Private or Public? Kiwi culture or Kingdom culture?

The other week I had a dream and I was taking my child to a new private school and while there, I was invited by the teachers for lunch. But just before lunch I decided to go to the toilet, along with other teachers. But what I noticed was I was on a toilet that was like that of those we have had experience on in the Tibetan Plateau in China, open, exposed and very public, no embarrasement but a part of every day life, but the other teachers were on the style we have here in New Zealand, private and a personal cubicle.

As I pondered this I was reminded of a book title the Lord gave me a while ago about Kiwi Culture vs Kingdom Culture. And the picture in the dream above illustrated a wonderful of example of how easily people can be misunderstood because of the culture that they have lived in and by the experiences that one has had which determines world view, verses that of what is actually a Kingdom culture.

In dream interpretation, going to the toilet often represents a place of cleansing, a place of repentance. And here in Kiwi culture, often that is a very private thing, a place of embarrasement and perhaps even shame, certainly not something that is discussed with others, and where everyone can see you. So we can often get clashes in thinking. In a Kingdom Culture mindset there is no shame, there is no embarrasement and no hiding, but rather a people walking in truth and fellowship with one another. In Gen 2:25 in the garden of Eden there was no shame, it was all open relationship. It was only when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil did their eyes open and they felt shame and embarrasement and wanted to cover themselves up. So in the Kingdom of God in the garden, which is the place the Lord through Jesus has returned and restored us too, we once again have the freedom to feel no shame in our repentance, in the cleansing, but rather see it as a part of ordinary everyday life and walk in relationship with others.

There is so much in this to ponder and reflect on, as this can go across many situations in life, for example marriage, govt, forgiveness, finances, everything. But the main point I am trying to get across is that we need to be careful that we are functioning, reacting and responding, and growing in, that of the Kingdom mindset as seen in the word of God. The plumbline of God, rather than the worldviews and cultural mindset of the world in which we live in or have grown up in, or the experiences we have had, that we think perhaps are Christian, that are in fact our own worldview. We need to learn to change, grow and develop to be more like Christ in everything we do and everything we say.

So I bless you in this new season with eyes to see and ears to hear what Jesus would say and do, respond and react, to what is taking place in the world in which we live right now.

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...

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, ...

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...

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 ...

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...

Words are powerful weapons

The Lord has been recently challenging me on some of the words I speak (even in the sharing of testimony) and the motives of the heart that underline those words that come out from my mouth. Words are powerful things and if we allow the Lord to reveal what is underneath some of our words, then we realise what is actually at the root or at the heart of the words we speak that may need healing or truth spoken into such things. With our tongue comes either blessing or cursing. With our tongue the overflow of the heart speaks (Matt 12:34) With our tongue we can turn a whole ship, or set a spark which creates a huge fire that sets the whole course of our life (James 3:5) With our tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness (James 3:19) Prov 19:16 “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver.” For example: are the words I am speaking lifting me up and putting ...

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