Traffic Light salvation

In May last year I noticed a beggar standing on the corner by the traffic light I pass every day from work. He had never been there before. When he first greeted me, I took an instant liking to him. He is so warm, sweet and funny. As the days went by the Holy Spirit stepped in- I think Richard standing at that traffic light was the Holy Spirit’s doing. He gave me compassion and love for Richard, and I would often bring him some lunch or pack some goodies for him. We quickly became friends.

He pressed heavily on my heart to speak to Richard about the gospel. Now, this has always frightened me – I get dry mouth, stutter and totally freeze. But I’ve learned those are times when I do it in my own flesh and strength. This time I prayed for the Holy Spirit to help me and to give me boldness. I found this was the key – before I left work every day I would pray for boldness and to say whatever He wanted me to say. I was quite surprised that I was not nervous and spoke freely – I could not do that ever without praying, I would always fail. When I would fail, I would be upset and think, “this is too hard, it’s like making a sales call!” 😉

Anyway, turned out Richard once upon a time read his Bible, but got into smoking marijuana and his life went downhill from there. I knew the day had to come when I had to ask if he would like to give his heart to Jesus. Two things were hindering me – complete nerves (because even though I had more boldness than ever, this was crunch time!) and the place where he stood made it difficult to talk. We could talk as long as the traffic light stayed red!

Days passed and I would drive away from that light not having asked him that important life changing decision, always thinking, “Ok, tomorrow!” One day as I drove away, the Holy Spirit firmly said, “Do not tarry!” I had to quickly look up the definition of tarry to refresh my memory if it indeed means ‘to wait’, and it does. Oops 😦

I decided I had better be obedient in case something happened to Richard! The next time I saw him, I found a spot to pull over and led him to salvation. He was so sweet, he did it with a huge smile on his face! And surprisingly said, “You know, the Bible says when two are gathered together, He is here with us. So God is here with us now!” I said, “Yes amen! And welcome to the Kingdom my buddy!”

This important lesson I will take with me always – to 1) pray for God-given opportunities to lead someone to salvation and not waste them and 2) always pray that the Holy Spirit gives me boldness in that day and leads me 100% in both words and actions.
I have not seen Richard for four months, but before that he told me that he had just gotten a part-time job! Isn’t that wonderful, how God already started working in his life!
Your Kingdom came, Your will was done 🙂

 

When God steps in

One of my dear friends fell into a diabetic coma last month. Her family rushed all the way to South Africa from the UK to be at her bedside. She had always told us that she was on medical aid/insurance, but the private hospital she was rushed to could not locate any details that this was the case.

So there was this worry that they would have to move her to a government (state) hospital. In South Africa, that’s a no go! You want private medical care here. But because they were battling to stabilize her, they kept her in the private hospital. The first day’s costs were a cool fifty thousand Rand!
A week went by and she woke up but not getting that much better that they could move her.

My friend was saved but her mother and the rest of her family are not. The last thing you want to worry about when your child is in ICU are bills. We said only one prayer that God would assist with the bills somehow. One. We kept praying for my friend and her family that God would show up in a wonderful way so that they could see the King she was serving.

Unfortunately, two weeks later, God had decided to rather take my friend home to be with Him. But that doesn’t mean there was no miracle. He did show up.

My friend’s mother got to a point where she was starting to worry about the increasing bills, as they had warned it would cost in the region of over a million once my friend had recuperated! So she caught the Doctor in the hospital parking lot asking him about the ICU bill as she wanted to start making plans to ensure they could pay it.
He told her that any cent after the deposit she put down would not be charged to her. The rest of the treatment was absolutely free! How miraculous was that! She acknowledged that this was definitely a move of God, all glory to Him!
The way I see it is that He kindly gave us 2 more weeks with her to say our goodbyes – and we didn’t even have to pay for the privilege of it.

