Skip to main content

Grand Design

By
The Lord has been talking recently to me about houses and different states of houses.  Some are quirky with all sorts of really cool things that are happening in them, some are being built and are yet unfinished, some the windows are boarded up and need the boards on the windows removed.  Some don’t yet have the power on and it is dark with a thief in the  darkness waiting.  There was one  that was perfect on pretty much everything except the fridge (often represents the heart) was too small.
The initial plan

In the process of thinking about different houses and the different stages each house was at, I thought about the British Programme “Grand Design”.  I love watching this programme and seeing the ideas and the plans and where it originally starts with the dreams and the vision of how it will be, but along the process the building often takes longer than expected, costs run higher than projected, workers come and go, the question of whether to continue comes up and eventually pushed through as they cannot give up and walk away on everything that has already been invested. Often the owner will end up himself finishing the work as they cannot afford to hire anybody.  Everything is put into finishing the project amidst a lot of stress, a lot of questions, a lot of highs and lows as the journey continues.  But in the end you see this finished house, just amazing and you sit there and say – yes it was worth it to see what they have now.   Just beautiful and amazing and as you watch someones else dream become a reality you wish you had the money you could afford to buy it.  
In the process

I believe at the moment the Lord is wanting to encourage people to keep going and to continue to believe in and see the grand design that the Lord has for you in your life and the call he has on your life. It is not yet finished and as it says in James  that ‘perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.’   The Lord doesn’t want us lacking anything, and like the Grand Design buildings, each one is unique and different from another, none the same and it takes time to perfect, for it to be all that it is meant to be.

I believe there are people who:
  • feel discouraged for whatever reason whether it be a lack of money or a lack of workers to help finish the job.
  • There are those whose hearts have been hurt and broken in their vulnerability and so in the process have put up walls for protection but the Lord wants to come and replace those walls of  protection and make you transparent again trusting in Him for His protection not in the walls that you have put up to protect yourself.
  • There are those who are lacking the power at the moment and have no light and it is dark and the Lord wants to come and bring the light into the darkness.
  • There are those who seem like everything is great and just about perfect but the Lord wants to expand the capacity in your heart.

I believe The Lord also is wanting to teach and cement in us to be a people who walk in the Truth of the Word and not base everything on how we feel or on what we see.  That we need to be a people who walk by faith in the word and not by sight.  Many of us can function from a place on how we are feeling emotionally and emotions are not wrong, but when they take us down a path that does not line up with the truth of God and what He is saying about you or to you or into life, then you are functioning from an emotional place rather than a place of victory in Christ.
Sometimes you can come into a place of self pity instead of looking at Jesus and giving thanks for your situation and your circumstances which when you do this, lifts you out of the miry clay and sets you on a solid foundation, which is and can only be found in Jesus.

I too am seeing that there are those who live from one encounter to the next encounter in the Lord and so when we are not experiencing that ‘encounter’ we believe we are not in communion in Christ and that is a lie that pushes us looking for the next encounter and discouraged when you are not feeling His presence as you have before.  He is always with you and He has never left you, just because you may not experience him or feel Him in a way you want to, does not mean He is not there.  And I believe He is wanting to take people deeper in this arena and teach people to live from the word and truth of His word and not just from the experience or the encounter.

Prayer:
So Lord I pray for each and every one in the different situations.  Lord come and minister to the broken hearted, to those who have been discouraged and needing your encouragement right now.  Meet them today with you love and your provision and your grace, which is enough to meet all our needs.  Lord release breakthrough where breakthrough is needed.  Lord give them joy in the journey.  Bring around them people who would encourage and help in whatever way they need help today.  Thank you Lord that you hear our cry.
Psalm 10:17;
The finished house!
“You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted, you encourage them and you listen to their cry.
Lord thank you that you fight the battles for us and so we hand them over to you our every situation and we trust you to come and refresh and renew us in your love.
Zeph 3:17  
"The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you in His love; He will exult over you with loud singing" (NRSV)
Thank you Jesus that you are teaching us not only to live from encounter to encounter but from the truth of your word that sustains us and encourages us on in you.
Thank you Jesus!


