Tag Archives: victorious christian lifestyle

Excerpt from my new book!!

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Friends, I am so excited. My new book is about to be released and today’s blog post includes a chapter. It is a  30 Day Devotional from Mark’s Gospel entitled:

Ministering like Jesus

How to Grow in Healing, Deliverance and Miracles

DAY 15: MARK 5:22-34 

Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Jesus loves people. He loves healing people and bringing transformation to them. He loves addressing the real issue.

In today’s reading, we see two stories interwoven – two people from the extremes of society. The end of the first story about the synagogue leader and his daughter carries over into tomorrow’s devotion.

A synagogue leader well placed in society has a 12-year-old daughter (verse 42). He asks Jesus to come to heal his daughter, and Jesus immediately goes with him, no questions asked. We can only presume that doctors could not do anything to treat her.

We then see a woman with bleeding issues, who has been ostracized from society for twelve years. She is considered unclean and cannot touch anyone. No doctors could heal her either. She suffered physically and emotionally, and financially as she was now penniless from seeking healing.

The number twelve was significant for both people. Twelve represented faith, perfection, authority, power, completion.

Both this woman and Jairus exhibited faith in Jesus before they felt or saw the healing. They both fully knew and believed that Jesus was the answer. They did not question Jesus’ ability to heal them.

This woman comes up behind Jesus where He cannot see her and touches Him, making Him ‘unclean’ by doing this. She does not want attention. She wants to remain ‘invisible’. Maybe that was why she did not face Him and ask Him to heal her. Instead, choosing to extend her arm to touch His garment discretely. It seems like she was hoping He would not notice. Due to her bleeding condition, which made her an outcast, she was ‘invisible’ to society, and this was no different. She did not want anyone, even Jesus, to ‘notice’ her. Maybe she thought that she was not good enough, rich enough, significant enough, influential enough.

Nursing a critically ill lady in Coronary Care, we were on the brink of an emergency. Alarms were loudly beeping, her blood pressure plummeting, her heart rate severely dropping, and this lady knew she was in grave danger. The doctors were just outside the door, discussing her condition and how soon we could transfer her to another hospital. She needed more intensive care and access to new treatment methods before receiving a heart-lung transplant.

I had been sharing with this lady about Jesus. This lady recognized that Jesus could heal and was good at healing. But she did not believe that Jesus would heal her. She thought that she was not good enough; that she had not led a life worthy of being healed.

There was no time left. I frantically uttered, “Heart be healed in Jesus’ name.” That was it. She was deteriorating so rapidly I did not have time for anything else as I was juggling medication infusion lines.

The alarms frantically changed their sounds, and as I looked at all her heart and lung measurements from all the tubing we had in place, I realized things had stabilized.

The Doctors flung the door open and hurried in, expressing disbelief at all the measurements on the monitor.

“What’s happened?” they asked. “What did you do?”

What could I say? ‘I prayed for this lady, and God healed her.’

The Doctors preceded to take all the measurements to double-check. Yes. The monitor readings were accurate. The recordings were so good that this lady was able to be taken off the heart-lung transplant list as she no longer needed a new heart. Still on the lung transplant list (until her next admission when she was prayed for again and was totally healed.)

I was speechless. God could heal in an emergency like this. God could also heal people when they did not believe they were worthy enough. It is not about their relationship with God. It is all about God and the goodness and kindness of God.

The woman in the passage today knew the imbalance of societal value and feeling worthless. Here was Jesus, a powerful man, on the way to another powerful man’s house. Not only was she a woman, and a woman of a lower societal standing, but an outcast due to her bleeding.

Yet she persisted.

After everything she had overcome, she finally reached Jesus.

Immediately this woman knew in her body that she was healed. Instantaneously. Jesus also felt the difference as the power left Him. How often do we ‘feel’ the Holy Spirit as He connects with whom we are praying?

What I find extremely interesting is that Jesus could have just kept going about His business. People were crowding Him, jostling Him, pushing Him. But He still stopped and acknowledged this woman. He wanted to meet her face to face, to talk with her. To re-establish her standing in society by pronouncing her healed, thus cleansed, and blessing her with peace as she left.

This woman ends up telling Jesus the ‘whole truth’. Do we tell Jesus everything? The whole truth?

Jesus finishes the interaction by calling her ‘daughter’, a title that indicates intimacy, acceptance and position. All the things she was missing in society due to her illness.

Do we take that extra time to ‘finish’ what Jesus is doing? With this lady, the healing and transformation were miraculous, but it was the restoring her place in society that was the ‘icing on the cake’, the completion. Jesus was letting her know, face to face, that she was now completely healed in all areas.

Reflection:

  • How desperate am I for my healing? To what lengths will I go to receive my healing?
  • Do I tell Jesus the whole truth about myself, how I am feeling, my doubts?
  • What is my understanding and experience of the goodness and kindness of God?
  • Do I allow people to meet face to face with Jesus for themselves?
  • Do I take the time to see what else Jesus wants to restore in a person’s life after they have received healing? Do I take that extra time to allow Jesus to ‘finish’ what He is doing?

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for Your stunning example of how You treat people. How You are always willing and available to take the extra time with people, despite the apparent pressures around you.

Help me Lord to follow Your example.

Lord, may I be an accurate representation of Your kindness, goodness and love to others. I decree today that I will make time to show kindness to others.

Help me to have the faith of this lady and Jairus and fully believe that You are the answer to all my needs.

