Walk on water

The Lord has brought me through many trials and, although trials are on-going, I believe absolutely that the Word of God has the power to bring into existence that which does not exist.

The thing that is required to do this is 'faith', whether it be another person's or my own, and I truly believe that the more I put my faith in that Word spoken to me and persevere in my trials, the more my faith is growing.

 

Not long ago my friend and I were out in the streets with our leaflets and a lady and her granddaughter started talking to us.  The granddaughter was eleven years of age and her name was 'Faith'.   She started to talk about how she would love to go to Australia as she knew much about tropical fish, and went on to tell us about many things that she had learned and achieved, including a degree in karate.

As they walked away I thought about how that young girl, Faith, had achieved much in such a short time, and a sentence came straight into my mind:- 'Faith can achieve much.'

 

One thing stood out that I felt the Lord was speaking spiritually to me about.  I read long ago that one of the things that those learning karate do is to close their eyes and concentrate on a light bulb in order to get every other thought out of their mind. This is where the power to even break a brick with their hand comes from. This reminds me of concentrating on Jesus, the true light of the world, and not on other things that would distract me from receiving the power that is in Him

 

Not long after that incident happened I received a new phone for my birthday.  It was a smart phone which I have never had, and did not know how to use.  My daughter in law set it up for me while she was staying with us for a few days, and put a picture of a sea on the screen just before they left for home. 

 

As soon as I saw the picture I was reminded of something that had happened years ago when the Lord was encouraging me to trust in Him in times of turmoil.  I had been alone in bed one morning after my husband had gone to work and suddenly the duvet on the bed turned into a sea.  It was as if I was floating on that sea, on my back.  The vision lasted for about thirty seconds.  When I went downstairs there was a Kenneth Copeland magazine that had been put through the letterbox with a picture of exactly the same looking sea and the words 'Walk on water' on the front.  I knew then that the Lord was telling me to keep my eyes upon Him and not to look at the circumstances in my life, just as He had told Peter in Matthew ch. 14 vs.22 - 33:-

 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.   And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” and Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,  he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

I knew that once again He was saying this to me, to trust absolutely upon Him and what He was speaking to me, and not to look at the circumstances in my life at this moment in time.
I wanted the words 'Walk on water' put on my new phone screen picture but did not know how to do it .  I asked two people to help me, but they did not know how to do this either. 

The following Sunday I went to the church gathering I had been attending for a few weeks and the man who was speaking said that the theme that he was going to speak on was 'Walk on water.'  I could not believe it! - yet, after all the things that have been happening in my life, and how the Lord is encouraging me more and more to trust in Him, it did not really surprise me that this was being spoken to me.  I shared my testimony with the people there, and I hope that it will encourage them to trust in the Lord to be able to do what is not possible for man to do, as many of them are sick.
I then phoned my son to ask if he could tell me how to put the words 'Walk on water' on my phone screen. He suggested that I put  these words on one of my own pictures of a sea that I had taken and email it to myself so that I could use it on my phone.  I managed to do that.

I know that, just as Peter had to keep his eyes on the Lord, I too have to keep my eyes on the Lord, and act on the Word He speaks to me, in order to receive the promise of God regarding healing - which is 'YES' in Jesus. 

One other thing that stood out to me was:- Even though many people in the churches have said to me that I should not  be going around to different churches all the time, I know that if I had not followed the Lord's instruction regarding this I would not have been in the right place at the right time to hear what the Lord has been saying to me.   As the scripture says:-'God does not live in a house made with human hands.' 
I say these words of thanks to my wonderful Lord for the Words of encouragement found in Him as my One and only mediator between me and God.

Thank You Lord for bringing me through
these trials so heavy - for without You
great patience and tolerance I could not have learned
and lack of forgiveness would surely have burned
For the verbal abuse might have caused me to hate
being told by the enemy 'Retaliate'
But in all circumstances You have been with me
as I  walk upon my 'troubled sea'
being shown I must keep my eyes upon You
in order for that Word to prove itself true

A time of prayer

There has been a lot of work going on in this house since we moved here a year ago, and I have recently moved my workroom from a larger back room to a smaller, newly adapted one.  This morning I was sorting a cupboard out that is full of my writings and pics.

