11/19/2016 0 Comments From Royalty To Rags To RoyaltyGive, and it shall be given to you. That is what the Bible was telling me, but my mind was seeing ‘giving and receiving’ through the filter I had grown up with- give and don’t expect anything from anyone else, especially if you hadn’t done anything to earn it. Besides that, I felt it was my responsibility to look after myself and my family. To make matters worse, being a nobleman’s great-granddaughter, the things I gravitated to were not the cheapest things in the store. I say I gravitated to them but not very often did I buy them. This thriftiness was passed down first from my mother who grew up at the tail end of the 30’s, and next from that very same great-grandmother who after marrying the gardener was kicked out her wealthy family. She raised my grandmother to keep her dignity by changing her dickey (a false shirt front) and her beads for dinner. So the royal dressing for dinner didn’t end with her, but the royal bucks did. True story, but sadly my past left me with a poverty mindset that would prove to be very hard to break.
I know we weren’t poor when we were growing up, but it felt like it and I had no intentions of living that way again. As a single mom, I had been sitting with a loan I couldn’t touch for a few years and everyday expenses left me struggling to make ends meet. I had heard preachers talk about God wanting to take care of my needs, and after a prayer I started to write. I didn’t have the confidence to step into the writing, and I didn’t trust that God would take care of everything I wanted taken care of. The more I listened to teachings and scriptures about God’s financial system, the more I began to believe that God did want to take care of all of my needs and that God isn’t a cheap God. In Philippians, it says He wants to take care of us in His riches in glory. If a wealthy man meets a young mother with a starving baby in her arms, he isn’t just going to give the woman enough for a small carton of milk. He is going to give her enough to keep the baby alive for at least a few months. It is out of His riches in glory that God wants to give to us, not out of our immediate need or His reluctance. God has more than enough. Gold is something we like to treasure and wear in the form of rings, necklaces, watches, etc. The streets are made of gold in heaven. In heaven there is no lack of any good thing. We are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It was a process learning God’s way of handling finances. To start with, God gave me the desire to give and He gave me opportunities to give. And that felt good. What I’m going to write next may sound strange, but what things in the Bible weren’t upside down and strange to even the people then. What would you think if you saw a man walking on water? So this may sound strange but if your mind is open to God’s way of doing things, life can get pretty exciting. I would read the scriptures “Give, and it will be given to you, pressed down shaken together and running over it will be poured into you bosom.” This was explained to me as if you have a basket of anything and you shake it, it will move or shift down and there will be more room in the basket. Then it is filled to overflowing. So if you give, you are to be given a lot. And sowing and reaping, the Bible says as you sow so shall you reap. So if you give a little of anything you will get a little of that same something coming back to you. I had a hard time with this. I would give but I had been taught not to expect. God began to teach me that if you don’t expect, then nothing will happen. Worse yet if you expect bad things, bad things could happen instead. This is called worrying and I was good at that. With God leading me, giving became a way of life. On a few occasions, I have gone to events where a prophet would be speaking. I will talk about this in other blogs. At these meetings someone would prophesy, which is giving you a message from God. This is something written about a lot in the Bible. In the New Testament, it is found In 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. On at least three occasions, when being at a prophetic meeting I was told that I had been giving, giving, giving to God but I wasn’t expecting to reap, and I had to learn to reap because that’s why you sow.(Matthew 25:38-40: says when we are giving to the needy we are giving to Him.) The example was that a farmer doesn’t plant a crop and then go away for a year believing that no crop was going to come up. No, he plants the seeds and then expects the crop to grow. At one of the first prophetic meetings I went to, the man said that there was going to be a release of finances to me in a supernatural way. I would come home from each of these meetings a little wiser and with a bit more faith, but still couldn’t expect to receive anything. I said, this mental block would be hard to break. A year later, I went to another conference and a prophet told me that I had had the year from hell and everything I thought I had gained, I had lost and that money was going, going, going. He was absolutely right. He described it perfectly. He said I was having a Job-like experience. In the book of Job in the Bible it says that Job said, “Everything I feared befalls me everything I dread comes upon me.” That made me realize that it was my fears and worries that were allowing the bad things to happen. I wasn’t trusting God. So I went back