Monday, November 27, 2017

Believe God!

Hello Everyone,

The moment we believed and received Jesus into our hearts as our personal Saviour, the miraculous happened.  In fact, it happened on so many levels and in so many life changing ways.  We were snatched out of the kingdom of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of light!  Our spirits became the home of the Holy Spirit, where He made us alive and formed the image of Christ in us.  We became part of God’s family and inherited not just all the promises of God, but everything He has.  And all this happened in one single moment, when we decided to believe God!

Do you know why we believed God?  Because we trusted Him.  The Bible says the Holy Spirit was already at work in our hearts, bearing witness with us and leading us to truth - the truth that we can trust Him (Acts 15:8, 1John 5:6).  And that’s exactly what we did!  We didn’t even hesitate, we followed our hearts and jumped right into the gift of eternal life, embracing our newly found salvation with such joy and gratitude, being overwhelmed by God’s love for us.

Did you know that just as we believed and trusted God to be saved, we can believe and trust Him for all we need to live in victory in this life?  It really is that simple, but for some reason, we’ve complicated it.  We’ve allowed our minds to reason and be caught up in the natural, and influence what we believe.  When what we should be doing, is believing and receiving in the spiritual realm, and letting our spirits dominate our way of thinking.  

Believing God is the key to life, but until we truly trust Him, we are always going to battle to settle the matter of faith inside of us.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].”

So how do we build our trust and faith in God?  Just as the Holy Spirit worked in our hearts to help us trust God for our salvation, He continuously works in our hearts, revealing the trustworthy, loving nature of our God.  That’s what He does, and He is extremely good at it!  Ephesians 3:16-20 explains how the Holy Spirit enables and empowers us to grasp the depth and magnitude of God’s love for us so that we can personally experience the nature of God.  And when we know Him this way, there is simply no question when it comes to trusting Him!  Look at what the Amplified Classic version says in verse 19, “[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!”

And then, when we are completely flooded and filled with the practical knowledge of Who God is, take a look at the results that flow from that: “...Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams)” verse 20.

Did you get that in your spirit?  Oh my goodness, what a glorious truth!  We don’t have to go around wondering if we will ever be able to have enough faith to really trust God in this life.  The Holy Spirit inside us is making Him real to us all the time!  All we need to do is pay attention to Him and become sensitive to His promptings!  He is never silent, He is continuously encouraging us and leading us into the truth of Who God is.  And it’s not just head knowledge, it’s a personal experience of God’s presence that we feel and receive in our spirits.  Every time we spend time in God’s Word, or spend time in His presence through worship and prayer, the louder we hear His Spirit communicating with us.  When we respond to what He is teaching us, the flow of revelation truth gets stronger and more dominant, until it overrides our limited, natural way of thinking.

That’s how our faith in God grows!  That’s how we are able to believe and trust Him for all things in this life.  








In her book, The Simplicity of Healing, Dr. Sandra Kennedy makes the statement that “we cannot rise above our belief about God.”  When we yield to the Holy Spirit, knowing and trusting that He is constantly doing His powerful work inside us - revealing the truth of Who God is - our trust in God grows.  As our trust in God grows, we are able to believe His Word and promises concerning us too, and once on that journey, there is no limit to what He will do in and through our lives!

So, let’s not hesitate, but jump right into spending time with the Holy Spirit in prayer and His Word, with the simple trust we did at the point of our salvation.  We will never look back when the power of the Holy Spirit is turned up in our lives.  God’s power will become dominant over every area of our natural lives and supernatural living will become our natural way of life!

Much love,


Jenny

Sunday, November 19, 2017

An Irony to be Thankful For

Thanksgiving in the USA is a traditional national holiday, celebrated by American families since the year 1863.  This will be our very first Thanksgiving in the US, and we are so excited to celebrate it together with some dear friends this week.  