I came across three poems that were written some time ago that really speak to me about prayer needed for these times.  I don't know if I have shared these before, but I feel to put them in this post.

The first one is a prayer for we who are the children of God in Jesus:-

 

I say a prayer to Jesus, to the One Who always hears

to the Holy One of Israel Who wipes away all tears

'Great reader of hearts and Spirit of truth

guide us dear Lord in our days of youth

My prayer is for wisdom to know what is right

Oh send us the fire to lighten our night

Make our pathways straight Lord

teach us to lean on You

Lead us with Your Spirit 

Your Word so pure and true

We love You Lord as children

who love a Father dear

we cry to You to comfort us

and know that You will hear

 

 

We know the world is treacherous in this the 'evil day'

so guide our feet dear Father along the narrow way

One thing we know for certain from the day of our re-birth

is......He Who lives within us is greater than he that is on this Earth'

'You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.'  1 John ch. 4 v. 4



The second prayer is for the world, and the state that it is in:-

In spite of the hate let Your perfect love shine
Lord it has to be Yours when it's hard to show mine
In spite of the wars let your perfect peace rule
when a terrorist's bomb is placed in a school
In spite of 'religion' may God's truth prevail
when an army - not Yours - leaves it's bloody trail
and may all who take part hang their heads in shame
and say 'This is not done in God's precious Name'

'Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.'  Matthew ch. 5 v. 16



The third prayer is for those in this world who are held imprisoned in the grip of the spiritual enemy.  It is a prayer asking God to send us, His children, into this darkened world to spread the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ His son:-

Lord have mercy on them all
for they know not what they do
the perils of this world surrounding them now
are forbidding their vision of You
Turn their shadowy darkness to reflections of light
let them look on Your wonderful face
for there's no other Saviour can rescue them now
Only Jesus - God's manifest grace

So have mercy great Master, reach down from Your throne
cause Your hand to unlock prison doors
for the captives are weary from fighting alone
they don't know that the battle is Yours
They don't know there's a warrior 
a great mighty Lord
the One of Whom boldly we sing
they don't know this Redeemer
with two edged sword
has the power to change everything

For they're locked in their prison
of darkness and woe
powerless - unable to see
that the jailer is Satan
the most cunning foe
who once had a power over me
So now send us dear Father with mercy and grace
out to rescue the injured and dying
close our eyes to what's written on worldly face
let our ears hear imprisoned souls crying

He said to them, 'Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to every creature. '
Mark ch. 16 v. 15

 

The Word of God or the doctrine of man?



Last night I had a dream.  In the dream I was above ground looking down onto the back of the  house that I was brought up in.  It was as if I was hovering above the back garden of that house.  I could see a man talking to a group of people.  It was like a group of people in a lecture, and the man speaking was like the lecturer.

 

As I gazed upon the scene, this man suddenly put some birds in bags and started to beat them.  I could not believe that he was trying to kill these poor birds, and felt extremely sad.  The lecture ended and the people went away.  Then I was in the garden, holding the bags and  looking at the poor birds inside them .  I realized that they were still alive, but struggling.  I was afraid to take them out of the bag in case I should find broken wings or legs that would restrict the birds from flying. 

 

I looked to the back door of the house and cried 'Mam, mam...... help', hoping that my mother would come and help these poor creatures, but my mother did not appear at the door.  It was as if I was in two time zones, the past and the present, as if the lecture and the damage being done to the birds by the lecturer was the present, but the looking to my mother for help was looking to the past.

 

Then it was as if I was carried from the past to the future with the bags of injured birds in my hands.  I called to my husband, and showed him the injured birds in the bag.  I told him that I was concerned that they would not be able to fly and asked for his help.

 

I awoke and almost immediately the meaning of the dream began to form in my mind.

