adventure # 4: the word of God 1

When you watch this week's video, you'll notice an abrupt ending. Apologies for that - I was interrupted by the doorbell and as I rushed to answer it, I kicked the camera off the tripod! Realising that God works in mysterious ways, I decided to end it there and continue with part 2 next week.

In preparing these adventures for us, I approach my own story, week by week, with fresh eyes..to see what the Lord is saying to me. This week I was struck by the fact that literally a few sprinkles of the seed of God's Word, sown into a ready heart, was enough to start the journey that has led me to where I am with God today. What power lies in that seed!


So this week and next week, we're going to be focusing on the importance and significance of the Word of God and hopefully, recovering our excitement and faith in its power. 

Monday

Watch the video. Here it is for your convenience. Don't forget to comment and to share your experiences either under this blogpost, on the Youtube channel or on the Change Your Life Facebook page. By the way, when you open this video, go and click on the YouTube button you see on the bottom right. It will take you to YouTube where you can easily leave comments (the reason I suggest this is that some of you are struggling to leave comments on this Blog)

Tuesday

Reread chapter 2 of my book Brighter Than The Noonday Sun and notice how just a few words from my headmistress was enough to instill massive faith in me. It's what Romans 10 says and I love the way Eugene Peterson has put it in The Message: 

9 Say the welcoming word to God - "Jesus is my Master" - embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. 

10 With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!" 

11 Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this - heart and soul - will ever regret it." 

12 It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. 

13 "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help." 

14 But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? 

15 And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!

16 But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: "Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?" 

17 The point is, Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to. 

..unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to. When you hear this, do you picture a pastor behind a pulpit? No. A few words, a well-chosen answer from God's Word, the simple telling of the simple story of Creation..these everyday words that we can use in our conversations, text messages, social media posts and so on, have an enormously powerful effect. Don't double-guess yourself, just go ahead and speak them - and ask God for opportunities to sow the seed of His Word in your everyday life. 

Wednesday

Today reread Chapter 6 of my book and make a special note of the fact that the Lord spent time teaching me to do nice things for other people - in secret. This is nothing other than Matthew 6: 1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven" and Matthew 6: 3, 4 "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you". When I came back to the Lord, as an adult, one of the first things He said to me was, "Right, lets pick up where we left off..I was teaching you to do your good deeds in secret." This is fascinating on so many different levels. First, have you ever heard a sermon on this topic? Obviously, us Christians don't really think this is a very significant part of the Bible and yet, for the Lord, it is so important that it was one of the first things He trained me in. Second, I find it interesting that God expects us to actually LIVE the Bible. Third, I find it wonderfully reassuring that God is so in control of our personal, one-on-one discipleship that He was able to pick up exactly where we left off, after a break of 19 years. Why don't we also call important what God calls important and practice doing good deeds, in secret, this week (of course, we can't tell each other about it 'though LOL).

Thursday

I once knew a man who also met the Lord as a very young child. He was in a dangerous situation because his stepmother was a witchdoctor who had succeeded in killing off some of his siblings by means of black magic. One night, someone appeared to him and told him to no longer pray in the name of Mary but in the name of Jesus, and to say certain words before he went to sleep, to protect himself. Years later, as an adult, he found those exact words in one of the Psalms. There are two super-powerful spiritual weapons that we have at our disposal as believers - one is the name of Jesus and the other is the Word of God. Today we are going to tackle an area or aspect of our lives that is troubling us with the spiritual weapon of God's Word. The first thing you need to do is select an area or aspect of your life that needs dealing with - is it your health, your finances, a relationship? Next, go to prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the perfect Scripture verse to undo that problem (this may take some time but it will be worth the effort). Once you are armed with that weapon/Scripture you are going to say it and pray it at least three times a day until you are convinced of its truth and its power to overthrow your problem. Let us know how it goes! 

Friday

I know that some of you may find these teachings a bit old-fashioned and you may not agree with everything these men say…BUT… hang in there and just listen to how these men understand the power of the Word of God and how to wield that power by speaking it out, because we have something to learn from them. We have a LOT to learn from them, truth be told. 