Since I love learning about how things first came about, I found out some interesting facts about how this holiday first began, and I wanted to share them with you.  History tells how a ship called the Mayflower, filled with English families who were desperate to start a new life, in a new land, dropped anchor at Cape Cod in September of 1620.  Many of these families left their homes and all things familiar, to escape religious persecution.  They gave up everything for the freedom to serve and worship their God as their hearts longed to.  When they landed at Cape Cod, they realised they were too far north from where they had intended to be. So, they sailed on, and about a month later, crossed the Massachusetts Bay, and arrived at Plymouth. Sadly, they were not prepared for the cruel, harsh winter ahead of them, and not many survived the cold, the scurvy, and the hunger.   

But everything changed the very next spring, when two native Indians befriended the survivors, and taught them how to cultivate the land, and grow crops that would nourish them.  They also introduced them to the local tribe of Wampanoag Indians, who helped in all manner of ways to respectfully ‘tame’ the land and cause it to flourish for their survival.  That  very next autumn, in 1621, those early Plymouth colonists, together with their Wampanoag friends, celebrated their very first Autumn Harvest, Thanksgiving feast!  It lasted three days, and made such an impression on the colonists that they decided to make it an annual event!  

For years, the different colonies celebrated Thanksgiving at different times, until the year of 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, where President Abraham Lincoln, declared it a national holiday to be celebrated every November.  And so the tradition continues, families across the continent celebrate this holiday together, apparently, many using it as an opportunity to be thankful for each other and the life of freedom they are able to enjoy in their great nation.

Ironically, one of the native Indians that first befriended those early colonists, helped them, and introduced them to the Wampanoag tribe, spoke English.  That’s because years before, he had been captured, sold into slavery and taken to England, where he learnt to survive in that harsh land, and speak the language that was so foreign to him.  Now, that very same land and language belonged to the people who were at his mercy.  Yet he didn’t hesitate to act in kindness and selflessly share all he knew to help them make their home in their newfound land of freedom. 

No matter which country we live in, there is always a reason for us to grateful.  And who’s to say that our one act of kindness towards someone else, could be the very thing that opens up a world of freedom and opportunity for them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Much love,

Jenny





Sunday, November 12, 2017

Pave Your Path of Life and Peace

Hello everyone,

Did you know that the way you think directly affects the way you live?  If you are a child of God who has chosen to live by the truth of His Word, you probably know all about this.  It is, after all, a basic foundational truth of faith.  But knowing about a truth and actually experiencing its reality in our lives are two completely different things.  I want to talk to you today about how this truth really does affect our every day lives and paves a sure way for our future!

I have realised that when my mind is kept full of the Word of God, I begin to see things and think about things from His perspective. Over the past couple of months I found myself continuously in the Word, out of necessity.  It was over our scheduled trip to South Africa, where ministry appointments and live television broadcasts were booked and scheduled day in and day out for six continuous weeks.  What a blast!  It kept me in a place where I had to have my mind prepared and saturated with the Word of God.  The magnificent result was the flow of life and peace that Word produced inside of me!   Romans 8:6 says: “Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].”  

Did you know that a healthy mind that is filled with God’s supernatural life and peace, supernaturally influences every other part of our lives and produces an atmosphere of favour and blessing in and around us?  This is a miracle I absolutely love and delight in!  To think that having my soul, which is my intellect, my emotions and my will, filled with the truth of God’s Word, is what will start a ripple effect of God’s blessing and favour to flow into all that concerns me, is absolutely wonderful!   Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”  

And that is exactly what I began to experience.  I actually felt worry and fear break off of me and peace and joy make a victorious path for me.  Everything I did had God’s touch of blessing and favour all over it.  I slept better than I had in months and my level of physical and mental strength amazed me.  I was able to fit in and do all that I needed to do by a supernatural grace and strength that didn’t just astound me, but it astounded those who know me too.  
When we deliberately choose to think and meditate on the thoughts God thinks about us, from His Word, we pave a way for that truth to become our reality.  What we think influences the words we speak and the way we operate in life.  Whether we realise it or not, each action we take in life, causes some kind of reaction.  So if God’s life and peace are actively at work inside us, and that same life and peace begins to radiate out of us and influences the way we live.  We can expect a supernatural reaction to follow.  Proverbs 12:14 says, “From the fruit of his words a man shall be satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hands shall come back to him [as a harvest].”