Calling for my mother represents calling on the help of those of the earth that I would have turned to before I was born again and became part of the church.  Calling for my husband represents prayer to the Lord for help, as the church represents the bride of Christ.  So as part of the church (the bride of Christ) I pray to the Lord (the husband of the bride) for help in the Spiritual situation of those who are in the kingdom of Heaven (those represented in my dream by the birds), who are being silenced  (represented by the beating and putting in bags) by man's doctrine (represented by the lecture that the man who was silencing them was giving).

 

The whole of the dream represents what I believe is happening now in the church, as was foretold by Jesus in Matthew ch. 24, that there  will be false teachers and prophets.  

Isaiah ch. 29 v. 13 reads:-

 

And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    while their hearts are far from me,and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

 

Much of what was happening in the Israel of old is in danger of happening in the church  today.  We have to be taught by God and not by man, and the only way that is done is through the Holy Spirit operating within the church.   It is a spiritual warfare that we are in, and I believe the beating and silencing of the birds in my dream represents the  endeavouring by the spiritual enemy to stop God's Spirit operating through born again believers doing what they are called to do when they gather together.  2 Peter ch. 2 vs. 1 and 2 says:-
'But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.'

 

There is only One voice we must listen to and One Word we must act upon in order to grow strong in the Lord and in faith. 
Romans ch. 10 v. 17 reads:- 'So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God'.

A song that I wrote many years ago once again comes to mind, based on this scripture from the book of Isaiah.

When eagles fly on hallowed wing to far and distant lands
they are not guided by man's voice - nor lifted by man's hands
they let no deluge hamper them nor fear the driving snow
for all that would but trouble them are in the clouds below
On hallowed wing the eagle flies - its destiny to fulfil
and I must go where the Spirit leads to do my Saviour's will

So when you do your Father's work if child of God you be
look to the eagle lifted high by God's grace given free
then you will also face life's trials and surely come to know
that strength will come from God above and fear stay far below
On hallowed wing the eagle flies - its destiny to fulfil
and I must go where the Spirit leads to do my Saviour's will


On hallowed wing, on hallowed wing the eagle's lifted high
he goes where others fear to tread - and likewise so must I


We, the church, must not allow false teachers with doctrines of men to rob us of what God has for us in Christ Jesus.

Old things are past, new comes

I have always believed that there is far more to the Bible than meets the eye, and have noticed links everywhere.  One thing that has been in my mind for many years has been where it says, at the end of verse 26 of Genesis ch.4:-  'Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD' 

 

The next verse, verse 1 in chapter 5 of Genesis reads:- 'This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.'

Yet there is no mention of the fall in this version of man being created, and the first child of Adam mentioned here is Seth.   There is no mention of Cain or Abel.

I am reminded of the two Adams spoken of, the first being 'a living being' and the second being 'a life giving spirit.'  in 1 Corinthians ch. 15 vs. 45 - 49 :-

'Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.  The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.  As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.  Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.'

In Hebrew the meaning of the name Seth is:-   'Anointed; compensation', and I believe that Seth is symbolic of born again believers.

The word 'compensation' means:- something awarded to someone in recognition of loss, and this is exactly what was done for mankind through Jesus' sacrifice.  When we become believers in Him we are 'anointed' of the Holy Spirit and receive the award of eternal life as compensation for our loss gained through sin. It is a free gift, we do not earn it through any righteousness of our own.  I have been singing a song for days now that I wrote years ago, which reminds me of this fact.

 

If ever I'm feeling righteous, and think I can't be wrong

I pick up my guitar Lord and sing this little song

I tell myself another time there'd be no good thing in me

if it wasn't for my Saviour, that man from Galilee

If ever I feel forsaken, when my friends have all turned their back

and I'm thinking is it worth it to walk this lonely track

I think about a garden, it's called Gethsemane

It's where my Saviour cried and sweat great drops of blood for me

And if I feel like glorying in something I have done

I turn my eyes to Calvary and look at God's own Son

I see the pain and anguish upon that lovely face

and I see His broken body as He hangs there in my place

Yes I see Your broken body Lord, as You hang there in my place

 

  

2 Corinthians ch. 5 v. 17 reads:-' Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come'

There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament.