The Adventures of Fly Exterminations

Hello! I have not dropped off from the face of the earth! I have missed you! But I have been so busy – it’s almost like at the turn of 2014 God said “Ready? Set? Go!”

In my last post I had discussed about what calling God had possibly been stirring in your heart to do for Him in His Kingdom. I hadn’t mentioned mine yet.
For three years He has laid on my heart to start a national day of fasting and prayer. But you know the old tale, “Me? Nah. I’m imagining things. I’m a nobody and to do something of a national magnitude? Pfft! Move on!”  But the burning desire got greater and I have started it. And now it’s like He has pulled me by the hand and said, “Come. Lets’ do this!”

He has so many plans and is already moving in a great way. He has led me to pull South African Christians together for 40 days of fasting for the country before our elections in May. He has already sent me warriors to join in – each person fasts for a day in that 40 day run. Why 40? It comes back to old Beelzebub. The Pharisees in Matthew 12 were accusing Jesus of being Beelzebub whose demonic name literally means “lord of the flies”. To ensure that an infestation of flies is properly exterminated, you have to spray pesticides for 40 consecutive days. If you don’t spray for the full forty days, you only destroy the existing generation, but the next generation breeds on! So, if we enter into 40 days of fasting and prayer for the country before the elections, we are going to break the bondages over our lives here, as well as for our next generation!

And He’s already working – that South African version of Haman I told you about is already facing charges of fraud which is highly minimising his chances of running politically! Praise God!
I have also just been featured on a South African Christian website here.

So things are moving fast. Please keep me in your prayers that I always follow His direction and don’t go off on my own tangent. Waiting to hear about all your 2014 God-driven adventures!

Go out in a blaze of thunder!

Johannesburg is well known for its awesome and mighty thunderstorms, and they’re beautiful. But lately, it has just been out of control. The wind was so bad the other night that it ripped this street light in two!

 

All this weird weather got me thinking about the fiery personalities in the Bible. In the Garden of Eden God would “walk in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). The Hebrew word for cool is ruwach which means heavenly wind, a breath of air, but also impatience and anger. So God entered the garden on a breath of heavenly wind, but angry and impatient with what had just transpired! Talk about traveling in style!

James and John were known as the sons of thunder. It delights me that two human beings were given a nickname by God Himself! This nickname, Boanerges, referred to their fiery zeal which was much like a thunderstorm. Turbulent. Stormy. As destructive as these guys could be, I like them, because they loved Jesus so much yet were so ‘human’.
Imagine being so full of zeal for God that the Lord Himself gives you a nickname. How incredible! I often wonder that if Jesus had to give me a nickname, what it would be.
James and John are the prime example that shows us that Jesus does not see what we are, but He sees the best we can become. John eventually received the nickname “Apostle of love”.

This leads me to the point of this post. What has God been stirring in your heart to do for Him in the Kingdom? What fire has He lit in you that you can do with so much zeal and impact, that He may secretly have His own nickname for you?
He has stirred something inside of me for three years to implement on a national level and I have finally started it. I feel a rumbling in the heavenlies lately. Big things are coming – and I must be part of it! No greater Orchestrator has the world seen than God Himself! I want to go out with such a fiery zeal in doing the Lord’s work that He can’t help but want to give me a nickname of my own. Breathed on me from His own lips- I am excited! 

I would love to hear, if you can share, what the Lord has been leading you to do. Let’s pray for discernment so that we may know without a doubt what impact we can make from this day on. Suit up and ride a wind called Ruwach- the whole of Heaven is watching!

The Latest Fashion Trend

I’m not sure how many of you watched the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. If you did, you might have caught the entire country cheering for Obama but booing our President when he came on to speak. He has single-handedly destroyed this country and stolen from his people. We are angry. I get it. Yet when I saw the booing, the Holy Spirit rolled over so much compassion on me for him that my heart was so sore. Now this was new to me – I’m the first big mouth to complain about the corruption and uselessness of our government, and I must admit, I find it challenging to pray for them. But that day, I found myself wanting to give him a hug.

