Let's not be a 'passerby' this Christmas

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 brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?"

What is love - love is both word and action. So how do I love people in need, who, for whatever reason have had an accident and need help getting back on their feet? All of us struggle at different times but if I were in that position would I need someone to help me? If we are Jesus to the people around us, what does that look like? If we are His hands and His feet, Christ in us, the hope to the world, how does love in action take shape?

Every situation is different I believe, there is not a one size fits all, but this is where prayer too is the beginning steps in how we help as the spirit knows what a person needs and perhaps the need we can help with may not be the physical financial support like that in India, but something else.

Pastor Johns Orphanage we visited in Nov 2016

Perhaps a word of encouragement. Perhaps a meal. Perhaps a voucher for a fancy restaurant that would bless them. God knows our needs even before we ask for them, but He uses you and I too supply that need. Let's be a people this Christmas that are not ones who walk on by but help those in need that we come across if we are able knowing that God supplies all of our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

If you can and would like to help our friends in India then please send funds through to the bank account listed on the donations page with India as a reference. Thank you for your support.

Obedience and Commitment are big things in Gods Kingdom

Reading in Acts 7 this morning the story through Stephen of Abraham being told by God to " Leave your country and your people and go the the land I will show you" So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child." As I reflected on this and the journey of Abraham stepping out in faith into a land that he received no inheritance in but a promise of what was to come for his descendants of which we live in the fruit of that, I thought of todays generations in which often is only doing things that we want to do or that will benefit us personally as we live for 'today' not worrying about tomorrow. A sense of if it feels good then do it, if it doesn't then we will move on - perhap...

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...

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,...

Arise & Shine, let your voice be heard

To speak or not to speak – this is the question? Or perhaps it should be ‘how to speak?’ We live in a world where the rights of man are rising, the voices of differences of opinion are growing stronger and louder. The justice of the world, right and wrong as seen through our own eyes, starting to arise. I n this nation of NZ where "tall poppy syndrome' has been an issue as the accepted norm of the past, people are breaking out, rising up and learning to use their voice. As rightly we ought as Christians. All good things to happen, all needed to happen. For the bride to stand, awaken and arise and to shine for righteousness and justice. To stand up for the poor and needy, to speak on behalf of those who can't. With anything new, you have the swings in the spectrums as we all learn how to walk in a new way. We say things more strongly than we ought, or perhaps we say things weaker where watering it down and don’t come across to effe...

Position yourself - a declogging of the coffee machine!

Something else that came this morning in regards to positioning yourself for the Lord. As I woke up this morning I had some lemon with hot water as as drink that cleanses my system and then I cleaned out my coffee machine with some white vinegar to get rid of all the bits that were clogging it up. When I did this I felt the Lord speaking to me that I need a bit of 'cleansing', a bit of 'unclogging' the things in me that have got a built up over time that need the Holy Spirit running through me to unclog those things, so that I am completely cleansed and available for Him to do what he wants to do through me. What are some of the things that are 'clogging up' the free flow of the Holy Spirit pouring out and through you that perhaps you might need some cleansing of? We are more than happy to cleanse our bodies by doing a detox but how about doing a detoxifying, if you like, of our souls so that we are positioned for all that the Lord wants to do in and t...

"A man's enemies will be the members of his own household" Matt 10:36

Recently we have been pondering how to deal with situations in our family that don't line up with the word. What action do we need to take? Are we being too harsh? Do we accept the behaviour or be considered by those around us as "too radical" or "too black and white"? "Where is grace in all of this? How do we love the sinner but hate the sin? What about forgiveness? What is the role of discipline? What makes that sin any worse than lying? What is true love? And there are a lot more questions going through the mind in how to work through this and know God's will and desire for the situation and the person. And firstly to say we have not come to any conclusions and are growing and learning day by day in this but I want to throw it out there. In Matt 10:34-39 says "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "a man against his father, ...

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