In Genesis ch. 5 v. 5 it states that:- 'Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.'  The Hebrew meaning of the number 930 means 'Old things are past, new comes'. Matthew ch. 1 is the 930th chapter of the Bible and I do not think it is coincidence that the first chapter of the New Testament speaks about the birth of Jesus, which is absolutely symbolic of 'Old things are past, new comes'. 

It is as if the bringing in of the second Adam  (Jesus) being written in the 930th chapter of the Bible spiritually represents the Adam of the Old Testament being done away with and the Adam of the New Testament forming a new version of mankind, and as if it was spiritually prophesied that this would happen in Genesis ch. 5 when we read the Hebrew meaning of the names. 

God's word is timeless and He can speak to any individual at any time through any word in the Bible no matter when that word was written, and I believe that as we mature in the Lord we come to understand the oracles of God more.

 

What was done away with was the having to continue as fleshly mankind, under the curse, the crucifixion Jesus went through being of the fleshly body.  What was brought in was  the ability for mankind to be born of God's Holy Spirit, and 'as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.  Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.'

I thank my God that He so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son Who verified that love by becoming the sacrifice for our sins. 

The Power of Love

There's something about You Jesus
that just escapes my mind
about how You cause the lame to walk
and restore the sight of the blind
and how You can take the lowly
the broken hearted ones
and place them in Your kingdom
to bring them up as sons

There's something about You Jesus
there's something about Your face
though I can't see any features
I see wisdom, compassion and grace  
There's something about those eyes Lord
that shed those tears for me
there's something about those healing hands
that they fastened to that tree

What made You say 'Father forgive them
for they know not what they do'
when they saved the life of Barabbas
and they chose to crucify You
I know what that 'something' is Lord
as I look to my Father above
It's the one thing that covers all others
It's Your totally unselfish love

Without You as my Lord

Without You as my Lord, I have no King
without You as my first love there's no song to sing
without You as my eagle my spirit can't soar
without You as my gold I will always be poor
Without You as my life there can only be death
for by Your Holy Spirit I draw every breath
without You as my Saviour I'm lost and forlorn
so praise God, Hallelujah that I've been reborn

Don't lean on your own understanding

I have found the worst enemy I can have as a born again believer in Christ  is my carnal mind.
The carnal mind considers anything that does not fit in with its limited earthly knowledge to be foolishness, and that in itself fits in perfectly with scripture:-
'But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' 1 Corinthians ch. 2 v.14
                                                                                                                  

Also, the battle I have as I work out my salvation by listening to, and endeavouring to act upon, the Word spoken to me daily is not with flesh and blood.  It is a spiritual battle as spoken of in Ephesians ch. 6 v. 12:-

'For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.'

 

Some time ago I wrote a poem regarding my struggle with this spiritual enemy which emphasized to me just how this battle is won:-

  

I'm on the 'Never mind him - follow Me' course

the subject I'm studying is 'love'

I have the best tutor that money can't buy

He's been sent down from God above

Patience, kindness and lack of wrong-doing

are the skills that I'm hoping to learn

and when doing my homework through life's daily trials

there's a reference to which I can turn

 

It's a book called the Bible that can take away strife

a manual (Emanuel) where I can receive
every promise of God that is 'Yes' in the name
of the Saviour in Whom I believe

For all the promises of God are 'Yes' in Christ.  And so through Him, our 'Amen' is spoken to the glory of God.'  2 Corinthians ch. 1  v.20

There is a scripture that says 'No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the LORD. ... Jeremiah ch. 31 v. 34 

The Lord highlighted this scripture to me many years ago when I first became born again of His Spirit.  Paul also speaks of this in 1 John ch. 2 v. 27 when he says to the believers:- 'But the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him.' 