Anyway, I had posted a status to Facebook about how heart sore the whole incident made me. I got attacked left right and center, as well as from Christians! Everyone was so mad, and as equally unimpressed that I said I had prayed for him that night!
We know very well that we need to put on Christ every day, but this situation really showed me the fruit it bears when we wear the proper clothing, and how people can truly see Jesus when we portray His character. I love when His Word is brought to life – it’s then that we learn a true lesson!

Later on in the afternoon, a lovely lady who had disagreed with me earlier about the status came on to say,

“I’m actually really moved by ur comment Caddie, I’ve been biting on it all afternoon. You know the heart you’re portraying is the heart of Jesus. You have a godly heart, I love that! I take my hat off to u madam!”

After she said that, the comments that were coming in like a speeding train, simmered down to silence. One small status that I thought would not gain any attention, got 26 haters, but a ray of Light was able to pierce through to one reader. She laid aside the weight of all the wrongs Zuma has done and Jesus became her centre! The 26 haters were all worth it for that one person.

If we could portray Christ, even once per day in a small way, we would allow 365 people to see Him in a year. That’s 3650 among just 10 of us! And how many souls saved in that number?

So, I’m going to dress for success! Let us shine brightly – there’s not much time left!

 

Giddy Gird-yup!

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 1:13

The term “gird your loins” was used in the Roman Era meaning to pull up and tie the lower flowing robes between their legs to increase their mobility in battle. I can just imagine loose flowing garments, getting wrapped around your legs, tripping you and getting in the way. Not productive.

My assistant and I come across a lot of cattiness and gossip against us in our department. We are the only Christians in the department, but I’m not sure why we are the target of such ongoing spitefulness. We anoint our office and pray against it; it stops for a week or so and then starts up again. It’s actually very exhausting.

Last week one of the ladies tried pulling a stunt against my assistant and I guess I had enough of it and answered her quite sarcastically. Sigh. It ended the matter, but not the proper response to Christian suffering!
That night during my prayer time I prayed about it, and as I was telling God that I don’t understand why they are like that toward us and I’m tired of it all, He said “Just lay aside every weight.” I continued praying and He said again, “Just lay aside every weight!” So I opened my Bible to meditate on the Scripture, and was unsurprisingly, very convicted! So much so that I now saw the perpetrator as the victim and me as the dragon!

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12:1

It’s almost like, “Yeah, it happens. But just let it go, man.” It’s just not worth allowing things of this world to set us back in our relationship with Him. It is a weight, a ball and chain. We can’t move effectively when we are weighed down. We are going to end up confessing it as sin anyway, so why waste our time doing it in the first place?

The loose garments needed to be girded with a belt. Our belt today is Truth. We have to be so tightly wound by God’s truth so that the things of this world don’t become a hindrance or snare in our walk with Him. Or else it makes us a lukewarm bath. Not very pleasant to be in.

 Pull yourself together!

To gird is also to prepare you for action. It should be no surprise to me that I’m going to face these sorts of things. I need to be ready and not war back with a sword of sarcasm. Just as Jesus faced hostility, those who believe in Him will sometimes have to endure divine discipline for the sake of holiness.

My personal task is to pinch myself before reacting and say, “is what you’re about to say or do Truth? Will it render an effective service for the Lord?”

As heavy as these sorts of trials are, God will use them to perfect me. He knows my mouth is too quick. I’m tightening up my worldly mouth to be replaced with dependence on, and confidence in, my God to handle these situations.

First Aid

I would love to thank everyone who have prayed for me concerning my last post. I was so down regarding this situation, that even praying and reading the Word was difficult, and I could not find any release. But the day after posting about it, I woke up feeling much lighter and the dark cloud around my head had finally lifted! I could sense your prayers had washed it away.

