Love, comfort, a hiding place, safety
Today’s is a short one…
suddenly realised while doing my quiet time how many of my favourite scriptures speak about the perspective we have as a child of God.
I noticed how we are constantly surrounded by God, if we will take a moment to read what He says about position in Him.
My favourite one for today turns out to be Psalms 91:4 “He will cover you with His feathers, under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
I love this verse… it feels like all I have to do is get close, cuddle under Him in tenderness (it’s a really intimate place under the wings, reserved only for the chicks of a mommy bird), in this soft place and He, just by being who He is-without changing position or starting a battle – is doing everything else for me, this for me is safety and security.
He is the refuge I need, providing me love and comfort, a hiding place and safety; while I’m receiving and filling up on those He is busy being faithful to me:
1 – He is providing love, comfort, a hiding place, safety
2 – I am able to be shielded while receiving this infilling from Him.
3 – He is creating in me a barrier (building a rampart) of strength that at any time I need to I can return into this refuge, while the enemy is waging war against me outside I can be filling up on Him in this secret place.
I can’t resist saying it reminds me of my all time favourite, first-time ever memorized scripture:
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.”
Psalms 23:5 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.23.5.NKJV
He is always good, He is always faithful, He is always on our side ready to fill us to the overflowing of whatever we need for that day.
Thank You Lord for Your goodness, Your faithfulness, teach us Lord to sit and enjoy this moment of sitting in stillness and intimacy with You that we may know You more. Thank You Lord
Notice the differences in people around you and enjoy them!
Lord today as I stopped my car at the school I was reminded by these exquisite purples with the back drop of a cloudy morning, the tiny, little, light, dainty, purples in front greeting the morning with their long stems, each searching for the sun in their own unique direction; the deep, darker, maroon, short, strong stemmed flowers holding their own at the back and yet shining forth the depth and strength of their colour coming through.
Here, You reminded me how beautiful we all are to You. This morning early on in prayer You showed me how Compassionate You are towards each of us. Now this morning while sitting in my car at the school You showed me how unique each of these purple flowers is. How unique each leaf on every plant is, not one alike and as I gazed in musement at them, You said “how much more I love you and made each of you unique, every one of your idiosyncrasies is like a line on this flower’s leaf, no two the same and yet each complimentary to the other if you’ll allow them to be.”
So today when you go out into your day and you notice differences between each other, because you will, they are there, I made it that way on purpose, don’t despise each other, don’t use it as ways to bring down the other, use it as a means of celebration.
I, Asnée, am not a good cook, but thankfully I married a husband who is great at it. I, Asnée, am horrible at admin, but thankfully I can employ someone who is not, being specific with papers and diaries is important and intriguing to them, not to me, thank You Lord, these are everyday examples, let’s see how many ways we can find to celebrate those we share the office, our home, our streets, our neighborhoods and country with, and see what a difference this mindset of celebration will make in our thought process, our children’s lives. I even challenge us, who have issues of being down or depressed to try and see if joy status will improve.
Thank You Lord that You can improve my mindset by helping me take the time to find joy in all You create!
180° turn around in the Spirit
This morning when I arrived at my kids school, after a weekend of juggling studying, church, expectations of snorkelling, fishing and trying to keep people motivated and stable while focused on work and needs of a household… we arrived at the children’s school at approximately the same time as usual… to my surprise and sheer relief haha… I parked on the opposite side of the parking lot and thought, I wonder what this means Lord?
The Lord answered me immediately with “This is a change in direction, 180° change in the spirit, everything you have been fighting, struggling with and that has been holding you back, today, I am cutting off and removing these chains, I am delivering my people who have been held back, who have been pushed down and back into a corner for your whole lives. Your whole lives you have felt like you need to apologise for you who you are, who you were and in case you may shortly offend someone, for who you will be… but I’m telling you today is your new day. Isaiah 60:1 “Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come,”
Those who have been praying this and waiting a year, 2 or a decade for it to come to pass… HA HA!! Now is the time, the Lord has said there is a 180° turn around and you will start to see instant fruit in the natural of that which you have been praying for, that which you have been trusting for and that which you thought, it’s a bit a of a cheek to ask, think or even have the guts to expect this… NOW IS THE TIME!!! IT IS DONE… TETELESTAI!!!