The 'anointing' spoken of here is the anointing of the Holy Spirit

Acts ch. 10 vs. 34 - 38 testifies to the anointing of Jesus by God:-
'And Peter opened his mouth and said: 'Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.  You know the word which He sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all), and the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.'

Although we may not be able to teach one another, what we can do is encourage and build up one another '   

There are many little incidents that happen daily that speak spiritually to me.  One of these happened recently.  The winds had been very strong in the area where I live and, as I looked out of my lounge window onto my front garden one morning I noticed that a bud had snapped off one of my dahlia plants.  I brought it in and put it in a glass of water, supporting the bent stem with some  paper kitchen towel.  It slowly began to strengthen and raise its head.

A few days later I noticed another stem broken on the same plant, this one in full bloom.  I brought that in and placed it in the same glass of water.

As I looked at them in the glass I was reminded of how we as believers can go through turbulent times whatever our maturity is in our walk with the Lord, but if we stand together, persevering and being sustained with the water of the Word, we shall be strengthened and come through those challenging times together.

1 Thessalonians ch. 5 v. 11 verifies this:-
'Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.'

 

Nothing is impossible with God if we remain in Jesus, trusting in Him with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding, and allow the anointing of the Holy Spirit to teach us God's ways.

                                   

 If God is for me

If God is for me who can be my foe?
that the Master loves me is all I need to know
Can tribulation, trial and fear
make me give up hope when my Lord is near
Can worldly woes and misery
keep me tightly bound when I've been set free?
No - God the Father heard my cry
and because He sent His Son to die
then even sin - my enemy
always crouching at my door
at Jesus' name must bow the knee
and trouble me no more

Who do we follow?

Ever since I have been born again of God's Holy Spirit I have endeavoured to go wherever the Lord leads me.  Most importantly is the going out into the streets with a sister in the Lord with leaflets that we believe the Lord encouraged us to put together many years ago soon after we met, which we hand out to people who wish to take them.

We can truly say that we have never had a rude or aggressive response from a person when we do this.  We get people who do not want to take a leaflet, who actually are very polite and apologise for not taking one.  As in John ch. 6 v. 44 Jesus says 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them' we know that it is not the time for those particular people. 

Then there are the people who we believe God  is calling to Jesus, we being either the ones that plant or the ones that water. It is only God Who can add the increase, as it says in 1 Corinthians ch. 3 vs. 7-9 'So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labour.   For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.'

Just as there is a time to be born in the physical there is also a time to be born in the Spirit. 

 

We also get people who are believers who stop and talk to us and that is good,  as Acts ch. 7 v. 48 states ' However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:' and in Matthew ch. 18 v. 20 'For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.'

When I look out of my lounge window I can see a church building that has closed down , and I have to wonder 'Is this because man's  traditions have made void the Word of God there' and so God did not add the increase?

Out in the streets my friend and I are able to speak of Christ crucified freely to people, and we see many people drawn to Him and wanting to know more.

Sometimes we can be deceived in thinking that everyone who speaks in a church is speaking the Word of God.  However, we are told in the scriptures that there will be wheat and tares growing together in the kingdom of heaven.
Recently, my friend and I were in a church gathering that the Lord had led us to a few weeks previous.  The pastor there invited the Holy Spirit to come.  It went quiet, then I felt a song come into my mind and I began to sing it.  It was the chorus 'My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing that He can not do'.  After I sang those first lines I was stopped by the pastor.  I said, 'But you asked the Holy Spirit to come '  He told me that he had been elected as pastor by the people there so he could tell me to stop.  Both my friend and myself told him that the scriptures said otherwise, and we referred to :-

1 Corinthians ch. 14 v. 26  which says:- What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

I have to say that I would think  the chorus I felt led to sing would have built anyone up.  He still would not change his mind.  Then I said 'It has come into my mind to shake the dust off our feet', and my friend said that it had also come into her mind. The pastor said 'Then shake the dust off your feet' 

 

  I felt very strongly to reach into my bag for my Bible and opened it to Acts ch. 13 where verse 51 and 52 read:- 
 ^'But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and went to Ico′nium.  And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.' 