It reminds me of a situation Dutch Sheets related about his friend, whose son had contracted a critical illness; and the Lord had informed him that it was being caused by a spirit of infirmity. He had spent hours praying for his son but to no avail. Only after asking intercessors to pray with him, the fever broke immediately and he could go home a few hours afterward.
When pondering about this breakthrough, the Lord reminded him of the story when the Israelites had to come to the Gibeonites rescue (Joshua 9 & 10) due to the covenant they had with them. The Lord then said to him,

“Sometimes the covenant of the Lord is released to you through others coming to your aid!”

Thank you so much for your thoughtful prayers, encouragement, reblogs and tweets! The Almighty administered the blessing of the covenant to me, through you.

The dream I DON’T want to come true (not for sensitive readers)

I have been quiet for the past two weeks as things have been very depressing in my country lately. I don’t like to speak of the negative things surrounding ones country, but this is so bad that I’m petrified and wondering when my morning is coming (Ps 30:5)

It’s no secret that crime in South Africa is pretty horrendous. As of late it has stepped up a notch. There’s this guy with a Grade 4 education who makes it blatantly obvious how much he hates white people and openly expresses how he will “wipe us out”. In 2010, a whole lot of churches across the country fasted for 40 days against ungodly rulers and for the country. This guy, called Julius Malema, was eventually caught out by the revenue service regarding all the corruption he was involved in and he lost everything. But now he is rising like an evil phoenix from the ashes, has started his own political party and his number one aim is “wiping out” all the white people in SA. This is NOT how all South Africans are –this is just one hate crime group.

     

Slaughtering a cow to give honour to their demon god ‘ancestors’

Black on white violence is increasing at an alarming pace and I blame him. This has taken place in the past three weeks alone:

** Not for sensitive readers! **

• 3 toddlers raped and murdered
• The people 3 houses away from me went away for the weekend and an old man was looking after the house for them. Burglars got in and tortured him the entire weekend while stealing goods.
• Burglars broke into a farm in Johannesburg, gang raped the mother while standing on her face, and gang raped her two daughters while forcing the 12 year old son to watch. Then murdered them. They then drowned the boy in boiling water and disemboweled the family dog for barking. After being sentenced they laughed and said, “this was just the beginning”.
• Burglars broke into an elderly woman’s home, and threw her into boiling water while robbing her of her goods.
• My brother’s female friend was home alone, they broke in, tied her up and beat her up. Thank the Lord they never raped her because they always do!
  

That is in Johannesburg alone!

I’ve been left in a state of paralyzing fear. Yes, I’m a child of God, I don’t have a spirit of fear. But I am scared! It is making me depressed. Do you know why I’m scared? This is how the crime started in Zimbabwe. In addition, about 12 years ago I had this vivid dream. It was so vivid that it felt like I was almost awake. I dreamt that the government had all the white people lined up. We were on our knees with our hands behind our backs waiting to be shot execution style. I felt the barrel of a gun on the back of my head and I woke up. What they are wearing in the pictures above is what they were wearing in my dream, but in black.

I’ve done spiritual warfare in our street and neighbourhood and anointed the house. I’ve been trying to stay in the Word and pray, but having this impending doom over my head is a life of horror, a bad dream. I am praying for the Lord’s will on emigration. I am currently calling a fast with my South African Christian brothers and sisters for the end of the month. Please too, include us in your prayers? Please remember me.

The country just wants to live in peace with each other, especially after the wrongs of apartheid, but when evil like this rears its ugly head then one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.

Don’t like me – I committed adultery!

Blogs. It’s awesome to get likes for each post, right? A new follower? Glorifying God is the intention of my blog at least. I prefer to post as the Holy Spirit leads and not just following the WordPress guideline of at least two a week. Yet God taught me a thing or two.

I was praying, prostrate, very intensely one night for something. In the middle of it, God interrupted and went off the topic completely (I love how He does that!) and said in no uncertain terms,

“Your love of receiving likes on your blog is seeking the approval of man. It is adultery to Me.”

