Understanding spiritual hunger

Hi there to you all,

I really hope that you all took advantage of yesterday's free download. I am sure that you will benefit greatly from the teaching.

Today, I want to share with you what I believe is a very important component in our spiritual growth as believers in Christ. It is what is called, "Spiritual hunger".

So, if you are interested to know more about this, then please read on......

Because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross around 2000 years ago, the church is in a wonderful position to be able to receive what God has promised. We are also in a time of visitation where God wants to visit the earth even more through revival, miracles, signs and wonders.

Isn't it amazing that there are isolated places around the world where reports are coming in concerning God moving. When God moves, supernatural things happen. People are healed, the deaf hear, the blind see and lives are changed.

I believe that this is as a result of people getting hungry for God and beginning to cry out to Him to visit them.

Here are some things to think about concerning spiritual hunger.

1. People who make an effort to pursue God and not give up until they find Him in their lives and circumstances will experience rapid growth.
   * It is so important to pursue the Lord. We are the ones who need to press in for more of Him if we are going to see and experience great things.
2. Another characteristic of being spiritually hungry is that we will run to the word of God continually.
   * Anyone who puts a great emphasis on the word of God to govern their whole life is showing signs of being hungry for Him.
   * In the natural, if we don't eat 3 meals a day, we will begin to feel the effects of a lack of food.
   * A person can't say that they are hungry for God, but are not hungry for His word.
3. A person who is spiritually hungry will be willing to make certain sacrifices. * They will sacrifice anything to press in for more of God. Believe me, it requires sacrifice to press in for more of God.
4. A person who is spiritually hungry will also never be satisfied with just enough.
   * Hunger will cause us to push forward for more.
   * Being satisfied is a sign that either we have been filled with something else or we have settled down with tradition or religion.
5. In the natural, hunger is a sign of health.
   * It is normal to get hungry, but it is not normal to not be hungry.
   * A person who is not hungry is actually sick.
6. A lack of spiritual hunger is a sign that there are spiritual problems in our lives.
7. Whatever you give your focus to will cause a hunger for that thing to develop.
   * I have seen this kind of thing in my life over the years. There have been times when I have focused on some particular kind of sport. Before I knew it, I had developed a hunger for more of it.
8. God will always meet us on the level of our hunger for Him.
   * Hunger is what attracts God to us like nothing else can.
9. Hunger is developed by :
   * Making time to spend with God in prayer.
   * Making time to read and meditate on the word of God.
   * I think you can say that it is like force feeding ourselves so that we can come to a place of spiritual health.
   

These are just a few things about spiritual hunger, but the important thing here is to know that spiritual hunger is an important part of being a christian.

It is amazing to know that we are the ones who create desires for whatever we focus our attention on to pursue them.

I also know that there are even some really good things in my life that I need to be careful with. If I don't prioritize the things in my life, then those things which are most important get pushed aside and the unimportant things will fill those areas up very quickly and I will soon become mediocre and ineffective.

I hope that the thoughts that I have written down here have been of some help to you all out there.

Be blessed as you allow the Spirit of the Lord to fill your life with His presence.

Blessings to you all,

Rory

Today's free give-away

Hi there to you all,

I'd like to just start off by saying, I'm so sorry that I didn't get around to posting up this post yesterday. I know that the day before, I promised that I would have a free give-away for you all to download at your leisure. So, today is the day for that.

If you'd like to take advantage of this, let me explain.

The free give-away is another Mp3 message for download. The title of the message is :-

The church of tomorrow. Just click here to download it and type in this password :- myfreedownload

Also, I'd like to share with you the inspiration behind the message from the Lord about The church of tomorrow.

About 3 years ago, I had a dream early one morning which I will now describe to you.

I saw in my dream, a face appear to me. This was no ordinary face, but it had no eyes, nose or mouth. I also noticed the head as well which was covered with the most beautiful long blond hair. The hair, although spotlessly clean, was not styled, but resembled a person who had been in bed and had just got up.

I then began to see a transformation happen before my eyes. Eyes began to miraculously form with the eyebrows in place too. I continued to observe and then the nose and mouth appeared also. I then noticed that this was the face of a woman.

The scene then zoomed out and I saw that this woman was wearing a hospital gown and had just come through major surgery to her face. She was up and out of bed, but was stumbling around the hospital ward in a disorientated manner.

