Spiritual Growth

We need to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power – Eph 6:10; When there is no peace on earth, people slay one another – Rev 6:4 ; Peace be within your walls and security within your towers – Ps 122:7; … He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him – Prov 16:7;
Where there is peace there is no division – Luk 12:51; And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever, my people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Isa 32:17-18;

Through God we learn that one of the gifts He bestow on us as His children is peace. Not only within our self, but God will also ensure that we are surrounded by peace. Even our enemies will be at peace with us..

Isaiah 32:17-18 gives us a key towards this kind of peace…’the result of righteousness.’ What is righteousness? If you look up the meaning of righteousness, words like goodness, uprightness, decency, morality, innocence, guiltless and blameless comes up. So how do you receive righteousness? Through Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us to ensure that we are innocent, guiltless and blameless. Ps32:5 says, when I confessed my sin, You forgave me my iniquity and my sin. This in turn makes me good, upright, innocent, guiltless and blameless = Righteousness.

Another key in this verse refers to ‘quietness’. It is more than, not making a sound, it is to be quiet in your spirit. To be at ease in your spirit. And it includes ‘trust forever’. To trust is to not always have the full picture or answer, but to recognise that ‘I am save or OK. The situation will be OK. Because God has a plan. And He promised that He has a good plan for me (Jer29:11) and all will work for good (Rom8:28).

Peter was able to sleep when he was thrown in jail. (Acts12) I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep so soundly that the Angel would need to struck me to wake me up. I would be too scared to even fall asleep. But Peter was sleeping..how, why? Because he understood what is Godly peace. The knowing that God is in control, He has a plan and trusting God to have a good plan and accepting the gift of peace which surpasses all understanding. (Phil4:7)

May you accept the gift of peace God wants to give you and have made available to you. May you learn to trust Him with all your heart and may Isa32:17-18 be present in your life.

Do you crave ultimate peace in this crazy busy, full of stress world of ours? Do you wish for a holiday where you can relax and not think about your responsibilities and everybody’s expectations in your life?

⁷ And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:7

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. John 16:7; Peace I leave with you – John 14:27;

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; Acts 1:8, You need to allow the Holy Spirit to come on you and deposit His peace in you. The Holy Spirit gives us love and power and sound mind.

You can receive the Holy Spirit and His peace when you wait on Him and are open to receive Him.

Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you; Matt 7:7

What is the opposite of peace? Fear – We did not receive a spirit of fear, but of love and power and sound mind. …. It says we did not receive a spirit of fear, which means fear is a type of spirit. So it can be cast out. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, 1 John 4:18. Fear can be cast out and replaced with the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

Let the Holy Spirit give you the peace that surpasses all understanding and let the Holy Spirit give you new power for your daily living.

There was a crowd of people around Jesus till late in the day. He felt sorry for them and asked the disciples to make a plan to feed them. They thought the idea was crazy.

They could only find a young boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Jesus was able to feed 5000 men (woman and children not counted) and there was still 12 baskets left afterwards. (Matt 14:13-21)

A bit later in His ministry the crowd was hungry and the disciples could only find 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. Jesus was able to feed 4000 men (women and children not counted) and there was still 7 baskets left. (Matt 15:29-39, Mark 8:1-8)

A while later the disciples had to get to the other side of the lake and when they were in the boat, they realised they only had one loaf of bread between them. (Mark 8:14) After experiencing above miracles, did they really worry about how they were going to be fed? Haven’t they learned anything?

What do you think the disciples should have done? Should they have waited to get to the other side so they could get something more / else to eat? Maybe use the delay for a time of fasting. Should they have reminded themselves of the miracles Jesus has done earlier and trust that He will do another miracle? Should they have blessed the bread and prayed to God to multiply the bread? Should they have thanked God for what they’ve got and start handing out bread, trusting that, as they brake the bread, it will multiply?

What did they do? Mark 8:16 says they spoke amongst themselves and said ‘it is because we have no bread.’ But in Mark 8:14 they said they have one loaf, but now with all the discussions the one loaf evaporated into no bread. What happened to the one loaf? Nothing, but they dismissed it as something insignificant, because in their minds they can’t do anything with one loaf. But Jesus can feed them with one loaf. But to tell you the truth… That is us in a nutshell.

We have experienced miracles in our lives, but every time a new challenge or storm happens, we go into panic mode and our faith is being tested. We try to keep our eyes on the Lord throughout the storm, but most of the time we don’t succeed. We dismiss the small blessings in our life, like the one loaf, but with Jesus all things are possible. He can take this one blessing of ours and multiply it in a supernatural way. In the hands of Jesus, the small we disregard can turn into a miracle.

Do you sometimes doubt God’s promises? Do you sometimes wonder if what He promise will come to pass?

And then feel guilty because of your doubt and think that if I really had a relationship with God I would not doubt?

Whenever I’m faced with such questions, I like to go back to the word and see if there was anyone who felt like I did and what happened to them.

John the Baptist recognised Jesus while his mother was still pregnant with him. The first time he saw Jesus at the river he proclaimed that ‘this is the Lamb for us.’ (Jhn 1:29-31) He was so sure of who Jesus was and proclaimed it to all.

But when he was captured and thrown into prison, he send some of his disciples to Jesus to ask ‘Are you the One or is there someone else we should expect?’ (Matt 11:3) Even after so many times of being sure who Jesus is, he doubted himself and if he was right in his understanding.

Jesus didn’t respond with disappointment or resentment. He told the person to please tell John, he didn’t make a mistake. (Matt 11:4-5) Jesus conveyed a message of hope to John.

Today Jesus wants to convey a message of hope to you. When you feel doubtful, take it to Him and He will take time to answer you and give you hope. He is our Saviour, our Provider, our Protector, He Is. For you.

