Skip to main content

What you see on the outside is not necessarily what's going on in reality.

By
Last night I had several dreams, each of them outlining that was looked like was going on on the outside was not what was happening in reality.
One was a business that said it was doing something but it was actually a cover up for fraud.
Another was a marriage relationship that lived in the same house, but lived separate lives in separate bedrooms.
And the last was a house that was being sold and it looked all good until you got up on the roof and saw the brick work falling apart in places.

Each of the pictures God showed me all pointed to things looking good on the outside but in reality things were very different.
As a Christian we are called to be people of integrity, of truth - why, because it benefits us.  All things that God asks us to live is actually for our benefit rather than His as he wants us living in freedom and not fear.  

I know it can be very difficult to live in truth sometimes especially if we can't make ends meet financially.  Or the marriage relationship we are having is going through difficulty.  How do we get out of the cycle in which you find yourself in?  We never want to find ourselves in these situations but things happen and that's where we find ourselves.  We can't go back, but how do we go forward?

For myself I have struggled in several areas and I find ultimately it comes from two things, a willingness to humble myself to others and ask for help and a lack of trust that there is a way through it.  Scripture says, the truth will set you free and truly it does, but in order for the truth to come we firstly need to acknowledge it and reveal the truth and that is the humbling process where we need to confess to someone the truth of our situations or our feelings.  The moment we actually share the truth with someone, the enemy no longer has the stronghold on your life that it had, allowing God to come in and others to help you work and walk through what it is.  The old saying that a problem shared is a problem halved and it is.  The enemy's stronghold comes as it keeps you in fear and bondage by holding onto it yourself.

Part of the reason why we don't share with others our struggles as we don't trust God in the outcome.  God is able to turn every bad situation into good.  God knows we struggle with trusting him and that is okay, just ask him for help in the area of your unbelief.  Even the disciples who walked with Jesus too struggled in this area.  There may be some things that need to be worked through but ultimately God works everything together for our good for those who believe.  Perhaps not the way we want to see it happening. And so no matter how mucky it might look, there is a way through.  We just have to allow for the process to work itself through.  God is able to do more than we think, ask or imagine.  He can turn that dark night to day.  There may be some consequences for our decisions but God will use that too as a part of your testimony that will bring hope to others.

So I want to encourage you, if you find yourself living a way in which truth is not a reality, ask for help, share your burdens with someone you trust that can help you.  And allow God to come and help you find a way through it.  He loves you and wants the best for you and the best is to living a life of freedom and truth and not of fear.

And please lets not be a people who judge those who are struggling in areas when they ask for help but rather be a people that help our brother/sister in need and help them come into freedom and joy because of the grace given to us in our time of need. :)  Blessings.


Popular posts from this blog

Do you have time for breakfast?

By
I had this dream last night where I saw my sister busy working in her restaurant.  She had advertised in the paper and she was so busy she had no time for her family.  I was sitting eating breakfast with my other sister feeling almost lazy in comparison with the first sister, but knowing that I was not lazy, but busy too in a different way.  I had no idea when she would have time for her family.  She was doing what she loved, she was bringing people into her restaurant and it was going really well, but her family life was suffering. In pondering on this, it speaks for itself really.  But added to that is that we can often compare with one another or judge one another in the way things are being done.  I think regularly of Nehemiah these days and how we are all called to rebuild the wall, but we all have different parts of the wall we are called to build and look after and each part is important to the whole wall.  So lets please as a body of Christ, ...
Read more

Latest Prayer Update

By
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...
Read more

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

By
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 ...
Read more

Kiwi Culture verses Kingdom Culture

By
The above is the title of a book that I have on my heart.  Whether or not it ever makes it there we will see but in the process I want to put some thoughts down and see what it opens up. I grew up with phrases like "God helps those who help themselves" or "Too spiritually minded to be any earthly good".  There are many many more that I am sure you know of - I would love to hear them so please blog me about them or Facebook me so I can add them.  But phrases like that that we grew up with that actually have become a part of world view and things we base our lives on.  Things of our culture that are so much a part of culture that we think is actually a part of the bible or at the very least is no big deal in God's eyes; like sarcasm.  I have had to question some of these phrases - "where does it say in the bible God helps those who help themselves?"  "What actually is sarcasm and does it build up and encourage people?" etc. Jim and I lived ...
Read more

Moving on from Bulawayo to Mozambique

By
Dear friends, It has been an interesting time here and the last few days the helper in the house has brought us her relatives and friends to pray for, so plenty of opportunity to impart what the Lord is saying to people and pray for them in their situations.  Walking into town this morning we came across a girl who had been having seizures  what we believe for several hours and needing medical attention lying on the path.  She was not conscious and it was quite scarey at one point, but  as we began praying for her saw life come back into her eyes and see her respond so that was encouraging. We believe it is now time for us to move on from here and so we have booked a bus heading to Harare the captial of Zimbabwe and then onto Mutare which is the boarder town of Mozambique and then onto Chimoio where we will stay with some friends that we met in South Africa who are working in Mozambique.  So we catch a bus on Thursday morning and hopefully will be in Chimoio...
Read more

Now in Zimbabwe - some fun detail of the journey :)

By
We have arrived safely in Zimbabwe are catching a bus at 5:30am and finally arriving at 7:30pm in Bulawayo Zim.  We were blessed to see Giraffe crossing the road, along with Zebras on the way back. We had over 12 hours of squished up, falling off the seat, holding onto luggage, travel and now we know the type of one of the buses we were on, one was called - a chicken bus - why because they cater to livestock.  So we did it typical african style.   At the boarder the bus took off and then realised that we weren't on it yet so came back for us as we were still waiting to get our visa through the country.  They really looked after us after that being the only white people on the bus.   It was all in all an interesting trip, one of praying as it was so fast and all I could remember was the last bus accident and so having to come into peace and rest midst it all was a challenge for me. We finally arrived to met by a wonderful local missionary Mellanie Jones who was...
Read more