I then heard the voice of the Lord speaking to me, and He said, "I am at this time, through my love, reconstructing the face of the church".

The Lord then began to explain to me that the reconstruction of the face of the church was going to be so radical that when He was finished with her, she would not look the same as she did before.

He then showed me her hair and told me that the glory of the church was here, but it was in disarray and that it needed to be arranged in a way that was presentable so that He could put her on display for the whole world to see.

He also told me that the church was in a time of being disorientated and that she was not visible to the world in any significant way. He also showed me that the eyes, nose and mouth symbolised the components of headship or leadership that were coming under the reconstruction process and that those features represented the Apostolic, Prophetic and Teaching realms which were the first 3 tiers of His appointed leadership in the church according to 1 Corinthians 12:28 which says :-

And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

This message that you can download for free here is a summary of how the church of today is in a transformation process to become the church of tomorrow.

I hope you will be blessed as you listen to this message and receive the insights and understanding as the Lord gave them to me.

I should be back tomorrow with some thoughts about spiritual hunger, so please come back to read something that will help you to understand what spiritual hunger is all about.

Be blessed and encouraged as you download and listen to today's free give-away Mp3 message.

Much love,

Rory

A photo from yesterday's outing to the Waterfront

I just thought to quickly upload this image I took from yesterday's visit that Cath and I did to the waterfront here in Cape Town.

Who we are in Christ

Hi there to you all and welcome to Monday's blog post.

Today's title is about who we are in Christ.

I know that so much has been written and preached over the many years about this subject and so I just want to start off by saying this......

I'm not going to put up a whole long teaching about who we are in Christ, but I just want to share something that happened to me this morning that just amazed me.

To those of you who know me, I like to do an exercise walk in the mornings four times a week. The route takes me quite some distance + - 6.5 km. I really enjoy getting out there on most days to get the needed exercise and I also try to walk as fast as possible. Cath likes to go to the gym to work out and is also doing a personal trainers course at the moment as well and will qualify in February next year.

This morning while on my walk, it was raining intermittently, but this didn't stop me, because I was dressed appropriately. If it was very stormy, I would not have gone, but it was pleasant and the wind was just a breeze.

On my way back, I was passing some sports fields on my right with houses on my left. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw and heard a large boxer dog begin to bark at me while I walked past. I just thought, "I can ignore this one, because he/she is in their own yard, and I am in the street where that dog has no jurisdiction.

As I walked past, the dog continued to bark almost hysterically, but I continued to ignore it. When I was passing the next house, I could still hear the dog barking in the distance. All of a sudden, I heard it's barking grow louder and louder and I then realised that it had jumped over the wall and was running after me to attack me. I felt shivers down my spine as the dog approached me from behind. Immediately, I turned around to see what was happening and it just continue to come towards me. Instinctively, I pointed my finger in it's direction, and I said, "Inside, inside." This was an attempt on my part to act like I had authority over this dog and to sound like it's owner telling it to go back inside it's yard. The dog completely ignored my command to go home and continued to advance towards me with the intent of attacking me. Just then, instinctively again, I continued to point my finger at it and said these words, "In the name of Jesus, Inside !" Immediately and without any hesitation, the dog stopped barking, turned around and fled in the direction of it's house and disappeared in the distance while I turned around to resume my walk for the morning.

Boy oh boy, was I thankful that the command of authority came forth as I used the precious name of Jesus to sort out a rather dangerous situation. I then began to thank the Lord that I knew Him and had the right to use His name in this situation.

We must never take it for granted that we have authority in His name. The bible tells us that the name of Jesus is above every other name that is named and that we can use this name to make certain things happen.

Over the years, I have used the name of Jesus in different circumstances and have seen different results happen after I spoke His name.

Today, as you face the circumstances of life, just think how powerful and wonderful is the name of Jesus in your life and the benefits and privileges we as Christians have in Him.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this blog post today. I hope that you will be encouraged in your walk with the Lord.

I'll be back tomorrow with another free give away so don't forget to come back......

Blessings in abundance and much love,

Rory

It's time for a breakthrough

Good morning everyone,

Glad you dropped by to read our last post for the week until Monday.

Today, I want to release some encouragement to those of you who have been struggling with whatever issues and to say to you, that it is time for a breakthrough.....

