The Psalmist – “Teach me to do Your will…”

The will of God is something we hear about a lot as Christians.

We are constantly prompted to accept Gods will, seek for His will and have faith in whatever His will may be. But are we ready to ask to be taught how to follow Gods will?

The Psalmist did this (Psalm 143:10).

Teach me to do Your will…

 

I’ll be sincere this statement left me in awe. Never in my life have I ever asked God to teach me to do what He requires.

Teach – 1) impart knowledge to or instruct (someone) as to how to do something. 2) cause (someone) to learn to understand something by example or experience.

* Disclaimer – that second definition got me too lol

To even ask to be taught something it’s because first we have come to the realisation that somehow we lack proper understanding or are failing. Doing the will of God goes against all of human nature. How am I so sure? Simply because I know I have my own will, which often has its own plans and desires. Therefore what the Psalmist is doing here, seeking not to only do the will of God but how to do it correctly is, well… wise.

He does this because he doesn’t want to even fall short of doing things by Gods standards, and by his own – not even “accidently”. His hearts desire is truly to serve God. Not just in action, but internally. The one who decides to deprive themself of their own will for Gods, is the type of person who serves God inwardly before they do externally. Anyone can look like they’re serving God, but to hear Gods voice, to listen and choose to obey that is true servitude.

For over a month I’ve been meditating on the book of Psalms, and as I come to the end of it what better way  to document some of the many revelations God has given me than to share them here? I hope it blesses you all just as much as it has me, many of these verses gave me great experiences with God, they came at times when I needed those revelations the most.

Doing It Like a Queen – Discernment

She had great wisdom to know how to handle any situation.
When I initially read this statement, a few things came to mind. We could easily speak about the way we deal with people… but as I thought deeper though all these things are equally important one thing did come to mind.

Knowing when to fight and when to wait .

Thinking deeply about Queen Esther and the decision she made she knew exactly how to do this. A bit of context on her story – Queen Esther found herself in a situation where she was physically speaking the only one who could save her people, and with this she took a massive step. She placed herself not only in a difficult situation, but the decision she made to confront the King about the planned massacre, if rejected would cost her her life (Read Esther).

We may never face a situation such as that of Queen Esther, but we too have our own battles and we must know how to judge each situation. When it is the time to go before God in purpose and fight for what we want, and when it’s a moment of humility and we must trust in our God.

Each situation brings about different requirements of how it should be dealt with, and we have to have wisdom to know what each situation is demanding from us.

Sometimes the easiest thing to do is fight and do purposes of faith, to try to gain what we want with our own strength in hope that we will successfully “shake Gods throne” and make sense of what we are being faced with. At times it’s easier to recite Bible verses, and believe that “this fight is the Lords…” when in truth the situation requires an act of faith.

“Okay, I get it Peniel, but how do I know what to do?” Simple, seek Gods guidance. Ask Him what He would have you do in that situation. If necessary He will inspire you with a purpose of faith, or He will encourage you to invest in other things and persevere in faith or He may even be silent. Baring in mind His silence isn’t a free pass for us to just do what we think is best. In those moments of silence continue to seek, and He will guide your every step – How? Through His Word of course. What has He been saying to you recently? What is the Word He has been allowing to play in your mind? That’s what He wants you to focus on.

You must understand that If now is a moment to allow God to act, this does not mean you are not in faith or even not revolted. It just means that that is what God requires from you in this moment. It’s so important we get this right, because getting this wrong can lead to frustration, anxiety and even malice towards God.

One of the hardest things to do when you’re far from God is to posses the ability to discern – to truly understand what He wants you to do. There will be times in life where you will need to distance yourself from everything and everyone, cancel out everyone’s opinions and stop to listen to what God is saying. That separation from everything that distracts you, and takes away from what God is showing you is at times necessary. The only way to be able to discern what God expects of us in different situations is when we are close to Him. The closer we are, the clearer His voice is and the more we discern when He is speaking.

Seek for Gods direction in everything, and He will show you what you must do in every moment in your life. You’ll hear Him loud and clear. Until next time …

Wait in faith. Part 4

Caleb waited.

