Paradoxes

"It's not so much that the Christian faith has a lot of paradoxes. It's that it is a lot of paradoxes."

Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis p. 34

The Wind Blows

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:8 (NKJV)

The Shack

I Have Opened A Door For You!

...This is the message from the One who is holy and true, the One who has the key of David. What He opens, no one can close; and what He closes, no one can open: “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.”

Revelation 3:7, 8 (NLT)

Hidden Manna, White Stone, New Name!

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

Revelation 2:17 (NIV)

Thinly Veiled Vengeance

“Too many people have chosen to say terrible things to others under the banner of ‘telling the truth.’ This is not honesty but cruelty and thinly veiled vengeance. Honesty promises to remain tender and kind, full of hope and desire for the other person's growth. The more we remain honest with the other, the greater our desire will be to know and to be known, to know truth and to be pursued and seized by what is true, by the One who is true. Honesty frees us to care.”

from: Leading With A Limp by Dan B. Allender, PhD p. 122

Forgive Yourself Quickly!

Back in February, 2008 I went on a ministry trip with my friend Surpresa Sithole (www.surprisesithole.com) to Rome. Something Surpresa said to me has been a much needed blessing in my life on countless occasions ever since. As I was bemoaning my personal sin to him he said, “...but you have to forgive yourself quickly though!” We as Christians know that as believers if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (cf. 1 John 1:9), yet we often find it difficult to forgive ourselves and allow our own thoughts and satan to batter us with condemnation for a longer period of time than we ought.

The Shadow of Death

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Psalm 23 (KJV)

Off Its Hinges!

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Jesus in Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)

O Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit! Thank You for standing at the door and knocking! O God, please open the door wide and walk through whenever You want! Would that it would happen daily, even moment by moment! O that I would know You are coming so I can be at the door waiting for You! Please pull the door right off its hinges! Help me to fully enjoy You after You come in! Deep call unto deep! Help my heart to receive all the blessings and treasures of intimacy with You that Your manifest Presence provides!

Keep You From Falling

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Jude 24, 25 (KJV)

Watch You Burn

“Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.”

John Wesley (1703-1791)

You Know You’re In Pemba, Mozambique When…

From: Monica Miller

On a lighter note:

You know you’re in Pemba, Mozambique when…

1) You’re standing quietly in a crowd minding your own business and a baby on the back of the woman in front of you pees on your foot.

2) A monkey on a string bites you on the way to church.

3) You have to carry your Bible to the altar call, because someone might steal it.

4) Your skin lightens a whole shade after a shower.

5) When dressing up is considered wearing clothes that have only been worn once, and freshening up to go out consists of using a baby wipe.

6) You run around the back of the church during the altar call like a mad woman, because your scabies itch so badly.

7) You jump up and down for joy because you just got a light bulb in the bathroom.

8) Living with twelve girls in one room is considered ‘getting space’ (because you lived with 30 girls).

9) You are so moved by the Spirit you have to go jump into the ocean only to end up sitting on a rock crying as a strange fisherman picks a sea urchin out of your foot.

10) When the bathroom is a hole in the ground.

11) When goat for dinner sounds really good.

As you can tell, life here is as amusing as it is perplexing. We are happy, healthy and slightly dirty. More later. Love you all. Monica and Meredith.

From Expecting Miracles: True Stories of God’s Supernatural Power and How You Can Experience It by Heidi & Rolland Baker p. 44

Bible Reading

“Some people read the Bible in Hebrew, some people read the Bible in Greek, but I read the Bible in the Holy Ghost.”

Smith Wigglesworth

He Is Risen!

And we with Him!

Joy Inexpressible and Full of Glory

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

1 Peter 1:8 (NASB)

Of Whom The World Was Not Worthy

Please prayerfully read the following about my friend Surpresa and what recently happened to his brother in central Mozambique:

This is what Heidi Baker says from the Iris Ministries Blog dated October 22, 2007 (http://www.irismin.org/wordpress/?p=46):

#9. Surpresa Sithole, one of the four international directors of Iris Ministries, had to attend the tragic funeral of his brother Pastor Sithole and his cousin after a group of radical religious anti-Christians cut him up into pieces because he was preaching the gospel. Pastor Sithole will be greatly missed.

Here is the latest update I could find on Surpresa’s brother/cousin: (http://www.irismin.org/wordpress/?p=48):

Our International Director Surprise Sithole also flew in to be with us from South Africa. He recently went back to the very village where our dear pastor, Ezekiel Sithole, was martyred for the gospel. They cut off his tongue and lips to silence him. They said our movement, Partners in Harvest/Iris Africa, would be silenced. Surprise went back into the village in love and humility releasing forgiveness to those who killed his cousin. Thousands gathered to hear him preach. And hundreds were saved. Please pray for Pastor Ezekiel Sithole’s wife who is deeply troubled, very, very thin and left with many children to raise alone. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” Matthew 5:11-12.

Surpresa’s brother is in fact his cousin who lived with him and his family when they were young so he has considered Ezekiel a brother ever since that time.

