Friday 28 September 2012

“Every Tribe Missions” - September 2012

I was honored to join “Every Tribe Missions” and the students of “River Bible Institute - RBI” on a 10-day evangelism explosion to the rural areas around the town of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

 

We where ± 60 people sleeping in tents, and we battled the elements, rain and tremendously cold conditions, but the fire of the Holy Spirit and our passion to save the lost kept us burning like a fire in the dark night! Over 6000 people said the salvation prayer, many where healed, many received the Holy Spirit and many heard the name of Jesus for the first time.



We preached in schools, local churches, we even went door-to-door; we left no stone unturned.



Some of the teams walked up to, and even more than, 30km a day to reach people that have never been reached to hear the Good News of Christ.



I thank the team and the students for making this an unbelievable and amazing trip that I will meditate on for years to come.



If you have never been on a mission’s trip, and would like to experience it, visit http://www.everytribemissions.co.za/, and join them on their next trip.



I promised the students that I would post the word I gave them on the last evening. (See below)

A word for the RBI students who made the mission-trip a success!

When we are put out of our comfort zone, we are no longer afforded the luxury of ACTING according to what we are taught, but rather our REVELATION KNOWLEDGE takes over, sometimes more commonly referred to as "INSTINCT".

In these kinds of situations you don't have the luxury of ACTING a certain way... but rather you REACTIONS are put to the test.

How do you REACT under pressure?

Your instinct to act in a certain way is read by others as CHARACTER, in other words, your CHARACTER is a reflection of your REVELATION KNOWLEDGE, and others in turn, see your REVELATION KNOWLEDGE as your CHARACTER.

How then do we receive REVELATION KNOWLEDGE, in order to build our CHARACTER? The Holy Spirit pours out the Living water over God’s Seed sown through the reading and teaching of His Word.

You as Bible Students, all have Word in you, that is a fact, but you have been standing in a “rainstorm” these last few days, so expect to harvest CHARACTER, meditate on the revelation that you have received and know that the world WILL look at you with different eyes.

You previously only had some idea of whom your fellow River Bible Institute friends where, but now you have seen a glimpse of “who” your friends will one-day become.

Know that you may be studying with the next “Rodney Howard Brown” or even the next “Andre Roebert”, and receive the revelation of the importance to love them, and to respect them, as called men and women of God.

Build relationships, because you might serve under, one of these men or woman one day, not too far into the future...

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Democracy and the devil...

I was born into a “western society” a country with a First World mentality.

It is a fact that the so-called “western way” of life, springs from our forefathers who where almost exclusively Christian.

Democracy in itself is not a Biblical system ‘per se’, but it does find its origin in the Christian way of thinking. Authority in its pure Biblical sense can be seen in Ephesians 5 and 6 – The Bible ranks God as the ultimate authority, Jesus as our Lord and Saviour who does nothing unless the Father desires it, then the Husband who is supposed to love and protect the wife the same way Jesus loves His church, then the Wife who joins the husband in the authority over the children. This gives us clarity as to the way we should run our families, which in turn are the building blocks of society.
* See my articles entitled “Family values” and “Mighty Woman Conference” for a more extensive study on leadership and authority.

But where does democracy come from?

Jesus said that the whole of the Old Testament Law’s intention was to bring order, and that the Law will be fulfilled (without having to obey every little ordinance) if we love our brothers as we love ourselves. So in essence (besides giving “Caesar what Caesar is due”1) we do not have authority over our brother, but we are commanded to keep him in mind and love him the way we love ourselves.

1 John 4:20

If anyone says, I love God, and hates (detests, abominates) his brother [in Christ], he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, Whom he has not seen.

It is extremely rare for people to see themselves as exclusively identifiable by their group-identity instead of their personal-identity, yet Christianity is probably the only religion that teaches to love the individual. God’s Grace and Mercy teaching in the New Testament must be one of the most defining teachings on loving the individual “just as they are” - hate the sin not the sinner.

Leviticus 19:17

You shall not hate your brother in your heart; but you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.

We are supposed to love others the same way we love ourselves. We are not (according to God’s Word) supposed to think more highly of men vs. woman or one nationality vs. another.

Galatians 3:28

There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This inherently led to our forefathers caring about the opinion of their brothers and sisters – specifically pertaining to the governing of “his” and “her” life-quality, human rights and future.