45 years had passed but his spirit was still the same, he still had the same hunger, drive and determination to serve God. And mind you he didn’t serve God anyhow… he did so wholeheartedly.

His focus was not on the time it had taken for the promise to be fulfilled, he looked at the positives. He was still alive, therefore the promise would still be fulfilled.

I came into this year with goals, but all my goals were based off of 3 underlying ones, one of which being ‘to understand God better’ (I wanted to understand Him better the same way I would make the effort to understand a person). And today He is reminding me that as each day and week passes, I am (maybe just not in the way I expected to *sighs* lol). God is not a god of patterns, nor is He limited by our time. He doesn’t always “feel” the need to explain Himself, and when He doesn’t it doesn’t matter how much you ask, beg or complain…. He wont.

What God needs are real people, as in people who are truly for Him. Moments like this (as we see in Caleb’s example) are when He truly sees who’s in it for Him first or for themselves above all. What I’m trying to say, is right now whatever stage you are at in life is the moment where you need to trust, in fact you must (as its imperative if you want to get anywhere) that God is truly for you.

Ignore the voice of doubt, and act your faith the best way you can – in faith. You want to call Gods attention? Put Him in a position where He has to bless you?? Nothing better than to express this through your faith! There is no other way to send a 1st class message straight to heaven, than by using our faith.

You’ve just got to trust that this seemingly “long” way of doing things will turn out to have been the best way, that although you are ready to dive in and receive the clarity you need… waiting will have been the best decision you ever made!

God is not a giver, He’s a rewarder and I promise you if you wait in faith what you will receive will be greater than anything  you could of ever perceived.

26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Luke 2:26 NKJV

13 But I really believe that I will see the Lord’s goodness before I die. Psalm 27:13

“But who do you say that I am?”

It was a simple question that Jesus asked His disciples, yet those words carried so much weight. So much so that that question has been on my mind the last 3 days.

Today Jesus is asking me and you the same question – “Who do you say that I am?”

Its one thing to verbalise who I think or believe Jesus to be, and its another thing to show it. It doesn’t matter how deep my belief in Him is if when things aren’t going to plan, I’m so worried, afraid or doubtful that I allow my situation to get to me. In other words – Jesus doesn’t just want us to say who we believe Him to be, He wants us to show it. And this happens when we choose to trust Him rather than panic. When we choose dependence over independence, and fight the urge to act recklessly and take matters into our own hands.

We don’t really answer this question when everything is rosy and going according to our plans, we answer this question through our choices and reactions when everything is seemingly “falling apart” or things are “taking too long.”

This revelation isn’t to make us feel bad or even correct us. The solution is simple – in moments of difficulty, when life just isn’t doing what you’d like life to do (lol), or you feel there are delays left, right and centre allow Jesus to be who you say He is. Don’t try and do a “quick fix”, don’t speed the process or take the lead. In fact take a step back and allow Him to live up to all your expectations, let Him be who you say He is. And you’ll see things soon work out perfectly – maybe not as you imagined, but even better.

Growth Like Natural Hair…

Someone once told that growth is like transitioning to natural hair.

To begin with it doesn’t look so pretty, you’ve got natural roots and straight ends, not to mention this causes your hair to break if you don’t give it the attention and care it needs. Plus regular trims, not forgetting what seems like truck loads of money you have to spend on products for transitioning hair, but when you start to see real growth and your natural curl pattern coming through it proves to be worth it.

2016 isn’t just the year my hair went completely natural but its also the year I learnt a lot about myself and God. I came face to face with some of my biggest fears, and learnt that I have traits that feed them to be bigger and stronger than they are. But I also learnt that in Matthew 28:20 (one of my favourite verses), when God said He would be with me until the end of age… He meant that. At a point in my life where I felt like I was losing myself, and instead of seeking the guidance of the only One who could help I relied on myself. I would of understood if He left me aside, but He never stopped speaking to me and trying to work in me. And the moment I allowed Him to open my eyes to where I was headed He swooped in and did In 21 days what I had struggled to do for 5 months.

