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Owing to my husband’s line of work, we’ve been forced to re-locate on several occasions. One of my prominent worries always is, if I will find a good church and fellowship in our new locale. And on many accounts, although I am able to find a church, I am often disappointed with what I discover. Sometimes I’ve felt myself a tad bit too demanding maybe, however, I feel as a child of God, I am allowed to demand any level of satisfaction upon the parish or denomination I am to join. For in this place of worship, I feel the need to be complete and at home, even more so than my own house perhaps.
My main disconcertion is the lack of anointing, that I have so grown accustomed to in my many years of church going. Can a church, where tens, maybe even hundreds come to worship and praise the Lord be dead? From my very own personal experience, I can most certainly affirm to you that they can. I once attended a service at a renowned church in my city in which I was battling constantly to stay awake. The worship seemed dead, there was no joy in anyone’s voices, faces or eyes! The message to me was equivalent to a nice warm glass of milk that slowly lulled me to sleep. At the end of the service, I was keen to observe the members of this church. I was curious as to their final disposition after so ‘moving’ a service. To my astonishment, they all looked so content and satisfied. However I was able to observe that their satisfaction looked very much like that which we gain from accomplishing our duty, and not the kind we get when we are lost in God’s presence for over two hours.
I was constantly dogged by this incident as I just could not contemplate how anyone could be satisfied with such a mediocre experience of such a magnificent God they were supposedly worshipping!
On recently reading the word, I came across a few verses that suddenly brought all of it to light! I began to understand why certain churches were dead!
Amos 4: 6 I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
7And also I withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest. I caused it to rain upon another city; one piece of ground was rained upon, and the piece upon which it did not rain withered.
So as an onset to the course of action that God seems to be taking here, in the hopes of having His people return to Him, He brings about a famine, cleanness of teeth and lack of bread refers to a deprivation that the Lord first sends. I am lead to believe that this famine is that which relates to the bread of life, the word of God.
John:6:35: Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
When a church begins to wander from the Lord, He appears to stop the delivery of the Word.
Romans: 10: 17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Without being fed of the Word, the church grows mal-nourished and starts dwindling in faith. The faith of that church eventually dies as well. Without faith, it is not possible to expect great things from God. And a church that no longer expects great things from God, is most certainly dead.
John: 14: 26: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
We rely on the Father to send us the Holy Ghost to teach us and make the Word alive to us. We must be aware that when God speaks of depriving the church of His word, it does not mean that there will no longer be preachers available. There might still be many who will be more than willing to stand on the pulpits and preach. However, unless the revelation of the Word comes from the Lord, those who hear will remain hungry.
Now moving on to Amos : 4: 7, it is quite a widespread connotation in the Word where the Holy Spirit anointing is depicted as rain. We find this in many illustrations in the Bible, for instance in,
James : 5 : 7: Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
We observe here that the Lord has blocked the anointing from coming forth. And although he says that he withheld the rain from falling on one city, He sent rain to another city. This clearly explains why certain churches appear ‘dead’ while others appear to be ‘on fire’. He also plainly reveals the eventual fate of a church that continues in the absence of the anointing, it withers and dies!
Now I would like to examine the reason that compels the Lord to these drastic measures. The Lord seems to be explaining his punishment, but we haven not yet explored the basis of this reprimand. We have understood that a church appears dead as a result of the anointing and the Word being withheld from it. But why is this done?
Amos : 4: 4: Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years.
In this context, Bethel, also known as the House of God, was at one point used to worship the Golden Calf. We are all aware of the story of the Golden Calf that the Israelites created to worship when Moses went up to the mountain to commune with the Lord. The Golden Calf was chosen as their god of that moment since it was representative of an Egyptian god named Apis. Their worshipping the Golden Calf represents their hesitation to leave their past behind them as they were still clinging on to their former masters’ god.