No other religion on earth has ever led to such a deep consciousness and care for the individual life quality of a single person versus a callous “group mentality’. This “group mentality” has led to Communism, Socialism, Marxism, Tyranny, Dictatorship and every other system that bluntly overlooks a person as a valued creature in their own capacity, without finding their identity exclusively in a group dynamic.

Luke 12:7

7 But [even] the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be struck with fear or seized with alarm; you are of greater worth than many [flocks] of sparrows.

Every good example of an excellent system that has lead to modern society growing and reaching its height of “Western” civilised and organised life, can almost exclusively be traced back to Christian Universities, Christian Governments and ultimately Christian Schools and Christian Families. Yes, I admit that Christians have not always represented Christ 100% and horrid ideologies often managed to slip through the ranks: Apartheid, the KKK and even slavery to name a few, but not one of these before mentioned (not to sound flippant) “glitches” in the governing systems are Biblical in their origin. Humans in power positions, as well as, the blind fools who followed them created these warped ideologies. They all veered out of God’s way and will, by submitting to their own theological ignorance.

Hosea 4:6a
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...

We are now at a point in history where we are trying to remove the meat from our meat-soup, thinking we will be left with an even more wholesome recipe, but in fact we are just left with dirty water. Christianity is what made the civilised Western World what it is today and because we have systematically been attempting to remove it, we are left with anarchy, which in turn is a system with no traceable origin of accountability to a higher power other than fallible-humanity itself.

Human rights have become a dog eat dog phenomena, where governments are trying to prove that one person’s rights are important enough to overrule another’s... A doctor’s right to refuse taking a baby’s life is taken away to provide a “human right” to a patient to terminate their own offspring and a white person’s right to getting a job is taken away to give a black person the “human right” to a job. No man has the power, except through coercion, indoctrination or at the very least fear to control another, unless that person submits willingly to authority out of reverence for a power higher than man.

It takes more faith to believe that our earth sprung from the only random explosion in the history of the universe to lead to order through sheer random luck, as it does to believe that God is our Origin, Creator and Designer.

Revelation 1:8

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord God, He Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty (the Ruler of all).

God is the One who lead us to the pinnacle of Western Civilisation. The bad news is that we are rapidly sliding down the other side of this pinnacle and heading towards the humanist “group” mentality versus God’s “individualist” way of thinking.

How do I know?

Just observe how selfish and unruly people have become in society. America is threatened with the possibility of terrorism and marshal law, and the people in my country generally have no regard for each other or authority, and the authority that does exit is of little benefit to society, because leaders are more often than not corrupt and self-centred dictators. Absent and unsuccessful parenting is a “can of worms” that deserves its own article...

Without God-inspired democracy, the system of so-called democracy is an unattainable pipedream, slipping into Satan’s hand.

We need God...


Reference verse:

1. Matthew 22:21  They said, Caesar’s. Then He said to them, Pay therefore to Caesar the things that are due to Caesar, and pay to God the things that are due to God.

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Angel? Perhaps... Mighty Woman Conference 2012

Do you see the shoulder in the left bottom corner? My kids did without me telling them what to look for. They say that they see 2 buttons on the shoulder... There is an actual light behind me, but there is not suppose to be anything in front of me...

Monday 10 September 2012

Mighty Woman Conference - 8 September 2012



 “Living life” vs. “Getting life done”

The word God gave me for this Conference has 3 main principals that will assist you to live in God’s will for your life; more specifically to live your life and not just to get your life “done”.


1. The first principal is: “leadership and order”.

We need to know: “Who leads who, in the zoo?”

I don’t know about your family, but mine resembles a zoo most of the time, maybe you have figured it out, and run a well oiled machine, but that is rarely true in our house. Sometimes I am the lion, sometimes I am the monkey, my husband often mistakes me for a donkey and my kids think I am a kangaroo.

What is God’s idea of order in His kingdom?

God is a God of Order, but that does not make Him a boring God.

One of the few times I have audibly heard God, was when I was driving my car. I had been questioning the way creation came about, and what God’s roll was in it.

He said: “I am the only random force that leads to order”.

I remember exactly where I was driving when He said this to me, because I almost crashed the car...

What does this mean - (I am the only random force that leads to order)?