This year hands down should have been the worst year of my life, but how could I say that with what He has managed to do in me? It wouldn’t be fair.

I entered the year and 2016 was full of promise, but more than once I questioned why it seemed like 2016 and  2015 had met up and made a bet on which would be the more challenging year (lol)! I spent most of this year purifying a damaged faith, and rebuilding self-belief. I spent most of this year fighting demons I never even knew I was up against and preserving my salvation like it was all I had left in this world.

2016 was full of goals and breakthroughs when I first planned it, but as I draw to the end of the year I’m glad things turned out the way they did.

1. I know myself more than ever before – my strengths and (I’m happy to say) my weaknesses.
2. This year has been my year of preparation, we’ve all got to go through the darkness before we get to the light!
3. My relationship with God and MYSELF is like nothing it’s ever been before.

So much like transitioning to natural hair, this year I had to do some transitioning of my own. I had to rebuild my confidence in my faith and and the same way I had to trim my hair a couple of times I had to cut somethings out of my life. It’s taken a lot of my focus, attention and a load of care but I started to see growth. But, I want more … I guess the same way I’ll be focusing on regrowing my edges in 2017, spiritually speaking I’ll be establishing everything I have learnt this year! 2017 I know for a fact won’t be any easier… but I also know I’ve grown stronger and with God in control 2017 is my year of Everything, a year of Greatness and Sacrifice! 🙂

 

My hair after transitioning for just over a year

Journey to Mount Sinai – part 2

Reading about Moses lately has left me wondering what qualifies a person to be chosen by God. Moses doubted a lot, more than you would expect one of the greatest leaders to ever walk this Earth to doubt (Read Exodus  4  ). But despite this I believe Moses’ problem wasn’t that he thought God couldn’t or that the task ahead was impossible for God, but rather God couldn’t through him.

But Moses did something that often we find hard to do – he exposed himself to God, or better yet unmasked himself. He didn’t hide his fears, doubts or lack of self belief and consequently without realising it he was making himself even more qualified to be used by God to set the children of Israel free. He stood on the mountain the place of sacrifice as he exposed himself, and sacrificed himself.

So now think with me, how many times do we not doubt God and what He can do, but rather what He can do through us? How many times do we allow ourselves to doubt before even giving God a chance to work through and even in us?

If you are fearful, if you are afraid, if things are getting harder and you want to give up… expose that to God. Tell Him, make Him aware of what is happening within you, because when we do this we also open a door for Him to remove these fears. We open a door for Him to exchange those doubts for certainty. And even more through our humbleness we become qualified to be used by Him.

Moses was not perfect, nor was he brave and courageous to begin with. Don’t get me wrong he was strong (as many of us are), but he was not yet strong enough…. yet even that he didn’t hide from God.

I am more like Moses than I ever thought I was, but just like Moses if I am fearful, afraid, lacking faith, unable to see past Egypt (obstacles) I must make my voice heard to God, and as I make my journey to the top of Mount Sinai bit by bit sacrifice these emotions – as did Moses.

 

The discipline of God

“Come to Me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke and put it on you, and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 GNTD

Jesus speaks here of “His yoke” why would God place on us something to restrict us? What could He possibly mean? – the discipline of God.

When you resist the discipline of God it causes you to lose discipline in every area of your life. You can no longer wake up early nor on time, your house is a mess and you don’t care, you do your work anyhow, you no longer have the desire to succeed in education or finances, you lose your vision little by little, touching your offerings is not a problem, your undisciplined in separating your tithe…….
Worst of all this takes you away from God.

What is the discipline of God? Your parents rebuke and advice is the discipline of God. The man of God’s advice, your conscience …. that still small voice and sometimes the one that shouts. All examples of God’s discipline and yet you resist. You become reckless in how you take care of yourself… you no longer shower everyday, your room is a mess, your house a mess, your studies are a joke and you don’t care, you lack spirituality and are content…. and worst of all you are slowly leaving God’s presence and you don’t even know.