Saturday

Get connected to a Bible reading plan. If you'd like to use the one that I developed to go with our Big Picture course, just click on the link below. It will take you to a document that you can download on to your computer. 

Bible Reading Plan

Sunday

Go to church. Go to a church where they preach the Word of God accurately. Then receive, receive, receive the "implanted seed that is able to save your soul." (James 1: 21)

Declarations and Word proclamations

My friends and fellow adventurers, I believe very much in the power of declaring God's Word and praying God's Word in to situations. Please let me know if you'd like me to make a resource - a video or a written resource - of useful declarations and Word proclamations. 

Love you guys. I hope you've enjoyed and been enriched by this week's focus on the Word of God. May you be fully blessed this week. I'll see you next time - until then, Avante!

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adventure # 3: the faithfulness of God

This week I'm continuing what I began last week..an adventure into the faithfulness of God. Many places in Scripture talk about the faithfulness of God and many songs have been written about it, like:

Lamentations 3: 22, 23 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

and

Psalm 119: 89, 90 "Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations." 

Yet, despite the fact that Scripture is loaded with these kind of references, we still find it rather difficult to believe, don't we? The reason we find it difficult to believe is because of the flesh that is still present with us. But I think its incredibly important that we make an effort to fight against this tendency, to break through the darkness of this kind of thinking, into the light of truth. A firm footing on a God you perceive to be faithful will see you through life; but a wobbly footing on a God you're not sure of, is going to only cause you to stumble and trip..its a bit like trying to run with a nasty little stone in your shoe. This week, we're going to get rid of that nasty little stone and embrace the truth. And the truth is..God IS faithful. 

What is faithfulness? The Hebrew word that we translate in English as 'faithfulness' means 'steadfastness, firmness, fidelity'. A faithful person would be someone who never changes their mind, never says anything they don't 100% mean, always does what they said they were going to do, never has a disloyal thought towards you. In other words, a person of impeccable and faultless character, a person who you could always, always believe and trust. 

God is described as being such a Person. And the more we get to know Him, the more we can testify to this fact. There are three main ways that we can get to know God better - by studying His Word, by contemplating His working in our own lives and by learning to hear and follow His voice. And so this is what we're going to focus on this week. 

Monday

Watch the video. Here it is for your convenience. Don't forget to comment and to share your experiences either under this blogpost, on the youtube channel or on the Change Your Life Facebook page. 

Tuesday

God's faithfulness cannot be separated from His Word. He is, in fact, faithful to His Word. The more we study His Word, the clearer it becomes that He is indeed faithful to what He says. One of the best ways to study the Bible in order to gain an unshakeable certainty regarding the faithfulness of God, is to use the Biblical Theology approach to Scripture that sees it as one, unfolding story from Genesis to Revelation. The course that I wrote in collaboration with my husband The Big Picture is based on this approach to Scripture. Go here to find out more about this. 

Wednesday

Pray in tongues for 5 minutes. Then worship to this song. 

Pray again in tongues for 5 minutes. Then worship to this song.

Pray again in tongues for 5 minutes. Now worship to this song. 

Friday

Spend time today reading through and contemplating this devotion inspired by Oswald Chambers.

Click here

Saturday

One of the best ways to gain faith for NOW is to contemplate God's faithfulness to you in the past. Spend some time today worshipping the Lord and asking him to speak to you about his faithfulness to you in the past. Ask him to remind you of times and events and incidences that display his faithfulness and that will build up your faith. 

Sunday

Go to church. Think of it as an act of faithfulness. 

One last thing before I go. Last Sunday I had an amazing vision experience during worship that relates to adventure #2: the fragrance of Christ. I was deeply in worship when I perceived there to be numerous angels present. They formed a sort of avenue and as I 'walked' down that avenue I realised that they were escorting me to Jesus. When I reached Jesus he did an unusual thing..he pushed up his sleeve and rubbed his bare arm against mine. Immediately a beautiful fragrance was released that I could actually smell. I was so excited because this is the first time that I have experienced the fragrance of Christ since my encounter with him that I write about in my book. So, like I said in my last blogpost, there really is no harm in asking him to reveal himself to you in that way. I asked..and he did! 