To me this meant that:

  • God was revealing Himself to me as the Creator of all
  • No random explosion in the universe could possibly lead to any kind of order, only Him
  • Not even rules and laws can lead to perfect order - look at our forefathers in the Old Testament and even the world today

So God put His force in us, called the Holy Spirit. His Spirit works:

  • Beyond the laws of nature
  • Beyond Satan’s attacks
  • Even beyond death – resurrections of Lazarus as well as Jesus  

He is the One from whom all order originates, no matter how random it may seem to us in our everyday walk.

Old Testament Law teaches us that: “order is a good thing”.

New Testament teaches us that: “order without LOVE is a CURSE”. 

Galatians 3:10-13

10 And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.
11 Now it is evident that no person is justified (declared righteous and brought into right standing with God) through the Law, for the Scripture says, The man in right standing with God [the just, the righteous] shall live by and out of faith and he who through and by faith is declared righteous and in right standing with God shall live.
12 But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith].
13 Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified)


The Old Testament is a system (Law) and it teaches us that order is God’s will.

The problem is that humans are not perfect, and it is impossible for us not to become “out of order” at times.

The New Testament takes it further and teaches us that “ORDER without LOVE is a CURSE”, because too much order leaves no room for love.

Jesus proved that Grace supersedes the Law, when He told the Pharisees to pick up the first STONE to kill the adulteress woman.

There was a Law in place, an orderly structure to deal with the problem, but Jesus chose to better this system (this Law) by adding love, grace and forgiveness. This incident could possibly be seen by some as breaking the Law, yet God says that Jesus not only did not have any sin, He also fulfilled the entire Law.

James 2:10

10. For whosoever keeps the Law [as a] whole but stumbles and offends in one [single instance] has become guilty of [breaking] all of it.

Without LOVE, GRACE AND MERCY, the structure of family is just as much a curse, as the Old Testament set of rules, which left no space for mistakes.

People get divorced because they cannot stand the curse their family has become amidst all the rules and expectations they set for each other, instead of both parties just accepting one another as imperfect beings.

What does God say about family order and authority?

1 Timothy 3:5

5. For if a man does not know how to rule his own household, how is he to take care of the church of God?


God says that we cannot have order in church if we don’t first create order in our family life.

Ephesians 5:21-23

21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 
22 Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body.

Ephesians 6:1

Children, obey your parents in the Lord [as His representatives], for this is just and right.


God’s order of authority is: God, Jesus, Man, Wife, Children
But! God also says that He loves us all equally.

Galatians 3:28

28. There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

If we do not understand that we each have a role in the structure of authority that is there by design, then we will not want to fulfill the role assigned to us.

The Bible says that the husband should lead his family the WAY JESUS lead His DISCIPLES.

It is a leadership of:
 “Service, Sacrifice and Love”. (SSL)

The wife should follow and submit the way the DISCIPLES FOLLOWED JESUS.

It is a fellowship of:
 “Service, Sacrifice and Love”

Our authority over each other may be different, but our responsibilities are equal.

“Service, Sacrifice and Love”.

A husband leading his wife is not suppose to be a license for dictatorship - even Jesus said that nothing He ever said was of His own authority, but the authority and character of His Father.

Men where built to be warriors, hunters and rule givers to point the way for his family.

Women where built to be the Love, Grace and Mercy givers. We are the ones who enforce love.

If men are the rule giver, “the one that points the way”, the one that “lays down the law” in the house, and woman are the “primary love and grace giver”:

Then men reflect the Old Testament - and women the New Testament.

Together we are a reflection of the complete Word of God or Jesus (who is also referred to as the Word) i.e. we become Christ-like in our unity as husband and wife.

We reflect the Lion and the Lamb, the Old and New Testament.

When God made woman, He looked at man, and picked the part of man that was intended to protect the human heart, and then used it to make woman. We are the protectors of the hearts of men, but also the "heart of God" - which is LOVE above all other precepts.

As the protectors of the HEART, we are the ones who fulfill the leadership of our husbands the same way Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses.

God taught me how to enjoy life, but I also have my parents to thank! They are relentless, party animals in a good way! They truly taught me the value of:

“Living life” in stead of just “Getting life done”.


2. The second principal is living a fragrant life.

What Fragrance are you?

