Whose house are we building?

This morning I was reading in 2 Samuel 7 and it is where David’s heart is to build a place for the ark of God to rest in rather than a tent. “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent”. He recognises something that is not right and sets about to put God in his proper place of honour.

A few years ago we were managing a sheep and beef farm and the Lord spoke to us out of the book of Haggai 1, verse 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin.” This scripture changed the complete direction of where we were heading.

We were Christians, we were going to church, fully involved in Church, leading a cell group, on the church council, leading worship, doing Sunday School etc. at the time but then God challenged us with the book of Haggai and we realised that we were in fact building our own house even though we were doing God things as well. Our heart was to make money so that we could have enough to buy our own farm and work it while we were young. And then the Lord showed us, why did we have to own our own farm, we were caretakers of everything he gave us so why did we need to have our own farm, why not be content with managing?

And so step by step the Lord has led us away from farming and into building his house, the church, but first we needed a radical wake up call as to the direction we were heading. After surrendering our plans and purposes to the Lords and his desires for our lives rather than our own, we have had such a journey that we would not have changed. We did not even realise the direction we were heading it was so ingrained in us from childhood that this was what you did. But in allowing God to show us our hearts at the core and be changed by it, we have had such a fulfilled life and the promises of God are way more than we can imagine.

In surrendering not only our desires for faming but also our plans towards our child and the direction of her life, I was blessed & encouraged too this morning in 2 Sam 7 – because David set about to build and honour the Lord and make His name great, God promised to make David’s name great, but not only that he promises that his children will succeed him and that God would establish his kingdom. “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom”. I realise this promise is for David but I too believe that because I am building the house of the Lord and his covenant with me, that our daughter has an inheritance that the Lord will give her, not perhaps as the world sees an inheritance, but a spiritual inheritance that will far outweigh anything of the earth and that encouraged me greatly that the Lord will take care of her and his hand will be upon her.

"I am ruined for the ordinary"

“I am ruined for the ordinary” A statement that can possibly be to some, come from a place of judgement, or it can be from a place of there is more in the Kingdom of God that I am yet to experience or understand, revelation that I have tasted of something that actually shows me that I have not tasted of anything yet. A place where there is such a contentment and joy in what I have seen and longed to see and yet a revelation that there is way more "beyond what I think, ask and imagine" (Eph 3:20) and one that spurs me on to seek and discover all the fullness that could be ours in the Kingdom of God. When we as Christians see other Christians going places or experiencing things that we don’t understand or perhaps we have not yet moved in, we can either become jealous of that person and judge and bring them down to our level, exclude them from our lives or we can choose to be excited by what is happening and be encouraged and spurred on in the Lord for the more than ca...

Obedience and Commitment are big things in Gods Kingdom

Reading in Acts 7 this morning the story through Stephen of Abraham being told by God to " Leave your country and your people and go the the land I will show you" So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child." As I reflected on this and the journey of Abraham stepping out in faith into a land that he received no inheritance in but a promise of what was to come for his descendants of which we live in the fruit of that, I thought of todays generations in which often is only doing things that we want to do or that will benefit us personally as we live for 'today' not worrying about tomorrow. A sense of if it feels good then do it, if it doesn't then we will move on - perhap...

"A man's enemies will be the members of his own household" Matt 10:36

Recently we have been pondering how to deal with situations in our family that don't line up with the word. What action do we need to take? Are we being too harsh? Do we accept the behaviour or be considered by those around us as "too radical" or "too black and white"? "Where is grace in all of this? How do we love the sinner but hate the sin? What about forgiveness? What is the role of discipline? What makes that sin any worse than lying? What is true love? And there are a lot more questions going through the mind in how to work through this and know God's will and desire for the situation and the person. And firstly to say we have not come to any conclusions and are growing and learning day by day in this but I want to throw it out there. In Matt 10:34-39 says "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "a man against his father, ...

Dealing with a poverty mindset

This morning I had a dream and what the Lord was saying is that there was a 'begging' mentality happening and instead of believing God would give everything we needed and responding and walking in the authority that He has given each one of us. That He is our daily bread, our daily provision. Instead many of us are like a people begging going around asking for the little scraps that people or God would give. Whatever it is you need today - God is able, in fact more that ab le to do exceedingly more than you think of, ask or imagine. So I pray for you that every poverty mindset that limits who God is in and through you today would be broken in the name and blood of Jesus and that you would walk in the abundance of all that God has for you and those around you. Many blessings - Sarah. If you recognize any of these seven signs in your life, you may have a poverty mentality that God wants to heal you from: This list comes from Kris Vollotton https://www.charismamag.com/spi...

Distraction or Traction?

Our most value asset is: TIME I don't know about you but I find it is easy to get distracted and drawn away from what I was intending to do or where my focus needed to be. I often find myself getting 'entangled in civilian affairs' as it says in the scripture above. But the discernment is knowing if that is God's interruption for the day or a distraction that takes me away from the purpose and plan that God would have me walk in. I think we can often miss those God opportunities and God calls on our life because of distractions. " A distraction is something we do that moves us away from what we really want." Distractions bring confusion, feeling like you are in a muddle, not knowing where you are going, often feeling like you are busy but probably not really achieving a great deal. The opposite of distraction is TRACTION. Traction is an action that moves us toward what we really want. Momentum and movement toward the desires of the heart. But often we don...

Education changes the fabric of community

Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" "Education changes the fabric of community" was a quote by one of the ladies at the gathering of Women that I went to yesterday. This quote struck me as I had never seen the impact that can be created in what we are are doing in GRM through "Schools of the Spirit" and in "training and equipping", "in preaching and teaching", people in the variety of ways that we do, how we can effect and change communities and societies. In reality that is what we are doing, if only in a little way, it makes a ripple effect that can change so much more than we think or realise, ask or imagine.(Eph 3:30) They shared about what they consider "success" to look like and they defined it as people who: Had courage Tenacity and Resilience Integrity and humility Creativity Ambition - "Say Yes" Respect This was a gathering of very influential women of society and bus...

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