Prov 4:23 "Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life"

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me" Yeah right!

Peoples' comments and judgements toward us hurt very much and hinder our walk with the Lord and with others, but the Lord would say this morning from Proverbs 4:23 to "guard our heart for it is the wellspring of life."

God judges very differently than man and we see in the story of 1 Samuel 16 where the Prophet Samuel is called to anoint a new King and in verses 6&7 "Samuel saw Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord'. But the Lord said to Samuel 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
How quickly we judge by what we see and hear, but the Lord calls us not to do that, but to look at the heart.

Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me, O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting"
This has been and continues to be our journey with the Lord. One way the Lord has shown me over the past few years of the state of my heart, has been through dreams. I would have a dream that would show I was frightened in a situation, show that I was hurt by something or show some sort of attitude. In these dreams and the processing of these, he would show me the truth that needed to be there instead. For instance "His perfect love casts out all fear" so I would question, why was I afraid and then speak God's truth to the situation. If His perfect love casts out all fear then I needed a deeper revelation of His love for me and the truth of what the love looked like. If I was anxious about something then I would ask myself, 'why was I anxious?' 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" so I would learn that I needed to give him the things I was anxious about trusting that he would look after those things as I surrendered them to him. Phil 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus".

Prov 25:2 "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of Kings. As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable".
We don't know the true state of our heart sometimes, but if we are willing to test out our hearts, then the Lord will show us. Sometimes like the verse above we need to search out what the Lord is trying to say. Dreams can be one way where the Lord is speaking to us in a way we can understand - like a parable - but then we need to search for the deeper hidden things; the gold. As I have searched out what the Lord has been saying and have been learning to speak the truth which sets me free into it, the Lord has brought greater and greater freedom into my life and especially from the mindsets and words that come from man.

Psalm 51:10-12 "Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

The Lord is wanting to take us from glory to glory and for that to happen we need to ask the prayer above - to be willing for the Lord to create in us a pure heart. Matt 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God".

What do Kingdom finances look like?

I was asked by someone the other day what Kingdom finances looked like and I realised that this is an area that needs some discussion. This is my opinion of what Kingdom finances look like according to what the Lord has taught me over the years and to scriptures I have been shown, but I am not the be all and end all to thinking, so it is something you might want to check out for yourselves. The way of the world is to store up riches, to save for a rainy day, to have enough to protect themselves should something happen, that I have earned this and it is mine and therefore I can do what I want with it. The way of the Kingdom is a way of giving to the poor, giving to God's people in need and practicing hospitality, of not worrying about tomorrow, of trusting God for the future and His provision in that time of need when it arises, of everything is His (God's). I believe that if you see a need in front of you and you have something in which can help with that need, whatever it is,...

GRM Call to prayer - "Who will weep for the Bride?"

Something I realised in my recent trip away to the Canterbury region is again the confirmation and call of my heart to see the bride raised up to be who she is called to be. A pure spotless bride who is ready for her beloved and walking in everything He has promised us as His authority here on the earth. I realised afresh as I listen to different people, hear and see different reasons as to why people aren't going to church, or perhaps have recently moved churches for some reason, basically peoples hurts and frustrations regarding 'Church', that there is a disconnect in how people see things and how the word of the Lord the bible teaches us in how we ought to love one another and forgive one another. Hence why we are seeing a 'powerless' church. The word says that if we bite and devour one another we will be destroyed (Gal 5:15) All of us have a heart and passion, yours might be for the lost, it might be for the single parents, or the sick, etc. but the Lord...

Will you play the piano - will you spit and touch a man's toungue?

We had our worship group the other night and to begin with I saw someone playing the playing so I asked if anyone could and would play the piano because that is what I saw happening in the spirit. I may have been wrong in the what I saw but I stepped out in faith but alas no one stepped forward to play the piano so Jim played it and I believe in this the Lord was teaching us some valuable lessons. Jim cannot play the piano at all but he was willing to be used. This morning I was reading in Mark 7:32-35 "There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man... Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!). At this the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. I was reminded of the other night ...

I shared last night about 1 Cor 15:36 "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body..." I was preaching on it last night and it will come up in video form later in the week on the GRM sight, mainly reflecting on we can sow things one way, but God raises it up as HE determines how it should look. But this morning I got more revelation which will be quite obvious to some, but to me it struck me afresh. When we sow something it get's buried, it cannot be pulled back up. It no longer has 'connection' with 'me' if you like. It gets 'covered over' unable to be pulled up. And yet I recognise in my own life how we can sow something but there are still 'strings attached' as such as we often are still determining or expecting it be rai...

But one sinner destroys much good

This morning I was reading from Ecclesiastes 9 about wisdom and in verse 18 it says: "Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good." I have been journeying the learning of wisdom in leadership for a number of years now and it's challenging. I have made many mistakes and continue to as I learn to balance scripture, of interpreting of what is right and wrong, of when and if to speak, of being patient and learning what is love and what is discipline. When to overlook an offence and when to say enough is enough. We all ask the Lord for more, but in the 'more', what it often means is we have to learn to 'love' more and see as Jesus would see, and speak as Jesus would speak. These past weeks I have got very 'discouraged' as I go to Christian meetings and 'see' the heart of man that has judgement toward me, people who cannot look at me because of the offence in their heart. Or hear of people still slanderi...

To surrender whats' in your hand is your spiritual act of worship

Recently I was in a meeting and the Lord showed me that to give him what is in my hands is my spiritual act of worship to him. To come with him with open hands offering whatever they might be holding whether its dreams and visions, our children, our ministries, our jobs, our finances, our spouses - whatever is in our hand that we hold onto. We need to be in a place of constant surrender to the Lord daily, for his way, his perfect way, to be allowed to be made manifest in our lives. Romans 12:1-2 says "Therefore, I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." The Lord has shown me for some time now that he is taking us into 'new' things. He s...

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