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.

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...

Latest Prayer Update

Since writing last – We continue to pray about the tent meeting but the Lord seems to continue to have that on hold as I believe he has another way of doing the same thing but in a new way where the whole body will be used and so we wait until all the pieces come together. Please be patient with us in this. Africa – We continue to have words given to us about Africa and so the Lord is definitely talking about Africa but he seems to be widening the vision with it all, not just Malawi. It seems more like at this stage visiting a number of African Countries wherever the Lord leads, empowering people – a bit like the last China trip but for longer and more countries and so too we wait for all the pieces to fit together. He has said to have our bags packed ready to go at a moments notice and so we have done that by faith, there are just a few other things that need to come together to make this possible. Picton – We were blessed to be part of a team that we...

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