I want to share with you some thoughts that have helped me a lot over the years to experience times of breakthrough in my life.

Get your bible and turn to 2 Samuel 5:17-20

It reads.....

Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?" And the LORD said to David, "Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand." So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there; and he said, "The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water." Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.

I think we can safely say that Philistines are symbolic of any situation or circumstance that is standing before you in an intimidating way. Have you ever heard of this saying... "Under the circumstances..?"

This situation happened after David was anointed as king. It looks to me as though the enemy was coming to test David's spiritual authority after God promoted him to be king over Israel.

I can honestly testify that at times in my life, when God promoted me, that was when the enemy came to steal, kill and destroy what God had started in my life.

Another reason why the enemy comes against us for no apparent reason is, because God gave us a word. Yes, I said it, when God gives you a word, sooner or later the enemy will rise up against you to try and tempt you to quit.

The Philistines deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim - meaning, the Valley of Giants. David was already positioning himself in God for a breakthrough.The enemy will send his big guns against you when God promotes you or gives you a word. He doesn't want you to succeed, but only wants to hinder and harm you. God wants the best for you no matter what.

In our text above, we see David going down to the stronghold. I believe his stronghold or place of strength was God. I also believe that in order for David to win a victory, he had to also move towards where the enemy was and not to run away. This is very important.

The next step to the breakthrough was to enquire of the Lord. David did so and God answered and gave him the assurance that he would defeat the enemy.

God is for us and never against us. Also, He never teams up with the enemy against us. He is directly opposed to the Kingdom of darkness.

Lastly, David went down to a certain place and defeated them there and he named the place of victory, Baal Perazim - "The Lord has broken through my enemies like a breakthrough of waters".

This leads me to share with you what I feel a true breakthrough is.....

It is when things flow the way they should. Just picture a dam of water up on a hill which is stored up with blessing and purpose, but is held back and kept back from you by an enemy. When someone goes up to the dam wall and begins to chip away and knock against it until a crack forms, then the breakthrough is about to happen, the wall will burst and the water will flow the way it should.

This is what I believe is about to happen for many of God's people. The only thing is that we must not sit back in apathy and expect something to happen when God is waiting for us to position ourselves so that He can break through for us.

To end off... here are some keys to a Breakthrough....

1. Refuse to listen to the lies of the enemy.
2. Be careful of what comes out of your mouth.
3. Plan to win.
4. Deal with worry, fear and anxiety.
5. Choose to walk in love and forgiveness with people.
6. Honor authority figures God has set over you.
7. Encourage yourself in the Lord.
8. Enquire of the Lord for His strategy in your situation.
9. Be careful of the wrong associations and joinings with negative people.
10. Speak the promises of God over your life and situation.

Thanks so much for coming on over here to read today's post.
If this has been of any help to you, please leave a comment.

See you all on Monday....

Be abundantly blessed,

Rory

We are in a new day

Good morning everyone,

A couple of weeks ago, I felt strongly drawn to read the book of Acts and while doing so, I stumbled upon a very familiar scripture which I want to share with you today.

Acts 2:1-2

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

This little passage of scripture is packed full of amazing revelation for the time we are living in.

It starts off by saying,

"When the day of Pentecost had fully come...".

There is a very strong reference to the day Fully Coming. I'm sure you will agree with me, that when the clock strikes midnight, a new day has begun, but has not yet fully come.

In our text above, the writer is referring to an incident which took place at around 9:00 am one morning during a harvest festival in Jerusalem when Jews from all over the known world were gathered for celebration of harvest time.

Today, in our time, I can truthfully say that the dawning of a new day of visitation has arrived.

Next... it says that 120 people were all with one accord in one place.

One Accord

The phrase, one accord, according to the Oxford dictionary, means - Harmonious correspondence, as of colours or tints; agreement in pitch and tone; Harmony.

Immediately I think about a guitar which has six strings. In order for that guitar to be able to produce a chord, all six strings will need to be tuned correctly, in order to produce a sound that is pleasant to the ear and a sound that means something.

Suddenly there came a sound from heaven....

The very next thing that happened was, that suddenly, there came a sound from heaven......

We are living in a day where God is listening for a certain kind of sound that is coming from His church to Him. At the moment, there definitely is a lot of noise happening. This is a noise, but not a sound that is producing a specific kind of chord which is a harmony.

