God’s power.

The second scenario I witnessed is when a visiting preacher came to speak at my church…as I looked around bored I noticed many other people were struggling to listen politely – many eyes were closed. This preacher was obviously very sound in knowing the bible for sure but he was trying to preach milk to a congregation who for the most part know God personally and at a depth and understanding which constitutes MEAT! Preaching the basics is fine as old and new believers can always benefit from hearing the basics however His words carried no power which is why people were struggling to be attentive and listen. As this was unfortunately very obvious, he kept trying to counteract this situation by projecting his voice more loudly and more enthusiastically…but unfortunately the sermon fell flat on its face! This was another most spectacular example of what happens when people try to move in their own efforts rather than in what God has called them to do and thus have the Anointing that carries success.

So at the end of the day these anecdotes illustrate a blunt spiritual principle:
Without God, we are nothing.

In this scenario it was like a man trying to lift a ten tonne truck with his bare hands – no matter how hard he tried the truck stayed on the ground.

GOD is almighty. As a comparative visual analogy God could do the same task without even needing to lift a finger-furthermore he could balance TEN ten tonne trucks on his finger just to amuse us if he wanted to! ^^

Finally we must have our hearts and minds open and receptive to be able to hear and understand what God is telling us, teaching us and where he is leading us…and then be obedient to do His way, His will not ours. When God is behind what we do, success will be guaranteed as failure is impossible!

The vast majority of people in the natural world are so busy so consumed by their own agendas, worries, desires and daily distractions and spiritually blinded by the enemy’s various strategies that they wouldn’t even notice God if he walked up to them and hit them on the head!

Which is why we believers need to keep on pressing on to get out amongst unbelievers and not just bubble within the comfortable confines of believer communities. Although our human minds are selfish and do not want to make the “annoying” sacrifice of getting out amongst the spiritually blind since we are assured WE are saved by faith, it’s actually God’s Will that we “go out into the nations” and share God’s Light and God’s Truth in all the dark places so that others can be saved too...

Not Our Way but His!!

Be Blessed!

God's Umbrella

Out of all the few Christian books I have read so far, one book has stood out far beyond the rest in recent times...one called "God's Covering" by David Cross from Ellel Ministries. It was one of those "wow, revelation!" kind of reads for me that was obviously directly applicable to real life.

I like the umbrella analogy. Many times we wonder about misfortunes like accidents for example and wonder why did God let this happen to me...why wasn't he protecting me?!!

God's Umbrella is always there for us. But if we are disobedient in some way, essentially we have willingly stepped out from the safety of God's umbrella and shelter. We then may be as good as meat left out for hungry dogs...Heads served up on a platter images also spring to mind(!)

God has left us a guide - the bible - a framework for how we should live which derives from his Almighty All-Knowing WISDOM borne out of his overwhelming LOVE for us...

Humans are naturally willful conceited creatures that often like to think they know best.

Disobedience, Rebellion and Arrogance are definitely key traits that shaped MY Youth and especially without the fortune of being brought up in a Christian household knowing God's wisdom, I fell and fell and fell and dug my own pit again and again until now in recent adulthood having had my eyes opened by faith I have finally LEARNT...There is NO OTHER PLACE I'd rather be than under the safety of God's Umbrella!

It took me a looong time to have the maturity to understand that rules are not just set up by self-important megalomaniacs to oppress us and take away our freedom and make life less fun - they have been put in place by people like Parents as well who CARE enough to guide us and want to keep us from harm in their great Wisdom and Love for us....like Our Loving Father.

Once yielded to God in Obedience and following his precepts set out in the bible, suddenly life becomes so much easier...how blessed are we that life can be so much less overly complicated than it tends to be if we just follow God in Obedience? Not only are we safe and protected under God's Umbrella but Obedience also opens the doorway to the Fruits of His Blessing! :)

So...if you are feeling buffeted by stormy weather, it may be a good time to reflect and self-examine...is there anything YOU have done to have stepped out from God's Umbrella? More importantly, is there anything YOU can DO to get back under God's Umbrella?