As a Christian, it is important for me to stay within God’s path. That is where I’m safe, within Gods plan for my life. When I talk to people about my relationship with God, one of the questions I receive on a regular basis is ‘how do you hear the Voice of God?’ For me it is not an audible voice, but sometimes the message is so clear that I actually want to look around and see if He is standing next to me.

For me it is mostly through His word. He will remind me of a scripture I’ve read a time ago which is relevant to my question or situation. He will also send me a message through the people around me and I will notice a quickening in my spirit which let me know I must listen especially to what they say. 

It is also a whisper in my spirit sometimes about daily living and spiritual questions I have. The same voice that whispers to you to file a document at work so you won’t search for it in future. Even the whisper telling you not to cross the robot even though it turned green, just to see a car skipping the red robot on his side. When you start to listen to the whisper, you will recognise that the advise is sound and good. And the more you listen, the more you hear.

If I ask you how many red cars you have seen on your last drive, you won’t be able to tell me. But I’m sure your subconscious will be looking for red cars on your next drive. When you do not take notice of the whisper, you will not be aware of Him. But when you start to tune in to the whisper you will realise that He’s got a lot to say. John 12:1-2 says we will recognise His voice.

The Holy Spirit will bring into remembrance what we know, He will be our helper.  (Jhn14:26)

The scripture Matt 7:8 ‘For every one who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened’ doesn’t come with conditions. It’s true… John 14:14 says: ‘If you ask me anything in My name, I will do it.’  So therefore what ever you ask you will receive, but how many of us feel that this statement is true. Or do you feel that you usually get ‘no’ for an answer or that your request was ignored ?

The scripture says as a man believe so he become (Prov 4:23). God’s word shall not come back void (Isa 55:11). As you say to Me, I will do (Numbers 14:28).

If this is all true then your believe system has an effect on the outcome of any scripture. Your believe system is either based on your identity in God or the world.

Let’s look at this from a practical example:

When you receive a note from the post office informing you that you have a package to collect. You do agree with me that the package belongs to you. Your name was put on it by the sender. Any worker in the post office will be able to confirm the name of the owner of the package. But if you do not collect the package you do not have possession of it. It may be yours but you cannot reap the benefit of the package. You have to claim the package by going to the post office and collecting it.

The same apply with faith. If you got the scripture to claim your promise you need to claim the promise. If you go to the post office to collect your package, but take another person’s ID the post office will not release your package to you  even though technically the package belongs to you. Your ID identifies who you are. But if your identity cannot be confirmed at the post office based on the sender’s information, they will not release the package to you.

If your identity is not established in the right Person who is in possession of your promise, you cannot claim your promise.

Matt 6:33: ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’

Matt 7:7 ‘Ask and it will be given to you …’

Just after the famous ask, seek and knock piece the scripture goes on and explain how a father will give his son bread or fish when he ask. There is a lot of debate around the meaning of the bread and fish. But I want to stand still with why Jesus used the father / son reference right after the ask, seek, knock verses. There is no accidents in the bible. Nothing is said out of sink.

Jesus refers here to the relationship between father and son. He also use the trust and understanding relationship between father and son to bring better clarity to the ask, seek, knock scripture.

The father has a responsibility to look after his son. His got a love for his son and wants what is best for him.  The father stands in the position of provider and provide for his son. The son goes to the father with an expectation of food. You won’t ask somebody for food without either a history of success or with an expectation of a positive outcome. If the son is old enough to ask, he is old enough to know that his father is his provider. He has received food from him on previous occasions and knows that when he ask his father will give him food. He also knows from past experience that he can trust what his father will give him. His father has not given him something that he cannot eat or that will make him sick.

The father here is the provider, can be trusted, listen to his son when he ask. Reacts on the request, and give the son bread / fish.

The son understands who his father is. The son trust his father to provide him with food. He knows that the father will hear his request and act on it.

Do you see our Heavenly Father as the provider, can be trusted, hear and listen to you when you ask. Reacts on your request and give you what you asked for?

Do you see yourself as a child of God?

If you do not believe this, what do you believe?

There are so many references in the bible talking about your tongue. How your tongue can cause a fire. Destroy your future. But do we really take note of every word that comes out of our mouth? Because every word has the power to either create or destroy your life or somebody else’s.

There is a verse in the old and new testament that specifically states that we will have to give testament to every word that was said by us. How many of your words will you have to explain and justify?

May every word be a blessing to others and yourself. May every word build and not break down the life around you. May every word be God inspired. May God guide and help you to grow in speaking power words that will be a blessing for everyone around us.

Are you in the place God chose for you or did you make the decision from your flesh? I’ve been reading through Deuteronomy again and one thing that stood out for me this time is the reference: ….. ‘to the place that the Lord will choose’.

From the beginning of Deuteronomy the Israelite’s went to the promise land the Lord has chosen. It also speaks about the place the Lord has chosen to put His name there for His dwelling. The place where you need to bring your offering and tithe’s.

Have you consulted God with regards to where He wants you to ‘put His name there for His dwelling’, or where you give your tithe’s? How much of your everyday decision making do you discuss with God first and wait for Him to show you the place or do you make the decision and ask God to bless you at your new place, new church, new position.

If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.

There is so much I can learn from His life. He went to John the Baptist to get baptised. As a grown man of 30 years. In the river. Do I need to say more.

When He felt overwhelmed by emotions, He went to the hill and pray. When He had a hard day at ‘work’, He went to the hill and pray.

He picked His disciples – you need to pick your friends – just saying. He supported and taught them everything He knew. He led by example. He reprimanded them with love. He humbled Himself and washed their feet.

There is so much we can learn from Him about every day life. Take time to find out what was good enough for Jesus. You will be supprised how many of your day to day questions will be answered.