It's time for another Passover

Hi there to you all,

Once again, I feel that the Lord has been speaking to me and I just have to share it with you.

I'm not too sure if you all know this, but on the 1st of August, there was a huge spiritual shift that took place and we are experiencing the unfolding of this as a family in our lives and ministry.

At this time, it is definitely a time and season of visitation. God is visiting us....

A couple of mornings ago, the Lord spoke to me about the Passover just before the Exodus happened in Egypt and He told me to tell everyone that another Passover is happening during this time.

Read on for more about all of this.....

Exodus 11:4-7

Then Moses said, "Thus says the LORD: 'About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

Exodus 12:12-13

'For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

1. In these two portions of scripture, we see God warning His people about a coming Judgement and that He was going to be "visiting" Egypt at midnight on a certain day for the purpose of carrying out His judgement on Pharaoh and his people.
2. We also see here that at the time of the visitation of judgement on Egypt, that God said that there would be a difference between His own people and the people of Egypt under Pharaoh.
3. The only difference would be that the houses where His people were, would have the blood of a lamb applied to the doorposts and lintels, but the houses of the Egyptians would not.

The Lord spoke to me that we as His people now, are experiencing a time of visitation. This visitation is slightly different from the visitation that happened just before the exodus of Israel from Egypt in that it would be a time where God will pass over the houses that DO NOT have the Blood of Jesus applied to them. This means that those who are indeed His people by the new birth and who are being cleansed daily by the blood of Jesus and are walking close to Him every day, will at this time experience a time of God's visitation of BLESSING and those who do not have the blood of Jesus applied to their homes and lives will not.

This visitation is a time of blessing. This blessing is an empowerment upon us that will enable us to reflect the presence and person of Who Jesus is to the world around us. Whenever God speaks of His blessing to us, this is how He wants to empower us for the expressed purpose of declaring who He really is.

I would also say in response to this word that we make ourselves ready for this visitation. I believe that it is not too late. As God's people we need to be pressing in to Him daily and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us in any repentance or change that is necessary for us to be ready for the Lord's visit.

We need to be ready, or else we could be PASSED OVER by God's visitation of Blessing.

I pray that the Lord will confirm this word to you.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.

Blessings to you all....

Provision & the flow of God

Hi all,

I was recently in Tongaat, Natal, South Africa where I was ministering to a church there for a week. During that week, God enabled me to release His message to them over all the nights that I preached.

During one of the nights, I was busy preaching about Eliajah and how the Lord spoke to him about going to the brook Cheirth.

Today, I want to share some thoughts with you along the same lines of what I spoke to the church in Tongaat about.

Read on for more....

1 Kings 17:2-6

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.

Today I want to share something very important with you about the Provision of God which is linked with the flow of God.

From the scripture above where God spoke to Elijah, His prophet, we see that the Lord told Elijah to go to a specific place. God is very specific when it comes to His will for our lives. If Elijah had gone anywhere else, he would not have had the flow of God or His provision. Notice that God said that He had commanded the ravens to feed Elijah at the Brook Cherith, not at any other brook.....

The place of God's perfect will for us is where His provision and flow will be. Some christians think that they can simply "do their own thing" or if it is a good idea it will work. A good idea is not a God idea.

Wherever God places us, is the realm where He has given us the following....

1. Provision
2. The flow of the Spirit
3. Authority to overcome
4. His grace
5. Victory over the enemy
6. Vision & Revelation
7. Purpose and fulfillment

In the scripture above, you will notice that God told Elijah that he would "drink from the brook". This speaks of being sustained by the flow of the Spirit of God wherever you are. The flow of God is how He works in us and through us. This flow is firstly there to sustain us and then to flow through us to others. If the flow is not flowing through us, then there is a problem. Usually, the problem is that we are not drinking in enough. Notice that God told Elijah that he would drink from the brook. If there is not enough of God's flow coming through us, it just means that we are not filled ourselves and that we need to change our focus. We can easily drink in other things that are not really the flow of God to us.

The provision of God at Cherith was quite unusual. God said that the ravens would feed Elijah. The ravens where just the vehicle that God used to get His provision to His prophet. If we obey the Lord to go where He sends us and to do the task that He has assigned to us, then His provision will be brought there. The ravens where not the source, but the vehicle, God was the source. Never forget that God is the source.