I believe that the early church was in a place where they decided to get in tune with the Lord and in tune to one another. As soon as that happened, they were producing a sound that only heaven could recognise and then the sound from earth, came into harmony with the sound that was already heard in heaven. The sound on earth from the early church, began to draw the sound that was already in heaven down towards the earth and what resulted was, the Holy Spirit came upon them right there.

I get concerned when people scream, "Revival" when there are signs, wonders, healings and salvations happening somewhere. Please don't get me wrong here, but I love it when that happens. I love it when God sends a man or woman of God to an area to stir up the church and to usher in the presence of God for a time of demonstration of the Kingdom of God. This kind of thing is what I call a time of refreshing and the demonstration of the Kingdom of God.

I believe that we are also in a day of visitation.

Let me explain what I believe visitation is.....

The night before last, at our mentoring group meeting, while we were praying, I saw a vision.....

In my vision, I saw the King's chariot riding into a city. The chariot was huge and it was made of pure gold. It was pulled by 2 magnificent horses, both moving in step together. Behind the King's chariot were many other chariots and a whole host of angels all moving in unison with the King's chariot.

By the way... unison means this.... "Identity in pitch of two or more sounds or notes... the sounding of notes or melodies at the same pitch......"

The city that was hosting this visitation of the King, had been in preparation for this visit for a very long time. The streets were swept clean; the green grass lawns were all immaculately cut and landscaped; the houses, shops and official buildings were newly painted and decorated with beautiful colours. The streets were lined with people all holding flags and were waving, clapping, shouting and whistling to the King who had graciously accepted their invitation to visit them. And most of all, the atmosphere of that city was filled with joy and expectation for the presence of the King. They were only interested in Him.

Then there was a silence as the King got out of His chariot and walked up the steps to the local governmental buildings to address the multitude gathered there. This moment was to be broadcast all over the world through the media and television network who were all there as well. Also a herald was waiting at the top of the stairs to announce the King. In his hand was a scroll which was ready to be handed to the King who was about to read it out to the people once the herald had completed his proclamation.

In the scroll were written official governmental decrees and new laws which would bring change to that city and the way it was run.

When the King visits, it is always in response to an invitation and much preparation before He arrives. Everyone is excited and in anticipation of His arrival and address. The visitation of the King will bring with it, much change in the governmental systems that prevail. A visition is a time of change from one system to another.

This is where we are right now, as a church, getting ready for the visitation of the King...

Well.... I hope you have found some benefit in this message today.

Please feel free to leave some comments.

Thanks so much for taking the time to come on over here to read this.

Blessings and much love,

Rory

Today's give away

Hi there Everyone,

Today, I have something very special for you. I'm giving away a free high quality Mp3 message to you. All you need to do is to download it.

There is no catch here, so take advantage of this free offer and tell all your friends about it too.

The message is..... "Understanding tests and trials". This message came to me during a time of questioning why certain things were happening in my life and what the word of God said about it.

So many of God's people walk around going through trials and tests and they know that the bible teaches us to resist the enemy and also to submit to God. The only problem is that people have the wrong view of who God is, so they end up just sitting back and allowing a situation to prevail in their lives thinking it is the Lord who is "Allowing" what is happening and that there is nothing that they can do about it.

This way of thinking can not be further from the truth.....

To find out about where trials and tests come from, click here to download the message and type in this password - freeforme

To give you a clue concerning overcoming in the trials of life, the following scripture is what I actually deal with in the message that you will download in a few minutes.

James 1:2-5

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Just let me explain something here.....

When James says that we must "Count" it all joy, what he was actually meaning here was this.

The Greek word for "Count" actually means - To take charge over......

What James was meaning here is that when we fall into different kinds of trials, we must first take charge over our joy. Joy is not a happening or a feeling, it comes out of an intimate relationship with Jesus who is our Joy. We are encouraged to put that joy to work.

The patience that James speaks of in our text is the word endurance. What he means here is that during a time when our faith is under trial, we need to put endurance to work.

The word perfect, means to display a level of maturity during the time of trial. Maturity is measured through endurance. Endurance says, "I'm not giving up on God no matter what the enemy throws at me".

If the trial of our faith came directly from God, then why would He invite us to ask Him for wisdom in the situation.

