Weekly Devotion

The Israelites followed the Lord when the cloud lifted from the Ark and settled again when the cloud of God stopped. But this proved to be tiresome. They had to break and set up camp a number of times and soon enough they didn't want to follow the Lord anymore. They started doing what they do best, complaining. They complained about their hardship to one another.

God didn't take their complaining lightly and His anger blazed against them. Fire from the Lord raged among them and destroyed the outskirts of the camp. The people came screaming for help to Moses and when he prayed the fire stopped.

Now interestingly enough only a verse later (Numbers 11:4) they started complaining again, this time about the manna that they have to eat, they were sick and tired of it! They wanted meat! Now Moses was also getting aggravated and he said to the Lord:

"Why are You treating me, Your servant, so miserably? What did I do to deserve the burden of a people like this? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep complaining and saying, 'Give us meat!' I can't carry all these people by myself! This load is too heavy! I'd rather You killed me than treat me like this. Please spare me this misery!" Numbers 11:11 - 15

It was very interesting for me to note, that God killed some of the Israelites when they complained, but He helped Moses when he complained. He helped Moses by selecting seventy other leaders and also putting His Spirit on them to help Moses with his burden. Now why did He help Moses, but He killed the Israelites who moaned?

It is because the Israelites moaned amongst one another and didn't take the problem to God and discussed it with Him. They could have approached Moses and said that they were really tired and that they needed a rest and some water or whatever, and Moses could have presented the problem to God on their behalf. But they didn't, they murmured and complained amongst one another and bemoaned their lot. Moses on the other hand presented his problem to God and asked God to relieve him of his burden. And that is why God helped him but didn't adhere to the moaning of the Israelites.

We too tend to discuss all our problems with our friends and family and we tend to bemoan our lot especially if we feel that we have been unfairly treated. But that is not the right order. Of course we can discuss it with people close to us and receive advice from them, especially if they are God fearing as you are, but we need to go to God first. He should be the first One that we discuss our problems with. He should be our pillar of strength and no one else. He has after all the best advice, as He is the only One who has the bigger picture in mind. I am sure the Israelites would not have moaned as much if they could have seen the beautiful Promised Land that they are about to conquer and how wonderfully the Lord will look after them there. With such a prospect in mind, the little hardship they had to endure now would seem trivial.

And the same is true for us. God has the bigger picture in mind and is in the top position to give you the best advice and even more than that He can also help you if you'll let Him. Remember that next time you encounter a problem and run to God first.

Father, please forgive us that we tend to discuss all our problems with those closest to us and not with You. We want Your advice instead, as we know that it would be the best advice. Help us to rather focus on You and Your plans for us. Thank you Jesus. Amen

The Israelites moved forward in an orderly fashion and God was pleased. As we spoke last week, He is a God of order and works through order. Obviously He can work through chaos too, as He is almighty, but we learn right through the Bible that 'order' is one of His characteristic and therefore He prefers order in everything He does.

Good, so now we are back to where the Israelites are moving and a wonderful phrase struck me.

'Whenever the Ark set out, Moses would cry, "Arise, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered! Let them flee before You!" And when the Ark was set down, he would say, "Return, O Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel!" Numbers 10:35

Isn't it beautiful? Moses proclaimed God as King and proclaimed that His enemies are defeated and he also claimed and ask God to be with them, because without Him they were nothing. The power of the tongue and the power of prayer are amazing. This statement reminded me of the time when David approached Goliath. Now I am sure I don't have to relate the story to you, as this is one of the first stories they teach the kids in Sunday school! But in short, David was just a boy who used to look after sheep, who was about to take on the giant warrior of the Philistines in order to rescue Israel from them. If he was able to defeat Goliath the Israelites will win the war, and if he didn't, the Philistines would have won the war. So it was quite an important task that he had on his young shoulders.