I once heard an amazing testimony of a lady, who used to be a prostitute. She was lying beaten up and almost dead amongst garbage bins, you can imagine the smell, when she saw the physical manifestation of Jesus, right in front of her. One of the things she said was that all around Jesus was the most amazing smell.

I have also heard other people speak of this amazing fragrance. She got saved spiritually, emotionally and physically. She was so curios as to what fragrance she smelled when she saw Jesus that she started studying fragrances to see if she could find out what it was that He smelled like. After an intense search, she found the fragrance, myrrh...

Just as a matter of interest, have you ever thought about the 3 gifts brought to Jesus as a baby? (Gold and frankincense and myrrh)

         I.    Gold - is a gift worthy of a King
      II.    Frankincense - is a symbol of Priesthood
   III.    And Myrrh is associated with death and embalming

It was a prophetic gift, in other words: “The King and Priest, who came to die”.

I have also heard of nurses who work in pediatric wards, who claim that they know when a baby is about to die within the hour. They say that the smell of Myrrh surrounds the baby. Many of them believe it is because Jesus fetches babies Himself.

I want us to look at the word “fragrance” in the Bible. It is not a word that is used a lot, so it makes it easy to get an overall idea of its meaning in a biblical context.

I used the Amplified version to do this study as it is ranked the 3rd highest on the list of “word for word translations” of the original Hebrew and Greek scripture vs. “thought for thought” which is a more modern storytelling type translation.

The word “fragrance” in the Old Testament:

If we look at the word “fragrance” in the Old Testament, you will find that altogether it is used 25 times in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. And in every single instance it is used to describe the fragrance of a sacrifice.

Example:

Numbers 28:27

27 But you shall offer the burnt offering for a sweet, pleasing, and soothing fragrance to the Lord...

The word “fragrance” is used another 5 times in the book “Song of Solomon”. Of course in Song of Solomon, as you could guess, the word is used to describe the atmosphere in which love can be found as well as a parallel to the experience of love.

Examples:

Song of Solomon 1:12

12 While the king sits at his table [she said], my spikenard [my absent lover] sends forth [his] fragrance [over me].

Song of Solomon 2:13 

13 The fig tree puts forth and ripens her green figs, and the vines are in blossom and give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.


In the book of Hosea (which is the final time the word “fragrance” is used in the Old Testament), it is used to describe what the “spiritual fragrance” of the New Testament church should be to God.

Hosea 14:6

6 His suckers and shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like [the cedars and aromatic shrubs of] Lebanon.


In the New Testament the word “fragrance” is used 3 times.

Firstly to refer to the anointing oil that Mary pours out on Jesus’ feet  as a prophetic embalming of Him, as He awaits His impending sacrifice through death. It is an illusion to the fact that He is the “acceptable sacrifice” a “sweet smelling sacrifice”.

John 12:7

7 But Jesus said, Let her alone. It was [intended] that she should keep it for the time of My preparation for burial. [She has kept it that she might have it for the time of My embalming.]

The second time the word “fragrance” is used in the New Testament, it is in the book of Corinthians.

It speaks of the “fragrance of the knowledge of God”.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

14 But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,
15 For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:
16 To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]

Lastly the Bible speaks of us loving each other because of the sweet smelling sacrifice of Jesus.

Ephesians 5:2

2. And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.

Let’s look at all of the references together:

Old Testament

  1. The soothing fragrance of sacrifice - in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers
  2. The fragrance of love - in Song of Solomon
  3. The prophecy of a fragrant church - in Hosea
New Testament

  1. Then there is the prophetic act of embalming Jesus as a sacrifice in the fragrance of Mary’s oil - in John
  2. Also there is the fragrance of the knowledge of God in 2 Corinthians
  3. Lastly there is Jesus who became a sweet fragranced sacrifice.

If we had to read all of these as a message, I personally interpret it as saying say something like this:

All our sacrifices onto God are sweet smelling, and our love for Him and our husbands produces a heavenly perfume. Our forefathers received a prophecy of a fragrant church and as we honor Jesus, our homes fill with His fragrance, and our knowledge smells like the breath of God, and in that the prophecy of the fragrant church is fulfilled and we thank God for His Son by loving each other, the way He loves His church.

What does your life smell like?