This wisdom is what He wants to give us in order for us to find the way out or the way through the trial. This is a practical kind of wisdom that God reveals during the trial to help us.

The moral of the whole story is this.... The enemy is the one who puts our faith up on trial, but God is the one who test our hearts.

Tests are different from trials.

Hope you have a blessed day....

Much love,

Rory

This is where I sit and work from

Hi all,

Just wanted you all to see where I find myself on a chilly morning where I sit and write the articles for this blog.

I must say that our kitchen is the warmest part of the house in the mornings, during winter time. Also, the lovely breakfast table you see here has a whole lot of coffee beans under the glass and when this place is nice and neat and tidy, it is a pleasure to sit hear and work.

So... In future, when you read this blog, you can come back here to this post and see where I work from.

Anyway... I have to run... got some friends to visit in about 10 minutes.....

See you all tomorrow,

Blessings and much love,

Rory

How to open doors

Hi again everyone,

Late last night at around 11:30 pm, I was still up and awake and so I decided to go into the kitchen to make myself an almost midnight snack....

Pssst, don't tell anyone....

I also thought that I heard our dog outside, scratching at the door to come in. I instinctively reached for the key in the door to unlock it so that I could open it. To my dismay, the key would not turn in the lock after I tried it a few times. I'd noticed over the last 2 weeks that the lock was a bit sticky while trying to unlock the door, but was a bit lazy to do a bit of house maintenance during that time.

I then began a frustrating procedure of trying to get the key back in the lock and unlocking the door. It seemed impossible.

A little voice in my head said, "Don't force it, or you will end up breaking it in the lock". After 10 more minutes of force... which didn't do the old key any good, I gave up with the key stuck in the key hole.

I then went to bed thinking about how on earth we were going to get the door open in the morning, because Cath needed to get the car out in order to take Kelly, our daughter, to work. Our kitchen door leads to our garage where Cath's car is parked at night time.

I was up with a jolt when I heard Cath get up to start the day at 7 am. I bolted out of bed and ran to the kitchen to try and get the key to work in the lock.

I sent up a silent prayer to ask the Lord for help.... I've done this in the past and God has helped me every time with amazing practical ways of doing things that enabled me to find the solutions.

Instantly, the reply came back....

"Pull the key out, get some olive oil, and dip the front part of the key in the oil and put it back in the lock and jiggle it around and it will work". Noooo.... really..... God, you mean it is a simple as that....

Guess what, It worked !! and straight away too. The lock clicked and I was able to open the door. By the way... "Happy" our dog, was not outside all night long scratching at the door to come in. She was in her usual spot, on Matthew's bed, sleeping. I must have been hearing things again.......

"I hear voices...... but I don't see dead people.... " Remember that strange movie, about the kid who saw dead people?

Back to my story...

So... this morning I felt so good about my God inspired efforts, that I sat down and began to think about the art of opening doors and decided to write a little article to you all about how the whole door opening process works for me. I mean the opening of doors of oportunity into your destiny and purpose.

So here goes.....

In Isaiah 45:1 It says.....

"Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut....

God is the opener of doors, this we know, but I believe that we are the ones who need to do the knocking and the unlocking. There is nothing wrong with knocking and unlocking a door. This is our part, then God does His part.

Also in Matthew 16:19 Jesus told Peter that He was giving him the keys of the Kingdom. With those keys, Peter would be able to do certain things within the framework of Kingdom dynamics that would cause things to happen and other things to not happen.

Keys are important. The bible has a lot to say about keys.

Keys are a symbol of :

• Authority
• Access to certain places
• The ability to close and keep things closed
• Revelation knowledge that opens up a Kingdom benefit to the one who has understanding of what is being revealed.

I have just a few more things to add here......

• Keys are also a symbol of relationships. Every door that needs to be opened to give us access to success, purpose and our destiny, will involve people. Our job is to keep the key of relationships well oiled. Without the oil, rust will set in, and the locks will not work when we really need them to.
• Another symbol of the key is our talent or gifting...
  Proverbs 18:16 says, "A man's gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men."

The word, "Makes room" is the greek word, Raw-Khab, which means, "to make open wide".

Our gift, if well oiled (stirred up and practiced), and if used properly, for the right reasons, will enable us to have doors open for us, give us access to success and purpose, so that we can fulfill what we were destined for.