Lord, I commit to sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings with You. I desire to hold nothing back from You. To linger in Your presence and remain close. To spend time with You, no matter what. Lord, I declare that I will make us a priority today.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The key for me today is:

 

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Put some favourite music on quietly and spend time as a family asking God to show or tell you what He thinks of you each. Then ask God who He would like you to encourage this week. Ask God how you could best encourage that person.

2. Group Activation: Compile a list of your group member’s birthdays. Allocate a different month, or a week, to different people within your group. Ask the group members to find a creative way of expressing how God views each person within their group. You may need to ask permission first to share contact details or arrange a zoom call for the group where members could share what they received from God for each person.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God writing down everything you love about God. Then spend time listening to Him and writing down everything He loves about you.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a creative way of expressing God’s love for the workers at your local supermarket. Then do it.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time hearing from God about the organization and people in W.H.O. (World Health Organization) & the United Nations Secretariat. Hear God’s heart and His purpose for these people and ask God what He would like you to do in response to what He has shared with you.

Living a Prophetic life (amid Coronavirus)

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Put yourself at the moment in this photo. Where is your focus? Looking at life or death or focussed on the fine line in the middle?

Whilst we are in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, there is no greater time to be the true representatives of Christ here on earth. Throughout these past few weeks, my mind has often gone to the place of “if Jesus was living as a human at this time here on earth, what would He be doing and saying and thinking?”

Would Jesus go to the place of fear or joy? Binge-watch tv or use my time wisely? Wallow in thinking about how lonely I am or stretching myself by phoning a friend living on her own?

 

What does it mean to live a prophetic life?

I believe that it means that we are both bringing heaven to earth but also out the front of society guiding and developing the way ahead. Setting the atmosphere. Setting the pace. Demonstrating kingdom values.

 

How can I live a prophetic life?

  1. Operate from a place of rest.

Inner rest and reliance on God. Not striving or pushing for changes but operating from inner peace. When I lose my inner peace, to stop and ask myself, “What’s happened to cause this loss?” “How do I get it back?” (To delve into this deeper, check out my blog post on rest.)

  1. Be full of joy.

Joy is an assurance and confidence that God is in complete control of all the details of my life, and my choice to respond by praising God in all circumstances. The world cannot give you joy. Temporary things can bring happiness but only God and focussing on Him can help me to live full of joy. (More details on being full of joy can be found here.)

  • It is choosing to turn your focus on what God is doing and not of the things of this world or of Satan. To focus on the good, not the bad.
  • It is living a lifestyle of gratitude.
  • To count our blessings, rather than our burdens.
  • To let our faith, not our feelings, dictate our joy.
  • To focus on Christ, not on circumstances.
  1. Full of faith.

Hebrews 11 is a great chapter of faith and people of faith. Verse 1 says “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” There is such a huge opportunity right now to be people of faith. To not partner with the fear that is so prevalent in our world that is magnified right now with the coronavirus. Ester 4:14b says “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Folks, perhaps right now, at this time in history in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, we are alive for such a time as this!!

Meditating on Isaiah 43 during the week, I had an ‘ah-ha’ moment about fear. Isaiah 43, verses 1-5 sum it up so well. God created me, and you, and commands us to not fear. Since He created me, He knows me and my inner workings. He knows what pushes my buttons and what stretches me, what brings joy to me and what I struggle with. Here He says, “I created you and am commanding you to not fear. I have called you by name. You are mine. Whatever adverse circumstances you are going through, I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” We know that where God is Satan cannot be. Wherever God is, fear cannot be. Fear is from the devil. John 10:10 says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” Fear steals, kills and destroys. Fear does not bring life. Wherever fear is, God cannot be there so when I go to that place of fear, I need to stop and recentre and reconnect with God.

  1. Being prophetic

Spending time with God seeking what is on His heart for this time and then asking Him what He wants you to do about it. What practical action does He want you to take eg showing love to your neighbours by going to the shops for them so they can continue to self-isolate, writing encouragements on the footpath, ringing folk to check how they are going, checking in on people living alone or elderly, amusing young children over the internet to give a young mum a break, cooking meals for health care workers, praying for the government and wise decision making etc. Asking God what He would have you say, write, or create to give to someone to encourage and comfort them during this time.

Our family wrote a note for the 60 neighbours in our street to let them know we are willing to shop for them etc. At least 20 households responded. Our neighbours were totally amazed that we would be so ‘selfless’ and help others in this way. The mental health in our street shifted significantly as this hugely impacted everyone in a positive manner. The hour of our time it took to do this communicated God’s love in more ways than we could imagine. Now is the time, folks, to be asking God how we can encourage, strengthen and comfort people (1 Corinthians 14:3) ie prophesying to others.

  1. Changing the atmosphere.

We are each responsible for our attitude and the atmosphere we carry. We need to also recognise that we can very simply change the atmosphere around us. (Check out my blog post about how I discovered this here.) When I encounter someone negative, I quietly say, “Spirit of negativity I see you and I choose not to partner with you. Instead, I release a spirit of joy.”  Almost immediately I sense a shift in atmosphere and negativity flee. We are spiritual beings and the spirit within us has the power to change the atmosphere where we are. Whenever you notice an atmosphere that isn’t of God, use this method to change it. It may even be your own children being grumpy, dishonest, defiant etc. You have spiritual authority over the situation, so just quietly say, “I see you spirit of…. and I choose not to partner with you and instead I release the spirit of…..(the opposite)”. See what happens.

  1. Renewing my mind

Whatever you focus on, grows. Whatever we feed our thoughts and watch and listen to will also reap fruit. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This is not the time to have the media broadcasting into your life 24/7. Yes, we need to keep up with the latest government requirements, but we do not need to be watching and listening to news broadcasts all the time, especially not our children. Have you thought about a media fast during this time and focussing on God’s Word instead? Perhaps meditating on Scripture and filling your home with Christian music. Focussing on what the answers are for now and for the future. Looking for the good. Looking for where God is working. (Here is a great blog on renewing your mind.)