This is not an alien situation in churches either. Although we have been delivered from the bondage of sin and we are no longer required to serve that master, we are compelled to return to that captivity. And even though we are to now serve the living God who delivered us, we still live captive to the sin that He delivered us from. Sin is often used as a general term that covers a multitude of transgressions, this includes greed, avarice, pride, deceit and the list goes on. Does not the love of money and political power play in many of our churches prove to us that they are still very much worshipping the Golden Calf in Bethel, the House of God, even today?
Gilgal was a place of worship to the god Tammuz. Now Tammuz was supposed to be the god responsible for the abundance and prosperity of the earth, the fruitfulness of the soil even. Today, Gilgal represents the love of the world, the drive for prosperity and carnal success. Truly the Lord has promised prosperity and success to His church.
Jeremiah: 29: 11: For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
However this prosperity comes from focusing on the Lord.
Matthew: 6: 33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
And yet, many of us are driven by our need for success and acceptance in the world. Many even seek God just to facilitate their financial breakthroughs. So at the end of the day, the question to ask is, do they worship Jehovah Jireh or Tammuz? Is the focus on Jehovah, who provides for our needs or on the things themselves that we so covet?
We also find in verse 4 that the rightful sacrifices are duly made to the Lord and the tithing also faithfully carried out. This only goes to prove that praise and worship, or tithing does not guarantee the anointing on a church. The Lord truly demands our undivided loyalty and devotion.
I guess the simple answer to why we find dead churches can be found in Exodus: 20: 3-5: Thou shalt have no other gods before me……… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God……….
A God jealously in love with His church, cannot accept the worship of other gods in His house, but is ever willing to recant his judgment on a repenting church.
2 Chronicles: 7: 14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
He will indeed send bread and rain to heal the land once again…..
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Sindu Mary is a strong and commited partner to this ministry right from the beginning stages. She has a deep understanding of the word and has a heart passionate to see the Lord move in local churches. She currently based in Sydney, Australia and has been a huge amount of blessing to me personally – Alwyn MATT
I have been bearing this teaching in my spirit for a season now but today when the Lord brought it to my attention I was compelled to put it up in the hope that some of you would be blessed and some of your reasonings would be satisfied.
In the last couple of months, I have been emailed this one question : Why did Jesus Curse the fig tree when the tree was not in the season of bearing fruits?
Think about that for a minute, was that not thoughtless of Jesus to do that, the Jesus we know who moves with compassion and who bears everything, could he not have have bore the fact that the tree was not yet ready nor in it’s season of harvest?
Before we make futher intuitions, let us revist that passage of scripture: Mark 11: 12 – 14:
12The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
Jesus was hungry, sees a fig tree in the distance and hopes that it has fruits even though it was not the season for figs, upon arrival, he curses the tree and walks off. Later on in v 20, we see that the tree actually withered! Wow, powerful but mean, don’t you think?
I began asking the Lord about what he was really trying to do but I want to share what it states after this whole event, we read in v 21 to 24:
21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
22“Have[a] faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Jesus states, have faith in God – Jesus seemed to make a direct link between him cursing the fig tree to having faith. Was Jesus making a new point here? The Lord began to reveal to me that this is what happened, in the ministry of Jesus, there has been so many absolute highlights and character in his nature but I believe the highest aspect was faith. The level of faith that Jesus walked in was an absolute league above. When Jesus was hungry, it says he hoped or had faith, that there was fruits on the fig true, which means Jesus did not care if it was the season for figs or not, His faith was so radical, so extreme, He knows that He knows that as He walked to the tree, the tree was supposed to BEAR FRUITS!
It did not matter, I can literally picture it, Jesus walking up expecting to see results but to his surprise, when he walked in a level of raising the dead and when this tree REBELLED against the power of God to bear fruits at this time, season and hour – Jesus felt there was no point in understanding but rather to curse this true – because that was the level of faith. Jesus realised that this true just rebelled against the word of the father which was released into the barks and saps to bear instant fruits.
In many ways, if this tree choose to bear fruits, I believe to this day, the tree would be a blessing, known as an every green and ever fruit bearing tree through out the land of israel but due to rebellion, it choose to bring destruction.
