Awesome ….

I’ve just got to post this video…. I’m a part of the Daily Audio Bible community (www.dailyaudiobible.com) where anyone, anywhere, who will listen can hear the Bible read to them aloud.  Brian Hardin is the group’s founder and the voice you hear when you listen to the audio.  He reads a portion of the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms and the Proverbs every day … and we go through the entire Bible in a year.

It has definitely been a good habit I picked up.

Recently, Brian went to Africa – to places like Rwanda and Uganda and he posted a video of his trip there.

I’m not very good at embedding videos…. so, go here or here to see it.

As a descendant of Africa myself, this video makes me want to see it first hand. So for myself, I will be saving to get to Africa on my vacation next year. I will make this a goal that I am articulating here: To go see my Spiritual sisters in South Africa next year – God helping me! And then, to Alece’s part of the world.

So, as you watch this video and hear my heart…. pray for me… and
follow the desires of your own heart – coz probably God put them there in the first place….

Personal Devotions: Faith in Action!

Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? (James 2:14-17, MSG)

I’m reading through the book of James with a friend.  This morning, while reading James 2, the concept of faith being inextricably linked to works was highlighted.  The fact is, you can’t have one without the other.  As the Message Bible continues:

¹⁸I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

You need both.  It’s so important that both faith and works be together that The Message has a word picture of a corpse if they are separated:

Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? (vs 20, MSG)

and

The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse. (vs 26, MSG)

So, here’s my action!  James also mentions what ‘religion’ means  to God…

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27 (NIV)

My friend, Alece, is the president of a ministry Thrive Africa, whose mission, from their website, is to “disciple Believers, equip leaders, and strengthen the Church in Southern Africa.”  She continues, ” We accomplish this through AIDS prevention, pastoral development,discipleship classes, youth camps,mission trips, and more.”

I placed a banner to their store on my blog, and I’ve been folllowing Alece’s story on her personal blog Grit and Glory.

²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

She has become a blog friend – one who I connect with through her words on her blog, and through her story… but reading this Scripture today I am inspired to DO SOMETHING.  I am thinking about my finances and what I can do to help her ministry, but the SOMETHING I can start with is free… highlight her, her ministry, and their need here.

Thrive Africa needs assistance. Here’s part of the need from their website:

We have set a goal to raise $80,000 in new support by June 1.

$60,000 in one-time gifts by April 15

to get us up-to-date on our operating expenses

$20,000 in new monthly commitments by June 1

to continue our programs at current levels.

It is a God sized request for a God sized vision.  I want to help.  And I’m asking all to help as well.  Let us not just hear what the word says. Let’s do what it says, and help.

For more information, go to Impact South Africa, from Thrive Africa.

And get to know Alece, and her inspirational and authentic story at her personal blog – Grit and Glory.

Testimony of FIRE!

I’m about to share another AWESOME testimony of God’s power, but for once – it isn’t mine! haha!  (This post may get long, so bear with me, ok?)

One of my closest friends (actually, my Spiritual sister Jen, who lives in South Africa) was telling me about a meeting that she was going to lead in her home.  She was meeting with about 20 women, and she and I were having a discussion about it beforehand.  It started with a conversation about the manifestation of gold dust.  We’re jumping into the middle of our conversation:

Rob: well God has just given u the strategy and told u how he wants the meeting started 🙂 Leave the rest up to him 😀
For them to have the fire, u will have to carry it … it wasn’t for nothing that I said it should come to u early… God can and will move, but with u in the fire early he can move through u to release on the others much easier.

Jennifer: AMEN…thats been my prayer…in fact a few days ago…i felt the Lord tell me that the power is in my hands……just to release it….and at that time the meeting wasn’t scheduled as yet
so yes…i feel i need to release the FIRE onto the ladies and for them to take back to their homes, families, churches (different churches they all are from) and their situations….
cos i can sit and counsel with them…but if i give them the FIRE of God…then they can make the necessary moves and changes on their own by the power of God!

So after that Friday’s meeting I asked her what happened… this is what she said:

Jennifer: there were abt 20 women there……and the Glory just fell…..literally….with the manifestation of Gold Dust…..women were set free….broken ones were healed and the ones who were desirest and yearning for more….received the gift of prophecy…..we truly had the dancing hand of the Lord there……by 8a.m. the next morning….no one wanted to leave…..the Spirit of the Lord just filled us up….What amazed me was the obedience of the people so much older than me ….that just became submissive to the Spirit of the Lord and cos of that they received a greater breakthrough…..i am gettting calls left right and centre of breakthroughs in peoples lives and in their spiritual walks

PRAISE GOD….It was awesome stuff!!! And over me I just felt the demonic hold over our lives just break….a women there that never spoke a word in the prophetic….broke into this new level of the anointing and the Lord gave her words for my life…..