Let's read on in 1 Kings 17....

And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."

In the next verse it says that after a while, the brook dried up. I have learned over the years that there always comes a time when the brook or the flow will dry up. Remember that the flow comes from God Himself and nowhere else. God is in control of the flow. At this time, it says that the reason for the brook drying up was that there had been no rain in the land. God has a lot to do with the rain which falls in the natural and also in the spiritual. Wherever you read in the bible about rain, it usually refers to the blessing of God or to His presence. Where He is honoured and trusted in, that will be where it will rain. God was in control of where the rain fell in the days of Elijah and He was working together with His prophet on that. Elijah was to pray that it wouldn't rain and God would stop it from His side.

Now, this rain was needed to supply the brook Cherith so that Elijah would be able to drink. The rain had stopped falling over Israel at that time and many of the rivers and brooks dried up.

The drying up of the brook was the first sign that the time had come for Elijah to move to the next place of God's choosing for him. The next place of God's choosing was Zeraphath. This was the place where God would command His provision for Elijah. It was to be at the widow's house.

God always has a time and a place for where He wants us to be. If we try and stay at our brook Cherith after it has dried up, then we will find ourselves going in a downward direction... this means... things will die. What this means is that God's flow brings inspiration and revelation... these are the two things we need from God. If the brook dries up it means that there is another place where the flow will be and the time has come to move there.

The provision and the flow are always linked up together. If the one dries up, so will the other. When the brook dried up, the time had come for Elijah to move.

Maybe your brook has dried up or is in the process of drying up. Make sure you hear the word of the Lord to direct you to the place where He wants you to be.

I hope todays entry has helped you...

The church is not prepared for what is about to happen

Hey there to you all,

I've been traveling quite a bit and it's been a long time since I've posted something up here on Prophetic People Blog....

So, today I want to release to you some of the things that God has been speaking to me about.

What would you do if I told you that God is about to bless you completely out of your socks... I mean.....so much so that you will be totally overwhelmed by it and you just won't be able to contain it to the point that you will have to involve others to help you with it.

Perhaps you are in a place where you can't see anything on the horizon or you've tried so hard to break through to the next level and it has left you frustrated and confused. Or... you are focused on some issues that have grown so big that you just can't see further than all that is surrounding you. Take heart... God is about to do something really huge in this season and time.....

The story opens in the book of Luke chapter 5 from verse 1 onwards.
Jesus is down at a lake and there is a very large crowd around and they are pressing in to Him for a word. They are thronging Him and hungry to hear another message that will open up their understanding to who God is....

As Jesus was about to open His mouth and begin to teach them something very profound... He looked off to the right and noticed two boats that had been dragged out of the water and brought up higher on the beach. These two boats had just come back from a fishing trip and the fishermen were busy packing everything away and washing their salty nets so that they wouldn't rot before the next fishing trip.

In particular, he noticed one of the boats and decided to get into it. This boat was Simon Peter's boat. What a strange thing to do.... Almost like He wanted to use it for something. Perhaps He wanted to go on a fishing trip some time later on in the day and was just checking it out to see if it was ok...

No... He was planning to use it for something incredible. The message to you today is this....
JESUS HAS NOTICED YOUR BOAT. Your boat speaks of something very specific to you that God has given you. It may be your business, your skills, your gifting or your ministry. This is something that is pertinent to you and you alone. Your boat is something that God wants to use.

The next thing that happened is that Jesus politely asked Peter if He could sit down in the boat and be pushed out a little way from the land so that He could preach a life changing message to the hungry crowd who were busy finding a place to sit on the beach. Peter is more than happy to do this for Jesus.

By the time Jesus had finished His message, the people were amazed and things have happened there. Everyone is blessed.

Suddenly... Jesus turned to Peter and spoke these words....

"Launch out into the deep and let down your NETS for a catch".
Peter was dumbstruck. They had just got back some hours earlier from one of the most frustrating fishing trips and they had come back empty handed. Why on earth would they want to get everything ready again to go out. They were tired and ready to go home and get into bed for a much needed rest.
Peter looked at Jesus and said these words. "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing, nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net".

