Psalms 23
The Lord is my Shepherd = Relationship

I shall not want = Provision

He makes me to lie down in green pastures = Rest

He leads me beside the still waters = Rejuvenate

He restores my soul = Healing form all pain

He leads me in the paths of righteousness = Guidance with Counsellor

For His name sake = Purpose in Life

Though I walk through the valley of t he shadow of death = Tribulations and Testing

I will fear no evil = Protection

For Thou art with me = Faithfulness and fully present

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = Discipline

Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies =
Hope and Reward

He anoints my head with oil = Sanctification

My cup runs over = Abundance

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life =
Blessing and Recognition

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = Security

Forever = For Eternity

The worse day in my life

Yes they come unexpectedly, without warning it hits you from the left field. Can you think of a day that was your worse day ever. I can think of a few in my life. How does God see it? Does He think those where the worse days in my life?

Josef woke up in a warm bed one day, a beautiful coat, with family that loved him, food and protection. He had dreams of being famous which gave him confidence and assurance, by the end of that afternoon Josef was fighting with his brothers and thrown into a cold dark pit, alone and afraid...did he know his day was going to end this way? It was one of his worse days in his life; did God think it was the worst day in his life?

Abraham woke up one fine morning; he was content happy and he felt so blessed by God, things where falling into place, then God told him to kill it all. WHAT!!! But I thought things where on track now that Sarah had Isaac! It was the worse day in Abraham’s life. Did God think it was the worst day in Abraham’s life? 

After many years of living under depression, the Jewish people where excited, finally a king to stand up and lead them into victory. Rumours spread quickly that morning; the king is caught, early hours just outside the city in the garden while he was praying. They say he is going to get crucified! It cannot be true, but the promise.....was that the worse day in the Jewish history? Did God think it was the worse day?

Many more stories....Esther in love with the boy next door gets caught to live in captivity, doomed to a life of being a call girl. Job’s family killed in a tragic accident without any warning. Daniel thrown into a cage as lion feed after working for the country diligently for many years.

All these worse days, became the biggest days in history, Josef became a King that saved the Jews from starvation because of that glorious DAY, Abraham made history through his faith that glorious DAY, Jesus dying for your sins and mine, what a glorious DAY, Esther saving a nation from being killed, what a glorious DAY, Job receiving everything back double that he lost, what a glorious DAY, Daniel saved by Gods powerful hand, what a glorious DAY!!!

Never determine the truth about your situation based on the circumstances, Gods promise is that goodness and mercy will follow you where ever you go. God says you have everything you need, He will feed you, cloth you, protect you, rescue you, like He has been for so many generations for do many others

Your worse day might just be the most glorious day!!

Womanhood

Do you realise how strong you are, throughout the ages, Jesus used woman in all areas. Throughout His ministry He had woman disciples that tended to every need of His. They are not mentioned but they were probably the most important part of His ministry. Some of those women were Mary of Magdala, Maria His mother and Mary who washed His feet, as well as Martha who did most of the cooking. We are the depiction of loyalty and love, through what we do, woman like Ruth, Esther, Tamar and Rachel that showed how far we will go for love and loyalty. We are born with it, you are born with it. That is where our beauty lies in our ability to love.

So what does satan do, he wants to destroy your ability to love , your beauty, and being loyal; because we have replaced him and have become the beauty of creation instead. In the Old Testament there are so many examples of how woman was mistreated, raped, used as slaves and brutally killed. Used as concubines and shared with one husband. Today it is no different, some of us have been in abusive marriages, some of us have been raped, badly treated and used by men, and some of us have been forced to live the life of a prostitute....this is not knew, woman have suffered for generations under satan’s wrath towards God’s creation , being a woman.

Inside of us all there is a Ruth – Ruth meaning beauty- once you find your purpose that God has for you, you will see the super natural manifestation of Gods power. We all have a purpose and getting to your purpose will give you success beyond your wildest dreams, slaying your Goliath.

I do not know what your struggles are, it may be that you have been praying for a Boaz, it might be a difficult marriage; it might be provision and protection. You need to make a choice if you are going to return to the pagan land or go to the land of plenty, into Gods purpose and promises for your life. Take comfort in the fact that Ruth had no guarantee, nothing to look forward too; she had to go and live with a very sour, stiff-necked mother-in-law. She had no husband, no family money left behind in a life policy, no; she only had her loyalty and love.