Do you smell like figs and jam on warm white bread to your husband, or does he smell the brimstone as you turn the corner?

What makes a family fall into a rut of having no fragrance, no joy, and ultimately, just getting life done and not living it?

I think that it is often because people confuse happiness and joy.

The third and last principal I’d like to give you today to assist you in living life according to God’s will.



3. Knowing the difference between joy and happiness.

The word “happiness” is most often associated with the word “blessing”.

Let’s look at 2 examples:

Genesis 30:13

“And Leah said, I am happy, for women will call me blessed...”

Deuteronomy 33:29

“Happy are you, O Israel, and blessing is yours!”...

A “Blessing”, is something you get from the outside that influences your insides. The Amplified bible explains the word “Blessed” as (happy, fortunate, to be envied).

But what happens when you are not in a position where other people envy you for your blessings?

Let’s look at Paul and Silas:

Acts 16:22-26

22 The crowd [also] joined in the attack upon them, and the rulers tore the clothes off of them and commanded that they be beaten with rods.
23 And when they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.
24 He, having received [so strict a] charge, put them into the inner prison (the dungeon) and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them,
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s shackles were unfastened.


Joy brings freedom.

What is the real difference between Joy and happiness?

Happiness is a “feeling” whereas Joy on the other hand is a “fruit of the spirit”:

Galatians 5:22-25

22 But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness,
23 Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law that can bring a charge].
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.
25 If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]

JOY works in the opposite direction to Happiness. It starts from the inside where the Holy Spirit lives, and it manifests on the outside, changing the world around you.

What happens when we are in a time of sowing, and the blessing seems to be stuck in tomorrow? Do we just waste today and pray that tomorrow comes, or do we do what Paul did and switch to Joy in the absence of happiness?

What do we do when, the light of happiness and Joy is absent in our lives - and we are left with the DARKNESS CALLED DEPRESSION?

There is a story in Leviticus about Eli’s sons who operated in unholy fire whilst in the temple and lost their lives because of it...

Do we try to light up our dark depressed lives with “unholy fire” like alcohol, cigarettes, pills or even drugs?

OR

  • Do we worship God until the spirit of worship replaces a spirit of heaviness?
  • Do we go to the Word and wash ourselves? 
People often thought Paul was crazy because he had the ability to feel Joy even when all reason for happiness had taken a hike. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is:

2 Corinthians 5:13 (AMP)

(Paul said:) 13. For if we are beside ourselves [mad, as some say], it is for God and concerns Him; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit,

I once heard of a woman that caught the joy of the Lord in a service, she started to laugh out of control, she laughed and she laughed for 3 solid days. The amazing thing was that when she eventually gathered herself toward herself, she realized that she was healed of cancer.

It is time for some crazy Joy! You need to let go of your resentment, un-forgiveness, dissatisfaction of the hand you where dealt with in life, the sadness over your own physical appearance, the feelings of lack and disappointment! 

Acts 2:15 says that the Christians looked drunk at 9H00 in the morning because the Glory of God was on them.

Even in the Old Testament it speaks of humans not being able to physically stand up in the presence of the Lord!

2 Chronicles 5:14

14 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.


God wants “order and leadership” in our homes to be restored!

God wants our lives to have “fragrance”, so that we can live our lives and not just get our lives done.

The Holy Spirit wants to inhabit you so that you are never empty and depressed, but full of “Joy”, even to the point of seeming crazy to others! 

Thanks to Vanessa Karakizos for these amazing photographs

Sunday 9 September 2012

What a conference!

Wow! What a conference! What an honour to serve the Body of Christ! Mighty Women 2012 took place this weekend September 7-9, and I was privileged to speak and attend at this awesome event. We saw great miracles this weekend. For some woman it was physical, some emotional, and for some there was spiritual healing and for others just a bit of new Fire in the “old furnace”. I was humbled by my God the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the great I AM, the One who heals our broken hearts and bodies! Praise God! Praise the Holy Spirit! Praise Jesus!

I will soon post my entire sermon as promised! Please email me your questions (if you have any) as well as your Mighty Women Testimonies to zania@righteousrecords.co.za and I will anonymously post a variety of testimonies on this blog over the next few weeks! Keep believing, keep praising, keep the fire, and don’t forget to thank God daily.