One thing I noticed here was that Jesus gave an instruction to Peter in order to connect Him to the supernatural blessing and supply that He was about to release. The instruction was to launch out into the deep..., Not the shallow places, but deep waters.... Next, Peter was told to let down some nets for a catch.... Notice, Jesus said NETS, not net. This was so important. One net would not have been enough to capture what Jesus was about to release to them. Jesus knew that this would mean that Peter would have to get James and John involved in order to bring in the catch, but Peter was just too short sighted to see this. In fact no-one was read for what was about to happen.

Then, Peter launched his boat out and just simply let down the net. All at once, fish began to fill the net and it began to stretch beyond its limits and began to break. Peter began to panic as Jesus started to giggle. I can just picture the scene there. Peter was about to loose this whole catch. Quickly he signaled to James and John to come and help them and they went out and filled both their boats to overflowing and the boats started to sink.

The message to you today is this.....

We have entered into God's time line. You see, when we are doing things according to our timeline, we sometimes get results, but at a great cost. God's time line has an element of the supernatural in it and all it requires is that we listen to Him for His instructions. During the past season in the life of the church, many have experience toil and frustration.... This is about to change. An instruction is about to be given that is going to change everything for you, but you need to be listening for it.
What God is about to do, we are completely and utterly unprepared for. It is going to be so big that we ourselves will not be able to contain it or capture it. We will need to get everyone else involved in it so that this great Blessing from God is not lost.

The time and season in the church is changing from a time of toil to a time of supernatural harvest and release. I know you have probably heard so much over the years about harvest that by now, you have had enough... Let me tell you, the season is changing and a shift is taking place.

Get ready.......

Do you know your jurisdiction

Do you know your jurisdiction

Hi there everybody,

While on my last trip to Australia, I shared some insights with the churches there which I thought I should share with you today. This is to do with our jurisdiction and the authority that the Lord has given to us where He has placed us.

The word jurisdiction means :- Power, authority and control. It also means an extent or range of judicial law enforcement. It is also the territory over which authority is exercised.

It is very clear in scripture that Jesus is the Head of the church and we are His body. Also, he has given or delegated authority to those whom He has placed in leadership to exercise His authority there. If there were no authority, then we would be divided and as Jesus said, "A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand". So we can see that it is important for us to understand God's delegated authority through people who He calls.

Also, everyone of us has been given spiritual authority to be exercised as followers of Christ over the forces of darkness. This means that the enemy has no God given authority over us, as long as we stay connected to the Head, Jesus Himself. This connection is vital. Without it, we will easily be defeated. If this connection with Christ is nurtured and developed, then it will not be easy for the enemy to defeat us.

As prophetic people, we are called to hear God's voice and to know the signs of the times. We also have a responsibility to encourage one another with revelation that the Lord gives us. We have also been given giftings and anointings that we are responsible for before the Lord. What I mean is, that the giftings and anointings of God are given so that the Kingdom of God can move forward and the people of God can be mutually edified.

With all of that said, it is important to understand that wherever we are given an opportunity to exercise our gifting, we affect the area where we are. Jurisdiction is an area that God has given to us to operate in His gifting and authority for the furtherance of the Kindom of God. In other words, my home is where I have authority to deal with the onslaughts of the enemy. Where God has placed me in ministry is where He has given me authority to deal with any other onslaughts of the enemy as well. Another example would be that any place the Lord sends me to, would be a place where He would seek to manifest His Kingdom power through me. Any opposition of the enemy in that place would be forced into submission to God's Kingdom, just because He sent me there. The result would be :- people's lives would be changed, the blessing of God released, the sick would be healed, the oppressed would be set free and God's glory will be seen.

The issue is that we need to know where God has placed us and where He has called us and also where He is sending us. I cannot exercise God's authority in a place where He has not sent me to or called me to. It would just be useless effort there and no Kingdom advancement.

I've seen so many well meaning people going all over the place and doing things that God had not called them to do. This is what it means to be outside of one's jurisdiction.

In future, please keep in mind what God has called you to do and where He has placed you. Be a blessing in that place and listen to His leading as you serve Him.

Some happenings

Welcome once again to another issue of Prophetic people.

The reason why I've been quiet is because of all sorts of things that have been happening during the past 5 days.

Let me explain.....

