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!

Ice Hockey Christianity

My aunt always refers to Satan as ‘ol Slewfoot, and when she counteracts his attacks she declares, “Checkmate, Slewfoot!” I always laugh because it is such a funny name and such a confident way of stating victory in Christ.
I’m not too sure where the name for Slewfoot came from, but I’m almost convinced the act of slew-footing in ice hockey is based on Satan’s deceptive practices! (Pity about the ice problem).

To slew-foot in ice hockey means a player uses his leg to take someone off balance from behind by sweeping the back of their knee, in order to kick an opponent’s feet from under him – which tends to result in injury because the victim falls really hard and often hits his head. It is considered the dirtiest cheap shot a hockey player can do – because it is unexpected and sneaky!

Christians, in a way, are ice hockey players – except we have more victory than worldly players having the power in Christ to prevent us from falling on that ice.

So important about this infraction is that it is only considered slew-footing when the player is sneakily approached from the back. I had recently shared the revelation God had given me concerning my dad’s salvation and how Satan attacks from the back – sneaky, cowardly and cheap. Our hockey uniform is the armour of God. We are to put on our armour daily (Eph 6:11).

Every soldier needs solid footing. The Roman soldiers had spikes under their shoes so that it gave good grip and kept them stable during war. The good news of peace is what gives us our footing. We already have that peace in Jesus (Acts 10:36) – only doubt from the enemy takes it away. As soon as we doubt, take offense, dwell in condemnation or guilt our heads hit the icy floor and we are swarmed with confusion. The spirit of fear takes over and we are no longer operating with a sound mind.
We also stand on solid ground – Christ, the Rock of our salvation. With legs of marble supporting and bearing us up (Song of Sol 5:15), we will not slip or lose our balance (Psalms 18:36)

Slew-footing tends to be used by smaller, weaker players to gain advantage on the stronger players – this makes it easier for them to get the puck. Isn’t that typically Satan? The one who has already lost the game, but will try by all means to drive us off our path and bring us to sit on the loser’s bench with him.

One way a ‘slew-footer’ gets the victim to fall on the ice, is by dragging the skate with his hockey stick. Goliath’s spear had rope on it and the rope was attached to Goliath’s wrist. The purpose of this was once he hit his enemy he could drag that victim back to himself. So once wounded, he could not get away. If those fiery darts hit us, do we stay still on the cold ice wounded by offenses and hard trials, or do we get back up and fight back with our own hockey stick – our sword, which is the Word of God! (Eph 6:17)

When slew-footing happens, match penalties are assessed by the referee. Jesus Christ is our mediator, our referee (1 Tim 2:5). He will bind up our wounds (Psalms 147:3) and place Satan on suspension!

Does God protect the unsaved?

My husband suffers with aches and pains in his left knee, hip and back from time to time, especially when it’s cold. And if you press your hand to his left knee you can feel a large screw jutting out. That’s because in 2005 he had a traumatic bike accident on one of the fastest superbikes in the world. A traffic cop had decided to sit in the middle of the highway. To this day, he has not provided a reasonable explanation as to why he did that. Okay, my husband was not totally blameless – he was breaking the speed limit by going 300km per hour!

When he noticed the cop in the road he only had 2 choices – smash into him and die or drop the bike and hope not to die. He dropped the bike at 300kph and skid along the highway. He skid so fast that his shoes flung to the opposite side of the highway! He broke his knee and his entire left calf muscle had ripped open. The surgeons had to really stretch the skin to get that wound closed. He had internal bleeding and a massive hematoma on the side of his hip that they had to use a 6 inch syringe to suck out all the blood every few hours. The doctors don’t understand why he lived. They said there was no way a human should have survived that accident.

My husband was not saved at the time.
But he told me a few weeks after the accident that just before he dropped his bike, he prayed for God to put his armour on. He said, “I asked God to put that armour on that you’re always talking about.”

I truly am a walking ambassador for the armour in Ephesians 6. When I first learnt of it as a child that it exists, and works, I was blown away! I am just enamored by it! I just think it is the most incredible blessing God has given us to operate on this messy earth. Really something out of this world. So I’m always talking about it! I should have a mug that reads “So this one time when I put my armour on…” 🙂 

But any way what is my point?