Two lessons from this:
1) When the Lord asks us to get out of our comfort zones, we better do it in absolute obedience.
2) When we walk in radical faith – Something must happen in the atmosphere we live in.
In Matthew 14: 22 – 32 We read that, Jesus had just finished feeding an enormous crowd of more than 5000 men, and then he tells his disciples to go to the other side of the sea. The disciples were in the midst of the sea when Jesus came walking on the water. The disciples were terrified and gripped with fear. But they calmed down when they realize its Jesus…… ….Peter then says to Jesus, “If it’s really you, tell me to come out on the water to you”. WOOO…..What puzzles me the most is that out of all the 12 disciples sitting on the boat, only one disciple had a request, more like a foolish request that a 5 year old kid would ask. And guess what Jesus’ answer was?? He said “Come”. If Peter was to think in terms of the world, he would have never dared to ask a thing. What I’m stressing over here is that as long as we think as the world does, we are not going to get any closer in our relationship with Jesus.
God is looking for “foolish” people who are ready to step out into the road where not many are willing to walk. I Corinthians 1:27 declare “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…”
After Peter steps out of the boat and walks on the water to Jesus, he sees the wind and he becomes afraid. When Peter starts to sink, he cried out to Jesus, who then reached out to him and asked him a question which really touched me, ”ye of little faith, why did you doubt?” This is the problem with most of us, “little faith’. It’s either “mustard seed faith” or no faith at all. We got to understand that “little faith” doesn’t work and it is only good as having no faith. Why aren’t we willing to trust on God’s power completely? Let me bring one aspect into light, what is little faith? Little faith is having some assurance on God and the rest on us, that is,
we keeping a bit of back up space for our plans incase God’s plan does not take the full shape. Let us put complete faith in Jesus, a faith that does not have a back up plan of ours but on His. Even though God has never shown unfaithfulness for generations and generations, we doubt God’s power. But we are ready to trust on the “most unreliable” human wisdom.
I Corinthians 2:5 states that our faith does not depend on human wisdom but on God’s power. Not depending on human wisdom, according to the world certainly means “foolishness”. Peter began to sink only when he looked at the strong wind and started to think in terms of the world, I could imagine Peter’s mind thinking, Oh today’s forecast was quite bad…I should I remembered that there was a high tide.
I wish to encourage each of you precious readers to hang on God’s back up plan rather than our daily forecasts, predictions, analysis and economic diagrams!
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Arun John is 17 years of age and is an intern at Alwyn Matt Ministries (Downpour Ministries). He is trained under the Trinity Youth Program and is currently being trained as a worship leader, which is where his heart and gifting lies. He has led worship at platforms like The Lighthouse Church, Kuwait and also at conferences conducted by Alwyn.
At a recent event, during ministry time, Alwyn gave a word of knowledge, that he saw also a huge teaching gift upon the life of Arun. We are focused on building the teaching ministry of this child, your comments would be much appreciated.
By WENN world entertainment news – Saturday, March 29 01:55 pm
Former The A-Team star Mr. T once stunned a sick child’s family by bringing him out of a coma – after doctors begged the actor for help.
The poorly kid fell unconscious in Detroit, Michigan in the mid-1980s – and the only physical movement he made was in response to hearing Mr. T’s name.
And when the mohawked star was in town, he stopped by the hospital to visit the ill boy – with miraculous results.
He tells Empire magazine, “His family put toys around him and one of them was a Mr. T doll. And whenever my name came up, the boy moved his arm.
“Somebody told the doctors I was in town, so they called me down there. I closed the curtains and prayed. Then, as I was walking down the hall, the kid suddenly came out of the coma and hollered out.
“That was my supernatural moment.”
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As a kid I used to be a huge fan of Mr. T. I wonder why now..was it cos of the anointed he was to carry one day? A real humble man of God as you can see.
