"And this is love; that we walk in obedience to his commands."

Why do we do what we do?

2 John 6 “And this is love; that we walk in obedience to his commands.”

1 John 5:3 “This is love for God, to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

Jim and I have travelled down to Christchurch area for a time, why? Because the Lord was directing our feet in this direction. End of story. But why? What has He got for us here? What are we ‘doing’ here? Why spend the money to come down here when we don’t see the finances coming in that will be needed to cover the trip? All sorts of questions arise as we step out in faith but end up not being able to answer all the questions that arise from various directions, various people in their hearts and our own, and yet we come and we come simply in obedience not knowing the outcome but knowing who our Lord is and that He has good plans for us.

Recently the Lord gave me a dream and it led me to the story of Jonah and his refusal to go where the Lord told him to go and the consequences that happened because of disobedience and then finally repentance came and he went where God had originally called him to go. He didn’t go initially because of fear I believe and for many of us we don’t step out into what the Lord calls us to do because of some type of fear, but then because of that fear it cripples us in some form until we come to a place of repentance and trust in the Lord and finally do what He calls us to do. When we do, like Jonah, I believe we will see things we never dreamed of or believed for.

A few years back we believed we were to go to China and it was the ‘last’ money that Jim and I had as such and so it was a huge step and once again we didn’t know why we were to go but we went out of obedience and eventually we understood why we were to go and it grew us immensely in our faith in the Lord to the point that when the Lord called us to go to Africa for three months once again with no money coming in or knowing the country or what we were to do there, but because of seeing the provision in the previous trips, we had the faith rise up in us to step out again and we saw absolutely amazing things happen on that trip that we never dreamed of. God is faithful and is able to perform all that he says he will do, if we will only but ‘obey’ not knowing the outcome.

There was an old song that was sung “Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus” and it is so true. We so often don’t know the outcome of faith, but faith requires an action on our part in order to see the promises come true. We have promises over this trip to Christchurch, and at this point we can’t see them but we are here by faith, not in what we can do, but knowing that our Lord is faithful and will do what He said He will do. I write this not only to encourage others but ourselves in the Lord as we need to be reminded of what the Lord has done in the past to help us keep going in Him, to keep believing in Him when we may not see it yet.

May the Lord richly bless each one of you as you step out in obedience and love for Jesus into what he calls you each one to do.

Do you have time for breakfast?

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, ...

6 legged sheep???

In the weekend I saw a vision of a sheep that had six legs. And what I believe the Lord is saying, there are many sheep, (followers of Christ), but they are trusting in their own strength and not in mine. When we trust in our own strength and abilities we forfeit the grace that can be ours, the enabling that comes from stepping out in faith in the impossible, the testimonies that give God the glory rather than the expectation of what should be because we have put our hand to something. God is the God of the impossible and in order for the miracles, the testimonies, we need to be a people that step out in what we can't do and allow God to come in and do the impossible. That may simply be asking the Lord to help you to forgive someone that has hurt you so much, to getting on a plane with no finances because the Lord has asked you to, to continue to stay in a job/church/marriage/relationship you don't want to because that is where God has placed you, to pra...

Is the reality of your heart different to what people see?

I had this dream and in this dream I went to stay with some people but they had no room in the house for me so I stayed in my caravan. But as I went into their house, the kitchen was a disaster, it was full of rotting food so much so that there were maggots growing and moving, there was stuff everywhere. The people in the house were off helping a handicapped person which was good, but the state of their kitchen was a disaster. So even though I didn’t know where to begin in cleaning up I started to clean up as they needed a hand and as I started to clean up the people in the house came and helped and switched on the waste disposal unit and the kitchen began to take shape again. I believe this is a word for some of you. Although you are helping others and doing good things, in the process, your own house, your own heart, is in a mess and you need others to come and help you get started. The kitchen in dream language often means the hear...

Expectations and frustrations

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 ...

Soften my heart Lord....I need a miracle.

Those in Egypt who were taken and led out of slavery with Moses and crossed the Red Sea saw the miracles of God, they saw their God working in mighty ways before their very eyes and yet not long from where they saw these things take place, they come into quarrelling and times of testing and in this place they forget the miracles, they forget the bigness of their God and all he can do and has done and they harden their hearts. Many of us through times of testing, through trials, through believing for things and not yet seeing it happen, find ourselves unintentionally hardening our heart to what we have seen or know that our God can do. We stop moving in faith in which we first did at the beginning in our relationship with the Lord and we end up living along like all those around us and accepting our states in life and no longer step out in faith on the bigger things in which the Lord has called us to. Perhaps we have stepped out in faith before and God 'seemingly' didn...

Kiwi Culture verses Kingdom Culture

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 ...

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