But he did something amazing. He didn't approach Goliath with trembling hands and shaking knees or even with a sword. He didn't make excuses for himself or try and hide behind the army; no he approached Goliath by proclaiming the might of God! He walked confidently up to Goliath and proclaimed God's victory. Listen to this:

'You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the Name of the Lord Almighty - the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone will know that the Lord does not need weapons to rescue His people. It is His battle, not ours. The Lord will give you to us!" 1 Samuel 17:45 - 47

Wonderful! How beautifully said. Notice that he gave God all the glory and didn't take any for himself, because he knew that without God, he was nothing. Without God by his side he knew that he would certainly die. He proclaimed God's victory and that God will be with them.

We need to learn from these two great men. We need to approach our 'enemies' by proclaiming God's Word and by proclaiming His victory. We need to speak a positive outcome as well as what God has placed in our hearts. That is the most important part of any victory we want to claim for ourselves. We need to realize that on our own we amount to nothing, but with Him, we amount to everything. He is the One walking in front, leading the way. Proclaim Him as God and King of your life and walk in spiritual victory with Him.

Father thank you for all the victories You have won for us. Thank you that You are there with us and ready to go into 'battle' with us. Without You we might as well stop, but with You there is overwhelming victory! We praise You and bring Glory to Your Name! We love You. Amen

As we learned from last week, the Israelites moved when God's cloud lifted up from the Tabernacle and they camped when God's cloud stopped and rested on the Tabernacle. They followed God's perfect leading. But when I read this something struck me and that was the order by which the Israelites were instructed to move. They didn't simply jump up and move in whichever bundle they wanted to, no, God gave them a very specific order in which to move in.

Each tribe moved together with their banner and their leader in front. And each tribe moved in a specific order too. First of all Judah, then Issachar and then Zebulun moved out. Then the Tabernacle was taken down, then the Gershonites and Merarites (divisions of the Levites) were next in line in the march, carrying the Tabernacle with them. Then the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Simeon and the tribe of Gad moved out. Next the Kohathite division of the Levites moved out, carrying the sacred objects of the Tabernacle. Then the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin moved out. And last of all the tribes of Dan, Asher and Naphtali. So as you can see, they moved out in an orderly fashion and not as they deemed fit.

Why did they move out in this manner? Well, to make the organization of these two million people easier, but more importantly, because God is a God of order and not of chaos. We can see that right through the Bible. We serve a God of order. You can clearly see it in the way everything was created. God could have created everything in a split second if He wanted to. He didn't have to create everything over six days. But He did, why? I think one of the main reasons is because He is a God of order and He wanted to give us structure in our daily living by providing a model of a seven day week for us. He didn't have to create time, days, weeks, months and years, but He wanted to. He wanted to give order to His creation.

And due to this Paul warns us of disorder in the church in 1 Corinthians 14:26 - 33. He warns the Corinthians not to flaunt their new spiritual gifts and let chaos reign in the church as each person wants to show off what they have heard from the Lord. He asks them for order, because when there is order in the church, everyone can learn from one another. There is a time for everything and each has to wait his turn.

'For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace, as in all the other churches.' 1 Corinthians 14:33

And also in our lives God works in order. He has an order and a plan that He wants to work out in your life. He is not going to barge in and take over, no He is a gentleman, and He wants to work through order. And if your life is chaos and you are scattered all over the place, maybe you should sit down and order your life a bit. I am not saying you should become a perfectionist, but try and focus your thoughts and focus your energies on what God wants you to do. You are part of His orderly Body and you will function best if you are orderly too. It is so easy to become scattered minded and to run around and try to do a thousand things at a time, but that is not how God works. He wants you to focus so that He can lead you step by step and show you where He wants you to go.

Father, we are so glad that You are orderly and that You plan everything in the finest detail. That gives us so much peace. Help us to fall into what You plan for us, so that we can have peace and joy, knowing that we are doing Your will. In Jesus' Name. Amen

The Israelites moved at God's command. Whenever the cloud above the Tabernacle moved, they moved and when it stayed, they stayed. They followed and obeyed.

'Whether the cloud stayed above the Tabernacle for two days, a month, or a year, the people of Israel stayed in camp and did not move on. But as soon as it lifted, they broke camp and moved on. So they camped and travelled at the Lord's command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses.' Numbers 9:22, 23

They moved when God moved and stayed when He stayed. And as long as they did that, they were blessed.