  1. The power of our words.

Life or death can be in the tongue. The words we say are powerful. Whenever we speak, we are releasing the potential for positive or negative effect into the atmosphere. Our words have the power to create, to form and fashion something out of nothing and to change outcomes. In Genesis 1, God spoke and the world was created. He has given us the same creative power that by the words we speak, we create outcomes, good or bad. Do you speak life or death? God’s Word does not return empty and our words don’t either.

  • Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
  • Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
  • Romans 4:17 “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

Now is the time to be speaking the outcomes we desire for our life, our family, our country, the world. This is an amazing weapon. I find that a massively effective way of praying is to decree & declare that what is in heaven is done. Eg “I decree and declare that your back will be completely healed”. I find that this carries a lot more authority than praying, “God, can you please heal this person?” (Check out my blog on the power of your words here.)

Perhaps there are some things that you still desire for your family to come to fruition. I encourage you to write it down in the form of a declaration and begin to declare it. Start to use this time to change anything in your family/household that perhaps has fallen short of what you desired. Use this time to begin that change.

I would love to hear how you are finding this time and how you are managing to live a prophetic lifestyle at the moment. Please feel free to comment below.

 

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Get some chalk or water-paints and write encouraging words on your footpath. Write and draw pictures of encouragement and tape to your front fence where people walking past can see them and be encouraged. Ask God if there is anything else He would like you as a family to do for your neighbours at this time.

2. Group Activation: Have a group member write group member’s names on slips of paper and put into a hat. Pull out one name at a time. The first name pulled out is to send a prophetic word to the second name pulled out. The second person, in turn, sends a prophetic word to the next name (third-person) pulled out etc. Before doing this, please ask everyone’s permission to participate in this plus for their email address to be shared with the person sending them a prophetic word.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to bring to mind all the people you know who live alone or are lonely or fearful at this time. Ask God to show you specific things that you can share with these people to encourage them. Spend time writing emails or ringing these people and sharing that which God shows and tells you for them.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show or tell you how you can prophesy into and encourage a health care worker at the moment. Then do it.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God, asking Him to show you what you can pray and prophecy for the leaders and decision-makers of your state and country. Then spend time doing that. Ask God if you are to share it with them and, if so, then find a way to let them know.

Growing our Faith

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faithIn living a natural supernatural life, it is important to grow your faith to believe that God can, and will, do anything. I have prayed for God to heal someone of cancer and they received complete healing. I have also seen my mother die of cancer but I haven’t let that deter me. I have seen a man’s eyesight restored. I have seen a lady healed of needing a heart lung transplant. Perhaps the greatest miracle I have seen is for people to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

I recently found up a journal entry I wrote last year about the day before and what had occurred. I am including it here so that you can see an example of believing that God can do the impossible. Lastly, I have listed numerous ways that I grow my faith.

What do you do to grow your faith and the belief that God can, and will, do the impossible?

 

***(Beginning of Journal Entry)***

Believing anything is possible

Hubby and I were in bed last night chatting after a full day of church, hanging out with friends and ministry. Hubby commented on how it was exciting to be in a church where one of the cultural values (whether anyone realises it or not is another question as it is an unwritten and unspoken value) is that of believing that anything is possible with God. Not just believing it, but actively pursuing it.

Core Value:

As we reflected on this more, I realised that whenever we want to see the supernatural become our natural lifestyle, this has to be a core value. That God can and will do anything and that anything is possible with God.

Miracle – an illiterate person able to read the Bible

Yesterday morning in church, we heard an amazing testimony from one of our church members who was ministering in Cambodia. An old village woman had become a Christian and 3 days later wanted to be able to read the Bible but had never had the opportunity to go to school. She heard a testimony from some other people who had supernaturally been given the ability to read the Bible. This lady was prayed for by those people and within 20 minutes or so the lady could read the Bible.

Testimony:

Last night were having a meal with friends and reflecting on the testimonies we hear in church. Most of these testimonies come from the Healing Rooms we are part of. I was voicing that I am a bit tired of hearing about the back pain and the neck aches being healed. Sure, it is a big thing for those people but what about the exciting stuff we see of cancer being healed, eye sight restored, the time I prayed for the lady in hospital who no longer needed a heart lung transplant etc. I then shared how our family had experienced some amazing healings – anaphylaxis, teeth miracles – no longer needing fillings or a root canal etc.

Creative Miracle:

My friend then expressed how she has been waiting for 9 years for a huge creative miracle. Straight away I knew we had to pray for her in this area. So we did. In the natural, it seems completely impossible but with God anything is possible. We joined our faith with hers and her husband’s faith. There were a couple of prophetic acts I asked her to do as I felt they were an important step. A huge step of healing had already been overcome by our friend sharing this unusual and personal issue with us.

Prophetic Act:

In asking my friend to do a certain prophetic act, I was reminded of at least 7 years ago when I was at a ladies’ camp and I really felt to pray for a lady with a thyroid issue who had bulging eyes. This lady at the same time approached me and asked me to pray for her. As I waited briefly to hear from God, I sensed that I was to spit on my hands and place them over her eyes. I was relatively new to praying for physical healing for people and was aghast. “What would the lady think?” As I shared this with the lady, she became very excited. She shared how she had asked God to heal her and that she had told God that she would know if it was going to happen or not if the person praying for healing spat on their hands and placed their hands over her eyes. I learnt a huge lesson that night to be obedient to what God wants you to do.

