DATE: 19.07.2011

Hie guys               

                                                                            

I have been learning a lot and well I’m going to share a few things with you below and hope these help you as they have helped me.

1 Peter 3:8-9 ‘finally all of you, be like minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble, 9 do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary repay evil with blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ‘

There is such a blessing that comes with being like-minded [united in both mind and spirit]. It is Christ like to be sympathetic to not only others but even between each other. Compassion is something the gospels say Jesus said – it was compassion that caused him to heal and deliver all the people he did. Humility – God raises the humble and humbles the proud. V9 touches me because it’s like people are going to be rough towards us and spit at us etc. we will be persecuted for the sake of the gospel but yet God expects us to repay evil with blessing – but not for nothing! We will then inherit a blessing [ not from man but from the Father Himself!] Glory!!

Acts 2: 42-47 is a wonderful piece of scripture but I’m going to zoom in to verse 45 ‘they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need’ Guys there will be people we would probably not want to help lol but will have to help financially and all. But to do this we need not have fleshly love – no which is not sufficient, we need to pray that God gives us the same love that He has for His people. Fact: it’s not easy to forgive those who hurt you, let alone love them, but now we are also expected to bless them and give them and sell what we have, aka sacrifice for them when they are in need. Lord help us…

Back to 1 Peter 3: 11 ‘turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it’ do you know that God knows that it is not easy to keep the peace? Well yeah he does – he knows that we get easily irritated and impatient and don’t understand why people don’t see things our way… he has to know he made us right. But I found this verse so profound because he says Seek peace & PURSUE IT… meaning it is a constant thing. A continuous battle to keep the peace, a continuous effort made. Guys we all need the Lord I tell u…

Now it gets deep…

Verse 22 ‘…who has gone into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God with angels, authorities & powers in submission to him.’  Okay – yes I acknowledge that Christ is at the right hand of the Father and all must bow down and acknowledge Him as Lord – it says there are:

1. 1.      Angels
2. 2.      Authorities; and
3. 3.      Powers.

Why are number 2 and 3 spoken of as though they are people? Like they hear and react, like the also bow down and take orders from Jesus? Yikes! This just makes me more curious to find out more about heaven – more about what it’s like and what the governing bodies and authorities are like. Why do I wanna know? Because we are said to be seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father and these things will bow to us too through Christ. So don’t you think it best to find out what we have authority over? I do…

Romans 13:1 ‘there are no authorities that exist besides those that God has placed…’

Ephesians 3:10 ‘His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be  made known to the rulers & authorities in heavenly realms…’

There are realms in heaven! I’d imagine like cities and government like us. Now I understand a little better about what they call ‘strong man’ in a country, city and over a suburb. Have u guys heard of that? Christ must be the strong man in your area spiritually and if he isn’t an evil spirit is.

Colossian 1:16 ‘ for IN Him all things are were created, things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him for Him.’

So understand that because Christ is ruler over ALL angels, all powers, all authorities, all thrones – we are too! In His name through him we received salvation thus we are seated at the right hand of God with Jesus! ALL THINGS submit under and to Him name – JESUS and therefore we have authority too!  Remember they have no choice to submit because they were made IN Him Colossians 1: 16 - Glory!!!!

Now catch this – Mark 1:27 ‘…what is this? A new teaching and with authority? He even gives orders to evil spirits and the obey Him…’ LOL AMEN!!! Please do not miss the kind of authority that Christ had – hehhehehehe – He gave orders to evil spirits and they obeyed! He didn’t negotiate with them or sweat and rebuke them for hours tirelessly – he ordered them once and the submitted. Guys when we understand the kind of authority we have in Christ and in God we will not struggle! And even in our teachings will be in authority because we know who we are in God and we have complete trust and FAITH in His word! FAITH in HIM. When you know something is true, you are confident about how you relate the story to other people because you do not doubt what you are saying, but when you are not sure of your facts, your tone is not the same and the effect is not the same. We need to get to know the word and the author of the word before we can relate this wonderful gospel to anyone else in the authority that God wants us to have!

