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