I speak of this because I faced this and I see this in many of us, and these are just examples of signs that you are resisting God’s discipline. I can’t stress enough to you that what you do will not save your soul, guarantee your salvation nor help you keep it but that intimacy that you have with God will. Communion with Him, prioritising Him above all else, loving Him above all else. God doesn’t expect perfection but if my words and my actions don’t match… know that He will become silent, in fact God is always speaking, always showing signs but lack of communion causes His voice to become quieter and other voices to become louder. But do we pay any attention to these signs? All of the above are signs and if you acknowledge that this is you what do you do now?? You change the situation. You get on your knees before God and ask Him to forgive you, you start again but you really start right. If He’s shown you know that it’s not to condemn, or make you feel bad but because He loves you, and wants to work within you. So now I ask you ….

Have you been resisting God’s discipline?

What Growth Looks Like Vs What Growth Really Is

From the outside growth looks like success, the achievement of goals and a person moving forwards spiritually and physically. An example of spiritual being gaining responsibility and physical doing well financially/in education, love life etc..

As physical beings we tend to pay more attention to the physical things, in this case how things look from the outset. But, the truth is that growth, whether spiritual or physical, starts within. It comes with the daily struggles, the battles against doubts, negative thoughts and even the old you. Because It’s in these moments where our faith is put to the test, where it is exercised. It is in these moments in which we discover who we really are, and get to know ourselves, where we find exactly where we stand with God and we rely on him and his direction more than ever as we are humbled by the pressure. All things we see on the outside of are a manifestation of growth, a reflection of the ‘behind the scenes’ and what no one else sees. The real growth isn’t just in what we achieve physically – this just reflects its – but rather in what happens inside of us.

I know this because I am living it, and the last year and a bit has not been easy but it’s been a journey, a journey where I am finding myself and learning to know myself. A journey where I am learning the importance of self belief and holding onto your dreams, despite the odds. So believe me when I tell you if you are in a similar situation there is nothing wrong with you… this is simply what growth and maturity looks like.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up Galatians 6:9

 

Doing It Like a Queen – The Direction Of The Holy Spirit

She trusted in the authority of others.

Esther trusted in God. She had a firm belief in His power and authority.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the last 2 years it’s to trust God and the direction of the Holy Spirit. As humans and especially as women, we love to plan. We know exactly where we want to be in 10 years, not only this but we have our goals, everything is mapped out and specific. But God, well He’s a God who likes to do things His way and in His time. Unrushed and perfect.

Remember the blog post I wrote this time last year, about trusting the direction of the Holy Spirit? I can tell you now that doing so didn’t get easier, but a lot harder! All my blog posts from the previous year highlight this. The inner battles I had to face… overcoming myself, my feelings and emotions. The negative thoughts that would enter my head. But, I held on. I chose to trust and with this God came through. He didn’t come through in my time and when I expected him to, but know that he came through!

That’s the kind of God we serve, and you must be prepared to serve. He demands from us trust and belief in Him and His word, in who He says He is. Esther knew this so when standing in the midst of a dilemma she obeyed the voice of God and did as he asked. She allowed her faith to override her emotions.

Through his eyes…

I wrote this a few weeks ago, I hope it speaks to you the same way it spoke to me.

Step out. Step out. Step out.

I need you to come out of your comfort zone, I need you to put aside your will and to do mine. I know you want to serve me and I see you’re desire to do so but ask yourself if your will has been prevailing over my own lately??

The desire to serve my dear will not get you far, even if you have the calling this is not enough… You will raise yourself. Simple. You will choose yourself.

Throw yourself into my arms, don’t look around. Forget your age, circumstances and what others will think and throw yourself into my arms. Do what you have never done before, come out of your comfort zone… The place you love the most and watch yourself G R O W.

I know things have been tough for you, and they will get tougher but understand that I didn’t call you because you couldn’t be chosen. When I called you I chose you, because I knew you could take it, and you would make it. Dig deep and you will find everything that has been lacking, within you is the problem and the solution. You have the power, you hold the cards. My next move is dependent on your next move…  It’s always difficult to hear hard truths but take this pain and turn it into revolt, then take that revolt and G R O W!!