She forgot about the past and moved forward with no regret, pressing in because it was not about the past but about the future. Naomi was bitter and exhausted after10 years living in a pagan land, doing what they do. People did not even recognise her. Sin has the ability to drain you from your future and break you down. It will cost you dearly. Naomi left the promise and purpose of God but she came back to the favour of God where there was provision and blessing to come. Whatever sinful sin that is keeping you back from experiencing the power of God will keep on destroying your ability to love. God has a bigger plan of success for you; He is faithful if you step back into His will.

So Ruth made that decision, she worked where she was led by God to go, by His favour she was led to where she was suppose to be. Boaz saw her and summoned his people to not harm her and to leave behind some of the grain for her; he already became her protector and provider before she even knew him. That is God’s favour and blessing for you too. You will be led to that perfect job with favour so that you will be provided for by others. In your marriage God will become your provider and protector. He will not fail you.

And so the story unfolds, Boaz falls in love with her and invites her for lunch that very same day, Ruth gets her man. That evening she dresses up like a million bucks, sprays herself with perfume and meets with him in secret at his feet for the most romantic moment, he covers her with his mantle (prayer shawl). The covering of the mantle meant that he would from that moment on be with her  forever, he promises to marry her and cover her bad past and protect her reputation by defending her always, all her debt became his, he was her kinsman redeemer. How beautiful, her moment, her blessing, Gods power revealed.

We serve a God of second changes and new beginnings. Eight signifies a new beginning, pray for your 8^th day, your new beginning. In that place of purpose is the power of Christ!! Your ability to be loyal and to love will surely come.

Surrender

Lord, Jesus here I am today totally surrendered to you in a state of worship, completely and utterly prostrated before you. You are Almighty God, above all. You are my wisdom, my air, my life. You were crucified for me, you were born to die for everything I have done and still will do. How can I ever repay you enough? Every day I lift up to you, it belongs to you, my decisions, my joy, throughout my day, may I only exalt you, worship you, for you are King, anointed one. Oh how my life seems so insignificant in comparison to how this story ends. My means of survival, my need for a husband, my desire for children, does this all fit into your plan in the end, because if it does not what can I do to honour you instead? Oh my Lord if it was not for you I would not breathe. If it was not for you I would not survive one day, this complete dependence on my hero that stepped up, hung Himself voluntary so that I can glorify you today. I have freedom, healing and happiness for all eternity because of you. Gifts I have received before, but nothing compares with the high I feel in Your presence. I just want to be with you Lord, were you are, what you do, what you say. If someone loves me so much that he would die for me, I would owe him my life, it is the most honourable thing someone has ever done for me. I am anguished by my desire to repay You, Lord. You know me so well, You study me, YOu understand me and You even know every hair on my head. You deserve all of me, I owe You my life, because that is all I have to give.....

Who does your heart belong to?

We are made with emotions; we experience all kinds of feelings, feelings of disappointment, hurt, rejection, fear. We have to protect our hearts from letting the wrong emotions in; it can make you sick, even influence your performance or add to your stress. So do your emotions control you? I have to say that it is pretty easy for me to keep history of conversations in my head, bbm and sms. Re-read it or play it over and over in my head, then strategising in my head what I can say and why it was said like that. Very silly, I am using so much energy on this non-existing world, making pictures of what if, that never realises? It stirs unhealthy emotions inside of me, resentment, bitterness sometimes even revenge.

They say men are very straight forward, what comes out their mouths is exactly what they mean. Some women are brutal and too honest and controlling. The question is when you build relationship with someone, even for a short while, are you throwing your heart in harm’s way? Are you lending out your heart to people to trample on and hurt you? Giving your heart to someone means opening your secrets your desire and your emotions to a person. Ladies we are inclined to trust men so quickly and share our hearts. We need to be careful who we let in. Our hearts belong to the Lord, His the only one that you can trust 100%, but we do not, we trust strangers that hurt our feelings.

I cannot separate my heart from my emotions, if people abuse my heart my emotions follow and I become a person I do not want to be, angry and bitter. It is not their fault but my own fault. I have a choice and I can protect my heart from the wrong one. Ask God to help you to be able to discern between abusers and users. Hurt happens. God did not intend us to get hurt, especially by men but we voluntary give away our heart to the wrong people to do whatever they please, break it, use it, abuse it and return it to us bruised and bleeding. Protect your heart. If you give away little bits at a time you will be left with nothing except resentment. Keep your heart whole for the husband that God intended for you or your kids that need nurturing and love.