The past few days I have been meditating on the topic of fear. Regardless of who we are, be it king or pawn, boss or employee, saint or sinner, preacher or teacher, fear is something we all go through.
Fear according to us has a lot of origins but in the word we see that the root cause of all fear is the devil. The devil put fear in our lives so that we don’t achieve the best of what we are called to do.
Every human being is called, everyone of you has a God designed purpose but sometimes we are not able to plunge into that river of achievement due to FEAR! There are many types of fear I wish to mention a few today.
1) Fear of Failure: One of the main causes why we do not achieve our best is due to a fear that we would/could fail. But did you know that in the kingdom of God there is no true failure? The bible says in proverbs, the righteous may fall seven times but will arise. Thomas Alva Edison one of the worlds greatest minds in the area of invention. He had more than 100 inventions to his name, including day today stuff like the electric bulb. He was once working on an invention and he “failed” 101 times.
Finally his team was getting frustrated, He turned to his team and said, “Hey, guess what? we just learned 101 steps we must NOT take for this specific invention”. Needless to say he continued in his pursuit of inventing what he was dreaming for.
We need to get that mentality of “I may FAIL” out of our system. When we do things in a Kingdom mentality, there is truely NO FAILURE involved!
2) Fear of Man: Sometimes I ask people, why do you feel or think you are a failure? What is your standard that determines you are a failure? Most of the time, the answer is, My Dad calls me a Loser, My Boss thinks I am worthless, My family considers me a burden.
Guess what? Do you know that the reason why you are struggling where you are at is because your standard of measurement is wrong?! Your standard of measurement is supposed to be God! You are supposed to determine where you are at, your level of success, your status all based on How much of God’s will has been achieved in your life – how much of His calling have you accomplised today?
Remember, the day we truely fear God, we will loose our fear of man!
3) Fear of Lonliness: This is a big one – yet my favourite! I was listening to a Pastor state this statement yesterday. Lonliness is THE PRIMARY KEY TO Kingship! Isn’t that true revelation? In my personal life I have experienced tremondous growth the moment I am lonely.
Unfortunately, we live in a world of Msn, cell phone, chat and cafes, hence lonliness is not fully experienced. Yet the truth is lonliness is an internal experience which has got pretty much nothing to do with the outside. We could be in the midst of 100 people yet BE LONELY! There used to be a time when I experienced lonliness and I used to feel so broken, does anyone care? does anyone love me? does my life really matter. I used to have all these thoughts running through my head until I approached it with a Kingdom
mindset.
Remember, Loneliness is Devil’s pathway to stronghold and destruction in our lives also. Hence, it is a road with 2 destinations of our choice. In most causes, due to lack of discernment, knowledge and revelation we are programmed to believed that we are not needed and hence have thoughts that break our lives and spirit.
But, as my fellowship with God began to increase when I began to get lonely I changed my approach to the whole situation. I began to instead state, “Oh Father, there is a new work you wish to do in my life, I am up for it, you have allowed me to be in a spot of loneliness so I can clearly hear your voice, bring it on Jesus!” The moment I began to apply this, I noticed a tremondous change in my life and perspective.
Want me to prove this point? Let us look into the lives of few people like, Joseph, He was blessed with an excellent dream and vision which no one else could digest. It led him to lonliness but Joseph took it as an oppurtunity to further grow and reach finally to a state of being the Prime Minister of Egypt!
What about Moses? God TOOK him to the wilderness just so that he could experience lonliness, moulding and brokenness to a level where he was able to Pastor a church of 3 million!
How about Jesus? Our Saviour? We read in the word, that Jesus constantly went to lone and private places where he could be lonely and confide and receive a “new” power for ministry. Which is why I stated initially Lonliness is the way to KINGSHIP!
Gentle reader (blogger) let me remind you, take this time, this month to fight off fear in your life to step into the amazing will and plan the Lord has for you this year.
I have heard many preachers preach, if you were the only person on planet earth and nobody else, Jesus still would have to come all the way and die in your place for your redemption. I somehow aways found that too hard to digest and I needed to ask God to really make that word digestable. It is not I don’t believe it, I just felt it would be way too much for Jesus to leave all that and come down for, ONE SOUL?