That's it for this week. I'm looking forward to your Comments. Until next time, Avante! 

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adventure # 2: the fragrance of Christ

Sometimes I think that we don't take the Bible literally enough. Take this week's topic for example - the fragrance of Christ. We look at Bible passages like 2 Corinthians 2 and we see that 'fragrance' or 'aroma' is being used as an analogy in these verses - and so we assume that any association between Christ and fragrance is always metaphorical, never literal. But this is not the case. This week, we're going to spend time looking at what the Bible says about the fragrance of Christ. I really didn't intend for that to be the subject of our second adventure but once you've watched today's video, you'll understand how it happened.

Dearest adventurers, I hope that you are enjoying the Explore Your Story adventure so far. I know that many of you are still in the process of getting hold of my book and of catching up while others are chomping at the bit, counting the hours till the next adventure gets posted. Wherever you are, it doesn't matter because each video, each week's adventure, does really stand on its own although you will obviously get more out of it by keep up with things. 

Many of you echoed my heart last week by talking about #childlikefaith and how to return to that place, as well as how to ensure that we don't now rob other children of their #childlikefaith. I'd love to hear your Comments on that. 

In the meantime, here are my suggestions for this week inspired by the video that was definitely one of those bundu-bashes I spoke about last week. I'll leave it to you to decide what you can manage time-wise and, if you are registered for this adventure look out for an email from me.  If you are not registered, and you'd like to be, simple leave your email address and name in the Comments section below. 

Monday

Watch the video. Here it is for your convenience. Don't forget to comment and to share your experiences either under this blogpost, on the youtube channel or on the Change Your Life Facebook page. 

Tuesday

Learn more about the holy anointing oil. The holy anointing oil (Hebrew: shemen ha mishchah), mentioned in hundreds of Old Testament verses, formed an integral part of the ordination of the priesthood and the High Priest as well as in the consecration of the articles of the Temple. Once anointed with the holy anointing oil the person or object became consecrated to the service of the Lord. Its described in Exodus 30: 23-25  “Also take for yourself quality spices—five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels), two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane, five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.”

This unique blend of spices was used for the anointing oil and only for the anointing oil and it was a type of the Holy Spirit; the anointing in the natural is a prophetic act of empowerment by the Holy Spirit. A. W. Tozer put it this way: "The fragrance of the anointing oil was unique. If someone went near an Old Testament priest, he could say immediately, "I smell an anointed man. I smell the holy oil". The aroma, the pungency, the fragrance was there. Such an anointing could not be kept a secret."

As we know, all the things associated with the Tabernacle and the Temple are Earthly copies of Heavenly realities (go read Hebrews 8 and 9) - including the presence of fragrant oil. Jesus, our High Priest, is anointed with a unique and actual fragrance, and so God's people were instructed to anoint the earthly High Priest with fragrant oils. 

Why is this even important? Two reasons: it makes Jesus all the more real to us and it strengthens our trust in the Bible. 

Wednesday 

The various fragrant oils have prophetic significance. Take frankincense and myrrh, for example. These oils were two of the gifts given to Messiah at his birth, representing his role as High Priest and Prophet and speaking prophetically of who he was and what he would accomplish on Earth. Frankincense was burned morning and evening in the Temple to symbolise prayer and intercession and myrrh was used as a burial spice and in purification rites and speaks of the deliverance work of Jesus' suffering and death. 

Can you use it?

A combination of frankincense and myrrh is anathema to snakes, it drives them away. As in the natural, so in the spiritual - this is one of the most effective oils to use for deliverance prayer.

Frankincense oil can offer a variety of health benefits including relieving chronic stress and anxiety, reducing pain and inflammation and boosting immunity.