I want to encourage you to deliberately step up your level of commitment to spending time in God’s Word.  I have no doubt that your experience will be as life giving as mine!  Mark 4:24 promises that the attention we give to the Word, will pour a quality of excellence straight back into our lives!   “And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure[of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure[of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.”

What are you waiting for?  Let’s feast our minds and hearts on His truth and watch the supernatural life and peace that comes from it flood every area of our lives!

Much love,

Jenny
















Tuesday, November 7, 2017

My Life Changer

Hello everyone,

There is nothing more rewarding than seeing people hear the truth of God’s Word and having that ‘light switch on’ in their eyes when they understand it in a way that is meaningful to them.  It makes me want to dance and shout for joy every time!  And if I get so much delight out of seeing that connection being made, where God’s Words of life drop from their minds to their hearts, can you just imagine how the Lord must feel?  Especially since His Word is Him!  It carries His perspective, His thoughts, His Life and wisdom!  When we get excited about the Word and respond to it as a precious treasure, knowing it will enrich our lives in every way, it’s the very same thing as us getting excited to receive the Lord Himself, and have Him change our lives forever!

I’ve been reading a book called The Simplicity of Healing by Dr. Sandra G. Kennedy.  What intrigued me about this book and encouraged me to ‘sink my teeth into it’, is the inscription bellow the title of the book that says, ‘A practical guide to releasing the miracle power of God’s Word’.  I know that God’s Word is filled with His power, life and supernatural peace.  Many Christians do.  But the key to releasing its power into our daily lives, begins with the way we approach it.  Reading God’s Word as an obligation has very little benefit.  But approaching it with a hunger for its truth and an earnest expectation for its life to be released into us is an entirely different thing.  When we take the time, and make the effort to understand it, God’s Word will ALWAYS produce the powerful, supernatural force of FAITH that will change our lives forever.

That’s because faith steps us into a realm where nothing is impossible! Faith is the spiritual currency that enables us to operate in the dimension of the supernatural, and have access to every single promise and provision God has provided for us in His Word.

Look at what Proverbs 4:20-22 says, “My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings.  Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.”

When we give God’s Word our attention, it will produce unshakable faith inside of us.  The Word’s of God bring life to anyone who FINDS them.

That implies we must read the Word with the intention of finding something in it.  Like searching for a precious treasure that will enrich our lives, expecting to find it when we search for it with an eager, hungry heart.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].”

One of the wonderful qualities the Word of God has, is its ability to become addictive to anyone who finds its truth.  Oh boy, am I experiencing that first hand!  The more time I spend in the Word, studying it, meditating on it, writing about it, speaking about it, the more I feel the need to get more of it into my life.  I really believe that’s because God’s Words bring us an INFUSION OF HIS LIFE!  And when we find that life, it heals, restores and transforms us.  

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.”.

The day I decided to make God’s Word the ‘mirror’ where I could see the very image and life of God being reflected into my own life, was the day I embraced His truth and welcomed its transforming process in my life. I know the way I look today is different from the way I looked the last time I was in God’s Word. I don’t just look different, I speak and act differently too. Each time I embrace His Words of Life, I take on a new aspect of His nature.  I gain more of His wisdom and walk more in His light.  I experience more of His provision, enjoy a deeper portion of His grace and see His goodness and mercy shadow my every step, a little further than before.

Oh the joy of knowing God in His Word!  It will change our lives forever!
Spend time with your life changer today!

All my love,


Jenny