Hebrews 11:6 ‘ it is impossible to please God without FAITH…’

Will load more as I go…

All praise and glory be to God and Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour..

Genesis Chapter One

It intrigues me how powerful and awesome God is. His way of being is something I will forever seek to understand. And yet I know that my mind is too small to grasp just how great He is, I will try non-the-less and seek Him through the word.

This chapter is a chapter that has opened doors in my mind. It has given me a glimpse of how God thinks and how He speaks and what happens when He has spoken, the result of it all and where I as a human being fit into the great plan.

To begin with, He created the heavens and the earth [v1] – meaning there was no heaven nor was there earth. I cannot assume that there was nothing because then the question would be, then where was God? One question I will be sure to ask Him when we meet in heaven. God does not, like man, need to have a ‘place to stay’. He is not like human beings who depend on ‘shelter’ for protection etc. He is God, a greater being – He exists! That’s what He does, He is!

Now [v2] goes on to say that “the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. This statement has taken me by surprise this morning. As you know we human beings were made in His likeness [v26], thus we are able to create things too, but here’s what gets me. We are also able to create things and they are formless, empty and dark. Not to say that the spirit of God is not with you, make many of us create things i.e. businesses, ideas, even children and families but all we see is darkness and emptiness and we think that God has forsaken us. Think about that a little and we will come back to that just now.

The first thing He then created there-after was light [v3-5]. Notice how after creating light, He separated it from darkness and called them day and night. We too need to separate light and darkness. They cannot reside in the same place at the same time. When light appears, darkness must leave. The absence of no light is darkness. Why? God did not create darkness; it was already there [v2]. Only after He created light was there a separation.

Here’s another question, what is the significance of water? I mean it says the earth was empty and without form but that the Spirit of God hovered over ‘the waters’. What waters if the earth was empty? Pray about this one, and when God reveals it to you please comment below and let me know.

Note that in [v6-10], firstly a ‘vault’ is made which separated water from water... that vault is called ‘sky’. That means there is water above the sky as we all know there is water here on earth. Scientists have said that ‘outer space’ is filled with h2o molecules. Then well my logic is, no wonder we cannot breather up there, we cannot breathe under water – the concept is the same even in outer space. So he made the ground appear and gathered the seas in one place.

In [v11 – 13 & v20 – 25] I notice something very interesting. God spoke into the land and into the sky and into the sea. He spoke life. He spoke vegetation, animals – live stock and wild, He spoke fish into the sea of many kinds. Notice how He was not specific about which kinds of animals, or fish or birds. He simply said [v11] “the land must bear fruit with seeds in it”, [v20] ‘let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault’. You know i would have expected God to have been more specific about what kinds of animals He wanted, but here’s the thing I’ve learnt – God did not restrict Himself. He did not restrict the possibilities of what his creation and the power of His word could produce. He spoke and allowed what He spoke to manifest with the help of the Holy Spirit whom had not left the earth. We can learn from that. When He made human beings, He was specific – he made them in His image and He made male and female [v26 – 27].

Now please notice and learn what I have learnt about God. He created the earth and it was formless and void. He then spoke over it and all the wonderful things were created over it. He spoke and all different kinds of animals were created, the vegetation was created. When He created human beings, He spoke a blessing over them. We should learn to speak over our households, over our families, our churches, our businesses, or work environment, our school work. Though it exists, it is not necessarily ‘alive’. Speak life over it, bless it, and do not restrict what can come out of it. Speak not just fruit but seed bearing fruit over it. We are made in His image and have been given dominion over all that is. Even the words we speak carry the same effect as long as we do it.

Prayer & Declaration

Father – you are just awesome. Your ways cannot be compared to that of any other. Thank you for creating me and all things on earth. Thank you for speaking a blessing over the earth and over me. Now teach me to speak in the same way over my life and over the lives of those around me. I want to be more like you Lord. Teach me, I’m ready to learn.