In Exodus and Leviticus, the same message comes through. Follow God and obey Him and be blessed or disobey Him and calamities will follow. As we know the history of Israel, we know that they did follow God up and until a point and there after they went their own way, despite several prophets being sent to warn them of the severe consequences of their actions.

And the same applies to us today. When God moves, we need to move and when God stays, we need to stay. But that is very difficult for us to do, especially if staying means that we need to make the best with what we have and the circumstances surrounding us. We would love to see things change, we would love to climb the corporate ladder and earn more money and we would love to move into a bigger, better house, we would love to immigrate to a country where we are not discriminated against based on our skin color, but if God wants us to stay, we need to look up to Him and grow His Kingdom right there where we are. God is more concerned with our spiritual wellbeing than our physical wellbeing and if it is better for me and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God that I stay, then I need to make peace with it. To stay is His perfect will for my life and I should be content to know that that is the best for me and the best for His Kingdom.

And the same goes for when He wants us to move. It might be extremely uncomfortable, especially if we are happy where we are, if we are cozy and settled in, if we have a lot of friends and a lot of things going right for us, then it is very difficult. It would be very difficult for me too! But history shows that depending on God and His leading, is what provides everlasting peace for us. Nothing else. Only He knows best. The joy of the Lord would be our strength and He would guide us on the best path. We need to learn from the mistakes the Israelites made and rather follow His leading.

Lord it is so difficult for us to stay and it is so difficult for us to move. Help us to rather follow You, then none of it would be difficult. Only Your will matters and only what You want for our lives. Please help us to follow You no matter what. We can only do that with Your Spirit helping us and thank you that we can know that He does. In Jesus Name. Amen

On Saturday there was a big party at one of the corporate companies about 5 kilometres (as the crow flies) from our home. They started when the rugby started at 17:00 and they continued until we went to bed. The disturbing part for us was that they never stopped. The music got louder and louder and the comments of the entertainer of the party got more perverse. Every hour we kept thinking that they would surely stop now, but when the clock struck 04:00, we realized that they were not going to. I got up and had my personal time with God as I couldn't sleep anyway. I was very tired and of course also irritated by the turn of events. I couldn't believe how people wasted their time and God given potential by drinking and partying. They were surely all going to climb in bed now and sleep the whole day, while we will get up in an hour or so's time and get ready for church and a day with God and family together. As I was contemplating this, God spoke into my soul, "I have to listen to parties like this every night you know, every single day in every single country." My heart stopped. He was right. I suddenly felt very sorry for Him and for all the evil in the world He has to witness day in and day out. This one party was nothing compared to what He has to observe from Heaven every single moment. But then He reminded me of something else.

When we were in the Waterberg Nature reserve two weeks ago we were awakened every day by the singing of a multitude of birds. And every morning it became clear to me that these birds were singing their praises to their God and Maker. And I realized that every day in every continent, birds are singing to the glory of our King. Every moment there is a dawn somewhere and therefore there are always birds singing.

This reminded me of the angels that are also singing God's praises. Have you ever read Isaiah 6 where God's throne is described, Isaiah also describes the angels singing to the glory of His Name day and night:

"Hovering around Him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is filled with His glory!" Isaiah 6:2, 3

And in Revelation 4:8:

"Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the One who always was, who is and who is still to come."

God has to witness the evil of this world day and night, but He also gets praises day and night. But I am quite confident in saying the following: God would LOVE to also receive praise from us because we love Him and are His children. He would love our praises to drown out the sounds of evil. He would love to see His children uniting to give Him praise. He would love to hear our hearts singing out to Him and giving Him the honor and glory He deserves.

Make a decision today to consciously remember every day to praise Him. Let praises be on your lips day and night. Let your whole life be a worship to Him. I am going to end off and use Psalm 150 as our prayer today.

"Praise the Lord! Praise God in His heavenly dwelling; praise Him in His mighty heaven! Praise Him for His mighty works; praise His unequaled greatness! Praise Him with a blast of the trumpet; praise Him with the lyre and harp! Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with a clash of cymbals; praise Him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that lives sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord! Amen."