God is at work:

When we left our friend’s home, nothing had appeared to have occurred in the way of a creative miracle for this lady but something had shifted in the spiritual. I totally believe that God can do this seemingly impossible creative miracle of growing body parts that are no longer there. I also knew that God was at work since we also prayed for my back pain from a pulled muscle that was causing me some incapacity. The pain completely disappeared and I could move freely.

I know that God will come through for this beautiful friend and her miraculous testimony will be huge in her future ministry that she will have in changing teenagers lives and perceptions.

God is in the business of the impossible.

*** (end of Journal entry)*** (Addit – today, yes, this very day, I received a text from my friend saying that the huge supernatural creative miracle had occurred in her body!!)

 

Align your mind:

If you need help in this area, I encourage you to take a Bible verse from the list below. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, then meditating on the Bible and verses from it, will help your mind align to what God wants to do.

Bible verses:

  • Job 42:1- 2 Then Job replied to the Lord, “I know that you can do all things, no plan of yours can be thwarted.”
  • Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
  • Matthew 17:20 Jesus replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
  • Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible.”
  • Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
  • Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
  • Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Turn these verses into a declaration that you can declare regularly eg “Thank you God that nothing is impossible for you. Thank you, God that you say in your Word that whatever I ask for in prayer and believe that I have received, it will be mine. Father God, I now thank you for giving me (answer to my prayer) and believe that You will give it to me because nothing is impossible for you Father God. Thank you, God.”

 

Ways I grow my faith:

  • Blessing my spirit. I call my spirit to attention and bless it with increased faith. I bless it with knowing beyond a doubt that Father God can, and will, do the impossible. That Father God specialises in making the impossible the possible.
  • Personally experiencing miracles and healing. Thus, I need to position myself in places where I will see miracles. I see them in our Healing Rooms where our family are team members. I saw them when I took my family with two young kids to Mozambique for three months. It can be costly to position ourselves but do it if you want to grow your faith.
  • Studying the Bible and what it says about faith, healing, God.
  • Surrounding myself with people of great faith, who know the Bible and live by the promises in the Bible.
  • Listening to great teaching about the promises in the Bible.
  • Worshipping God – giving Him glory and worth.
  • Spending time with God asking Him the hard questions and growing in intimacy with Him.
  • Prayer ministry has been another way that has helped me to see some faulty beliefs that I had about God. When I now react in a manner that is inappropriate to a situation eg get angry, I try to take a few minutes to ask God, “Father God, can you please show me why I acted that way. What lie am I believing? After I have my answer, and confess that lie/belief to God, I then ask God, “What truth do you want me to know instead?”
  • Our identity is so important. We defeat our internal giants first before we take on external ones. Going on a journey of discovering my true identity.
  • We need to become the person God sees us as – claiming & possessing our internal territory.
  • What we say with our words. I try to be very careful about the things I say as the words we speak have power to create. Isaiah 55:11 says “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Where are you currently at in believing for the impossible? Believing with such a certainty, not just that it would be great but a total belief that God can and will do anything.

 

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather paper with pictures on them (eg an old calendar, scrapbooking supplies etc). Distribute the paper around the room, making sure you have enough for each person to choose a sheet. Ask people to get into pairs and then walk around looking at the pictures. When they see a picture that stands out to them or they like, pick up the picture and find their partner. Ask God to show or tell them what the picture represents for their partner or what God wants to say to their partner through the picture. Give their partner the picture to take home.

2. Group Activation: Contact a ministry like ‘Voice of the Martyrs’ for the details of how to support a person imprisoned for their christian faith. Gather blank postcards and pens. Distribute to group members to ask God what to write or draw on the postcard as a prophetic word to encourage and comfort the prisoner. (Leave room for a postage stamp in the top right corner). Gather the completed postcards and send to the ministry to enable them to be posted to the prisoner.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God which food He sees you like or that represents you and what it is about that particular food that relates to you. Spend time asking God more questions about that particular food item and how it applies to yourself.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to bring a homeless person across your path and what you can say, give and do. Ponder this so that you are ready with a physical item to assist them. If no homeless person comes across your path, go out of your way to find someone homeless.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask Father God to highlight a group that you are a part of and that group’s future. Prophecy into the future of the group and the people it interacts with.

Our Authority in Healing

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AuthorityImagine your dad owned a huge company that employed many people. Over many years, your dad has been trying to implement a new method of operating. He has completed just about all the background work and it is nearly ready for the big day when it is going to be officially implemented.

You have spent a lot of your time just hanging around your dad whilst he had been working on it.

You weren’t an employee, you were the boss’s kid and so you had free reign where you went and what you did.

You loved the smell of your dad’s office and being with Him whilst He worked. He often talked aloud of what He was doing and you were passionate about what He was doing since you just loved being with Him. Your dad included you in the brainstorming of the solutions to problems. Your dad often allowed you to implement the changes.

The big day arrives and unexpectedly your dad can’t make the official opening. He asks you instead, as His representative, to be there as His delegated authority.

You know the workings of it nearly as much as He does because of all the time you have spent with Him and the intimacy of the working conditions.

Your dad has complete faith and trust in you. He knows that you understand what is required to be done and how to solve many of the issues. Thus, he delegates his authority to you.

 

Now take a moment to imagine this is God and He is asking you to heal the sick,

cast out demons, raise the dead, change nature. What is your response?

 

Knowing our authority and the manner in which we walk in it can change our life. It impacts the way we pray, how we pray, what we say, our actions, our lifestyle. In fact, it can completely change how we live our life.