Being a business student I always thought even in ministry we need to make decisions that cause results, but sometimes there is something more important than just PURE RESULTS, it is SACRIFICE.
In my pursuit of assurance of this word, God asked me to turn to LUKE 8:22 on. If we observe Jesus had just finished doing a lot of work for the kingdom (Luke 8:1-18) and I could imagine how tired Jesus would have been. But in v22 we see Jesus move in another realm.
v22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples; and he said unto them “Let us go over unto the OTHER SIDE of the lake. And they launched forth.
But as they sailed he (Jesus) fell asleep (can’t blame him..he would have been SO TIRED!), and there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy.
v24 And they came to him and awoke him..saying..Master..Master..we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was calm.
v25 And Jesus said unto them, where is your faith?
Please let us just look at these precious scripture for a bit. Here was Jesus who just finished a league of powerful services, crusades and events turning to his disciples stating that they were going to go to the OTHER SIDE. Stating that we are moving into another dimension. I could imagine the disciples so excited about the new level of ministry they were going to see…the new level of victory they were going to experience. The disciples like us believers, love to be in the reception zone, love to be on the winning to team…love to see the miracles happen and the healings take place and the demons rub off…as long as it is Jesus doing the warfare!
The disciples having the next level of victory in mind get blown the moment they see the waves rise and the winds flash. The fisher men are getting bad memories of their previous lives, the others are thinking..is this the new revelation of Jesus? This is the dynamics of working with a team in ministry. Being a person who has a team I also encounter situations were my team thinks contrary to what the Lord places on my heart. Somehow by His mercy…God turns around the situation for my GOOD! (Thank you for that!!). And that is what happens here as we read..Jesus rebukes the moment and immediately all is calm. But Jesus throws off his frustration at the disciples stating… Where is your faith???
I believe Jesus going to the other side was for two reasons:
1) To extend the faith level of the disciples
2) To prove the extension of God’s grace
We have not still looked on the latter so kindly bear with me gentle blogger (reader!).
We now see in v26, the moment their boat arrives, there is someone who comes to greet them (seriously not my choice for a host!). A totally demon possessed man who literally wore no cloths and had no home but stayed in the tombs was there. There are many level to demon possessions, some possessions are initial, partial and total. This was an extreme case. I mean this man was treated like an animal, he was chained! For a second could we picture the fate of the disciples…OK, Kutta…is this the OTHER SIDE ..YOU HAVE been taking about? Come on..get a life Jesus..we Do not want to die! This person is going to kill us all, get us out of here!
Keeping that revelation going, let us shift the scene to Jesus and the demon possessed being. We see immediately Jesus cast out the demon and the man is restored to peace.
Great story but what happens after this is what touches me the most:
v 38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him.
Powerful, immediate transformation of the heart and a passion to serve in the ministry. Here was Jesus preaching in the temples and the synagogue but not one of the priests even considered Salvation. This man indeed had a heart of gratitude. There is a scripture that states, too whom much is given, much is required. Sometimes I wonder, are we christians lukewarm? Ever noticed when a person so deep in sin or so lost from the kingdom is touched, the power and conviction with which they move.
These days people are looking for gossips from the lives of T.V. celebrities like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton etc, it amazes me that we being a community that constantly state that “we do not need a “higher” force like God to lead us or to look unto” yet we have the tendency to look unto others. Sometimes I wonder, what would be the transformation if Britney Spears accepted Jesus? Imagine the change in lifestyle, the attitude, the meekness, the love, the joy…and the passion for the kingdom she would bear? Amazing! From Marketing Coca Cola, it would shift to being an ambassador for Jesus!
Which is what happened in the life of this individual who was demon possessed. Sometimes I ask God, Oh Lord, imagine how effective this man would have been if he joined your disciples? He would really take your word and power to the nations right? He take advantage of the council you pour on to him…he would have a KINGDOM MENTALITY…right?