I lay there with my mouth wide open for a good few minutes. I was shocked so all I could muster was “Okay, Lord…”
I repented but had to really sit and dwell on it for a while. I never saw it like that, I just found it all fun! Adultery? Wow! Did I hear incorrectly?
The more I got to think of it, the more I saw He was right (duh!). As I said above I post as the Holy Spirit leads – it’s all His doing, not mine. Everything I experience is because of Him, nothing that has ever happened to me is of my own doing. So why do I care how many likes each post gets? He gets the glory with a post that will resonate with someone else.  That’s the point. This is His voice through my blog, I need to ensure He is happy with what I post. And that’s enough!

The term adultery is not just used to refer to sexual relations outside of marriage but also to Israel turning away from God to serve idols:
“Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce… through her casual harlotry, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and wood” Jer 3:8-9

The word adultery in Exodus 20:14 is the root word na’aph which means to commit adultery or idolatrous worship. Focusing on the world and not God makes us a “wicked and adulterous generation”! (Matt 16:4). “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?” (James 4:4)

Adultery breaks a covenant, and is brought about by various attitudes, such as in my case here. The root word for adultery in Matthew 5 is ‘moichos’ and means adulterer, or metaphorically, a person who is faithless toward God or is ungodly.

I was going to remove the “like” plugin altogether, but the more I meditated on this, I came to realise it is an issue of my heart I have to correct first. Removing it would not help the issue at hand. So, He teaches me that with every post, if I only get one like, that is perfect; I can be at peace that He is happy with what I’ve put up.

(P.S. – I’m sure He won’t mind you liking this post, I have to practice! *wink wink* 😉 )

Alleluia from head to foot

Something cool happened last week. My colleague mentioned something that surprised me, which got me thinking about how the world views Christians. If you have been on my blog for 5 minutes you would know what an animal lover I am. I had walked in from lunch excitedly telling her that I finally got the feral cat I feed here on campus to trust me. So she said to me, “you know, you have really influenced me to see animals in a better light. I never thought much of them other than being ‘just an animal’. But I feel for them now. Yesterday I saw an injured bird and for the first time my heart really broke for an animal, I was so sad. I view them differently now.”

I was surprised, because it has never been my intention to get her to change her mind and heart about animals! Cool! Basically, my genuine love, enthusiasm and passion for animals was the only thing that got her to see a different viewpoint.
Looking back, what I did not do was lecture her, force her to see things differently (“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world…” John 3:17) or speak badly of others who do not like animals (“Love your enemies…” Luke 6:27)

I won her over without even trying! I looked at Scripture on how we can apply the same behaviour as children of God for His Son:

I am always expressing my genuine love for animals, either in what I say or in recues/help
-“Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours” 1 Cor 3:21
-“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” John 15:13
-“above all things have fervent love for one another” 1 Peter 4:8
-“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
-“But the fruit of the Spirit is love” Gal 5:22
-“present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” Romans 12:1

I am constantly singing their praises of cuteness and wonder
-“proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
-“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” Ps 34:1
-“I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You” Hebrews 2:12
-“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses…” Acts 1:8

My joy and enthusiasm just exude naturally when I talk about, or are around, them
-“the fruit of the Spirit is.. joy, peace…” Gal 5:22
-“Rejoice in the Lord always.” Phil 4:4
-“Abstain from all appearance of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22
-“The light of the righteous rejoices” Proverbs 13:9

 People have said when I’m around animals, my face shines
-“They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed” Ps 34:5
-“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden” Matt 5:14
-“Gentiles will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising”  Isaiah 60:3
-“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
-“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” Ephesians 5:8

The world is dark – people need to see how excited Jesus makes us so that they can’t help but be attracted to what is making us so happy! This is just a drop in the ocean of getting people to realise Christ’s love for them. But if all we do and say glorifies God, who can resist Him!