Your heart is a treasure; treasure you do not share with just anyone, our search for love continues and burns within us until we find peace. Every person has a deep need of acceptance that causes your heart to break and as long as we carry on giving our treasure away to those that God did not intend us to, we will stay unsatisfied, angry, resentful and bitter. I know that I have given away my heart to too many wrong, unappreciated people in my life, especially men.  I had to ask the Lord to teach me to protect my heart because I could not do it myself. God was faithful. He closed my heart for the wrong men and wrong friends. Be wise with your gift.

You are not dependant on other people for your happiness, you are responsible. 

My daddy

Let me tell you about my daddy...

My daddy is the richest man in the whole world; He has more money than you can count

My daddy is so important that He always has the last say

My daddy lives in a mansion

My daddy is building me the most beautiful home that my heart desires

My daddy is stronger than any human being that ever lived

My daddy cannot lie

My daddy cannot lie

My daddy loves me more than life itself

My daddy can give me anything I want because I do things to please Him and because I love Him with my whole heart

My daddy can make anything possible that seems impossible today

My daddy does not have the ability to hurt me

My daddy catches me every time I jump

My daddy feeds me and clothes me with the very best

My daddy kisses me all over every morning with a new day in a ray of sunlight

My daddy always does what He promises to do

My daddy holds me tight when I am scared

My daddy knows about every tear and every person that has ever hurt me

My daddy always takes my side

My daddy chooses a husband for me because He knows the best because He is older and wiser

My daddy is very important and gets worshipped by many because He deserves it

.........I am a princess

Fighting on your knees

Ladies, today I want to share something amazing.  I have been married before, once and really struggled with the whole submission thing. You tend to get this picture of domination and control over you, if you submit, do you not? The longer I am a Christian the more I learn about this interesting phenomenon. There are so many articles written about submission so many opinions and advice but what does God say really when he says submit to your husbands.

A few Sundays ago we learned that submission is not becoming a door mat saying yes and amen and being a slave but purely that both mom and dad have different roles to play. The woman’s roles are to nurture, care for and take care of our families. Dad provides and protects the family. So when a decision needs to be made within the family mom will come out of a perception of nurture and dad from a place of protection and provision because that is how we are made. Mom and dad discuss the matter with the whole family and then a final decision is made by dad. 

At this point some woman might say: ‘‘no’ I have just as much say!! Why does he have the last say” We woman do have the tendency to go into a role of control, control over the kids over dad because we feel that we know better and dad knows nothing. My problem in my first marriage was just that I did not want to give up my control because what if I get hurt again, what if I have to live under someone else’s terrible decision which is not the best thing for me or the family? It is a matter of not losing control over what is about to happen to us, it is absolutely normal behaviour. We try and hold onto things in the world to determine the outcome but do we really have control in the bigger scheme of things?  I am so sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we do not. So what can we do to help the outcome without dishonouring our husbands or insisting to get our own way?

PRAY, I had my first experience with my unsaved, x-husband that did not want to change my son’s school, trying to convince him was a task all most impossible. So the Lord said to me I do not want you to discuss it with him at all or nag him, I want you to pray. So I PRAYED. It was a matter of days before he came to me and in an absolute outrage exclaimed that he wants to change our son’s school. A miracle and a valuable lesson that I needed to learn before I got into a new marriage. My role is not to make the final decision but to pray for my husband to make the right decision. If God could change an unsaved man’s heart he can change a donkey’s heart. If things do not go your way after praying then it was not Gods way and be assured that God only wants the best for you and your family and that He does know better than you and your husband put together.

God wants to teach you to pray, fight on your knees the battle that seems so impossible. It is possible in prayer. Let go and let God take control in your family. Step into your role and pray for your family and if you are still single practice to pray instead of making things happen yourself. Let God teach you to become a praying wife and not a nagging wife. If you want a husband, do not stop praying. If you want to learn to be a good wife and have a successful marriage, pray and God will prepare you before you receive your husband.  If you want a husband that spoils you, pray and ask the Lord. If you want your kids to get along, pray and ask the Lord. If you want your husband to grow, pray. Fight on your knees. What a privileged honour for a woman to be able to pray and receive, to make a difference and be absolutely at peace at decisions made just by praying.