As you may well know, last week I was in East London in the Eastern Cape area. I was invited to do another week long prophetic school which went extremely well. Crossways Christian Fellowship hosted me for the entire week. I must say that God really showed up in a big way in response to the hunger of His people. They were so hungry for Him and the supernatural flow of the Holy Spirit. I ended off on Sunday morning, but I had to cut my trip short and return home on Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning. Read on to find out why......

On Saturday last week, I had the day off in East London after ministering from Monday night through to Friday night. I was also invited out for breakfast with Al and Tess Gardener on Saturday morning and it was amazing to spend time with them and to share the things of the Lord.

After breakfast we took a walk on the boardwalk down at Gonubie beach. On our way back on the walkway, there were a couple of people who were walking in both directions, because it was a lovely day and Gonubie beach is a nice place to hang out at. While we were walking back to the car park to leave, a black man who was walking towards us, suddenly lifted his hand and pointed in my direction saying at the top of his voice, "Hello, how are you, I haven't seen you for a while..." Al, Tess and I were taken by complete surprise and we all wondered, what on earth this guy was up to. I even thought that he was trying to pull off a bit of a con to get some money out of me. I had my camera around my neck and my cap on my head because I had planned to take some landscape photos that morning.

As the guy continued to approach us, he still continued to claim that he knew me for the George area and that he was so happy to see me. He then grabbed my hand and began to shake it, with no intention of letting go. Just then, something amazing happened. He then quietly requested that I pray for him because he was HIV positive and had skin cancer. He was absolutely convinced that I should pray for him and I feel that he had faith to be healed too. I said that I would and quickly began to pray the healing power of the Lord onto him. I feel that God touched him right there and then, but what a pity that we didn't get any of his contact details to follow up on how he is doing.

What amazed me was how he knew that I should pray for him for healing, seeing he didn't know me or know that I was on a ministry trip to East London or that I was in full time ministry too. I feel that the Lord showed me that he must have seen or sensed the presence of Jesus with me or through me. This is the only explanation that I have for this amazing time with this needy man. I am so blessed that I was able to touch his life with the power of the Lord.

The rest of Saturday was amazing. I then went and had lunch with Ian and Gwen Farr, some dear friends I met up with in East London about this time last year while ministering there. After that I went back to the guest house where I was staying to have a short nap before going to watch Saturday's big rugby match between South Africa and the New Zealand All Blacks, with Marius Gradwell, the pastor of East London Christian Center and some of the guys from the church. It was great. That evening, I went off with Marius to his house for supper and to chat to him and Linda his wife.

On my way home that night, I received a phone call from Cathi, my wife, back home, saying that her father had suffered his third heart attack. It was then 8:30pm and she was going through to the hospital where they were busy treating him. I then phoned Jonathan King, the pastor of Crossways Christian Fellowship and asked if they wouldn't mind if I flew home on Sunday afternoon to go and pray for my father-in-law in hospital, as the doctors said that he was in a very serious condition and they were not sure if he would survive.

I flew back on Sunday afternoon and arrived at Cape Town International airport at around 4:30pm. We then went off to 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg, to see Cathi's dad. When we came into the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), he was lying on the bed with pipes connected everywhere and an oxygen pipe inserted into his lungs through his mouth. He really looked a sight.

I was amazed at how helpless he looked lying there and how fragile his life was. The only thing that I was convinced about was a prophecy that we had about him, which we received through one of God's prophets, about twenty years ago. Cathi and I then went over to him and I laid hands on him and prayed from my heart and asked the Lord to give him another chance. I prayed like this because Cathi's dad had not yet given his heart to the Lord and we knew that God was not finished with him. It is just not his time to go. We stayed for a little while and then left.

On Monday morning, we went through to the hospital again and linked up with Cathi's mom and family. A specialist also came around to speak to us and mentioned the present prognosis about Dad's condition which was stable, but still serious.

As he was speaking and explaining the situation, he added that 95% of people who have the heart attack that Dad had, die. He continue to say that he has fallen into the 5% who survive. He then said that it was "almost a miracle". He then went on to say that they were concerned about possible consequences of oxygen starvation to his brain while he was having the heart attack. They were still monitoring the situation.

To date, we are still believing that God is at work and that Cathi's dad will make a full recovery and that the Lord will have His way in him. We believe that the reason why God has spared his life is so that he would come to salvation.

Keep him in your prayers please and let's expect God to do the impossible.

Hope to hear from you all some time soon.

