Skip to main content

Who is your family?

By
Something God is talking about to me and to others at the moment is about being a part of a family, no longer an individual doing their own thing.   Who is our family?

We are part of a body, and this is something I have been encouraging a lot over the years that we are not individuals, that none of us have it all, we need each other.  We are a body and all of us are different parts and without the other parts we are not complete.  A hand needs an arm, a foot needs a leg and without it they totally useless and unable to function.  We need each others giftings' and anointings' that God has given each one of us, in order to be a complete body, not lacking anything so that we can function as we are called to function, whole and complete.

We recently came back from a trip to Portugal and while I was there one of the many things God was showing me and reminding me of was who my family was and that was the people at home in NZ who loved me, who knew me, who understood me,  who had journeyed with me over years, who I felt I could cry with and grow with, and a place where I could be totally 'me'.  When I arrived home and went into our church family service on the Sunday I just started to cry as I needed to be able to cry and release some of what had happened overseas, even though it was a great time and God taught us so much,  it was still hard at times and completely what I needed in order to go to the next place in God.  And yet at the same time, the Lord showed me how much my NZ church family were my family, the safe place, the place where I could be 'me' and let down my guard so to speak.

Many of us are called to go into places that are not easy, that perhaps we might be called to go 'alone' in the going and it may seem like a 'front line war situation'.  That 'front line' is whatever you are called to, whether it may be to your neighbour who is struggling with cancer and you are helping them carry the load, whether that is to another country, whether that is to your 'work place' where it is a 'war zone' just to be a christian and to stand in what you believe.  It may be in a christian ministry situation say of 'Sozo', 'Healing Rooms', 'Youth Pastor', 'Worship leading', or 'Pastor'.   'We all have our 'areas' that the Lord has called us to take the front line in, it may simply (or not so simply as this can be the hardest place) be in our families as we continue to sow the love of God into a situation where abuse, physical, sexual, control, whatever it may be,  but we all need a place of 'safety', of 'encouragement' to keep going in the places we are in and called to.   Hence the need for the family of the body of the Christ to be that 'safe place' that 'haven', that 'time out' that we all need in order to go again out into the 'front line'.

If you believe you are called to be 'alone' in something that is fine, but I want to encourage you to make sure you can answer some questions;
Who is your family?
Do you know who is praying for you?
Do you have a place where you can cry on their shoulder?
Do you have a people who know you and encourage you to carry on in the call and vision on your life?
Who are the people that you come home to and rejoice with them of the testimonies to and ask questions on how to do things in the future?
Who are the people who can correct you, sharpen you, speak into your life that you will listen if you need correcting or discipling for your benefit and the benefit of who God sends you to?

If you can't answer some of these, then please start asking some questions to the Lord to reveal who these people are in your life,  or perhaps how to go about becoming a part of a 'family' where these things happen, because He never wants us to be alone as a lone sheep is easily attacked.   Jesus sent the disciples out 'two by two' and then they returned for more learning and teaching, but also sharing of what had happened, sharing the spoils of victory.  That 'family' may be made up in different places, and come from different arenas and walks of life as you have journeyed along the way, but please ask the Lord who those people are in your life so you have an army with you every time you move forward into the front line.  I was so blessed as we came home from Portugal to be able to come into my family that are around us in different ways, with a people who asked questions of how it went, of people saying what happened this day as I was woken to pray for you, or simply to give us a hug as I cried, or some money to go have a coffee just to encourage us.

Psalm 68:4-6
"Sing to God, Sing praise to his name.
Extol him who rides on the clouds,
His name is the Lord and rejoice before him.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in His holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families, 
He leads forth the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun- sorched land."

Your family does not need to be a 'church' (building) family but it does need to be a family of faith in the Lord, a people who believe in Christ Jesus and want to walk in His way.  May the Lord bless each one of you as He is blessing us, with amazing people of God who can be a blessing to you as you are a blessing to them!









Popular posts from this blog

What do Kingdom finances look like?

By
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,...
Read more

One of the biggest giants here in NZ - fear of man!

By
After writing that blog about the terminator, I realise I need to share something that I have found in New Zealand but it is not only New Zealand but everywhere I believe.  One of the biggest strongholds if you like that I have come across in the spirit is the fear of man, is of intimidation.  I may have shared this before but I find it in almost every church we head into, in the spirit, the thing that hits me and tries to stop me walking in my authority and who God has called me to be, or what he has called me to do in that place, is the fear of man. That comes out of that place as I said of not knowing who we individually are in Christ.  As 'Fathers Heart' courses have taught it, the "orphan spirit" if you like.  We don't know that we are each special and individually crafted and needed and wanted by God, then we compare ourselves with others, we fight with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we judge ourselves against others, we lift ourselves up over others ...
Read more

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

By
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...
Read more
By
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...
Read more

But one sinner destroys much good

By
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...
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