We were in the Waterberg for the long weekend. At the lodge we stayed at we went for a guided walk to a cave with Bushmen paintings in. On our way to the cave the guides showed us an interesting plant. The plant looked dead. It was dried up and withered. The guide broke a part of the plant off and gave it to us. He said we must put it in water and the next morning there would be green leaves sprouting out everywhere. He said they called it the 'resurrection bush', the Jesus of the bush. And sure enough he was right. The next morning the piece of plant was lush and green, it was a beautiful sight to see. Something that looked dead was now very much alive. This made me think. We were on our way to the Bushmen paintings and I realized that the Bushmen knew about this plant too. But did they understand what it meant? I have heard a lot of Christians asking whether the Bushmen ever knew about Jesus. Will they go to heaven even though they never had a Bible or had missionaries that went to them? These questions reminded me of a text verse in Romans 1:19, 20

"For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God had made. They can clearly see His invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God."

Also see Psalm 19:1 - 4

"The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world. "

The Lord speaks through His Creation and He shares the Gospel in various ways for people to see. And then He sends His Holy Spirit to minister to people's hearts. He would have ministered to the Bushmen's hearts too and all other tribes of people in areas where the Gospel has never been preached before. God would never be unfair to them. For those people that have never heard the gospel before, He shares it through nature. He uses nature to communicate His love for them and then He Himself come in the form of the Holy Spirit and knocks at the heart of each of them. Then it is up to the person himself to decide what he will do with this revelation. Will he start worshipping statues of wood and declare that they made the world? Would he start to worship his ancestors and believe that they somehow had a hand in all of this? Or would he listen to the call on his heart and look at nature all around him and believe in a God who made it all possible? God knows what the person decides, it is not for us to try and explain it away.

And if someone decides to follow Him, He will make a way to tell them about the Gospel of Jesus. I repeat, He will make a way. In Revelation it is stated that even angels will start preaching the Gospel during the tribulation and I don't see any reason why God couldn't use angels to preach today as well.

I have heard about an outreach going to an African country to show the Jesus movie to them in their language. And when the actor came on screen that plays the role of Jesus, there was a commotion in the crowd and upon enquiry they heard that these people have seen this man before and He had told them the Gospel. Now the actor had obviously never been there, so it must have been an angel displaying the image of Christ and sharing the Good News with them. Isn't it amazing?

God would never leave the human race to its own fate without giving each a chance. He is faithful and true and He is the righteous Judge, never unfair in His rulings. He gave the resurrection bush and He will use even that to preach His salvation of new life!

Thank you Father that You never leave us be. You are so amazing, so wonderful and thank you that You give each of us a chance. We are so grateful and we praise You for it. Help us also to be willing if You want to send us to someone with the Good News of Jesus. In Jesus' Name. Amen

I mentioned last week that we live right next to the Irene Research Farm. And a month ago there was a runaway fire on the farm that nearly burned down some of the houses on the estate. But thankfully the fire was brought under control. Now this week on the other side of the farm they burned some of the fields that were not affected by the fire for research purposes. It was a controlled fire, but due to the black smoke billowing out on the horizon, it was clear that something went wrong. We went to stand on the first floor of our house and we saw that some of the farm workers' houses caught fire. It was a devastating sight to see. Now due to that fire and a wind that later started blowing, a lot of soot blew into our house once again.

Just after writing the previous devotion I went upstairs to our bathroom to brush my teeth. And there I saw soot lying all around in the basin and on the counters. Instantly I was irritated, thinking when will it start raining that all these soot can just disappear and stop coming into our home! I was getting a bit fed up with it, due to the amount of soot we had in our house weeks after the first fire too. Immediately the Holy Spirit spoke in my heart and reminded me how fortunate I was. A little bit of soot is nothing compared to the workers who lost their homes on the farm. It felt like cold water was thrown over me. He was absolutely right. I was ashamed at my attitude and repented and prayed for those who lost their home.