Blessings to you all,

Rory

The secret place

Hi there Everyone,

Welcome to Thursday's edition of Prophetic People.

Today, I want to share something with you that came through a time of fellowship that I had with two other pastors this morning.

As you know from reading my previous post here on Prophetic People, I mentioned that I am at present in East London here in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. I've been doing some prophetic equipping meetings for a church here.

This morning, I was invited by a pastor friend of mine here in East London, to go and have coffee with him and another guy. While we were speaking, he just mentioned how God had spoken to him about prayer in the secret place that causes God to reward us openly.

Here is my take on what we all discussed this morning......

Turn in your bible to Matthew 6:5-6

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

From this portion of scripture here, we read about Jesus' lifestyle of prayer. I believe that He was sharing what worked for Him.

It's amazing that so many of us try to do all the outward things right in the sight of people, but we neglect to understand that our heavenly Father is just waiting for us to come to Him in His secret place, so that He can discuss His Kingdom business with us. This will require a shift in mindset from always coming in to ask for things and do the usual christian prayer stuff. I'm not saying that asking for things is wrong, but that seems to be the trend that we follow when it comes to praying to our Heavenly Father. God is desiring fellowship and intimacy with us more than anything else. We are so quick to run in and blurt out things that we think impress Him so that we can get the stuff we want. I have news for you... He is already impressed with you.

This portion of scripture says that He is actually in the secret place.

This secret place is your intimate prayer life with your Heavenly Father. He is there and He wants us to go there as often as we like. You will see so much more happen if you would just go in there with a desire to fellowship with Him and share your heart and allow Him to share His with you.

The secret place is about being alone with God and speaking to Him. You will be amazed at what will happen. When going there, we must not get into a rut. This is where we start following a formula. There is no formula to follow while in the secret place, but just a real, spontaneous interaction and fellowship with your Heavenly Father.

God has a bunch of rewards to give when we come into that place and pray in secret. What this means is that He will give us the increase and the rewards of what we prayed about. You will begin to enjoy much more success in life if you make prayer in the secret place your priority.

I believe that this was the secret to Jesus' success in His ministry. He only did what He saw His Father do. This is the same with us.

The question we need to ask ourselves is this.....

Do we want God's reward or the reward that comes from man.

Here are some of the things I believe the Lord will release as rewards.

1. Little effort in achieving success in whatever we do, whether it is in ministry, business or anything else.
2. Obstacles will be shifted out of the way. Did He not say that He would make every rough place smooth and every crooked place straight. This makes movement and progress a lot easier.
3. Answers to problems.
4. Strength and the ability to do what you are called to do - (Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength....)
5. Him, moving in and through us to touch people with His supernatural power.
6. Favour with and access to the right people to accomplish His purpose in our lives.
7. A recognisable light that shines from us to others - People will want to know what you have in your life so that they can have it too.

I hope that you would be encouraged today to press in to spend quality time with our Heavenly Father who is ready and eager to reward you openly.

Thanks once again for coming on over here to read this blog.

Feel free to leave a comment in the comments section.

Blessings and much love,

Rory

Prophetic School

Hi there to you all,

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of Prophetic People.

The photo taken above here is of the cabin I am staying in here in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

I am on another ministry trip here and just thought to show you folks out there my accommodation until Sunday. I will be leaving here on Monday to fly home to Cape Town.

At present I am doing a prophetic school for Coastlands church here in East London near Gonubie.

On Monday night I taught about how to hear the voice of God and last night we dealt with the different levels of the prophetic.

I must say that I was amazed at how quiet everyone was when I shared with them the calling of the prophet and how it all works. They were intrigued about it all.
Tonight I will be teaching them about how to test and deal with personal prophecy. There is such a need to actually understand how it all works and most people don't know how to test a prophecy. Many people just run ahead with a word and don't test it.

Also, tonight through until Friday night we will be concentrating more on impartation and the practical activation of how to actually get a word from the Lord. Most people don't how to do this either.

These people all seem to be very hungry to flow in the supernatural of the Spirit of God.

Next month I will be in Port Elizabeth for 3 or 4 days to do another prophetic school. Believe it or not, but an Anglican Church has opened it's doors for prophetic school training too. I'm really looking forward to going there next month.

Remember to seek the Lord while He may be found and to press in for more of Him in your life.

I'll catch up again with you all tomorrow.