1. I have always found that speaking of God’s awesome power and telling people my testimonies inclines an ear more than “Bible-bashing” of “you must, you will”. Humans never like a lecture, but they do like a story. Yes you must absolutely always find an opportunity to spread the gospel, but I find this way works for me, as the Holy Spirit prompts. I bring the message of salvation in this way a lot of the time.
2. My husband was not saved at that time. Did God help him? I don’t doubt that for a second! But does God help and protect the unsaved?
   Was it because my husband believed Jesus exists, even though he had not made the commitment yet, and believed that there is such a thing as spiritual armour that he was protected? Was that faith as a little child therefore honoured? (Matt 18:3)
   Did God honour the husband because the wife was saved?
   In God’s foreknowledge, knowing my husband would one day come to Him, protect him because of that?

Since that incident I have always wondered about the protection of the unsaved. I would like to know your thoughts!

Electricity can’t match the power of our Living God!

I love to hear of testimonies that show how powerful and great our God is!
I have been blessed to grow up in a family that is saved and given their lives to Christ, which enabled me to be saved from a very early age. Everyone on my mother’s side of the family is saved, so to get to fellowship together and tell of the latest and greatest that God has accomplished in our lives is one of my favourite treats!

I would like to share a testimony with you from my cousin, Kylah, which definitely demonstrates the power our God has, and the authority available to us in Jesus name!

One morning after church, my cousin’s husband Antonie, received a phone call from one of the staff members that works with them. She was hysterical and asking them to please come over as her husband was trying to commit suicide.

On their way to the house, my cousin prayed for her husband and herself, asking the Lord to send His angels before them for protection (Psalm 91). They took up the armor of God (Ephesians 6), and prayed for boldness, and that the Holy Spirit would lead them in this trying situation. 

When they arrived at the house, the little 5 year old girl came running towards my cousin– screaming and crying, telling her that she loves her daddy, but that he was busy killing himself! Kylah just took her in her arms, and told her that everything was going to be okay and that the Lord Jesus was going to help them.
Kylah’s heart went out to the little girl, but asked her to take them to her father. She led them to the back of the house and there they found him- he had tied himself with electric wires to a transformer box, and only had to switch on the switch in the box and he would be electrocuted!

His wife was standing next to him, pleading with him to untie himself, pleading with him to think of the children.
Their little two year old boy ran up to his dad and started pulling on his leg and saying, “Come daddy, come!” 

As Kylah stood there she could almost not believe what was happening before her eyes. She recounted how she really felt like David who had been faced with this giant Goliath!

Kylah stood back for a while, whispered a prayer and asked God to lead her.

Kylah asked his wife to take the kids and go inside. She then walked up to the husband, put her arm on the box and her other hand on his shoulder. At first Antonie wanted to stop her from touching him or the box in fear that she would get shocked herself; but she wasn’t scared. She said that she did not come with worldly ways, but with the power of God! 

She prayed and spoke to him for about 30-45 minutes – but she said that the way Holy Spirit was leading her in her prayers and her chats with him was just amazing!

He then told Kylah to call his wife. She went back down to go and get his wife. When they  came back up, the wife went and stood closer to him and Kylah and her husband stood back. 

His wife started pleading and crying again, and he just did not want to budge. Kylah’s husband started talking to him and she praised the Holy Spirit for leading him and giving him words of wisdom. 

At that stage, Kylah just knelt down and just kept on saying, “I command that electricity not to flow in the Name of Jesus!” 

He went ahead and put on the switch 3 times!!
But our faithful God intervened with His own hand of power and not an ounce of electricity flowed! After the 3^rd attempt to electrocute himself, he just stood back, looked up at Kylah and Antonie, ripped the wires off his wrists and fell to his knees in tears! 

PRAISE THE LORD THE ELECTRICITY DID NOT FLOW!!!

 And afterwards they did switch it on and there was electricity flowing!!

Antonie was with him for a while praying for him, and Kylah went back to the house and comforted his wife and children. 

The police then arrived and Kylah went out to meet them – they advised her that the negotiator was on his way, but she told them, “you can tell your negotiator to turn around and go home, JESUS NEGOTIATED FOR US TODAY!!”

Be blessed, Readers, be bold, we serve a MIGHTY GOD!!!!