We are all very fortunate. Just the fact that you are reading this, tells me that you are fortunate enough to have a computer/ tablet/ smart phone to read it from. You are blessed to have internet, blessed to have eyes to see and you are blessed that you are able to read. You are blessed that you are allowed to read Christian devotions and you are blessed to have the time to read this. We are blessed with so much and yet we can so easily forget that.

We all are fortunate and we need to thank God every day that we are. Paul states it in so many places, I'll just quote Ephesians 5:20 for today:

"ALWAYS give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Live with an attitude of thanksgiving. We have so much! A friend of mine shared her story the other day with me and told me how she lost everything and how she only had God left. And it made her realize, that if God is all she had, it was enough, more than enough and she was thankful.

Get up in the morning thanking God that you are able to get up, thank Him that you can see, thank Him that you had a bed to sleep in and thank Him for the day to come and that you can hold on to the promise that He will always be with you.

Thank You Father for so much. We are overflowing with grace and love. Thank you for blessing us. Without You we are nothing, mere dust of the earth. But with You we are more than conquerors! Please forgive us if we are not always as grateful as we should be. Amen

We live right next to the Irene Research Farm. It is a privilege, because we can see the ground being cultivated, we can see planting time and we can see the harvest. We also see and hear the cattle roaming just across from the cultivated fields. Now a month ago there was a run-away fire on the farm. It came quite close to our home. It was hair-raising to see and observe. All I could do was to pray that our home be safe. It was a devastating site. There was smoke everywhere, the trees in front of our house burned, the bird's nests burned, the lovely field of grass burned and even the fire truck exploded due to the intensity of the fire. Afterwards all you could see was black soot everywhere and for days the smoke lingered across the field. And for a couple of weeks afterwards the wind blew all the soot and the smell of the fire into our house. It was really not a pleasant time.

But now that spring is here, I noticed lovely green leaves sprouting out of the seemingly dead trees. I see fresh green grass coming out of the ground amongst the black burned old grass and field. And what amazes me is that it hasn't rained yet. The green leaves come out because there is still life inside. Despite the dreary sight, there is still life. Life that comes out in anticipation of the rains to come and of better days that lie ahead, life that is rooted in the Creator of it all.

I realized that this is the same with us. We might go through times where everything looks bleak and dreary. We might look at our lives and not have much hope that this 'badly burned' part of our lives will ever heal. We might look at our country and think that there is not much hope left amongst the ruins. But as long as God is there, there is life, there is hope, new green leaves can spring forth. Look at what Jesus says:

"The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be alone - a single seed. But its death will produce many new kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives." John 12:24

Every setback is an opportunity to harvest new life. God will always let His new life fill you with hope for the future. Green leaves are not far ahead. No matter the fire devastating everything you hold dear, new life will spring forth. It might not feel like it when we are going through the fire, but we have a wonderful hope of Godly joy and better days ahead to hold on to.

We have a dear colleague that has been through much. She has lost three of her four children, either by accident or sickness and she also have had two husbands who have died. After their deaths she didn't have a job or any money or a place to stay. Her health was also not the best, but she had God. That was all she had and she trusted in Him. Today she works for my husband and even though she still doesn't have much she has God's joy and peace in her. You immediately sense it when you meet her. Her life might represent the burned field, but the joy and peace radiating from her is the green leaves God has given her. New life was breathed into hers and she is an inspiration to all who meet her. She has an empathy towards other people that is deeply rooted and she is a shoulder to cry on. She has helped many people by her story.