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7)

Prayer Flag

I was walking around in a different city when a community art centre piqued my curiosity so I wandered in and was invited to paint a flag. They were doing an art project to display in the city square 5000 flags painted by people in the community. The theme for the flags was "Hope and Dreams". As I looked at the strings of flags hanging up it reminded me of a moden twist on the Tibetan prayer flags which are strung outside a house and when the wind has blown them away then the wish has been granted and the prayer fulfilled.

The fabric colours you could choose from were orange, yellow, red, purple and blue. I thought blue best reflected my message. This was my contribution:

Bible Study: Amos

"Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good, maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph." (Amos 5:14)

So anyway I will start my first ever bible study in two weeks but until then it's just been me reading and studying by myself. Well more reading...and often focusing on the blurbs of each book thanks to my Spiritual Renewal Bible that so excellently gives overviews to decipher and make sense of all that difficult language and complex ideas to get a "big picture understanding"...  I find you can easily get overwhelmed and bogged down by the difficult archaic language or metaphorical concepts  if you are trying to understand solely by your human efforts and not enlightened by the Holy Spirit as to correct interpretation understanding.

So anyway, although I DID try to start reading the bible from page 1 and I did manage Genesis, Exodus etc...then maybe I got lazy to read in order. Lately I admit I have found it more effective to haphazardly read by books or especially where God leads me, I find this method a more fruitful experience...because it tends to highlight themes that are directly applicable to my life at the time...and people say the bible is irrelevant and out of date just because it is 2000 years old??! Not so! (In my experience)...if anything I find it such a magical book that holds the answers to every kind of situation or predicament that life throws at us and is the ultimate wise counsel :)

So anyway God led me to the above quoted passage. To be honest I never even knew a book called Amos existed!!! So it was pretty interesting to find out there was this tiny book under the name of Amos hidden in the bible... So anyway when I read the blurb that deciphers what the book is about, it's full of great themes and I am not sure why I have never ever heard it mentioned or referenced to know that it even existed...

So just to recap because I bet many others were also not aware of this book of Amos....a brief synopsis...

"God called Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa, to awaken his people from their spiritual sleep. Sadly, their sinful behaviour was worse than some of their pagan neighbours! Amos warned them of the painful consequences that would follow their sinful behviour..."(from Spiritual Renewal Bible, NIV, 1998).


The Key themes listed are:

Complacency Leads To A Downfall
We Are Created for Relationship
God Honors Upright Hearts
Spiritual Renewal Begins with Surrender

So anyway, very interesting to me, anyway :) Now that I have whet your appetite if you are interested you can go and read it for yourself, perhaps with the help of some study bible...Anyway I am always very pleased when I discover something completely new...Amos! Have you read it?

Blessings in Christ,

Zoe

"Won-Der-Ful God I Look To You..."

I heard the post title's lyrics in a a song today and in fact while I write this post, the album cycle repeated so I hear them right now again! :)

In another song I also heard "Your Ways are Higher".

Two very good things to always keep in mind to live an effective Christian life!

So anyway, because of travel and the terrible weather I haven't been to My church in 3 weeks...that is a very loooong time and I definitely feel the lack! :( So, - unsurprisingly- I noticed I had been further from God than usual and I had been very influenced by people with their human mindsets and their ways of the world. I know this because I was lacking the usual peace and content  and confidence that comes with being close to God. I was feeling anxious and my human logical mindset was running riot with worries about the future! I also had been turning to talk to people for advice rather than Seeking His Face first and His all knowing wisdom! I think after having been in a place where the presence of God was so strong, I had become complacent or at least relatively slack in my usual spiritual routines of quite a lot of time spent in prayer and communing with God as well as plenty of reading Christian books /or the bible...probably I am also still tired and under the weather from insufficient rest since being back.

So anyway it is not surprising that I felt some kind of oppression whether you want to call it spiritual attack or succumbing to the heavy energy of a human mindset such as fear, doubt, anxiety...and my vision just felt mired and cloudy with ANGST in general, a common affliction of an overactive human mind...

So all the negative feelings and thoughts crept in as my lack of faith/doubt had made a chink in my Ephesians armour...and my shield of FAITH was not up to deflecting all the arrows!