Popular posts from this blog

Expectations and frustrations

By
Last night I had this dream and I saw myself going up the mountain with my husband and as we went up the mountain to the snow I saw the most beautiful waterfall flowing in the bush and the scenery was just beautiful and as we reached base camp there were many people waiting to go on the ski lift to the mountain but they were having to wait because as I watched the snow was melting so fast because the sun was coming out so strong the the snow was melting like right before your eyes and people were no longer able to ski.  People were getting frustrated because they had come to go skiing and now no longer were able to, but for others like myself I so was enjoying the scenery that because the snow was melting there was so much beauty all around.  At the same time there was aeroplanes flying around doing acrobatic flying in the sky and other people were in stands watching the planes flying around. As I looked at this this morning, I believe we are coming into a time where the ...
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

Is the church a cafe? Did you go to be served or to serve?

By
I had a dream this morning where I saw that I was working in a cafe.   It was busy, there were people coming and going and we didn’t have everything we needed, we still needed a barista, some customers were helping cook the steak for the hamburgers that Jim was cooking as Jim was rushed off his feet. We needed people to serve the people coming in as I was dealing with all the different ones coming and going.   I saw that people were sitting down in a seat but actually weren’t there to get food, they were just using the seats even though they were not using the cafe.   I saw a council officer come in to inspect things and she saw we still needed a barista and she knew people and was going to help us to find one. There was an older man there who was smoking a cigar and I was keen to have a drag off his cigar. People were wandering through our private home at the back of the cafe.   The cafe remained open because people kept coming.   But I was shown that if I did...
Read more

Do you want to walk in signs, wonders and miracles?

By
People say to me that they want to walk in signs wonders and miracles and yet..... the cost it takes to do that they are sometimes not willing to pay - yet   Because the reward far outweighs any cost that might come. And I pray that people get a revelation from God of the joy set before them through Jesus! The cost of perhaps walking away from friends that don't believe what you believe or wan t, the cost perhaps of family who reject you because you are radical and taking your faith too far - in their eyes at least, the cost perhaps of leaving houses, fields etc, the cost perhaps of going to a friend and apologising for your behaviour, as you obey what it is the Lord puts on your heart to do and you may need to surrender these. Yes salvation is free through Jesus, but to walk in the anointing of God where you see captives set free around you, where you see the sick healed, where you see lives changed before your eyes, costs you to believe in what Jesus has done and can do, thr...
Read more

Does your boat have life jackets?

By
Do you go out fishing on a boat without a life jacket? Do you go out on the water unprepared for what may happen? And yet for many Christians this is the state of their Christian walk, they are not prepared for what may come and so when things go wrong they have not spent the time in the word of God, which teaches them truth so that when the enemy comes in like a flood and overwhelms them, they have no where to go except down, because the belt of Truth is like our safety be lt that holds us up when the flood threatens to overwhelm us. Truth is the word of God, truth sets us free, truth brings us life and helps us discern what is of God and what is not of God. A word the Lord was bringing last night is to be prepared and so I encourage you to take the time, set time apart, go in and shut the door to distractions, shut the door to the words the enemy would try and bring, shut the door to discouragement or whatever may be coming that is trying to take your eye, the phone, Facebook, tv...
Read more

Let's not be a 'passerby' this Christmas

By
If you were to see a car accident happen would you stop and help the people in the car or would you drive by believing that others will help them and keep going to where you were headed? This morning I was woken by a request by the pastor in India where we visited three years ago requesting help for the orphanage and daily needs as they were struggling and I thought of the dream I had this morning about a car accident that had happened and those that walked by.  For many of us every day things have happened to the people around us that need our help in some way. The Lord took me to James 2:5  "Listen my dear brothers and sisters:  Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?  But you have dishonoured the poor.....  v14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save them?  Suppose a br...
Read more