into my life again with the knowledge that I needed to expect, to believe that God was taking care of all of my needs in His riches in Glory. Again, I knew I shouldn’t think in a poverty laden way but I couldn’t do it. My mind had been so steeped in worry for too many years. Then my daughter and I went out to Red Deer, Alta. This may sound spooky but it wasn’t. Someone with the gift of discerning of spirits saw the spirit of fear on me and cast it off, as well as a couple of other things. I left the building that evening and it was like a blanket had been lifted off of my head. The air was fresher, the sky was brighter. Depression had been lifted off of me. As I drove out of the parking lot and then out of the city, I recognized that the thoughts, the negative thoughts that always bantered me were no longer there. I was excited. My next thought was Okay that should mean I can believe for the money I need. I will now be able to reap from what I have sown. And a month later I was given what I needed to pay off the loan and it wasn’t a small amount. I had believed that I would receive it and it happened, but again I had trouble receiving it from a person. When I called my benefactors the next day, the first thing they said was, “don’t ever think that that was from us. That money was from God. God told us to give that money away and we knew it was to go to you.” I had to swallow my pride because I realized that this was how God chose to run finances. Give and it shall be given to you. If it is to be (what you give is to be given back to you), and if no one ever received, God’s way would never be fulfilled. After this not only did God take care of our needs, He taught me how to trust Him for my every need and even my desires. His plans for me are bigger than any plans I have for myself. He is our King and our Father if we believe and we are to partake in His divine nature. So we are the King's kids and need to learn how to live in the systems He has set up for us. Psalm 34:4 (NKJV) I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. Luke 6:38 (NKJV) Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Matthew 6:9,10 (NKJV) In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Malachi 3:10 (NKJV) Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. Matthew 25:38-40 (NKJV) 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Philippians 4:19 (NKJV) And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Psalm 37:4 (NKJV) Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Revelation 21:21(NKJV) The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NKJV) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Revelation 19:16 (NKJV) 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
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11/12/2016 0 Comments One Cloud; Believe and Be Baptized God has done lots of things to show me that He loves me. I guess I needed a lot of proof, but He can do anything and He does. He wants to show His love to anyone who will chose Him and seek Him diligently. I had heard a sermon that showed me the Bible says “Believe and Be Baptized, not to be saved but it did sound like something God wanted us to do. I was told that it was an act of obedience and a testimony of our faith to be baptized after we believe. So I chose to be baptized. The day I was baptized was a particularly tough day for me. It was June 23, 2002. My husband Neil had been diagnosed with leukemia and I was very down. I was supposed to give my testimony at the church in Carnduff before going over to the pool to be dunked. That day I felt extremely shaky and nervous. Anything greasy, containing caffeine or sugar would give me a nervous stomach that would leave me looking like a nervous wreck when I stood in front of people and spoke. I got through the testimony but didn’t feel very good about it. I wondered why I had to be so pathetic. Why couldn’t I be strong? We went to the pool and the ceremony continued. I looked up to the sky. The sky was totally clear except for, a very small cloud coming in from the west. One or two people were baptized, then it was my turn. As I took off my towel and stepped towards the water, big drops of rain came from that one small cloud and sprinkled all the people there. I went into the water, was baptized and came out and reached for my towel. The rain stopped. A woman came over to me and said “Did you see that? That one little cloud in the sky rained on you as you went into the water and came out and then it stopped”. “Yes” I said “I did see that.” I was glad she brought it to my attention because it reinforced what had happened and made me remember it. About a week later the baptismal card came in the mail. I opened it. Inside was a picture of one man baptizing another, but what caught my attention was the cloud in the sky and the big drops of rain coming from it. I thought about my baptism, one cloud in the sky and the rain. I didn't think that card was a coincidence. Wow, I thought. Even though I was down that day God honored my baptism. I was humbled and at the same time it made me feel better about that day. Until that one cloud rained on me and the woman pointed it out, I thought it was a disaster. You may ask why this didn't happen for the other people. I do believe that some people have experiences with God when they are baptized but not everyone does. All baptisms are equally important. In my case I think it was because God knew how much I needed it. In the picture below, the dove came down on Jesus. This represented Jesus being baptized in the Holy Spirit and being anointed with power, as He was being baptized by John in water. Following His baptism in the Holy Spirit, Jesus went out and preformed many miracles. Mark 16:16a (NKJV) He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
