Tag Archives: miracle

GOD SPEAKS TO ORDINARY PEOPLE

Christian Life, ,

Where do we get the idea that God speaks to certain people and not to others, that He singles out some for His favour but not others?

I have discovered that God speaks to anyone who will listen. Yes, He had His chosen prophets to whom He gave messages for the king and the nation in the Old Covenant. His Word is full of prophetic messages designed to call the nation of Israel back to Himself and to encourage and guide them towards their destiny.

However, does He still speak to people today? We know that He is continually speaking through His written Word. The Holy Spirit and the Word are powerful witnesses to His will for His people but…does He still give specific instructions, or words of encouragement, or even promises to individuals on their journey through life?

I believe He does!

Psalms 25:14 NIV
[14] “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.”

The Hebrew word translated “confides” implies a secret shared in the intimacy of a close relationship.

“Strong’s h5475

  • Lexical: סוֹד
  • Transliteration: sod
  • Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
  • Phonetic Spelling: sode
  • Definition: council, counsel.
  • Origin: From yacad; a session, i.e. Company of persons (in close deliberation); by implication, intimacy, consultation, a secret.”

Let me share two such messages that came to me out of the blue which proved to be both prophetic and accurate.

On two occasions, as I was praying, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to me in response to my petitions. The first was when load shedding was at its worst. I asked the Lord to intervene. To me it seemed an impossible request. Would God magically work a miracle to put Eskom back on its feet? I clearly heard these words in my spirit, “If my people pray, I will keep the lights on.”

That was all! No “how” or “when”, just a simple promise! I communicated the message to my church family. No doubt, many of God’s people around the country were praying. Looking back at my “mustard seed” of faith in that promise, I recognise God’s faithfulness, not in response to my faith but to His Word. Our country is not only, in the main, enjoying an uninterrupted power supply but we are also astounded at the sudden and apparently permanent turnaround. What happened?

Despite the officials at Eskom claiming the accolades for the sudden end of load shedding, we can give God the glory for honouring His promise, no matter to whom He spoke it.

The second message came in the form of a “vision”, a kind of mental picture of a huge ship slowing down and turning around, accompanied by these words, “The juggernaut is turning around.”

The dictionary definition of a juggernaut is “a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force.”

A few days later, I read an article in the “Daily Friend” magazine that recorded the words of a message by the president to a communist party gathering, referring to our government as “the ship of state”.

In the light of God’s word to me, I was electrified by the confirmation from a secular source. Months later, come the 2024 elections, the ANC party crashed to an under 50% outcome, forcing the party into a GNU.

What is happening in our country now? The “juggernaut” is being forced to slow down and turn around. God has put in place men and women who are resolute in their determination to steer the ship into calmer waters.

0The high-handed decision-making is being challenged. A greater measure of consultation and, albeit reluctant, concensus is happening, slowly but yet surely bringing hope and the promise of our “ship of state” moving in a better direction.

Does God still speak? Most surely, yes! Does God speak to anyone? Again, yes! He speaks to anyone who will listen, who will ask for a promise in any situation and will believe what He says because He is always faithful to His Word.

One important lesson I have learned from these two (and many more) times, when God spoke, is that God always honours His Word which sometimes results in a miracle, not the other way around. When I need help and call on the Lord, I ask for a word, not a miracle. Then I can be sure that He will always honour what He has said.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – A HANDOUT…

Bible Study, , ,

CHAPTER 3

A HANDOUT…

“One day at three o’clock in the afternoon, Peter and John were on their way into the Temple for prayer meeting. At the same time there was a man crippled from birth being carried up. Every day he was set down at the Temple gate, the one called Beautiful, to beg from those going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the Temple, he asked for a hand-out. Peter, with John at his side, looked him straight in the eye and said, ‘Look here.’ He looked up, expecting to get something from them.

“Peter said, ‘I don’t have a nickel to my name, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!’ He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up. In an instant his feet and ankle joints became firm. He jumped to his feet and walked.” Acts 3:1-8 (The Message).

Such an everyday event…beggar asks for money, hand in the purse, toss him a few coins, go on their way! But for Peter and John and the rest of the church it proved to be the turning of the tide for them all.

There is no hint in Luke’s record of how long the new-born church enjoyed the favour of the people of Jerusalem…a few weeks, a few months, perhaps even a year or two, at the most. They were still living like Jews, keeping to their dietary laws, observing the feasts and going to the Temple for their daily prayers.

Up to this point they had done little to rattle the cages of the Jewish religious leaders. To all intents and purposes, the fuss surrounding Jesus the Nazarene had died down. Many people from their ranks had believed but didn’t seem to be making waves until a beggar at the Temple gate asked for a hand-out.

How many times had Peter and John walked past this man on their way into the Temple? Sometimes, the very familiarity of a person’s plight dulls our ears to his cry. Perhaps the apostles were so used to feeling helpless that they simply ignored the man and went on their way after dropping a few coins into his outstretched hand.

What made this occasion different? What awakened in them the awareness of a new disposition, a new presence in their inner being, a new confidence in the Jesus whom they had seen doing the very miracle this man desperately needed? For them it was a light bulb moment!

They realised in a flash that this man needed more than a hand-out. They had been elevated to the same position as sons as their Master had been. They could do what Jesus did because the same Spirit that worked through Jesus was in them. This time, they had no money but they had something far better – the very nature, disposition and power of the Healer.

