wholly dependent on the Lord

This is my last entry for November 2008. It's been a great month for which i am truly grateful to the Lord for.

I came across this phrase which i've been contemplating:

"It's not your prayers, It's not your ability, It's your surrender."

Prayers are important.
His grace and ability given to us to accomplish God's plans in our lives are important.
But the most crucial of all is our surrender to the Lord.

That we may yield and obey and be wholly dependent on Him. Only then can we fulfill the Great Commission, expanding and advancing His Kingdom!!

Zerubabbel - builder of lives

Recently, in a prayer time with friends, I heard the following in my heart and wrote it down:

Build what I’ve called you to build – brick by brick, layer by layer, putting the living stones together gathered from the various parts of the earth.

I call you builders of lives unto the Lord, imparting life and spirit into hearts turned towards Me – not only to increase the Kingdom, but to strengthen the Kingdom so that it can continue to advance in his Name.

There is darkness to overcome, evil to vanquish, pain to be defeated in the Name of Jesus!

I’m building you up too, and that is why I’m taking time to strengthen and establish you in My way, in My Word: to school you, even discipline you so that you will go the way as you desire in your heart – to go the way I’ve shown you.

You will come to a place where you will deal less with self, less with your circumstances, but be caught up with my concerns, my plans and my desires.

You’ve cried out, “Lord, I want to be consumed by You and Your desires – wholly consumed with your passion and purpose like fire burning in the belly”

This, too, is increasing in your life, as you purpose in your heart to follow my purposes for your life.

Deep calls unto deep, and the depths of your spirit continue to respond to my call.

Seek my kingdom, and my righteousness, and all these thing will be added unto you.

I believe the above is for all who want to see God's purpose and plan fulfilled in their lives, and desire to obey and please Him in all their ways. I hope this encourages you as you continue to seek the Lord and serve Him with all your heart.

living with a purpose on purpose

God has been speaking to me.

I heard this recently, and it has been resonating in my spirit.

We live with a purpose on purpose.

In other words, we purpose to follow His purpose for our lives, purposefully.

:D

I'm not really using words other than purpose, am I?

Well, i'm doing it on purpose.

Okay, very punny (funny?)

Seriously, that's what i'm doing.

In Christ, i can do it.

a picture paints a thousand words

Here are three photos which speak of God's creative power, infinite beauty and majestic splendour!

My uncle took them during his trip to south America.

The snow-capped Andes - the world's longest mountain range

Lake Titicaca with Andes in the background

Sunset over the Amazon Jungle

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee:
How Great Thou Art!
How Great Thou Art!

our God is amazing!

My prayers, together with the prayers of others, regarding the situation i wrote about earlier this week, has been answered.

Later on Thursday morning (after the early morning entry), i was reminded of this verse from Psalm 50:23.

Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;
And to him who orders his conduct aright
I will show the salvation of God.” (NKJV)

I checked on the meaning of salvation in the original Hebrew later in the day:
yesha‛ or yêsha‛: liberty, deliverance, prosperity: - safety, salvation, saving.

How do we order our conduct aright? We make a choice (with our will) to live according to the Word of God. The Holy Spirit shows us how to apply His Word to our lives, and what specifically to do. God's grace enables us to what the Holy Spirit reveals. This is not difficult when we depend on His grace.

At prayer school too, as we praised God, I remember laughter rising on the inside of me. I brought this situation to the Lord, and began to praise Him according to Philippians 4: 6.

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. (AMP)

Thereafter, the peace from God enveloped me.

It only threatened to leave when instead of praising God that same evening as i shared with a family member, I began to complain about some of the aspects i had experienced. My conscience pricked me, and i set it aright by a simple sms to that member, and then repenting before the Lord, once again making the adjustment to the Word of God.

Praise God that He turned around the situation which involved the input of many, and could have impacted quite a few people negatively. Within 4 days, it has been resolved.

Our God is an amazing God. He often does above and beyond what we can think or imagine. His promises are Yes and Amen in Christ.

In retrospect, i had sensed the victory even as i prayed this morning. The feeling was no longer one of urgency and heaviness. And again, when i remembered just before lunch, there seemed to be a peace in my spirit. Very unlike Wednesday evening, and early Thursday morning.