I declare life into my family, my business, my ministry, my finances, over my children and all things around me. The will produce fruit, not just any fruit but seed bearing fruit and i remove any restrictions but allow the Spirit of God to produce beyond my imagination over my life – in Jesus’ name. AmeneHHHHHhhhHHHHJKDGHODEV

What Did I Do to Deserve This? by Steve Blair

 Have you ever uttered the words "Why is this happening to me?"  I mean, after all, we try to live right.  We pray, we go to church, we read our Bible, we try to be a good husband (or wife), but still this terrible thing has happened to me.  What did I do to deserve this?  Why did they treat me so badly?  Why do things happen to hurt me so much? Where is God when I need him? Why did he allow this to happen?

 If you are looking for some fantastic, new revelation to answer these questions, you're going to be disappointed, because I don't have one. I have only the old answers you have heard before, but that doesn't make them any less true.



 You see, more than likely, you don't deserve all the bad stuff that is happening to you. Where is God and why didn't he stop it?  He's still in heaven watching over his creation. Why didn't he stop it?  For the same reason he didn't stop it when they came and took his son to be crucified.

 Some things we just have to see through to the end on our own - not because He doesn't care, not because He doesn't love us, but because that is one way our faith and reliance upon Him grows and is strengthened.

  

 There is a good chance you have heard the following story, because it is a favorite of preachers. A man tells that one morning he had discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree. He noticed that a butterfly was trying to emerge from the cocoon. He waited a while, but it took so long. Finally, he decided to help the poor creature along. Slowly and carefully, he tore the cocoon to help the butterfly escape. The butterfly started to come out, but its wings were folded back and crumpled. The butterfly valiantly struggled but could not make it and soon died.

  
 The man had forced the butterfly to come out before its time without a struggle. As he held the little body in his hands, he realized the terrible thing that he had done. It was the struggle to come out of the cocoon that the butterfly needed to pump the fluids into it's wings and give it strength.  Without the struggle, it died.

 If you're going through tough times right now or if you do in the future, don't label God as uncaring and don't give up on Him. It may be that you need to strengthen your wings of faith to be what you're supposed to be. If he reached out and interfered you may never grow into what he has intended you to be. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians "There hath no tempatation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

  

 Steve Blair

God in Me

Sup Everyody,

You know I have been going through a lot in my walk with God and its never easy but well its the best thing that has and will ever happen to me. So praise God!!

I think one thing I have learnt is that when you give Him all the glory in everything and I mean everything that you do or go through then He will show Himself faithful. God loves us -He's so excited to give us - but we are so caught up in trying to make it that we sub-consciously think we did it all. We think that when we see the 'fruits of our labour' that it was because of our God given talent. Yes - He did give me the talents and knowledge but that's not enough. Yes Give Him Praise - but do it to its completion. He spoke on your behalf at that meeting, He made sure that the increase you received was what it is now and not what the world thought it should be, He wrote the lyrics to that song for you and was the voice that recorded it. He was involved in the whole process from the editing to the mixing to the uploading onto that child's phone. He wrote your exam for you and helped you study - he even marked your exam and made sure you passed your exam. We need to understand that we are only strengthened when we pronounce ourselves weak in each and every step and process in our lives. We should renew our minds that when we make ourselves 'living sacrifices' unto the Lord that there is no compromise to that statement. All not some of you.

It is all because of the God in me - the God that rules and reigns in me. That's the reason why I am who I am, That's the reason I smile, I walk, I eat, I breathe. I mean - Greater is He in me than He who is in the world [ that he in the world includes the physical me].

Take a moment to thank Him for not a few things - but everything. And next time you get a compliment or an upgrade of any sort - just say "It's the God in Me!"

Enjoy the song by Mary Mary - God In me. {select the link below to view}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmbulZdev6M

Check this art work out...

Link to this post:

http://www.google.com/buzz/118123558630140978968/HboBzEnmbfS/Amazing-Paper-Artwork-by-Karen-Bit-Vejles

Enjoy the art! God is awesome hey...

Place you comments below for all to see...

Tamara's Praise

People, its time we praise Him in our own way... just like she did... Enjoy the clip...
To all the MCs out there, beat that! LOL

Joyful Noise - Official Music Video: FLAME feat. Lecrae & John Reilly