Rob: WOW : COOL STUFF 😀

Jennifer: oh i have so much to say…..the Lord allowed me the night before to bless three cloths…more like shawls.. red, gold and purple..

well [one of her best friends] and i prayed over them the night before and i said that i would keep them away until the Lord shows me how he was going to use them in the meeting

and lo and behold he did……

She interrupted herself to tell me about a dream she had that was relevant to her meeting:

well before i go on….let me tell u about a dream…i had few days before the meeting…l it was about a murder and the cops were raiding my home and i was feeling guilty…..

And then she continued:

Jennifer: well i forgot about that dream until the Lord pressed in my spirit to read ps 51 before the meeting

and when i read it aloud…especially the part about have blood on our hands…and being guilty…i nearly fell to the floor when i remembered the dream

and yes…thats what the Lord wanted us to do…get on our knees and truly repent….we spent like an hour doing this….it was phenomenal

Rob: my word ….

And here’s the awesome part – God sovereignly moving to direct the meeting with the cloths that were blessed the night before:

Jennifer: just as we were on our knees the Lord told me to get up and get the red cloth….of course….THE BLOOD OF JESUS….washes away our sins
and so it went on….after cleansing….the Lord made me take them through the tabernacle…and then bring out the gold cloth…THE GLORY! that went on for a while….
and then eventually…..ABUNDANCE, BREAKTHROUGH, PROSPERITY, ROYALTY……the purple cloth….

Rob: wowwww

Jennifer: and that was basically the night…interwined with loads of prophetic words, words of wisdom, knowledge etc…but different women in the group…all guided by the Holy Spirit

And as an epilogue … she told me about what happenend when God told her get the cloths:

Jennifer: …well this part about the cloths….i know it was from God….well as we were on our knees….remember i got up first and ran for the red cloth….and just dropped in one of the ladies on her knees…she had no idea what i was doing….she just nearly collapsed under that strong anointing…and at that time…[my best friend] gets up from being flat out and was just abt to run for the cloths…and she saw me already started…..she barely could get the words out! She was saying,”Jen, the Lord just told me as well about the red cloth…..”  i just stood back and marvelled at the Lord.

***********

So that’s it.  What an awesome testimony – of hearing the Lord, obedience – and the Glory!  I loved the progression: from the Blood of Jesus to the Glory to the Abundance, referenced by the Red, Gold and Purple cloths.  She was worried that she was rambling, but I think she hit the nail on the head, don’t you????

Has anyone else seen Gold dust? Any other manifestations of the Spirit?

Testimony: Another soul free!

“Glory to God in the highest heaven
Peace to all men on the earth…”

I have just come from two nights of deliverance ministry – praying with a friend of mine in South Africa! We’ve been starting at 3 AM my time because I am about 6 hours behind her in Durban, so it was 9 AM her time, and we spanned two days because I needed to prepare myself for work at 5:30 my time….. but SHE IS FREE!!!!!!!

She was very prepared, and very willing. Exercising God’s authority routed the demonic hordes, and yesterday, although only half done, she was so light inside she just wanted to go and celebrate! We finished the second half this morning, and again, I exercised the authority in the name of the Lord and routed many devils.

Again, God showed his awesome power over distance – and I bless God for the Internet, and for Skype, that made the connection possible. It was great to hear her voice for a change rather than connecting via words on a page! So unfortunately, there is no transcript to post this time, but God has connected me to some wonderful people in South Africa!

One thing that really stood out – when we were battling a spirit of depression, it did not want to leave! We battled and battled for a while, until I called on the angels of war to drag this foul demon out of her. She told me that as soon as I called out “Angels!” she felt this cloud lift off of her – immediately!

Another story – one demon tried to call me out on a particular sin. I had fallen in that area, but had repented before God prior to this ministry time. The demon was trying to shame me – I was ministering to a female, and my wife was also there. But it had the opposite effect: shame is not a part of my make up! I laughed out loud and told that demon, “We are not dealing with me. We are dealing with you! My sins are under the blood… and so are YOU. COME OUT!” In “two two’s”, as we say in Barbados, or within a short space of time, that demon came right out of her!

We battled a flirtatious multi personality as well that she named and renounced before it left – and a spirit of poverty that was on her family through a curse. A spirit of suicide also was on her via a curse, but every one of them were subject to the name and authority of JESUS CHRIST!

HALLELUJAH!!!!