 

Authority is delegated power.

 

Jesus has complete authority and He gave us authority to do whatever He did plus more. (John 14:12)

From the Bible, we see that:

  1. Man’s original commission – Genesis 1:28. God commanded Adam & Eve to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. It was a command, not optional. God gave them dominion over the earth. God’s Kingdom on earth was an extension of God’s Kingdom in Heaven. God’s Kingdom went wherever Adam & Eve went.
  1. Satan rebelled. Satan & fallen angels were cast out of heaven and they took authority over the earth by deceiving Adam & Eve. God could have destroyed them but He had already given Adam & Eve dominion over the earth.
  1. Jesus came in the form of a man & retrieved what had been given away. He defeated Satan by rising from the dead – victory over sin and death.
  1. When we accept Jesus’ grace & forgiveness, we become an heir of God, a brother / sister to Jesus, a child of God. We share Jesus victory over Satan and have total access to Jesus’ delegated authority which Jesus took back from Satan when Jesus rose from the dead.
  1. Jesus, towards the end of His time here on earth, tells His disciples that “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater than these” (John 14:12). Matthew 28:17 has Jesus saying, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go…” He gives us the authority to do what He has been doing.

For today:

Matthew 16:18-19 says, “… I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be what is bound in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

Friends – we have permission from God. We have been given authority to go after that on earth that is not from God. Basically anything on earth that isn’t like that in heaven needs transformation and we have the authority to go after it and change it.

Jesus prayed, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

For us to see the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, it will require us to go after it wholeheartedly. This is not for the faint hearted. Matthew 11:11 says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the Kingdom of Heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force.” I am not advocating violence. Here it is talking about violence as chasing after it with zeal and intense exertion. To press into it with fervour resembling violence and desperation. It expresses the earnestness that we need to have to be rid of all sin and unbelief in our life and to rid this earth of all power belonging to Satan.

Do you want to see God’s Kingdom established here on earth, here in your life? Do you want to see healing restored back to its rightful place as part of the normal Christian life?

Are you chasing after bringing Heaven (& all that is in Heaven eg health, freedom, love, peace, joy, extravagance etc) to earth?

How could you change your life or your belief system so what Christ commanded us to do and be, actually occurs within your lifestyle?

When Jesus Christ was on earth, He gave His disciples authority over demons, nature/weather, death, sickness, sin, poverty and everything that wasn’t in Heaven. We are given the same authority but it seems to be unusual to see us exhibiting that same authority that the disciples had and used.

For us to operate from a position of authority requires us to have some experience in that area. Heidi Baker prays with authority for anyone who is blind as she knows that they will obtain their sight. When Heidi Baker first began praying for blind people, she did not see any difference though for the first 100 blind people she prayed for.

But she persevered.

She then saw breakthrough and she now operates in amazing authority whenever eye problems are an issue.

What prevents us as Christians from operating in that realm and with that same authority?

I believe when we spend time with God and are intimate with God and truly know the Father’s heart for us, then we can’t help but know that He wants people healed and has given us that responsibility and authority.

Out of our identity and our intimacy with Father God comes our authority.

When we have a faulty belief system, it definitely shows up here. How we view and believe what God can and will do, certainly impacts the authority we operate in. When we believe that God is always good and wants to heal and can heal anything, it changes the way we pray for people and what we pray.

Next week I will look at some of the beliefs we have around healing.

 

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Have paper and pens/pencils handy. Each person choose a neighbour. Ask God to show you what to write or draw (if a drawing, perhaps an adult can write what the drawing is about at the top) that will bless them and encourage them on a sheet of paper for that neighbour. Then post it in their letterbox or hand deliver it to them.

2. Group Activation: Have a device to play music on for a game of “Bob’s and Statues”. Explain the activation and then start playing the music. People are to walk or dance around the room. When you stop the music, have everyone either bob down or stand still as a statue. Have the caller with their back to the people so they can’t see what people are doing and they call out either “bob” or “statue” after the music stops and people have moved into their desired action. Those people that did the action that was called out are ‘safe’ and continue to the next round. Those people who did the opposite action to what was called out have to pair up and give each other a prophetic word based on a famous statue.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to tell you what He thinks of you at the moment. Listen and wait for His reply.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a teenager who is sitting exams at the moment. Deliver a prophetic word to them about their future that will encourage and comfort them during this time.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you someone with special needs. Spend time with God asking Him for a prophetic word for this person. Ask God how to deliver this prophecy to them and when.

Easter Blessing

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Dear Readers and Subscribers to my blog,

As we journey towards Easter over these next few days, I want to release a blessing over you that incorporates the values of Easter and the journey Jesus made.  I encourage you to say this blessing over yourself out aloud. Feel free to read this aloud over your family and significant others in your life. There is power in not only reading a blessing but speaking it out aloud over you and calling your spirit to attention first. It helps grow your spirit on the inside.

 

“I call your spirit to attention and bless you throughout this Easter season.

I bless you with being able to communicate yourself fully and articulately. I bless you with intimacy and fun in your relationship with Jesus. I bless you with knowing your true identity and allowing people to know the real you. I bless you with being celebrated for who you really are. I bless you with allowing others to extravagantly express generosity towards you and it to flow abundantly from you. I bless you with ease and acceptance with those few close people in your life, that you can truly be yourself and disclose your true feelings. I bless you in discerning the flattery and the ability to see the lies and the truth.

I bless you in keeping focussed on what God is focussed on, your gaze focussed where God’s eyes are focussed. I bless you with peace in the uncertainty of the future. I bless you when you dread the immediate future. That you will be able to glimpse the other side of the huge mountain just in front of you and it will sustain you in the plodding onwards. I bless you in keeping alert when the things of this world press upon you. With not slumbering but having an alert spirit at all times.