Have a blessed day,

Much love,

Rory

How do you see God

Hi there to you all,

Welcome to Tuesday's edition of Prophetic People.

Today I want to share some things with you concerning how you view the Lord Himself.

When Cathi and I started out in full time ministry 20 years ago, we were excited to be entering into an adventure with the Lord. We had been to bible school and had also learned so much from our spiritual father, William Bath who pastored Rhema here in Cape Town up until the late 1980's.

As the years rolled on, we went through so many situations and saw the hand of God move on our behalf in areas of financial provision, healing and our ministry to others.

During that time, God linked us with some very great people who were instrumental in revealing who God is to us and helping us to see things we never saw about Him. Unfortunately, we also got involved with other people who had all sorts of ideas about who God is. I remember at one stage going through some really difficult financial times. Our faith was been tested and we were wondering what we actually believed about the Lord. We would go to church and sometimes hear messages preached about how God was using many of the hard times to teach us something about Himself. One of the main things we were taught was that whenever you are going through a hard time, it is because God is trying to stretch your faith.

I remember one day when Cathi came to me one morning and said these words to me. "I refuse to believe that God is trying to sort us out or teach us faith through this financial lack we are going through!" She said that she was going to start to find out about God and His goodness. As soon as she said those words to me, I decided to join her. We decided that we were going to search through the word of God for the answers to the truth about who God actually is.

I can honestly say, that we are still on this journey of discovery in finding out who our God is. He has revealed to us His amazing Grace and love.

Both Cathi and I cringe when we hear pastors and ministers teach that when you go through a time of suffering, God is trying to teach you something through it. This can not be further from the truth.

In the book of James 5:13 it says, "Is anyone among you suffering, let him pray..."

This is not talking about the sufferings of Christ, which are :-
persecution, rejection because of belonging to Him, slander, accusations, etc.

This is talking about suffering in the areas of:-

Health, provision, relationship issues, fear, anxiety, etc.

In verse 13 it is saying that if we are suffering, we need to pray. Why? Because prayer gets us into a position to hear something from the Lord that is going to help us to either get through it or out of it. This is very important. God is wanting us to pray to Him in the times of suffering so that He can give us strategies and answers as to what we can do to overcome the situation.

Please be careful of having the wrong concept of who God is... it can really rob you of boldness and faith.

I hope that this has helped someone out there.

Please let me know if today's post has helped you in any way.

Be much blessed,

Rory

Unity

Good morning everyone,

Welcome once again to another blog post. Today, I want to discuss the issue of unity. I'm sure you will all agree with me that so much has been said and done about unity, but I want to bring out some thoughts concerning this very important part of our christian lives.

In Psalm 133, the bible has something to reveal about what biblical unity is all about.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing— Life forevermore.

When I view unity from a secular view point, there is so much of that happening in the world. People unite together over a cause. There are people who unite politically. There are also people who unite together for terrorist purposes.

The unity that I want to talk about is the unity that exists in the realm of the Spirit of God. It is the essence of knowing Jesus and sharing Him with one another.

Two words stick out in the above passage of scripture..... Good and Pleasant.

Good reminds me of the goodness of God. Without unity we will not experience the full extent of God's goodness to us.

Then the word pleasant. The Hebrew meaning of pleasant is "sweet". There is a sweetness of God's presence that permeates the atmosphere when we are united together because of Jesus.

Here are some thoughts about unity.

1. Unity comes through agreement.
   * The bible says, "How can two walk together unless they agree". Agreement is necessary for us to be in unity together.
2. Unity also comes through us walking in love with one another. This is actually how unity is achieved among us.
3. Another way in which unity is achieved is by each christian discerning the body of Christ.
   * We are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.
   * When all the body's organs are functioning correctly and in unison, then the body is healthy, but if one or more organs, don't function with the rest of them, then the body will get sick.
   
4. Remember that strife is the enemy of unity.
   * If we deal with strife, we will be able to come into unity in the Lord.
5. Unity also comes through submission one to another
   * Over the years, submission has been so misunderstood. I've heard of people who were told that they must submit no matter what.
   * I believe that submission can only happen when there is an atmosphere of love and trust that exists among people.
   * Wherever there is suspicion, submission is violated.
6. Unity attracts the goodness of God
7. Unity attracts the blessing of God
8. Unity attracts the presence of God too.
9. Doctrines and theologies divide us, but love unites us.
10. In speaking of the body again, if our immune system is down, then we are open to invasion and attack from disease and sickness causing viruses and germs.
    * Love is like the immune system of the body of Christ. It enables us to ward off disease and illness.

