What has God been teaching me

So this has been a crazy 4 weeks and God had been teaching me HEAPS and here is a recap of what God had taught me, and it was perfect I really wanted to reflect on it but felt like I hadn’t had time to process it. Then I got a message from my friend asking me to fill her in on what God had teaching me absolutely everything, and I hesitated for a moment thinking, wow have I been listening, what has God been teaching, and then I realised he had been teaching me heaps and is still continuing to;

He has been teaching me about his word; how it is like the bread of life on going still now

Prayer – I felt like when I had arrived that I hadn’t being talking to God enough and then in thinking this I went to my first church service in South Africa and the sermon was all about Prayer, and fasting and all 3 of my daily devotional books talked about prayer and fasting talk about God wanting to make a point. Matthew 6 – Giving to the needy, fasting and praying, money and possessions. And in the 1^st week I was given lost of verses about how it is our biblical mandate to care for the orphans and poor. Isaiah 58:6-7

No, this is the kind of fasting I want;

Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;

Lighten the load those who work for you.

 Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need help

Our weakness and Gods strength - I began looking a lot at the psalms and read Psalm 51 and verse 17 really stuck me, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit, you will not reject a broken and repentant heart.”

I read this verse and I thought of being broken about the children I had met, and in giving that to him, and he in turn blessed me so much with his wisdom and understanding.

And how we need to Real with God, he doesn’t want us to wear any masks in front of him, because we cant he sees straight through. He wants us to turn to him not turn away.

 And so I was praying for that to be his will for me to be able to give him a sacrifice he desires, and that made me think of this passage 2 Corinthians 12:5-10

That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses.

If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling truth. But I wont do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or here in my message, even though I have received so many wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming too proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

 Three different times I have begged God to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness”

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. Thats why I can take pleasure in my weakness and in insults, hardships, persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

This is something God is really teaching me, it is one thing to talk about and be excited about God when things are good, but when things are tough, that is something else and it is beautiful. After reading Psalm 51:17 and praying I had a conversation with people back home and something happened that really broke me, and made me feel like I had a broken spirit and I had a choice to I give myself to God in my time of need and let him be my strength or do I run away and be angry. We need to boast about God because he never changes and is still faithful, and there is power in boasting about him in your weakness, pain and troubles because in that situation you can have joy and hope that people can’t understand it until they experience it for themselves

Going deeper and holding my hand - I really wanted to go deeper with God as the aim Christian; and then I read Psalm 63:1-8

I was blown away at how much it reflected that cry of my heart and then I check facebook the next day and my friend had sent me a fb post telling me I should read that very psalm :D I love verse 8

– I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.

And I was listening to 2 songs on my ipod and the funny thing is, they both have lyrics that say hold my hand –

Deeper – Meredith Andrews

I’ve been waiting in shallow waters,

You’re the ocean I am after

And I wanna go with you oh I wanna go with you.

Break the silence with your whisper,

Take my hand and pull me under

Cause I wanna go, oh I wanna go with you

Chorus - Take me deeper; take me deeper,

to where you are, that i may find you.

Take me further than where I’ve been

I wanna be with you, be with you

Set away for more what my eyes see,

help me believe, help me break free,

 I wanna go, oh i wanna go with you

Chorus - Take me deeper; take me deeper,

to where you are, that i may find you.

Take me further than where I’ve been

I wanna be with you, be with you

Take me through the desert places for a chance to see your face,

take me past the breaking waves into the depths of your embrace X2

Chorus - Take me deeper; take me deeper,

 to where you are, that i may find you.

Take me further than where I’ve been

I wanna be with you, be with you X2

I am yours by Jimmy Needham

When my heart in bitter and pierced within

When i found myself senseless and ignorant

You had taken hold of my right hand

And made me continually yours

I am continually yours

I am yours I am yours

Like the sparrow in your hand

Like the lilies of the land

I am yours

I am yours I am yours

No one do I desire

You have set my heart on fire

I am yours

And I am continually yours

 Yes I am continually yours

My flesh, my heart, may fail within

Riddled with scars of former sin

Never the less I will rise again

For I am continually yours

Yes I am continually yours

I am yours I am yours

Like the sparrow in your hand

Like the lilies of the land

I am yours

I am yours I am yours

No one do I desire

You have set my heart on fire

I am yours

My crime and guilt

My darkened shame

My finger pointing I’m to blame

Are covered by crimson stain

And I am continually yours

Yes I am continually yours

I am continually yours

These are two very perfect songs for me right now, God has been reminding me of the holding my hand thing over and over again it’s in Psalm 63:8, Psalm 37:23-24, Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 41:13 and my favourite one

Isaiah 41:9-10

I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don’t not be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

God’s character; Father God has been really challenging me to not just consider and know in my head that he is my heavenly father, but to really realise that’s my relationship with him is a father/daughter loving relationship and to know in my heart he is my dad. I was really challenged in Zambia when we asked a guy to do grace and prayed with Dear Dad, and then every time I have tried to pray since the words dear dad have popped into my head, like he was/is saying Bec I am your dad, don’t just address me with dear God and think of me as your father, I am your father so address me appropriately. And we also have been looking at the Lord’s prayer heaps and so God is not just God he is supposed to be my loving daddy  :D And really coming to understand the term father to the fatherless, because there is so much brokenness here in South Africa if children do have fathers here they are usually missing and drunks.

Fear; Have you heard a book called crazy love? it talks about Gods love and stuff. I’ve only read the start but it begins with the fear of God, that before we can go further in our relationship with God, we need to have a healthy understand of who he is, and to fear him. And he talks about how people usually say it’s just being in awe but so many stories have talked about people being in the very presence of God and their instinct is to be afraid and then God can reassure us, humbling ourselves before him before we can receive his mercy and grace I guess.

 Psalm 128:1-2 - Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labour; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Psalm 2:11 – Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Psalm 34:9 – Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need.

Hebrews 12:21 – Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 

We humble ourselves and recognise God’s awesome power and are in awe and we fear him and it is then he is able to say no you realise who I am, now I welcome you with open arms and say do not be afraid. WOW that’s crazy love.

Lastly my friend Ashley shared with me Isaiah 58 which I have read heaps and have highlighted and she read it the other day and something different come out and when she told me and it hit me too.

Isaiah 58:6-12

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need help

Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

 Then when you call, the Lord will answer, ‘Yes, I am here.’ He will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of the oppression.

Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumour!

Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength

You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and restorer of homes.

WOW this is huge – that when we do all this stuff caring for the poor, loving those in need, being in tune with the father’s heart then we will shine, and be healed, our motivation should be just to do Gods will and in doing that we will be blessed. And the last part is huge about the rebuilding wall because that’s a huge theme of Hands at work – looking at enabling people to help the poorest of the poor in the African communities being just like Nehemiah in building the walls of Jericho :D

Back to Zambia

We were told by the end of orientation they will find a place and role for us to be in,  Dan asked to talk individually and he said so we are planning to send you to Zambia, you can work there being part of the RST. And even though I stayed calm and collected I was SO excited :D YAY Going back to Zambia – like going back home :D