I have to say that the first verse is exactly what we did and the second verse is exactly how we felt. Last night I had a very vivid dream where I was at a Christian wedding.  I was approached by a young man who brought several little children to me and asked me to look after them.  There were people at the wedding who I knew to be adulterous, I could hear them but could not see them.  I felt this was revealing the spiritual adultery  within the church as in 'teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' (Mark ch.7 v.7)

I feel that my dream is a warning, and that we must look after God's spiritually young children.  We must encourage them to seek the Lord for all truth in a time of the wheat and the tares being in the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,(Matthew ch. 13 vs. 24-30) and not allow the infiltration of man's traditions to make void the word of God, (Mark ch. 7 v. 13) thereby allowing the thief to rob them of the truth. Whatever anybody says to you, search the scriptures to see if it is true.

Jesus says in Matthew ch. 4 v. 19:- 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.'
 That is what I would encourage all who are young in the Lord to do.
   

 

Time, and the timeless Word of God

A few years ago my sister bought me a clock for my birthday.  It was black, wrought iron and matched the curtain pole and the light shade in our bedroom.  I loved it and wanted it on my bedside cabinet.  The trouble was, we already had and still have a clock there, a radio clock with an alarm.  This clock is digital and the time shines red in the dark.  I like to see the time during the night so I  kept it where it was.  I then had two clocks on my bedside cabinet. 

As I looked at them they emphasised to me life, and the choices of how I fill the time spent in it.  One was decorative, cannot be seen in the dark, and had no alarm.  The other can be seen shining brightly in the dark and has an alarm that is able to tell all who hear it that the dawn is coming.  I have a choice, as a Christian, whether I carry on as a person who knows Jesus as my saviour but does not share the good news of the gospel, or whether I shine that light that has come into my life in this dark world, and contribute to the salvation of others who don't know Him.
 

At that time I was attending a writers' circle and a lady at that week's meeting related an incident when a peacock was amongst a group of children.  She said that the children gazed in awe when the peacock displayed its beautiful tail.  Before that, the peacock had just been another bird to the children. 

 I have a small peacock ornament in one of my plant pots.  I noticed one day that the body had faded but the tail was as beautiful and bright as when I had been given it some years ago.  The body of the peacock is synthetic, but the tail is made from real peacock feathers. What was man made had faded, what was created by God had not.

We have all been given gifts, as part of the body of Christ, for building one another up to spiritual maturity, and we must all function with those gifts.  Otherwise, the body of Christ on earth will be like my peacock, part man made, part God created.  That which is of man fades with time, only that which is of God can remain forever.

The power in the word of God is amazing.   It is foolishness to the carnal mind, but to those who are born of God's Spirit it  has the power to transform us into the image of our Lord, to draw all mankind to it, (for just like those children gazed in awe at the beautiful tail of the peacock, so too does that word of God have that kind of power over mankind).  It has the power to  do what man can not do, and has the ability to remove doubt and cause faith to increase.  

An example of this to me was when, this morning, I asked the Lord to give me a word of encouragement regarding His promise of healing my body (as my trust in this long, on-going trial was being severely tested over the last few weeks ).  After asking Him this I opened my Bible to where I had previously underlined Matthew ch. 21 vs. 21 and 22 which reads :-
'And Jesus answered them Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to this fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.'

We are told in Romans ch. 15 v. 4 
'For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.'

I could not have had better encouragement to endure the trial and continue trusting in the Lord for the promise of God (my healing) which is 'Yes' in Jesus.

On the front of my computer there is a picture of a place north of where we live.  I have always had a scripture on this picture which is also great encouragement to me every time I turn on my computer.

 

I have been shown many times in that word that there is a time for everything, including healing, and that my times are in God's hands.

 

All that is necessary for me to receive that promise to me is to continue to 'trust' and 'believe'.