I bless you with integrity. Compassion. Standing firm amidst any false accusation and that you will see your name cleared and your reputation upheld. I bless you in being able to forgive the betrayal and the lies. I bless you when it appears to be the end of your dreams and I bless you with perseverance to see the start of redemption. I bless you with being able to see things as God sees them.

I bless you with journeying close to Christ during the dark times. With knowing the love of the Father so intimately and realising that one day you will understand more fully the dark and lonely times. I bless you with holding on to hope when everything seems hopeless. I bless you with realising Jesus is with you in that crushing, seemingly senseless time of pain that overwhelms.

I bless you in the waiting season. For perseverance. For joy in the journey. I bless you with intimacy and finding shelter in the secure and intimate place. I bless you with having people support you through all times. I bless you with being prepared to last the journey that is your call, despite the circumstances.

I bless you with seeing the answers to your greatest prayers. I bless you with experiencing the risen Christ and the full impact of that in your life – joy, life, hope, freedom, reconciliation, fulfilling potential and reaching your destiny. I bless you with a new and renewed perspective of God’s love, goodness, grace and mercy. I bless you with being able to celebrate and celebrate well. I bless you with enlarging your supernatural gifts and seeing miracles in your everyday life. I bless you with seeing and taking opportunities to share God’s goodness with others and your testimony of what God has done in your own life. I bless you in living in a new way with a new attitude. I bless you with a burning desire to devour the Bible, the Word of God, and love reading it. I bless you with allowing the Holy Spirit to permeate and access every part of your life and fill you to overflowing, accessing deeper levels of empowerment and intimacy.

I bless you with finishing well. With staying the course. With being a world changer.”

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Ask the children present to pray a blessing over each adult. If they have never done this before, pray a blessing over them first. Practice calling each other’s spirit to attention first as this commands your spirit on the inside of you to stand to attention to fully hear and absorb what is being said.

2. Group Activation: Partner up and spend a few minutes asking God to show you what He would like you to pray for your partner. Then turn the prayer into a blessing and pray aloud a blessing over your partner that incorporates what God showed you.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God listening to Him about what He would like to bless you with. Then write out the blessing for yourself. Say it aloud over yourself and begin a practice of daily praying it over yourself.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you His heart for your local church and the leaders. Compile this into a blessing that you can pray aloud daily for the next little while, calling the spirit, heart and identity of your local church to attention.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God aligning His heart for your nation with your heart. In Australia at the moment, we have an election in a few weeks and this is a fantastic time to be blessing the heart and identity of the nation as it can significantly affect the future of Australia. Compile a blessing for the nation, the leaders and politicians. Pray it aloud daily over your nation for the next little while.

5 Keys to Growing in the Supernatural

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“I want to pray for people and see supernatural miracles”, is an often heard cry. “So I’m going to go to Africa (or the other side of the world) to see all these miracles occur.

Sure, that’s a great intention but is that really the only way of growing in the supernatural?

We went to Mozambique, Africa for 3 months and saw some supernatural miracles. But I had seen more supernatural miracles when I had prayed for people back in Australia before we went. I had prayed for two people with broken bones and the bones were dramatically healed instantaneously. I came back different from Africa though because I had been on a journey of discovering my identity and authority in Jesus Christ.

The essential, I believe, in praying for people and seeing supernatural miracles can be summed up in these 5 Keys:

  • Identity
  • Authority
  • Defining moment
  • Intimacy with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus
  • Being obedient and praying for people at every opportunity.

Key 1: Identity

Know your identity – who you are in Christ. Know what the Bible says about you and who you really are. You need to fully know and believe what God and the Bible says and believes about you at all times. A great way to help in this is to have some inner prayer ministry that helps heal inner wounds, especially from our childhood. You have to agree with me that no parent is perfect. No matter how great your parents are, there will be some wounding of some sort. I really believe that it helps to have some prayer ministry on a regular basis (for example annually or every second year) just to make sure that no faulty thinking starts to stick and cause any issues. There are many different types of inner prayer ministry available. A great place to start is to ask around and see which type people recommend. Sozo is a great place to start also.

Key 2: Authority

John 14:12 records Jesus saying “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these”.  Once you have the revelation in your life of your true identity, you can then walk in the authority that Christ has given you. When you read the Bible and see what Jesus did and realise that Jesus said that we would do even greater things, you start to walk in that authority. The authority of seeing healings, miracles, living a pure lifestyle. This is the life we were created for and am meant to be walking in every single day.

Key 3: Defining moment

That moment when you know, without a doubt, that God can heal and will still heal today.

For me, this was in 2010 when my two children were dramatically healed from anaphylaxis. Before this, I had had my mum die of cancer and a very close friend die of a brain haemorrhage. For me, I had allowed these two tragedies to impact my thinking with the belief that God wouldn’t really heal the ‘hard’ things. After my kids were dramatically healed, I could no longer deny that God didn’t heal today with the big and the small and that God actually wanted to heal every disease.

Key 4: Intimacy

We become empty if we don’t keep close and intimate with all of the Trinity – Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. This intimacy and hearing and knowing and sensing and seeing God and what He is up to and is doing is so important. We don’t want to be running ahead or falling behind where God is and what He is up to. We need to be intimate with God and clearly hearing His thoughts and methods on what He wants us to do and how He wants us to participate in each part of life, especially in the supernatural.