The Lord said: “Step into your new day, step into your new destiny… no not new destiny, the destiny you always knew you were heading towards but it seemed to you that it was someone else’s reality and would never come to you. You will now notice you are no longer explaining yourself, you are no longer requiring many discussions to realise the destination of your ideas, planning and direction in life, planning and work situations, you will now speak things that are not as though they were and physically see the manifesation of My outworking in your life in real time. I will be waiting for you to speak and send out my angels to carry out the tasks as and when you speak them and you will not know how or why, but I will fulfill the plans and purposes I have had for you from the beginning of time. No more holding back your passion, your life and your expectations, now you will speak, see the reactions and then people will see the people watching you speak into reality and how their faith grows and changes from ‘on the fence’ to radical transformation as they watch and see Me working out what I have spoken to your spirit and you have spoken in response. Some may say this is prosperity speak, no this is Kingdom speak, Jesus said nothing without Father saying it first, you will say nothing that doesn’t come from My heart and I will put it into place because I have been waiting for ‘such a time as this’ and you, yes you, you who discounted yourself, you who were discounted by the ‘status quo’, you who were pushed aside and rejected by the ‘powers that be’ you were ‘born for such a time as this’ ( As in Esther 4:14 “For if you remain silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish [since you did not help when you had the chance]. And who knows whether you have attained royalty for such a time as this [and for this very purpose]?”), to not stick to the rules, to not adjust your passion and beliefs and desires to ‘fit the mould’, you were born for such a time as this, you were born to make the noise my Kingdom is expected to make, you were born to ‘explode onto the scene’ the new that I have called out and completely ‘blow out of the water’ the religious system as it has been known, seen and accepted until now… start with prayer… end with results and thanksgiving in prayer… Mat 6:33 Jesus started everything with prayer, everyday, every week and His ministry was birthed out of His place of separation in the desert… today is the day you ‘Come out” as Jesus instructed Lazarus… ‘Come out’ of the old, come into the new, “Come out’ of the old that has been holding you back and keeping you under, under depression of trauma, past experiences and hurts… today is your day to John 11:43 “When He had said this, He shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Come out and your new instruction of 180° come into the new promise…
Here is the promise in Isaiah
A Glorified Zion
60 “Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come,
And the glory and brilliance of the Lord has risen upon you.
2
“For in fact, darkness will cover the earth
And deep darkness will cover the peoples;
But the Lord will rise upon you [Jerusalem]
And His glory and brilliance will be seen on you.
3
“Nations will come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
4
“Lift up your eyes around you and see;
They all gather together, they come to you.
Your sons will come from far away,
And your daughters will be looked after at their side.
5
“Then you will see and be radiant,
And your heart will tremble [with joy] and rejoice
Because the abundant wealth of the seas will [a]be brought to you,
The wealth of the nations will come to you.
6
“A multitude of camels [from the eastern trading tribes] will cover you [Jerusalem],
The young camels of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba [who once came to trade] will come
Bringing gold and frankincense
And proclaiming the praises of the Lord.
7
“All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you [as the eastern pastoral tribes join the trading tribes],
The rams of Nebaioth will serve you;
They will go up with acceptance [as sacrifices] on My altar,
And I will glorify the house of My honor and splendor.
8
“Who are these who fly like a cloud
And like doves to their windows?
9
“The islands and coastlands will confidently wait for Me;
And the ships of Tarshish will come first,
To bring your sons from far away,
Their silver and gold with them,
For the name of the Lord your God,
For the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.
10
“Foreigners will build up your walls,
And their kings will serve you;
For in My [righteous] wrath I struck you,
But in My favor and grace I have had compassion on you.
11
“Your gates will be open continually;
They shall not be shut day or night,
So that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations—
With their kings led in procession.
12
“For the nation or the kingdom which will not serve you [Jerusalem] shall perish,
And the nations [that refuse to serve] shall be utterly ruined.
13
“The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
The [b]cypress, the juniper, and the cedar together,
To beautify the place of My sanctuary;
And I will honor and make the place of My feet glorious.
14
“The sons of those who oppressed you will come bowing down to you [in submission],
And all those who despised you and treated you disrespectfully will bow down at the soles of your feet,
And they will call you the City of the Lord,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15
“Whereas you [Jerusalem] have been abandoned and hated
With no one passing through,
I will make you an object of pride forever,
A joy from generation to generation.