It is time to get the oil out again and begin to apply it to our relationships and to our giftings so that we can be a blessing to others. Oil is a symbol of our passion for God and for people. When we pursue our passion and not all the other things, then doors will open. Passion means that we will put the effort in to reap the rewards in the long run.

I hope this little thought today has helped you in some way.

How about leaving some comments about this and also telling your friends about this blog.

Hope to hear from you all out there some time soon.

Big time blessings to you all,

Much love,

Rory

Finding wisdom in any circumstance

Have you ever encountered a situation where you just didn't know what to do next or how to get out of something you fell into?

The first thing you need is this.....

You need to know that it is not God's will for you to suffer. Many people think that somehow their suffering is because the Lord is trying to teach them something. Sometimes people think that God is allowing the situation for some mysterious reason, so that they can get closer to God.

Whatever the situation is, or the suffering you are experiencing, God is not in heaven getting pleasure out of your battles and times of suffering.

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

I'm sure that many of you who are reading this post will agree with me that prayer is a way in which we receive answers to things we are needing change in. Prayer is also a way in which we receive strategies to overcome things. In the scripture quoted above, James the leader of the Jerusalem church, encouraged those who were suffering to pray. If it was God's will for a person to suffer or He gets some kind of pleasure out of it, why would He encourage us to pray about it. When we pray about an area in which we are suffering, we position ourselves to receive strategies, answers, comfort and the power to change the situation.

One of the numerous examples I can give you from the bible, is the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16:23-30 where they had been thrown into jail because of something that they had done which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not in the sight of man. In the story they found themselves down in a dark dungeon with their feet fastened in the stocks, with a bunch of magistrates who wanted to see the end of them.

The first thing the bible says they did was turn their eyes towards heaven and to pray and also sing hymns to God. For some of you who think the singing of hymns is over, I have news for you....
I'm sure they decided to press in and continue with this. The singing of hymns and prayer, positions us in the realm of faith and to enable us to receive something from the Lord.

If you read on, it was around midnight that they were suddenly visited by a God-earthquake. This earthquake came and shook the prison foundations, opened every door and loosed everyone's chains. This was not really a natural earthquake, but one which was sent by the Lord Himself, in response to His servants' prayers and worship, with the purpose of setting them free and changing their situation from suffering to victory.

I believe that there is a kind of suffering that we can never avoid. These are what I call, "The sufferings of Christ" or "The fellowship of His sufferings". These sufferings are when we identify with Christ and His Kingdom though righteousness which causes the enemy to rise up against us through people. Persecution, ridicule, rejection, slander and the like, are all a part of the "Fellowship of His sufferings".

Sickness, fear, pain, defeat, poverty and depression are not, I repeat, not the "Fellowship of His sufferings". These are things that Jesus paid the full price for at the time of His crucifixion. When he was whipped to pieces, this dealt with sickness, pain and infermity - see Isaiah 53:4 onwards.

Receiving wisdom in any situation or circumstance, is a part of being a child of God. We don't grow because of a situation or circumstance. We grow because of how we react to that situation or circumstance. We don't learn how to suffer more in the situation, we learn how to endure and overcome the temptation to quit during that time.

Trials and tests come from two different places.

A trial comes from the enemy, and tests come from God.

The trying of our faith is where the enemy is putting pressure on us to quit believing the Lord and give up on His deliverance.

God tests our hearts through His word. His word is the mirror we look into when we need our heart's attitude sorted out. Going through suffering is not how God changes our attitude, but how we change our response to that circumstance.

God has laid out His methods and way in which He wants us to serve Him in His word. We are meant to live in constant communion and fellowship with Him, in order for us to know what to do next in any situation or circumstance.

The way in which we receive the strategies and answers for the suffering or circumstance we find ourselves in, is to position ourselves firstly in what we believe about the Lord. We must believe that He is good, all the time.

Next, we must believe that He is more than willing to give us the answers to the problem or a strategy to get us out or thourgh a situation.

Then we must pray, expecting to receive those answers, and then they will come.

If there is anyone our there who is suffering, your job is to position yourself through prayer and worship. Once positioned, you will be in a place to receive your answer or strategy.

This answer may even be a conviction about sin. It may be a word from God which will indicate something which you are required to do, in order for your situation to change. It could be anything.

Hope this is of some help to someone out there.

Blessings to you all,

Rory