I would like to end off with a prayer that she wrote despite everything that has happened to her. May it be an inspiration to you as it has been for me:

"O Lord, You are faithful. From the day of my birth You have looked after me. All that I have I have received from You and it is immeasurable! I can see, hear, laugh and talk and I have a brain that can think. And if there is a tear, You are the One who comforts me. You are great and mighty Lord, You are my life and You look after me. You made the earth and everything in it and a beautiful part is measured out for me. Thank you Father. Every day is full of Your grace, and it is undeserved. Stay with me O Lord, both now and forever. Amen"

My kids love sweets and chocolates like most other kids I suppose. I don't want them to eat too much of it as I know that it is not the best healthy choice for them. So what I do is I put the sweets and chocolates in the highest cupboard possible in our kitchen and when they want a sweet, they can ask me for it and I can decide whether they have had a lot of sweets during the day already or not. Now what I observed was that they didn't let the height deter them. The times that they know they have had a lot of sweets already and that I will say no to more, they make a plan. They get a kitchen counter chair that is high enough and with the one holding the chair, the other one climbs up and reach as best he can for the sweets. The oldest one is now tall enough to reach it. This whole episode made me think. I have never seen someone go to this extreme for a carrot, have you? But the drive and the desire for a chocolate or a sweet drives them to risk the height to get it. They don't even consider the consequences of slipping and falling, the craving for something sweet urges them on.

And this made me realize something. We need to have the same urge, desire, craving to be with God, to know Him better. We shouldn't even consider the price it would cost us, we should simply 'get the chair and climb on' and reach for Him. We should risk everything; give of our time and energy just to be close to Him. I personally think in our walk with God we sometimes lose some of that urgency and desire. We become too familiar with God and we tend to take it for granted that He is there. I know, I have seen it in my own life. And then sometimes something happens that drives us back to Him. But I think it is much better to crave His presence even before something happens. I think that should be our ultimate goal - to know God better.

This correlates with the message concerning South Africa that I gave last week. If we love God, if we crave Him more than anything else and if our relationship with Him is restored to the ultimate level; then everything else will fall into place. You will become more and more like Him and when you become more like Him you will start to do two things. Firstly His love will start flowing through you to others. You will feel His heart beat for the lost and lonely, you will feel His love reaching out and helping others. There will be no effort on your side, it will flow so naturally that without even realizing it you would have helped another of God's children. You are part of the Body of Christ on earth and you will automatically be His hands and feet.

Secondly you will lose your love for this world. Everything this world has to offer will lose its alluring attraction and you would much rather focus on Christ and His world to come. Having treasures in heaven will take on a new meaning and you will rather focus on what is best for His Kingdom and not what is best for you. Your own ambitions and your own agenda will take second place. Paul says in Colossians 3:2, 3 "Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden in Christ in God."

The world will be a much better place if the desire for God once again takes hold of people. People will stand back and do what is best for all in the Kingdom, instead of what is most profitable for them. The lost, lonely and poor will be cared for and everyone will experience God's love flowing through them. Now I know this will one day be the case when Jesus comes and rules over His Kingdom, but in the meantime we can get close, if we get serious with God and be the children He created us to be. Reach out to God like a child reaching for a chocolate and see the difference it will make in the world you work and live in.

Father I love You so much. I yearn for more of You. I want to be so close to You that You are the only oxygen I have. I cannot breath if I don't take each breath with You. Please help us to grow closer and to be more like You, because only Your love can change the world. You are amazing. Amen

Prophecy over South Africa

After praying and asking the Lord for His Will over South Africa, the following message came to me on Thursday night, 22 August 2013 at 1:11 am:

"Arise My people in South Africa. Arise from every tribe, language and color. The rams horns are blowing for all to hear. The time has come for Jericho's walls to fall. Gather in prayer and walk in silence around the wall, the priests in front. And in the 7^th hour blow the rams horns and shout in honor of My Name. And you will see the walls of darkness crashing down, not by your power, but through Mine. I and I alone am mighty to save. But you need to start walking around the wall, submitting yourself to Me and My will. Your trust should be in Me, the great I AM. The walls of darkness are ripening for the picking. Are you ready to start walking? Begin by praising My Name, noon and night. Humble yourself before Me, like My friends, David and Moses. No matter their faults, they always returned to Me and served Me with passion and zeal. I want your passion and zeal for Me to shine forth from right where you are. Awake from your sleep and slumber! The time for being lukewarm has come and gone, now is the time to light your fire and fan the flame. Just by honoring Me and submitting everything to Me you are accomplishing much. It's not about your comfort or your ambitions, it is all about the honor of My Name, the Lord of your life. Dead bones need to come together, bone to bone and I will give it the breath of life. Take a deep breath and move in this life, and powerful shifts will start to happen. Away with your sinful nature and allow Me. I am your oxygen, turn to Me South Africa, turn to Me. I will always be with you."