In our passage above we also see that unity is like the oil that flows down from the head of the high priest, down his beard and to the edge of his garments. Jesus is our high priest and when there is unity among us, it causes the oil to flow from Jesus the head, down onto the body of Christ.

The garments speaks of humility. The anointing oil of the Holy Spirit can only flow on top of humility. When we are clothed with humility, then the anointing oil of God can flow.

Oil is also a symbol of wealth. I mean spiritual wealth. The abundance of oil indicates how rich we are in the spiritual.

In the scripture above I also see a reference to Dew.

Dew is symbolic of favour and the blessing of God. God commands His blessing and favour when we have unity among us. Dew is moisture that lingers. We need the lingering presence of God upon our lives at this time.

Lastly, the reference to life means that when God commands His blessing on us, it always flows out of His presence. When we have the presence of God upon us, life will flow out of us to others.

Strife, offence, unforgiveness, criticism,bitterness and resentment will stop the flow of the oil and the descending dew of God from coming upon us.

As you walk through this day, make sure to walk in love with your brothers and sisters in Christ and to keep the unity of the Faith.

Hope you all have a blessed day.

Much love,

Rory

Jesus the living bread

Hello to you all and once again, welcome to today's post.

From the image which you can see above here, I have a point to make concerning where I believe many of God's people are, at this time.

This morning Cath and I went out to Claremont for lunch and on the way back, I was speaking to her about the many people we have met over the past 2 years who have all become disillusioned and bored with church. As I began to speak to her about it all, I thought about a situation that occurred in Old Testament times which I thought would illustrate what I am trying to say here.

Please read on....

In the book of Ruth chapter 1 and verse 1 it reads.....

Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

What I see in the above passage of scripture is a story that unfolded in the lives of a prominent family in Bethlehem in Israel. It starts off by saying that during the time of the ruling of the judges, there arose a famine in the land.

Bethlehem in Hebrew means, "House of Bread".

You could easily say that there was no bread in the house of bread. Bethlehem was the bread basket of the whole area where there was a thriving agricultural community.

As the story unfolds we see this family leave everything behind to get out of the famine and to go where there they thought the life was.

I see this as a prophetic picture of what has been happening in the church with many christians Cathi and I come into contact with.

I believe that instead of us seeking the Lord for a manifestation of His living bread, Jesus Christ, we have subsituted Him with programs, church entertainment and other things to keep us going. If there is no bread in the house (an absence of the manifestation of Christ, the living bread), people will soon grow disillusioned by what is left.

I believe that the disillusionment we enter into is how we leave for Moab. This all happens in our hearts. Many of God's people have departed for Moab in their hearts. The word Moab means, "The seed of the father"or "The desirable land".

If Jesus the living bread is not strongly present in our hearts and manfesting His life in and through our lives, then people will begin to look towards something more desirable and replace Him with other things. Soon, disillusionment will set it and people will make the wrong choices.

As you continue to read through the first chapter of Ruth you will notice that as Elimelech and his family leave Bethlehem and settle in Moab, death comes to him and his two sons. Naomi and her two daughters in law are devastated.

Moab is not a place to be desired by God's people, but a place to be shunned, because the enemy is waiting to devour and kill their joy, purpose and destiny. Therefore it is dangerous to replace the living bread with a substitute, but rather to hang in, in Bethlehem and pray and seek the Lord for Him to visit them with the living bread. As the story unfolds in chapter 1, God surely does visit Bethlehem... The bible says that Naomi, Elimelech's wife, arose to return to Bethlehem, because she had heard that the Lord had visited His people, by giving them bread.

I believe that it is time for many of those who are disillusioned to hang in there and seek the Lord for Him to visit them and manifest Jesus, the living bread afresh in their hearts. As we get hungry and passionate about the Lord again and we seek Him, just for Him, He will soon come upon us and manifest Himself to us as, "The living bread".

I hope that these few thoughts will encourage you to continue to press in and seek the Lord as never before.

Blessings to you all,

Much love,

Rory