Those he loves, he disciplines...

A show of love - discipline is extended to those who are loved

Eish, God, forgive us for we are great sinners.. Guys, I do not think that any one of you would love to see God's wrath being turned on you. It is extremely frightening that such intense anger and indignation is a part of God that we are probably never introduced to. All we know is how great our God is, how faithful, Holy, generous, merciful, forgiving and all the correct niceties we attribute to him.

But how sad to not realise how painful and how frustrating it is for one to stand for something and get the opposite. Is God not justified when he stands against darkness? I believe the scripture in 1 john 1 verse 5 b which says "God is light; in him there is no darkness AT ALL," speaks to that attribute.

Now, suppose in the dead of the night, a thief comes into your house, you wake up and see the person, do you look at them, smile and kindly ask them to leave? Or you get agitated for action, you bind them if you can and get them in jail! I don't know, but having experienced a robbery twice, it is not a good feeling to have someone come to you and steal your valuables and if I knew some Karate, only God knows I would deal with such rowdy people!

Insights on Christian living...

The Christian faith is a lifestyle, a daily lifestyle which qualifies it to be a process over just an event, a marathon over just a hundred meter sprint! 

Imagine running a marathon armed with a training for a hundred meter sprint? Though both disciplines require exercise and a track to run in, their nature and rules of engagement are most certainly different.

Such is our Christian walk, it’s a long, windy road and requires patience and perseverance while abiding in the leading of God through our ever-close and willing companion, the Holy Spirit. As I reflected on the writings of Paul in the New Testament, it dawned on me how significant the working and leading of the Holy Spirit was strong in his understanding and sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In his epistles, the apostle Paul alludes to the two fold work of the Holy Spirit in that He (the Holy Spirit) justifies and sanctifies. 

There is no darkness AT ALL...

An interesting read for me it was, as I went through the book of 1 John where I was told that if I claim to have fellowship with him (GOD) yet walk in darkness, I lie and do not live by the truth.

Allow me to call to your attention the reality that Jesus came to this earth  to practically demonstrate how our faith should transform both our thoughts and practice. What it therefore, means is that, as we are called unto God's light, we should strive to stay in that light.

1 John 1 vs 5 - 10 clearly show what we ought to do with our lives if we have to walk in the light.

Our God is mighty to SAVE and to USE!

Wow, wow and wow, how easy it is in life to stray from the Joy and true essential of life by our failure to embrace the supremacy of God in all we do and see! Charles Spurgeon is quoted to have said, “It’s not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.”

I take this moment to appreciate God for his faithfulness always and specifically for the past few days. He has warmed my heart to passionately engage his Word with all of me for it is all we have in this world of our pilgrimage. Furthermore I would like to thank him again for the encouragement we have always found, together with my best friend, in reflecting and writing our scripture-inspired thoughts which have ministered to us and hopefully many who will read them too, what a joy and delight  this has been and is!

Today, I purposed to reflect through the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Tell you what, it was just amazing to note that the reason behind Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians was to encourage and reassure them after Timothy wrote to him of their love and faith which he once preached and lived amongst them, they were his children in the faith. Paul encourages them by reminding them of his exemplary kind of life he led while he was with them and even encourages them to be alert and self-controlled as they wait in hope for Christ’s return.  

Of aliens and strangers...

Hebrews 11 vs 13: "...All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were ALIENS and STRANGERS on earth..."

Wow, what a powerful word!

I was listening to a sermon yesterday during the funeral of Prophetess Chipunza, who passed away on Saturday, by one Pastor Chiyangwa and he was talking about the whole essence of church and the word of God - being to prepare us for the new home to come. He spoke of how Jacob, when he was asked by Pharaoh how old he was, he mentioned that "his years of pilgrimage were hundred and thirty".

Holding fast to our FAITH in Christ!

Hebrews 5:11-14 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil

The book of Hebrews was written to a bunch of believers (Christ followers) almost wavering in their trust in the midst of pressures brought about by their faith in God. As I went through this Christ centered book the strong reality which gripped me was that the recipients of this writing had all been exposed to the excellent nature of whom they had believed in Jesus Christ the great high priest!

Hebrews 3 vs 14

As long as it is called TODAY...

There are times when we have cursed God because we felt he did not understand our problems of today. We felt he was so divorced from reality; that what happened in Jesus Christ's era, is not what is happening today. 

In fact, we now have cars, airplanes,  game parks, high rising buildings, more advanced technologies, different clothing etc, and in those days when even the bible was written, there was no such things. The mode of transport were donkeys and camels, they used a trumpet to communicate to people in the cities, they sent messengers on foot to deliver a message to the next kingdom. So, because of all that, God will definitely not understand where we are, right? WRONG!

You deserve the Glory Lord...

You deserve the Glory, and the Honour, Lord we lift our hands in worship as we glorify your name...

All the Glory is yours Lord

Remember the song??

I just love it,  I may not be endowed with the gift of music, but I sing anyway.

There are moments when we have acted outside of our desire to serve God.. Let alone give him his deserved Glory, honour and just worshipping him.

I know for starters that it is possible. In a very Long time, i managed to scrounge a fast today. So difficult I tell you, but I am happy that I had said I would break the fast at 1600hrs and i did that at 1745hrs.

5 minutes of raising your arms...

Just take your phone, or clock and time yourself for five minutes as you raise your arms in the air - and do whatever you want to do during that time; pray, sing, worship or simply concentrate on the pain, whatever you do, just do not put your hands down!

Have you done so?? If you have, you will realise that it is painful. Now imagine doing that for twelve hours... Mmmmmh, yeah, painful indeed.

Moses did that when the children of Israel where battling with the Amalekites (Exodus 17 vs 8 - 16), and thankfully God gave him people to support him.

Guard Your Heart and Mind

Hey Yvonne, If you can get this, this will change your life… I was out taking my morning run. I love how still it is when I’m running. I can hear clearly and really commune with God. I wanted to share this with you. It’s a lesson I had to learn. One of the keys to success is to be able to guard your heart. Now, usually when someone says guard your heart they are talking about keeping yourself from heartbreak. Although that is important (as long as you don’t go overboard... but that’s another conversation) that isn’t what I’m talking about. When we are born into this world we enter with such a pure heart but as we grow older situations, circumstances and people tend to make us change.

Power of a targeted prayer

Hey guys:-

When we pray, there are certain elements we ought to understand about the evil one. Did you know that Satan follows protocol?

If you weaken one element of his hierarchy, you weaken his power further. Okay, I know you may be asking, what are you talking about Yvonne?

I was at Pastor Chipunza's church yesterday evening at what they call the School of Deliverance at the Apostolic Flame Ministries, AFM.