Thursday

How much do you know about the gift of discerning of spirits? I think I am going to do a whole video just on that gift and how it works but for now, suffice it to say, that 'smell' is one of the way in which this gift 'discerns' the nature of the spirit present. I'm attaching a link below to a good general article about the gift of discerning of spirit (although she doesn't mention the 'smell' factor).

Click here

Friday

Have you ever experienced or become aware of the presence of the Lord, via fragrance? As I shared you with in my book and on today's video, it was my very first impression of Him. I can't remember ever experiencing it since but I know that there are people who do. According to them, the fragrance is usually released during times of deep and intimate worship. Spend time worshipping Jesus today - and I see no harm in asking him to reveal himself to you via fragrance. During your time of worship pray in tongues for 15 minutes. 

Saturday

Consider this verse: 

Philippians 4:18

“But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God."

Paul likens the gift that the believers in Philippi sent him to the Old Testament sacrifices made to God - and he says it comes up before God as a beautiful perfume. Wouldn't you like to send your Heavenly Father a beautiful perfume today? Which one of His children or those in service to Him can you bless with a gift?

Sunday

Go to church. Even if you don't smell Heavenly aromas there every Sunday. Go to church. 

That's it for this week. I'm looking forward to your Comments. Until then, avante! 

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Adventure #1

In this week, I did two things that I haven't done for ages - I fasted, and I spent a whole morning just worshipping the Lord and praying in tongues. The fast happened because our church called for a time of corporate fasting. I don't know why (well, I do know why, it's called apathy) but I haven't fasted for quite a few years now so, I'm not going to lie, I found it tough going. But then..suddenly..two days later, I found myself doing something else I haven't done for ages and that is, spending an entire Saturday morning just worshipping the Lord and praying in tongues. And out of that time came a lot of stuff to share with you guys as well as some private ministry from the Lord.

So, you tell me..coincidence? I don't think so.

Dear adventurers, it's exciting to think that in merely drawing near to God, we end up activating very real encounters - but I'm also aware of your busy schedules so I don't want to load you with too much. I'll leave it to you to decide what you can manage from my suggestions below for this week. For those of you who are actually registered on the Explore Your Story adventure, you'll also receive this list in an email so you don't have to keep coming back here every day.

Monday

Watch the first of our Explore Your Story videos. Here it is for your convenience. Don't forget to comment and share your experiences either under this blogpost or on the youtube channel.

Tuesday

Pray in tongues for 5 minutes. If you don't pray in tongues, you never have before, you're scared of it, you're not sure if its Biblical or for today..or whatever, just let me know and we can chat further about it. 

Wednesday

In the video I make mention of the time I 'flew' over Table Mountain in a panel-van. I don't want to get too much into this right now because I am going to do a whole video on translocation but in the meantime, check these Scriptures out and have a little think about them:

“… and immediately the boat was at the land to which they went” (John 6:21)

“…. the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more…… but Philip was found at Azotus; and, passing through , he preached in all the cities….” (Acts 8:39-40)

Thursday

In the video I also mention that I would love it if you all wrote your stories down and we could publish them together. I know of at least one of you who is doing that already. How about you? It doesn't have to be your whole life story..it can even be just one story of a time when you really experienced God as real in your life or the story of how you came to be a believer. Let me know if you're up for this. 

Friday

Pray in tongues for 10 minutes. 

Saturday

Close your windows, curtains and doors and worship like nobody's watching - 'cos nobody is, except the angels and the Father and Jesus and the Spirit and, who knows, some other spiritual beings that might be hanging around (not that they'll hang around very long once you start worshipping of course!) hmmmm that's quite a lot actually. Here are some of my suggestions for worship music I love:

https://youtu.be/r7p09AgfvQw (if you got saved in the 80's, this music will especially take you straight to the Throne Room)

https://youtu.be/aQEgS5_3nac (if you got saved in the 90's, this will especially release your heart)


https://youtu.be/huFra1mnIVE (talk about dynamite coming in small packages, this is one of the best live worship experiences EVER - and BTW, how gorgeous is her makeup?)

Sunday

Go to church. Even if they don't practice flying over Table Mountain there. Go to church. 

So, that's it for this week. Until next time. Avante.