But Jesus operates in another realm, he gives this man the authority to go speak into the lives of his city and loved ones. I cannot imagine the possible harvest this man would operate in.
This experience also taught me another facet of God’s nature, If you were the only soul on earth, Jesus would STILL come for you. For this demon possessed man, Jesus in his extreme tired stage went threw the storms, received the disbelieving mindsets of his disciples (who already saw SO MUCH of God move through the year!) and faced the demons, fought on the behalf of that soul and won…just for that ONE SOUL!
We see in v40, Jesus after that leaves the place and heads back to the previous place where he was ministering.
This scripture taught me a lot on the nature of God and confirmed what His love is truly for us. Folks, remember, EVEN ONE SOUL IS TOO PRECIOUS TO LOSE!
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That is me speaking at the Joyce Meyers Ministries Headquarters. Amazing time of Harvest for the kingdom there. The ministry in turn blessed me and the team with loads of books, cds and resources!
www.alwynmatt.com
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One thing that crosses my mind as I write this article is about our passionate bride groom Jesus who diligently waits to see us. But the question we now need to ask ourselves is “if the Bride is equally passionate for the GROOM?”
He is coming soon for us his loved ones. My heart beats every minute I think of his coming. If you were to ask me why? my reply to all you ladies out there would be this, have you ever witnessed a marriage where the bride was dressed so shabby or say for instance have you ever came across a wedding picture where you couldn’t spot the bride because of her bridal outfit. The answer would be clearly No!
Needless to say, in heaven waits a Groom with so much anticipation to be with his bride but then He looks to His Father there is a greater waiting required as the bride has not prepared herself yet for the wedding. Yes we are keeping the marriage at hold. Women OF God, just imagine our going to be husband keeps us waiting on and on. We keep thinking it is time but then again we are still on hold. At that point we ask God when and how long should we wait Lord? Some of us would go insane and would even go to the extent of finding another partner.
Waiting is something that all of us experience in our lives and something that we still learn. Many of us think waiting is patience but then it’s wrong, waiting requires patience but not being patient. Waiting is indirectly sometimes such a beautiful aspect that we woman experience in our life. You may ask me why women alone why not men? Well think of it and tell me who actually waits more when it comes to a couple, I truly believe it is a WOMAN.
Allow me to prove it for you from the word, when God created Adam and then intended to produce a woman for Man. God did not keep Adam waiting, indeed he actually puts him to sleep and that’s not waiting as far as I know but then if you read on,
in Gen 2:22…God made the woman and brought her unto the man (paraphrased). There was a process involved there, of preparing, bringing to Adam and impartation into the Man’s senses of the opposite sex.
I personally believe Eve surely waited for Adam to wake up seeing he wouldn’t wake up anytime now, she slept off lying next to him with a heart of expectation. When a woman is told that she is pregnant, she cant wait till her little one just comes out of her womb and that is called waiting. Waiting is not all we can do; we wait in expectation for good things not for bad.
The beauty of a bride is not just her looks or what she has adorned but it’s her inner beauty that reflects the heart. You see you might be dark yet lovely but the most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds (Song of Songs 1:8). A woman should not be judged by her appearances alone but the character she portrays.
The book of “Esther” is known to us because of one woman Esther who tilted the plate of judgment saving the entire Jews. She didn’t use the rights of a queen to achieve all this but she used the rights given to her by the LORD himself during the bridal preparation. If you ask me how, well let’s recollect what we have learnt According to Chapter 2:12 a woman had to go through 12months of beauty treatments before she appears to the king.
Well if it was beauty alone I do not think she would have made it because the king would have had a hard time in choosing the right one. Beloved, if you notice verse 2, a search was made for beautiful virgins’ alone to be crowned the Queen. So now decide for yourself if it was beauty alone is what crowned Esther to be the Queen or her character which did not only please the King but every one who saw her.