Ezekiel is now survived by his wife Theresa, their seven children and 130+ orphans that they help care for.

My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

(Refrain)

On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When Darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

(Refrain)

His oath, his covenant, his blood
Supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

(Refrain)

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!

(Refrain)

Hymn "The Solid Rock" by Edward Mote, 1797-1874

Revival Fire for the Poor in Spirit

“I’m back in Africa after weeks of conferences in the West, and I’m facing another kind of conference: a gathering of the poor, hungry, ragged, barefoot, and sick from among our churches in the central region of Malawi. Carpets, air-conditioning and chandeliers have given way to dirt, blowing dust and the hot sun overhead. Hospitality rooms and coffee shops are replaced by iron pots of milled maize cooking over open wood fires. Hotel rooms with soft beds, clean sheets and warm showers have become grass mats under ripped and wind-blown black plastic coverings on a remote field with no electricity, water or relief from the night cold. Families huddle together in the dark to keep warm, without soap, toiletries or a change of clothes. Their threadbare shirts rip at a touch, and their teeth, hair and skin show the discolored ravages of malnutrition. They are weak. They hurt. And they long for ministry and love.

Malawi and northwest Mozambique are caught in yet more drought and famine. Four million people are in danger of starving. The world hardly notices. Shipments from aid agencies don’t make it to the remote villages where the need is greatest and where we have most of our churches. But we have called a “bush” conference to encourage our people, and Surpresa Sithole, one of our international directors, and I have come to preach the Gospel in this sea of need.

This has to be the poorest-looking conference the land has seen. Our property is off the main road outside the city of Lilongwe, a long journey on foot for many. We have a shaky platform of rough poles and boards, and we’ve strung some lights to use with a generator during meetings. There are no banners or signboards, no dignitaries in suits. As we set up and mix with the people, our clothes become covered with dirt. There is no parking lot full of vehicles and no handouts and no name tags. We are a band of human beings in the middle of nowhere, it seems, calling out to God for revival and the glory of His presence where all seems destitute and hopeless to the natural eye.

But this is what we live for, to preach the Good News to the poor and to bring life, love and joy to the saddest and heaviest of hearts. We present ourselves as instruments of righteousness to bring a foretaste of heaven into the least likely corners of the earth. We don’t come with fame and fanfare but instead arrive in weakness, with nothing to preach but Jesus and Him crucified. Nothing less than the power of the Cross will rescue and sustain these lives and hearts.

For three days we preach our hearts out, joined by David Morrison, our lead Iris missionary in Malawi. Hang on to Jesus! Never let Him go! Come to Him for everything! Don't throw away your faith! Bury yourself in His heart! Draw close to Him, and He will draw close to you. And this unspeakably wonderful Savior of ours will freely give you the Kingdom. Don't be like unbelievers, who worry about everything, but pursue righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, and you will have what you need. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not famine, not poverty, not anything!

And so the people move forward in waves to kneel, worship and receive more of His grace. The Holy Spirit brings healing to bodies and hearts. Tears and laughter are released. Emotions are set free. Bowing and falling, rolling and shaking in the dirt, the hungry of all ages become filled to overflowing with God Himself. He knows how to love His beloved until they feel loved.

The people are encouraged and overjoyed. Their testimonies flow. I still feel utterly weak and inadequate, seeing their needs, but I grow in confidence that the Gospel will triumph in their lives. What will God do in response? Open the hearts of His people around the world and give them the opportunity to learn the heavenly art of love all the more... Our only job is to love... And if love is real at all, it is practical.

We have to go, but we promise more visits and conferences. We are cheered with enthusiasm and affection. And I am praying that a supernaturally motivated and enabled wave of assistance from around the world will materialize out of the ever-increasing faith that we see before us. And that everything from weather patterns to politics will be transformed by an unstoppable spread of revival fire.”

An excerpt from Rolland Baker from Expecting Miracles: True Stories of God’s Supernatural Power and How You Can Experience It by Heidi & Rolland Baker pp 61-62.

Visions

"For the first three and a half years after I received Jesus I had intense visions everyday."

From the Preface of Surprise "Surpresa" Sithole's new book: Rush Hour

Flaming Fire

...he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.

Psalm 104:4 (ESV)

Interior Castle or The Mansions Click Here

by St. Teresa of Avila

Emptied Himself, Humbled Himself

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11 (NASB)

Soaking Can Be Compared To Making Pickles

“Soaking can be compared to making pickles. There is a classical Greek word study on the Greek words bapto, meaning to dip, and baptidzo, meaning to immerse. Making pickles is a good way to illustrate soaking prayer. The recipe called for the raw fruit to be dipped in boiling water to blanch or sterilize the cucumber, using the word bapto which means “to dip in and out quickly.” Then it called for the cucumber to be immersed, using the word baptidzo, and soaked in the brine and the pickling solution for several weeks. What happens during this soaking time is that the marinade or the pickling solution soaks deep into the flesh of the cucumber until it takes on the flavor of the pickling solution so that it no longer tastes like a raw cucumber. This is what we mean by soaking. May you be so marinated in the presence of the Holy Spirit, soaking in the River of God, that you no longer “taste” like your old, raw nature any longer, but you have taken on the flavor of the Holy Spirit. “Pickle us, Lord, in the marinade of the Holy Spirit. Soak us in your wonderful presence until we become more and more like You.”