Whenever that happens it is always a good wake up call that you've drifted too far away and need to draw near to Him again...

Being able to wholely and solely Trust in and Obey God requires constant conscientious personal effort and commitment- walking totally In Faith can be very daunting and logic defying or at least unintuitive and unnatural to the human mindset...

So anyway yesterday afternoon in my lack of peace I was crying out to God over and over in my mind for direction, guidance, and to TELL ME, SHOW ME what to do next...

He answered :)

Circumstances in my tangible existence all worked together a la God's Perfect Engineering to SHOW me very clearly! And I was awestruck  -as usual - especially whenever it happens so responsively and tangibly and clearly, but I have since had a little time to digest my excitement :)

In my blessed experience, PRAYER or calling on God is quite magical...it is almost like in the Ali Baba story where when you say "Open Sesame" a magical doorway you didn't even see existing in front of you opens a new unknown pathway of adventure before you :)

And that is why Prayer is SO POWERFUL and SO Important...because it is our link with God and how we can access his infinite source of wisdom and power.

When we call out, God hears...sometimes he responds favourably and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes the response is delayed. It's all according to His perfect wisdom and timing and will....but definitely he HEARS us when we cry out to him: I am sure of that!!!

May this post find you near to Him as well :)

Zoe

Godly Love

I was blessed enough to spend the last few days in the "city of churches" which was very edifying...I have never been to a city where there is such a massive concentration of churches or Christian schools EVERYWHERE relative to such low population. In any case this was not lost on me...unlike most cities which I find very "heavy" and "oppressive" feeling, I felt great there - God's presence was very strong and perhaps I witnessed that most tangibly with its people being so nice and friendly and helpful with nothing to gain for themselves from the exchange - very unusual!

While I was visiting a small town there I had an opportunity to mingle with people I would never usually come across let alone associate with. It became very evident to me how much prejudice I have been socialised with from young and how I avoid certain people based on superficial criteria such as tattoos and piercings, people with bad language, uneducated people etc etc. I think all humans are guilty of this kind of prejudice to an extent...it is normal for us to be fearful of what is different and unfamiliar...

In any case I found this time spent with such different people a good challenge and reprogramming of my human mindset to consciously work to do away with prejudice and be more open, and to love and accept ALL people, just as God does...

Black and White, Light and Dark...The Great Chasm

I had a really blessed novelty experience this weekend...a road trip with ALL seasoned Christians around my age...My first proper fellowship opportunity with people not double my age!

I think what the trip highlighted and reiterated to me was the huge CHASM that exists in the fundamental mindset and vision between most believers and non-believers... And that it is important for me to have constant fellowship with other Christians and to be firmly rooted within a church. 

Energetically, going to church and being around real Christians is so edifying like coming into a nice warm house from harsh weather elements...Conversely, interacting with the secular world with its army of hostile, anti-Christ energies after time spent solely with believers can sometimes feel incredibly oppressive and dirty...like coming out of a refreshing spring only to be thrown into a pit of muddy quicksand :( Yes, I am THAT sensitive to the difference that such analogy is not an overexaggeration unfortunately...

The bible confirms my sentiments...

For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2Corinthians 6:14)

One thing I have struggled with a lot since coming to faith is that most of my friends and family are still of the world and with an opposing, and at times overtly hostile spirit. And although sometimes I just want to run away and avoid the unpleasantness that is associating with such unbelievers, the bible teaches that although we should not be yoked with unbelievers and also:

Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." (1 Cor 15:33)

It also counsels how to deal with unbelievers: 

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.  Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Tim 2:24-26)

AND,
 In the same way, Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:16)

So this is an ongoing challenge for me. And although it is always tempting to avoid associating with unbelievers completely so that life is easier and we don't feel bad, how are we to share the Truth, if we don't brave going into the world?  So obviously, we are not meant to avoid them completely... 

So I cannot express enough that I am extremely thankful for the support that is my Christian family:
Bless you, Brothers and Sisters † ♥!

p.s The song we liked on repeat play in our car was 'By Your Side' by Tenth North Avenue, which is a nice nice reminder that although we constantly face rejection and trouble in the world, God is always there holding us, and that is all we really need :)