We girls must realize winning anyone’s heart does not take beauty alone which is temporary but it takes a long lasting character which comes from the heart. That is why we don’t see her being loved by the king alone but everyone who met her. If she was loved by the king alone I would rather decide that it was due to her beauty well but that’s not the truth. But Esther prepared and adorned herself with all that her uncle taught her and what she had learnt from God. And that’s what we woman should learn from this story. Some of us learnt to be strong, courageous, beautiful, and truthful from this story but then how many of us learnt the beauty tips?
She was herself to all, meaning there was no act no pretending involved. She was not a jewel that changed its color all the time. She knew the woman of substance in her and stood firm on her belief. I have personally witnessed and seen women who show their beauty, passion and their jewel like character before the wedding and after the marriage is over their true color reflects that causes family break ups.
Sometimes problems in our lives occurs through a small unseemingly dangerous event, which leads to a problem so we must cut it from the root just like one of my dear friend told me the other day “Snap it at the bud”.
A true lover is one who would love his bride just as Christ loves his church. The duty of a woman on the other side is to be fully submissive and quiet in respect to her man. Well at least by the end of this article all might know where I’m heading too you might have guessed it right Woman be passionate till the Lord’s coming don’t lose the fire and the expectation of your groom for he’s coming soon and don’t let the process of waiting lose your interest on him cause more than your anticipation the Groom waits to be with you for eternity hence dress like a bride and have that passion to be with him not for one day or two but for ETERNITY. Rev 22: 17…The Spirit and the BRIDE say “Come!” And let him who hears say “COME”.
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Leah is an amazing woman minister & speaker who ministers especially in the Prophetic realm. She is usual speaker at the events of Trinity Ministries and speaks into the lives of this ministry. She has an intense passion to prepare the Bride of Christ. A great source of encouragement to ladies for this generation!
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We humans are always looking for change, for something different, a renewal of the mind. Just today I was on the phone with a close friend in the morning and she was discussing what she was watching on T.V., it was a “so called” famous old lady in India, who is supposed to be a goddess and people from America were flocking to see her, it’s funny, the grass always looks greener on the other side!
If we are to look at the list of TOP 10 sold books today, the top 5 would be titled something like, How to CHANGE IN 30 DAYS! How to overcome depression in 45 years 
. People are always looking for a change.
Many a times, we do change may be for a day, may be for a month and then we are back into the old habit. How come? It is because we always try to work on the exterior, our outside behavior instead of our inside intentions.
I would like to share a specific passage from the word and based on that word show how we can be really transformed.
In Gen 32 we see the process as to how God changes us. We will have a look at the life of Jacob in that specific passage and realize how God works. We have a clear expression of the four step process that God uses to change us. God will help us to change to overcome that weakness, that hurt we are struggling with.
As we read in Gen 32:24-30 (don’t want to type all that read it yourself!) But, we would now ask what does a wrestling match have to do with me? God uses 4 steps:
CRISIS:
Jacob had a long wrestling matching going on and it was a NO-WIN situation for both. He was getting tired, sick and exhausted. God when He wants to change us, He starts by getting our attention by putting us in a frustrating situation which compels us out of our comfort zone. If we are facing a crisis now and it is changing us, when we feel like giving up, then God gets on the drivers seat.
A mother eagle takes the nest of her young ones and stirs it up, makes them uncomfortable and miserable, kicks them out and forces them to learn to fly. God needs to do the same because we do not change until our fear of changing is exceeded by the pain we are experiencing.
COMMITMENT:
The angel said to Jacob, let me go it is mid day. but Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me (v26 para phrased). Jacob was now getting committed, he did not enjoy what he was going through one bit but yet he did not want to give up.
After God gets our attention with a problem He does not solve it immediately. He waits to see if we mean business. Most people struggle, feel uncomfortable then back off, they let go and actually miss the BEST PART OF IT! We are so programmed to think in order. When a certain thing is not in order, instead of thinking why did it happen in the first place and seek God’s face concerning it, we just say, Oh it is not in order, it is not His Will. Sometimes we think it is the people around or it is everyone else who is messed up, “Oh it is the way I was raised..my parents…OR Oh, it is my boss!” But sometimes God is using that to do a work in us too, he is removing in the interior. layer by layer, HANG IN THERE!