Key 5: Obedience with taking every opportunity

A major part of growing in the supernatural is trying, practicing and doing. If we are never ever going to step out and take risks in the supernatural, then we can’t expect to grow. If you see someone sick or injured, immediately ask God “What do you want me to do?” or “How do you want me to pray for healing for them?” Then do it!! Do not expect to pray and see people raised from the dead if you have never prayed for a dead person before to come back to life. Take every opportunity. That was why we took our 7 and 10 year old kids with us when we were invited to the City Morgue to pray for a dead person. We took the opportunity to pray. No we didn’t see that person come back to life here on earth. We have recently taken another opportunity to pray for two more dead people. Still no resurrection here on earth but that has only resolved in us a determination to pray for the next dead person and see them come back to life on earth.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you are growing in the supernatural. Please feel free to comment below.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather a number of items of clothing that denote royal identity. Allow time and space for everyone to dress up in the clothing and use the royal items whilst decreeing and declaring statements of identity over them. Have statements on paper that the kids can read out as well eg “I am God’s royal princess”, “I have authority to pray for the sick and to see them healed.” “I am God’s royal son and have access to everything that Jesus had access to.” “God loves me and has given me power to prayer for people and see my prayers answered.”

2. Group Activation: Ask people to partner up and to share with their partner a critical are of their life that they need a miracle in. Ask everyone to spend a few minutes waiting on God for how He wants them to pray. Then change the prayer to a decree and declaration and prophesy into their partner’s life about the miracle.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend some time reading about Jesus in the Gospels and the miracles that He did. Ask God to show you someone who needs a miracle in their life. Ask God to show you what to pray for them and how to go about seeing them receive their miracle.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to impress upon your heart a medical condition that He would like you to have authority over first eg praying for people with cancer and seeing them healed, seeing broken bones healed, eyesight restored etc. Go after that condition. Spend time with God praying over that condition and seeking Him about it. Write out a prophetic word that you can regularly decree and declare re that physical condition.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask a friend with similar interests and desires to grow in the supernatural to deliberately go with you to a place where desperately needy people hang out. Ask God to show you what and when to say things and start conversations with people. Ask these folk if they have a physical need that you can pray for them for a supernatural answer. Then pray with them and be a blessing to them.

Rest – Living from a Place of Victory (part 9)

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I personally believe that one of the greatest tools we have to live a life of victory is to live from a place of rest.

But what does it mean to live from a place of rest?

I used to think that it meant setting aside a day per week to ‘rest’. Not work. Like a Sabbath. God modelled this when He created the world. He ‘worked’ on six days and on the seventh day, He rested. This is a brilliant idea and one that God modelled for us. Our family has personally found it hard to carve out that day of solitude in amidst a busy lifestyle.

God didn’t work flat out and then stop to rest. He paced Himself. Yes. He still stopped and rested but He didn’t become frantic and frazzled.

When the kids were small and I was busy all week with them, hubby would look after them of a Thursday evening and that was my time ‘off’. I would set it aside and go out shopping. I loved having something to look forward to but I gradually came to realise that it didn’t ‘fill’ me up. In fact, it seemed to drain me more – the loud music, the bright lights, surrounded by heaps of people, busy shops, racing around trying to get a lot of things done. I needed to use that time instead to ‘chill’, to be at peace with myself and my surroundings, to be filled up by spending time with God and nature.

Living from a place of rest is completely different to setting aside a certain period of ‘time’. When you realise that the opposite of ‘rest’ can also be ‘striving’ then it changes the equation.

Being at ‘peace’ with God and inviting Him into every aspect of our life by turning our hearts frequently to Him through the day to listen and converse together seems a lot more effective. Our internal rest/peace grows and we live out of that. Thus, when we encounter external ‘noise’, disagreements, frustrations, we are quick to retreat to that place of peace and rest and operate out of that area. I find that I tend to let more things go. Those ‘things’ that used to annoy me no longer have the same grip over me.

Does it really matter?

I find that I often ask myself that question as I live from that place of rest. This allows me to then brush stuff off and not let it become a ‘big’ deal in my life or to not spend time and emotional energy on something that isn’t really worth it.

Perhaps the most well know person who managed to operate out of a lifestyle of rest is Brother Lawrence. He writes in “The Practice of the Presence of God” – “by dwelling in the presence of God, he has established such a sweet communion with the Lord that his spirit abides, without much effort, in the restful peace of God. In this centre of rest, he is filled with a faith that equips him to handle anything that comes into his life.”

To cultivate a lifestyle of rest, here are some pointers.

  1. Be still. Psalm 46:10 talks about being still and internally at rest as that is when we truly know God. It is not reliant on our external world being quiet. Delight in a period of solitude and quietness with God on a daily basis.
  2. Live a lifestyle with margin. Allow extra time, energy, thought space, finances, & room in our life for friendships etc so that nothing creates alarm or tension. People often ask me complex questions especially about God or healing and my reply is that I just accept what God does and says as I don’t have the emotional energy to ‘waste’ time exploring that issue in a complex way or to give it a space in my life. If we are driving somewhere, we allow ourselves a few minutes extra for any interruptions. In preparing for times of ministry eg Healing Rooms, we arise earlier and give ourselves some extra time and space for preparation.
  3. Guard your peace. Fiercely guard your peace. This is my personal thermostat for when I realise that I have not been living from a place of rest. When I find anger arising within me, I realise that I have not been ‘resting’ with God as much. If a car driver cuts you off, do you get angry? What comes out of your mouth – blessing or cursing? When we need to leave at a certain time, giving the kids & hubby a 5 minute warning helps in our household. The same with talking about expectations. We find that this helps the family know what is expected and therefore we are able to operate out of peace more often.
  4. Spending time meditating on God – His goodness, His character, His attributes.
  5. Constant interaction with God about the small things in life, the daily grind, the emotions and feelings. Abide with God. Enjoy delighting and wondering with God in the small things.
  6. Increasing your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Exploring new ways of communicating with Him and being open to Him.
  7. Find your ‘markers’ that let you know when you are not living out of a place of rest. When do you notice that you are striving? Are wanting to be heard or noticed or recognised?