Compassion and confidence exploded into faith that declared, ‘Get up and walk.’ Action matched command; Peter helped him to his feet and the miracle was complete! The kingdom of God was in action, restoring a man born into the realm of a fallen world into which Jesus had stepped to undo what Satan had done.

That was the moment when these followers of the man the religious hierarchy had crucified as a blasphemer set the cat among the pigeons. They could no longer be ignored or tolerated because they were now challenging the very foundations of their religion and their power…

Religion Or Righteousness?

Bible Study, , ,

RELIGION OR RIGHTEOUSNESS?

“Whoever speaks on his own does so to gain personal glory, but He who seeks the glory of the one who sent Him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about Him.

“‘Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?’

“‘You are demon-possessed,’ the crowd answered.’who is trying to kill you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy in the Sabbath. Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you so angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.'” John 7:18-24 (NIV).

Jesus had them! He saw right into their hearts and put His finger on the real issue. These people had their own agenda for “keeping” the law of Moses. In other words, the law of Moses was their excuse for following a religion that was to their own advantage.

Let’s look at it carefully. The first thing He exposed was their motive. It was definitely not to do God’s will. Had that been their intention, they would have recognized Him as God’s Son and representative and His teaching as the truth from God. What was their motive, then? They enjoyed the limelight and the accolades they received from their admiring followers. They loved being put on a pedestal to be honoured for their “holy” lives!

They were not interested in the real reason why God gave them His teaching — to replicate Him on earth so that the surrounding nations would have a picture of their God.  They hated Jesus for exposing the falseness of their claims to be followers of Moses. If they were true followers of Moses, they would not have hatred and murder in their hearts.

They vehemently denied His accusation that they were out to kill Him, even accusing Him of being demon-possessed. They resorted to character-assassination to cover up their own evil intentions.

Jesus went right to the core of their wicked hearts. They circumcised a baby boy on the Sabbath because it was what the law required and they did no count it as “work”. However, when Jesus rescued a paralysed man from the misery of his imprisonment and gave him back his life, they pounced on Him for breaking the Sabbath. What was the difference?

They saw circumcision as a requirement of the law but they ignored the equally important requirement of showing mercy to those in need. Circumcision was not as powerful a revelation of God’s character or as demanding of themselves as was kindness to a fellow human being. It was the goodness of God revealed by Jesus through His compassion for people that they could not stomach.

There are two things that offend people — goodness and wickedness. Goodness offends evil people and wickedness offends good people! Behind the rage that was stirred in the hearts of these Jewish religious leaders was the real reason why they were so offended by Jesus’ action; He was good and they hated Him for it and they were self-deceived.

Self-deception is the worst form of deception because people believe their own lies and live according to what they believe. The Jews  believed that it was more important not to do what they classified as “work” on the Sabbath, which took on ridiculous and petty proportions, than to show mercy to someone in need. This was a complete reversal of the law and the heart of God.

Herein lies the difference between religion and the kingdom of God. Religion focuses on performance even to the point of killing others if they do not comply. Jesus showed us that the kingdom of God is about living in unity with God in loving and caring for all of creation, including all people, even our enemies. True righteousness is doing the right thing to everyone in need regardless of colour or culture.

Jesus did! And so should we!

Jesus, Cornerstone

Christian Life, ,

JESUS, CORNERSTONE

“With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: ‘Rulers and leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I’ll be completely frank with you — we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the dead, by means of His name this man stands before you healthy and whole. Jesus is the ‘stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.’ Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been given or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.'” Acts 4:8-12 (The Message).

Now the fat’s in the fire!

Peter could not have stated his case more clearly or thrown down the gauntlet more emphatically than he did at that moment! His words were loaded with truth, courage, boldness, conviction and challenge. He, a Galilean fisherman with no more training than three years with Jesus, was standing before the highest and most powerful religious court in the land and indicting them!

It’s history repeating itself. Only a few months before, Jesus had stood before the same court on trial for His life; yet He was the real judge and the court the accused. Now His followers were in the same position. It was religion going head-to-head with truth all over again.

Jesus had promised His disciples: ”’These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.'” Mark 16:17-18 (NIV).

The unseen kingdom of God had once again become visible through a miracle of God’s love and grace which had set a man free from the chains of disability. Everything imperfect is evidence that we are still living in captivity to a fallen world. Jesus brought with Him the good news that it would not remain like that forever. Little did these arrogant religious bullies realise that they had played a part in putting God’s plan into action by sentencing the innocent Son of God to death.

Wherever the apostles went, they heralded and demonstrated the power of this kingdom that would one day take over all the kingdoms of the world and restore all of creation to its original perfection. This would inevitably lead to a clash between God’s kingdom and the kingdoms of this world over which the prince of this world presides for now.

Peter insisted that the ‘stone the builders rejected, was now the cornerstone’ of this building Jesus was working on – a spiritual temple built out of living stones, every person who trusted in Him for salvation, not in the puny and futile ‘righteousness’ the religious leaders were so proud of and so confident in.

The problem in our world is that the bold confidence in asserting this truth is interpreted as ‘religious intolerance’ and ‘hate speech’ and in some countries, even those that pride themselves on being ‘free’, is a reason for arrest and imprisonment. According to the opinion of the world, all religions are equal, and that may be true if we consider that Jesus did not come to found a new religion but to reveal the Father and to open the way for mankind to be reconciled to Him.

So we, who believe in Jesus, continue to assert that He is the cornerstone and that there is no other name by which we must be saved because He alone is the mirror image of God and the way to the Father. All over the world, governments and individuals are killing the messengers but they cannot kill the message because truth is indestructible.