To be saved means a lot of things. Here is a list of some of the definitions: eternal life, to be safe, to be delivered, helped, rescued, victorious, prosperous, healthy, etc… Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Ephesians 3:19 (AMP)and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself]. I heard a man speak once and his speech left me confused. He talked about religions but never mentioned God. He talked about values, morals, and destiny but never mentioned a particular God, but rather he talked about different religions that he had been trained in and was following. His whole speech seemed to be saying something but in the end I didn’t know what it was. I spoke to him a few weeks later and asked him about the different religions that he had studied and what he believed about each. With his interest in various religions he seemed very interested in our conversation, as I was. Then I asked him, “With the knowledge of all of these religions and following them so closely, have you chosen one that you believe is the truth or the right one. His answer was that he followed all of them and took the best things from each of them. From our conversation, I learned that he didn’t put more weight in Christianity than any of the other religions. I have learned that the best way to talk to someone about the faith message is not to say anything about what they already believe but to share with them what you know to be the real thing. The best way is to share what you have experienced. You can’t take someone somewhere you haven’t been or teach them something you haven’t experienced yourself. You can tell them about something but not any further than what you have read or heard. But if you have experienced it for yourself there is no end to what you can say. It is like going it to a travel agency to set up a trip. The travel agent is telling you information from the brochure; what there is to see and do at the various locations and which one has the most stars. It still leaves you feeling vague about which one would be the best destination for you to visit. Then another agent comes in from the back and begins to share about his trips to some of these different locations. He shares what he liked and didn’t like about each one. He talks about the different kinds of food served in each place and which were set up the most elegantly. He talks about the best places to go if you liked to dance or watch entertainment, or if you wanted to go on excursions or hiking. He talks about which places are the safest and what to do and not to do when you are at each place. It was so much better to talk to someone who had been to these places. He could teach you from his experience and you could ask the questions and get answers that a book couldn’t tell you. While talking to this man, I did share a bit but I seemed to be at a loss for words. Me, at a loss for words really, you might think. Yes. In that moment I didn’t know what to say. But as I said goodbye and walked away from this man I thought, what should I have said that would have reached this man? Into my head came, I’m the only one who died for you. That almost stopped me in my tracks. I knew who had given me that thought. He had spoken to me many times before. I have learned that this is called a word of knowledge. I kept walking that day but a week later I saw this man again. I was able to say to the man, “When I was walking away from you the other day, God gave me a message for you.” “What was that?” He asked. I could tell he was really interested so I said, “He said, I’m the only one who died for you.” “Okay.” He said. “Thank you for telling me that.” I don’t know what he did with that information but I knew I was to tell the man what I heard. So I did. I’m sure it was what the man needed to hear or God would have given me a different message for him. We need to hear from the Holy Spirit and to desire His gifts so we can experience Him and also so He can work through us to help others. Other blog entries where God has given me knowledge or wisdom, through His still small voice, are My Niece’s Heart- My Awakening, Door to Door Ministry, Help from God Raising My Children, Take Aunt Vesta Flowers, and Experiencing God. And these gifts are also talked about in the blog entry Supernatural Power. The first commandment of the ten commandments is found in; Exodus 20:3 (AMP) “You shall have no other gods before Me. and it is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:7 Deuteronomy 4:39 (AMP) Therefore know and understand today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is no other. There are at least 43 verses in the Bible that say this. http://www.bible.ca/trinity/trinity-oneness-unity-one-god.htm The word of knowledge and word of wisdom and hearing from the Holy Spirit are found in the next verses. 1 Corinthians 12:7-8 (NKJV) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 1 Kings 19:12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 10:27-28 (NKJV)27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. |
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