I have learnt through this, amongst other things that have been happening, and what the Holy Spirit has been showing me, that:

• when we seek Him, He will be found of us;
• when we ask Him regarding plans and purposes, He will reveal to us
  
• when we obey His promptings and instructions, He will change the situation and atmosphere around us
• when we pray according to His will, He will see to it that our prayers are answered
  
• when we don't know His will, we ask and we look into the word of God which contains His will
• when we have finished praying, just stand in faith, believing He will fulfill His word.

FINALLY, PRAISE HIM that He will show His salvation and deliverance!

YOUR LOVE IS AMAZING

Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging
Your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery, how You gently lift me
When I am surrounded, Your love carries me

Chorus
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing

Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising
All the joy that's growing deep inside of me
Every time I see You, all Your goodness shines through
And I can feel this God song, rising up in me

Bridge
Yes, You make me sing
Lord, You make me sing, sing, sing
How You make me sing

God ALWAYS leads us IN triumph in Christ

I've been praying on and off about a situation since Tuesday evening.

Yesterday evening, I asked God to show me His perspective: how He sees this matter. How do i praise Him in a situation that appears to lead to an inevitable and bleak end? How do i pray for a situation that has the potential of causing hurt/frustration/disillusionment to the parties concerned?

I was woken up about half an hour ago with this verse resounding in my spirit.

2 Corinthians 2:14 (AMP)
14But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ's victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,

I had taught it in Praise Life class just 2 days ago.

It struck me then that God ALWAYS, not sometimes, but ALWAYS, leads us. That is so so assuring. We choose to follow His leading that takes place all the time.

And God is able to lead us in triumph because of what Christ has done in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. This means that even before we see the result of our faith and vision (according to what has been revealed to us by God), we already know we have the victory.

Moreover, each step of the journey to the "end" of our faith, to the place of victory, is taken in triumph.

The Message Bible puts it this way:

"in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade"

The New Living Translation reads:

"continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession"

We are already IN triumph.

I look to YOU, my Lord, the GOD of more than enough, and follow You closely every step of the way as You lead me.

God showed me

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)
"we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

and

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 54:17

Our focus is to seek and know His will, and then trust and obey Him. He will continue to order our steps and give us wisdom. His divine wisdom gives rise to good consequences.

James 3:17-18 (NKJV)
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

I'm believing and thanking God for good fruit in this situation.

November

I love November.

First, it's the month when i was born, and my mum had just come home from her birthday celebration with her family when her water bag burst. I was born the next day. We always have joint celebrations, usually on her birthday. Mum comes first, you see! hehe...

Two years ago, on my birthday, i decided to be less focused on self, and talked to God about helping people on my birthday. It was part of my journey to be more others-oriented, putting others' interests first. At that time, i was a tiny wee litte bit sad about people not remembering my birthday. As one grows older, we don't really celebrate in a big way... The gregarious part of me missed having the multiple cakes with colleagues, cell group, family, and other friends. Still, it is just lovely having a double celebration with mum and family, and then a private little celebration with hubby... (grin)

Last year, i was joyful because of this re-orientation in my attitude. I met up with friends at different times in November, just enjoying their company, and speaking into their lives while they spoke into mine. They did not even know it was my birthday.

This year, the Lord also sent a few people my way who needed my help. And, on the 2nd day of November, during my time with God, I was reminded of this prayer i made 2 years ago.

I am editing a thesis for a brother in church - about 70+ pages so far has been sent. More to come...
I just helped a girl finish her literature project just last Sat/Sun.
With my parents, I visited an elderly couple (the wife fell and her hip and wrist sustained hairline fractures) to pray for them and cheered them up.

And November had just started.

I love November... as it leads to December - which is my favourite month of the year. November is a close second.

We celebrate Christ's birth in December.
I was married in December.
I have wonderfully pleasant memories of many trips (S Africa, Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, China, Myanmar, New Zealand - my favouritest place; honeymoon destination) made in December.
December is a time of thanksgiving and reflection for the year past.
And December is full of promise and excitement for the year to come.

How not to give thanks to God??!!