THE LORD WHO BURST THROUGH

We were blessed last Sunday to have an awesome word bought to us by Pastor Ben Baldwin so I have decided for today to post some of the notes I took from his preaching .  Whatever you are going through keep going forward .  Ben began with this verse from
2 samuel 5;20
David went to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. "The LORD did it!" David exclaimed. "He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!" So he named that place Baal-perazim (which means "the Lord who bursts through"). 
Dwell on the points below and be set free today :)

1. All we need is one word of power from our god who sees into the future
Get before the lord for my breakthrough

2. God will give breakthrough liberally when we call  upon him

3. The bible says from glory to glory is the blessing from god
Being fruitful  in ministry requires bursting through

4. Paul had a thorn in the flesh...3 times he sought the lord and the lord said
My grace is sufficient for you
This is the season to call upon the name of god

5. Starts of really slow but it is like you are pushing an Elephant..just keep on the track and god will bring the momentum to keep you going..one word can change your future

6. Just call  upon my name and he will give me a future

7. Seek the lord he wants to reveal wisdom

8. Luke 10:38-42 (NLT)
As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. [39] Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught. [40] But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." [41] But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! [42] There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her."


9. Davids   army was a beaten force but David was not defeated he kept on bursting through
David was someone who waited upon the lord.... He was always looking to god who was with him and  not looking back

I hope you get as much as I did from this as you work through these points and study them in more detail in relation to your own life .
Bless you today

MAKING SPACE FOR NEW

Ask anyone who knows me ... If I am OCD about de-cluttering and you will get a resounding choir of "YES,S !!!! ".    My family all joke about never coming  home in a blackout and sitting  where the couch was when you left earlier...As you will probably come crashing to the floor .....  I hate clutter and junk so I am forever going through the cupboards and tossing out then re arranging ... Same too for the kitchen cupboards , I move them around all the time, drives the family nuts especially if Liam is in a hurry for breakfast before work and he has to open 20 drawers before he locates the cereal bowls. And furniture .... well there is no better therapy for me that to re arrange a room while cleaning and standing back very pleased with  efforts, I have even been known to paint a whole room in a morning while re arranging furniture .  

Our master bedroom was on a lower level with a parents retreat half a meter above it, Mike would always laugh that he never dare launch himself  like superman from the upper level onto the bed because he was always in danger of the bed not being there and him landing on the floor face down eating carpet .

For me its all about making space or perhaps making a space that is more user friendly .  

God sometimes requires us to make some space, to have a good clean out, to shift some disused bulk from our hearts, to rearrange how we do things , to become more user friendly, and trust me it is not as scary as you may think.  In fact it is quite liberating and freeing.  

The old saying "out with the old, and in with the new " often has negative connotations but it  doesn't have to be a bad thing  . God can use change and a good clean out to replace things with a whole new look and feel to our tired old lives and refresh our spirit like we could never have imagined .

Luke 5 :36-39  He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.  And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

So hop to it ...ask God what he wants to throw out onto hard rubbish in your life ...he has already paid the price for your rubbish and junk , let his grace and mercy fill you with a whole new living room  to dwell in . Don't get caught up in saying " The old is better ".

WALKING IN THE WILDERNESS

What does the word WILDERNESS mean to you ? The dictionary offers us some interesting suggestions
1. Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. I find this particularly interesting ... the words NOT modified by human activity.... When God places us in the wilderness we spend allot of time on our own human activity trying to modify our environment rather than soaking in the place God wants to refine us in.
2. Wilderness is deeply valued for cultural, spiritual , moral , and aesthetic reasons. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity : Again here the wilderness is a VITAL place for God to renew our strength, spirit and creativity in him and a place for us to rely on him alone

3. The word wilderness derives from the notion of "wildness"—in other words, that which is not controllable by humans. Our place of wilderness needs to be a place controlled by God and NOT by us in order that we exit in Gods timing and not overstay our welcome there and become bogged down and ineffective , let go and hand the control back to God .

For many of us this is a frequent cry from our lips Psalm 22;1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
We feel like we are in the wilderness , all alone abandoned by God.
Psalm 22;2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. The truth is however for some of us we choose to spend far too much time in the wilderness , yes God may well have allowed us to enter the wilderness in the beginning for his purposes to bring about change and to equip us for battle but when God has completed his work we sometimes fail to trust him and have faith in him to step forward out of the wilderness and into his plans for us.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God led them not by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt. Exodus 13:17 We sometimes need to shift our wrong thinking to right thinking so we are armed and ready for all that God plans for us .

Right thinking “arms” us for battle. Going into the battle with wrong thinking is like going to the front line of a war without any weapons “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

Sometimes God leads us the hard way instead of the easy way because he is doing a work in us. God led the Israelites the long, hard way instead of the short way because they were afraid and He had to do a work in them to prepare them for the battles they would face in the Promise Land. We can cause ourselves so much anxiety when God places us in what seems like a never ending wilderness , If we would only lean to submit .(Galatians 6:9) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

I have had to learn the hard way to submit, well actually I think i will constantly be learning ,or revisiting this ...I know that I have a very strong will and tenacity that God created in me but I often use this to fight against God rather than allowing him to use me for his will and purposes rather than my own.

If you are in the wilderness the only answer in this place is to completely submit to God and soak in him allowing him to restore you and equip you .

God bless you on your Journey

SIMPLE THINGS

How many of you agree with me that
Sometimes Life is only as complicated as we chose to allow it to be.....

Last weekend as I was on a Lilo with Lucy doing my best to navigate the Mitchel river, and not a very Good job I might add... We floated down for about 20 minutes over rapids, deep holes, massive boulders under us, giant people eating fish...... Lucy was a bit frightened when she realized that the only real danger she was in was being on a floating device and relying on me for her safety.

Finally after a very exhausting 20 minutes of paddling, kicking, shrieking, screaming . steering trying not to get stuck, or drown and the odd occasion of cursing we arrived in a lovely part of the river that there was no need to put any effort in at all, the water was still and magnificent

I just lay there silently with Lucy by my side drifting along feeling relaxed , resting and finally refreshed as I took in the beauty of my surroundings. No need for kicking and struggling just floating .

As I lay there I smiled to myself at the similarity of my life sometimes ....
I often find myself in a place of kicking ...driving my own boat...getting stuck...feeling like I am drowning and eventually complicating my own life, when in fact God is right there beside me saying stop...rest...abide in me...float on my strength , not your own. I have everything you need

Psalm 23:1-3 (NLT)
The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. [2] He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. [3] He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.



He died for us so that we may live in His peace, his grace,
.... to lay in his still calm waters. So why do we keep going through the rapids

I love the Jason upton song .... Simple things... My prayer for us all today is that we chose to rest in the simple things of god today

PRAY THIS
Father I thank you for your perfect peace ...thank you that because of your blood shed on the cross that we dont have to struggle in our own strength ..show us today where we can see you in the simple things today, show me how to trust you how to love you how to serve you better.
Amen


I want to see you
In the simple things in life today

I want to hear you
In the simple things I. Life today

I want to trust you
I want to love you
I want to serve you
In the simple things in life today