16
“You will suck the milk of the [Gentile] nations
And suck the breast (abundance) of kings;
Then you will recognize and know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17
“Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
And instead of iron I will bring silver,
And instead of wood, bronze,
And instead of stones, iron.
And [instead of the tyranny of the present] I will appoint peace as your officers,
And righteousness your rulers.
18
“Violence will not be heard again in your land,
Nor devastation or destruction within your borders;
But you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise [to God].
19
“The sun will no longer be your light by day,
Nor shall the bright glow of the moon give light to you,
But the Lord will be an everlasting light for you;
And your God will be your glory and splendor.
20
“Your sun will no longer set,
Nor will your moon wane;
For the Lord will be your everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning will be over.
21
“Then all your people will be [uncompromisingly and consistently] righteous;
They will possess the land forever,
The branch of My planting,
The work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
22
“The smallest one will become a thousand (a clan),
And the least one a mighty nation.
I, the Lord, will quicken it in its [appointed] time.”
Read, believe, agree and pray… the rest is up to the Lord… enjoy your new day!
You can't get too much of a good thing
Don’t you just love those programs on the radio where you can unpack the simplest things, like where does an old saying come from… I remember hearing about ‘where does the saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” come from… (now most moms nowadays shudder when they hear someone saying those words) and it was fascinating to hear where it comes from and how we’ve progressed as society to not treat the babies like that anymore…
Well, this morning the saying that comes to mind when I look out of my car is one I always found strange… “you can’t get too much of a good thing”… sorry… my Bible says everything must be done in moderation… where did we come up with “you can’t get too much of a good thing”? I’m not going into where the saying comes from… I’m merely pointing something out. There’s another saying that comes to mind “an idol is a good thing that has become an ultimate thing”… ooh that’s not what we like to hear is it… no… that hits too close to home, to things that we enjoy and we like them to take preference in our hearts… very quickly they chuck out the likes of spending time with God and become idols.
Let’s go back to “you can’t get too much of a good thing”… why did this come to mind… we are in our 3rd week of on and off rain here in the Western Cape and I am not complaining… I love the wet winters… I really do…I don’t miss Gauteng’s dry and dismal bone-chilling winter where everything dries and the world is brown… I need my colours to keep me happy, alive, vibrant … something like that… but, back to the rain… I went outside to investigate with my kids just exactly how many ponds and literally foot in how deep they are, in my back yard, and to my horror I found what I thought would be a bountiful crop of bright red cherry tomatoes… dead… not slightly, to the core of the plant dead… they could not handle the rain… this morning when I arrived at the school, dropped off my children, got back in my car I noticed there’s a whole aloe, huge, tall long aloe, pulled out the ground from the roots up… this is where I find myself considering, “you can’t get too much of a good thing”… isn’t accurate. Anyone would agree we need the rain…any well taught Capetonian would agree we need the rain, the posters are everywhere about how you keep your water, how you manage your water and what you don’t do with your water, it’s a constant reminder, we need the water. However, at the same time right now, there are people whose homes have flooded, some flooded away, various degrees of loss all due to the very good rain.
Consider, what are you making an idol of… I’m speaking to myself as well… whenever someone has these talks… or let me speak for myself… whenever I have these talks I am first referencing myself and then thinking, I’m sure someone else out there could benefit from this(thought bubble)
Is there anything keeping me from spending the time with the Lord I want to spend… scratch that He wants me to spend with Him… since He’s the boss… He asks me and I say no… who am I to say no to Him… ( thought bubble)
Let’s be real… my bed is comfy… 11:30 is quite late to go to bed… 5:00 quite early to get up… snooze? … so easy…
Where does that leave me and my family unprotected, unconnected and uninjected by His amazing grace and favour and love and ability for the day… so let’s get real… you can always get too much of a good thing… just because people have been saying it repetitively for many years doesn’t mean it’s true, Truth is a person and if I am to make an ultimate thing out of a good thing I will loose my opportunity to be injected with the great love of the Father to carry me through every morsel of a moment in my day that I need to breathe in ya… and out weh… in ya and out weh life itself transfusing into my every morsel of a moment… God bless enjoy your day… I could go on forever He is so great and greatly to be praised…
Page 7 of 9