from: www.living-light.net/soaking_prayer.htm

Breath Prayers

“The Bible tells us to “pray all the time” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 Msg). How is it possible to do this? One way is to use “breath prayers” throughout the day, as many Christians have done for centuries. You choose a brief sentence or a simple phrase that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath: “You are with me.” “I receive your grace.” “I’m depending on you.” “I want to know you.” “I belong to you.” “Help me trust you.” You can also use a short phrase of Scripture: “For me to live is Christ.” “You will never leave me.” “You are my God.” Pray it as often as possible so it is rooted deep in your heart....Practicing the presence of God is a skill, a habit you can develop.”

from: The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren p. 89

Cultivation of Humility

“Ultimately, there can be no effective expansion of your life’s mission and ministry, no fulfillment of the specific purpose He’s called you to, apart from the cultivation of humility in your heart and the weakening of pride in your life.”

from Humility: True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney p. 169

Enjoy God's Presence

“...the spirit is as fitted to enjoy God's presence as is the crystal to reflect the sun.”

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), The Interior Castle or The Mansions

Only Vaguely Realize We Have Souls

“As this is so, we need not tire ourselves by trying to realize all the beauty of this castle, although, being His creature, there is all the difference between the soul and God that there is between the creature and the Creator; the fact that it is made in God's image teaches us how great are its dignity and loveliness. It is no small misfortune and disgrace that, through our own fault, we neither understand our nature nor our origin. Would it not be gross ignorance, my daughters, if, when a man was questioned about his name, or country, or parents, he could not answer? Stupid as this would be, it is unspeakably more foolish to care to learn nothing of our nature except that we possess bodies, and only to realize vaguely that we have souls, because people say so and it is a doctrine of faith. Rarely do we reflect upon what gifts our souls may possess, Who dwells within them, or how extremely precious they are. Therefore we do little to preserve their beauty; all our care is concentrated on our bodies, which are but the coarse setting of the diamond, or the outer walls of the castle.”

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), The Interior Castle or The Mansions

In Everything Give Thanks

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NASB)

Clothe Yourselves With Humility...God Opposes The Proud

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:5b (ESV)

Union and Communion

“The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.”

James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), Missionary to China

Today’s Breathing Room Podcast Interactive Soaking Session With Brenda Craig and Candace House Click Here

Cares of this World

“As a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensations of that new world.”

Isaac of Nineveh also known as Isaac the Syrian (circa 700)

Called to Carry Crosses

“I love the Jabez prayer—Lord bless me, bless me—but any theology that denies the reality of suffering is not a Christian theology. The cross is a bloody, painful, agonizing thing, and Christians are called to carry crosses.”

John Crowder

On Your Bed

Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah

Psalm 4:4b (NKJV)

Would Not Depart

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Exodus 33:11 (NASB)

Consistently Carve

“One of the most violent things you’ll ever do is wrestle down all the competing elements in your calendar and consistently carve out the time to shut yourself in the Secret Place....”

by Bob Sorge: Secrets of the Secret Place

Enjoyment of Jesus

“Dear reader, there is nothing in this universe that is easier to obtain than the enjoyment of Jesus Christ! Your Lord is more present to you than you are to yourself! Furthermore, His desire to give Himself to you is greater than your desire to lay hold of Him.”

Madame Jeanne Guyon (1647-1717), Christian Mystic

Soaking

“Soaking is not a new concept, but we are rediscovering it after so much of the modern life and contemporary noise has invaded our church meetings and our church life. Over the past 10 years or so, our modern definition of Christianity has finally turned from works and performance, to worship and intimacy.

Through the Renewal came to us a fresh revelation of the Father's Heart of God and the 20th century Church has been impacted forever. And so we have learned to just stay put, open our hands, close our eyes, and receive prayer, experiencing the most amazing manifestations and the deepest changes: forgiveness, healing, renewed strength, visions, commissions, confirmations, affirmation from the Father...

Taking time to simply be quiet for a few minutes in a day could demand planning and discipline. But what if we would simply "show up" and be silent before God, letting Him pour over us His affection, letting Him reveal our own hearts to ourselves, and as we do, finally learn to become familiar with God's language? In turn, we could just respond by whispering, "Yes Father, I receive, I let go, I give you, I will do, work in me, heal, save, restore..."

In the wake of the Renewal, for a couple of years now we have coined the term "SOAKING" as being that which we do when we lay down before the Lord, with no other agenda than to meet with Him, people praying over us in a non-interfering way, the sound of soothing music pouring over the room as anointing is being released and experienced.”

by Soaking.Net

A Peaceful Spirit

“Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved.”

St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1833) Russian monk & mystic