A dear friend of mine has her version to this, “imagine you are in a car and the car is messed up and causing trouble, You don’t leave it there on the streets, you work your way out in the car, take care of the mess and drive to your destination” – How true.
CONFESSIONS:
In the course of their wrestle, the angel asks Jacob, What is your name? Why? Did the angel get the wrong address as to who to fight with? NO! Many years back Jacob disguised as Esau, his elder brother to receive blessings from his father and when his father asked him what his name was instead of saying Jacob, he said Esau.
Sometimes we are in a mess and one of the major aspects is that we need to accept who we are, our true identity, our own transparency, our own acceptance that we are A CHEATER, admitting our character flaws.
This is a very important process for God, we never change until we honestly face and admit our faults, sins and weaknesses.
COOPERATION:
This is the final step, God began to transform Jacob as soon as he admitted and began to cooperate to this change process. The first thing God did was give him a new identity, a whole nation began from his name, Israel. In v 30 we then notice, Jacob names the place as “PENIEL” – FACE OF GOD, I would interpret it as, transparency and renewal in the face of God.
Something else phenomenal happens, during the wrestling, Jacobs hips get dislocated, so from that moment on he had to limp for the rest of his life. The thigh muscle is one of the most powerful muscle in our body, God touches Jacob at the point of His strength. When sometimes we think, hey I am good at this, I am good in that, that is my strength, May be that is what God will touch as change, to make a Better transformed, renewed us.
In Phillipians 3:13 Paul states, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead”.
It has been sometime since I have been in Brisbane, Australia and the life here is quite challenging and something I need to fight to surive. Being a more open country everywhere I turn the word freedom has been twisted with people seeking their own will and PLEASURE. I am at time disturbed and even fills me with sorrow to see these young precious souls make the wrong choices.
I was talking to Matt the other day and was sharing of something I learned, I always thought that the more spiritual we get or the more senior we are in our faith, the more we can relax. When in ministry and reaching out to others we begin to feel “Oh we understand how all this needs to work” yet I realized I was wrong, the more the walk, the height we reacher the more possible chance of falling.
Mount Everest years back was being scaled by a team comprising of 7 people, when they reached a specific point, the “professional” in the team confirmed, this point we have reached haven’t been scaled so far so we have already made a world record right now, 3 members in the team decided they wanted to continue and so they did, days went into weeks, as time went even the progress was slow, but before they knew, they were on TOP OF THE EVEREST, Through the journey one person died, yet he was also considered as the three people who scaled everest.
The other 4 who stayed back, were gone and forgotten. This is how our walk must be, Apostle Paul who was a legend, himself states, I guard myself constantly..that I am not disqualified from the most holy faith….folks, how much more we should be guarding ourselves.
Always keep in mind, GUARD YOURSELF FROM FALLING, as each minute passes we grow in HIM.
By: Neil Gerges
Neil Gerges is based now in Brisbane, Australia is a prospective student of the Queensland University of Technology and is a co-worker with the ATM ministries. He was awarded for best MSN Client from MSN Networks in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively.
What is a Cappuccino coffee? A Cappuccino is espresso coffee, that is finished with frothy steamed milk. This recipe is designed for people who don’t own an espresso machine and refuse to spend K.D. 1.5 ($4) for an Espresso coffee from Starbucks.
ingredients
- 1% of skimmed milk
- sugar
- coffee
directions
- brew the coffee for the cappuccino drink
- mix sugar and milk together, then heat for 2 minutes on high
- whip heated milk and sugar in your blender for 1 minute (or until foamy frothy)
- the last step is to fill the coffee cup 2/3 with coffee & and then add the heated milk foam to the top of the coffee
ENJOY IT!