I was amazed at this message as I hope you all are after reading this. But what does this mean for each one of us? I know the Holy Spirit will work in your hearts personally as you read this and point out to you what you need to do. But I would just like to highlight a few things that were also confirmed through messages spoken to the hearts of special Christians that prayed in earnest to our Lord and Savior about our lovely country:

1. The time has come for EACH one of us to reach out and DO something constructive. The time has come and gone that we can sit around and do nothing. We need to take a stand and help in our country where we see a need. There are so many needy people all around us. God will show you where to get involved. We need to wake up and DO something, even if it is only by paying the groceries for the obviously poor person standing behind you in the queue. Even if you do just that you have done more than just complaining about the state of the country. We are part of the Body of Christ and it is time that the Body of Christ be the hands and feet of Jesus that it is supposed to be.
   • Psalm 108:1,2 "Wake up, my soul! Wake up, O harp and lyre! I will waken the dawn with my song."
   • Eph 5:14 "Awake, O Sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
   • Eph 5:16 "Make the most of every opportunity to do good in these evil days."
2. The time has also come to praise God and to take our relationship with Him much more seriously. God needs devoted Christians who would love Him for Who He is and not only for what He can do for them. God deserves to be praised morning and night, not only on Sundays. He longs for a deeper relationship with each of us, because when that relationship is restored, all else will fall into place. We cannot be lukewarm anymore, God wants His children to be on fire for Him. With His love burning inside of us, we will be contagious and can ignite a fire throughout this country that will leave you breathless!
   • Eph 5:19 "Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts."
   • Psalm 108:3 "I will thank you Lord in front of all the people. I will sing Your praises among the nations."
3. The time has also come to watch your tongue!
   • James 3:5 "So also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire." The time for negative talking is also over. I understand that there are many negative things going on, there is no denying the fact, but speaking negatively about it is not going to help one bit! And I would like to go a step further. We shouldn't even think negatively. Negative thoughts are destructive and tap you of precious energy you could have used in serving the Lord. There is nothing constructive in being negative; in fact we have the responsibility to be positive. Our mind is the only thing that we do have control over. Give the control over to God and see the change it brings!
4. Pray for our country and our leaders on a regular basis. This is a command from God, we have to pray for them whether we agree with what they are doing or not. Pray that God will work in their hearts and will bring forth His Will here in South Africa. Jericho Walls launched a wonderful '7 days on the wall' in South Africa for 2013. Go and have a look at www.globalprayerwatch.org. They encourage groups/churches to take any 7 days during this year and pray 24/7 for South Africa. Why don't you mobilize your church/group to join and do that?

We are all called for a time such as this! What are you going to do?

I would like to end off with the song 'The Motions - Matthew West' that I used for my message for 2013. And now I know why the Spirit wanted me to use it:

 "I don't want to go through the motions, I don't want to go one more day without Your all consuming passion inside of me, I don't want to go through my life asking, what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions."

Stop going through the motions and allow the Holy Spirit to mobilize you!

Father, we give our lives over to You. We know that South Africa and the world can only change when we change to become the children You called us to be. Please lead each one of us to know what we should do and where we should reach out and do something. We love You, You are awesome amazing and You deserve all the praise and all the glory. We acknowledge You as Lord and King in our lives and we lift You higher and higher. You are sovereign and You are in charge, thank you Lord that we can know that. Let Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And let Your will be done especially in South Africa. We know that You love us and that You won't forsake us. The plans that You have for us is good, to give us a future and a hope and we hold on to that. You are also in charge of all leaders as the Word tell us and we would like to pray for our leaders Lord. Help them to make decisions based on Your Word, lead them on Your ways and bless them as they turn to You. Lord we are indebted to You and we ask Your forgiveness where we have sinned. Please forgive us and lead us onto the good path everlasting. In Jesus Name Amen