We can really only truly release rest externally when we have cultivated rest internally. Jesus calmed the storm (Mark 4:39) with His internal world changing the external world. King Jehoshaphat discovered that as Israel rested, God fought and won for them (2 Chronicles 20). Verse 15 says “For the battle is not yours but God’s”. Wow – Imagine if we lived every day out of that premise.

Do you continually release rest and peace into your world?

What would others say about you?

Do you bring chaos with you?

How often are you contacting your prayer warriors to pray for ‘emergencies’?

What is one thing you can implement this week to begin to live a lifestyle of abiding with God and resting in His presence?

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Intentionally create some down time this week to go for a walk as a family. As you walk, ask everyone to find where they see God on the walk and to bring back something that reminds them of that. Also ask everyone to find something on the walk that reflects what God is showing them about another family member. Stop and share it with that family member.

2. Group Activation: Have an extended soaking time (time of meditation) where everyone meditates on the goodness of God. Allow time at the end of that for people to share their experience and what they discovered about God and themselves.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time this week intentionally creating space for resting and abiding with God. Ask Him to show you areas of your life that He would like you to change.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight an area of unrest or chaos in your world (personal or area of living). Ask God to show you what He wants to release and do there. Prophesy over that area and release peace.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to bring to your mind a current television news reader. Spend time with God crafting a prophetic word for that person. Make sure that it is encouraging and be aware of your language and make sure it is not full of christian words. Send it to the person care of the television station.

Worship – Living from a Place of Victory

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Friends of ours live and work overseas and also have a house back here in Australia. They come back for a fortnight to Australia every 4-6 months. I will never forget my friend sharing how they always left Christian worship music playing on repeat in their Australian house when they returned overseas. My friend shared how they never had to worry about their garden as no weeds ever grew in it and she surmised it was due to the worship music saturating the atmosphere of her house and garden. One time, they had had someone stay at the house just after they had left for overseas. This person had turned off the Christian worship music whilst they had been at the house. They had not turned it on when they left. When my friends returned three months later, there were weeds two feet high all throughout the front yard.

Can worship make that much difference?

It seems totally absurb but our God is powerful and giving Him His worth through worship is extremely powerful.

I look at it from a different angle and say why wouldn’t it do that as worship changes everything.

When we worship, we give God all the glory and God can’t help but come and invade the praise of His people. With God present with us, our perspective changes, our actions change, and our problems seem smaller.

Worship changes atmospheres.

Worship changes our focus.

Worship helps us realise our identity and position in the heavenly realms.

I would rather be fighting from a position of worship and having ‘the joy of the Lord as my strength’ (Nehemiah 8:10) than be focusing on the devil and how to protect myself.

The devil will not co-exist with God and our worship. Thus, I much rather prefer to worship God and let the devil flee without giving him any attention.

When I was a young Christian, a lot of emphasis was put on “living a victorious christian lifestyle”. The only hassle was that it was all about living from a defensive position. The devil seemed huge and I had to build myself up and get rid of any sin in my life so as to be able to defeat him.

When I worship God, I am on the offensive, not the defensive. Worship becomes the first thing, in every situation. In fact, worship becomes a lifestyle. I love living from a lifestyle of victory and having the attitude and actions that we are coming from the position of the winning side. It changes my whole perspective.

We were made to worship God. If we are not worshiping God, then what are we worshiping? Whatever that is, it is an idol.

This is the first blog in a series of blogs covering living from a place of victory. This series will include blogs about the things we say and declare, living a godly lifestyle, changing atmospheres, blessing your spirit, spiritual ‘cleanliness’ before and after ministry, rest etc. If you are not a subscriber to this blog, I encourage you to subscribe so that you don’t miss out on part 2.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Buy an art canvas for each family member. Set up the paints and allow each person to paint their canvas background. When the paint is dry, grab some permanent markers. Write each person’s name in the middle of their canvas. Focus on one family member at a time. Brainstorm as a family the strengths of that person and the words that God would use to describe that person. Write these words on that family member’s canvas. You may like to hang each person’s canvas in their bedroom as a visual reminder of what God thinks of them.

2. Group Activation: Get into groups of 3. Elect one person to receive the prophetic word. The other 2 people in the group will play ‘prophetic table tennis’ – one person starts giving a prophetic word, the second person then carries on giving the prophetic word in the same vein of thought, then it returns to person number one to expand even deeper on that thread, then back to number two to expand deeper still. Try not to introduce any thing that doesn’t follow that thread. Instead, ask God how you can go deeper with just the one thread of thought. After you finish that one concept/thought etc, switch positions for someone new to receive a prophetic word.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to highlight to you an area of your home that seems dreary or unproductive or somewhere that you prefer not to relax in. Leave worship music playing quietly in that area for the next week/fortnight and see if it ‘feels’ any different or anyone else notices any change.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God for an encouraging Bible passage for someone undergoing a difficult season. Communicate this to that person in a loving, encouraging manner.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight an MK (Child of a missionary) or a PK (Child of a Pastor). Ask God for a prophetic word for that child. Write a letter to that child highlighting what God has shared with you about that child and how great God sees them.