November 5, 2010

What does the above image convey to you about God’s Word? What is God saying to you as you look and meditate on the picture? What are you expecting to receive from God as you read His Word?

The Word of God is described in Hebrews: The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

The Word of God is alive and active has become a rediscovery for me. So often in the routine and mundane nature of life, you can get into a comfort zone and lose the power of this reality for the Christian walk.

You can read the scriptures but nothing seems to come alive for you and nothing seems to be happening in your life at all. There seems to be little life and little movement as you read the Bible and prayed and lived.

Yet God has not gone to sleep on you but is actively working His purpose out through the power of His word.

In the OT Dabar denotes Divine Word and it means to speak, declare, warn, threaten, command, promise, sing. It is a Word event and it came with an encounter with the Living God through angelic visitation, a Vision, Dream, or a Prophetic utterance and/or action.

In the NT the Word became flesh in Jesus and became the Logos that is so beautifully explained in the first chapter of John’s gospel. That Logos became the written word as the life, the ministry of Jesus, the cross/resurrection/Pentecost event was written down so that the power of the word of God could continue. The power of that Word was released through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and it continues today.

The Word of God is described in the Scriptures as

1. Like a Double Edged Sword:
   • Hebrews 4:12: -”For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
   • Where it brings conviction of the truth about our lives and the direction where we are going
2. Like Fire:
   • Jeremiah 23:29: – “”Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
   • Where it purifies the refines our attitudes and actions and brings revelation of the Presence of Jesus as the disciples on the road to Emmaus discovered.
3. Like Hammer:
   • Jeremiah 23:29: – “”Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
   • Where it can smash down the strongholds and barriers in people’s lives
4. Like Lamp and Light:
   • Ps 119:105: – “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.”
   • Where we have enough knowledge of the next step so that we do not run ahead and become out of step with God
5. Like Food:
   • Mat 4:4: – “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
   • Where it is described as both spiritual milk which we are to crave like new born babies (1 Peter 2:2) and meat (solid food) (1 Corinthians 3:1,2) where we are encouraged to grow in our walk with Jesus.
6. Like Seed:
   • 1 Pet 1:23: – “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.“
   • Where we are to see that we have the seed of God planted in us that will not perish but grow into a mature plant.
7. Like Mirror:
   • James 1:22-25: – “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But 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.”
   • Where we look into our own life and see ourselves for what we truly are and meant to be.

The prophet Isaiah declares about the power of God’s word in this way:

"My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide seed for planting and food to eat. So also will be the word that I speak--- it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do. (Isaiah 55:10,11)

God’s Word declared for you even before you were created in your mother’s womb went out for you and your life and destiny with the promise: it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do. (Isaiah 55:10,11)

What is the Active and Alive Word that God is saying about you, your life and destiny? It will come through His whisper in your life; through the revelation He gives you through the Bible and God’s people; through vision, dream and prophetic word. It will come through the Scriptures as you read and meditate upon them.

Our task is to

• LISTEN FOR HIS WORD
• TRUST WHAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN;
• HAVE THE FAITH THAT BELIEVES THE IMPOSSIBLE
• ACT ON WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN.

Liz and I have been discovering the alive and active Word of God through the books that we have been reading (Above the Line by Peter McHugh and Unmerited Favour by Joseph Prince), the course “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackaby that we are doing in the house groups at church and just recently through the Global Leadership Conference where we have been inspired by ordinary people doing extraordinary things by hearing the whisper of God and acting on it.

We have made contact with a couple of people interested in healing and establishing a healing room ministry. We are meeting on Thursday November 25 at 6.30pm to pray and seek God’s face for this ministry. As we will get people from different healing backgrounds, the challenge will bring them together so that what we do will be consistent. We are praying that God will give us the Spirit gifted people we need to add to our Walking Free ministry. The idea will be to offer healing prayer in a number of ways that will meet more than the physical health needs of the person.

We continue to pray for people. God has given us some new clients to pray for locally on the coast as well at Toowoomba. Our teams are doing a great job of praying and they are seeing God bringing revelation, discernment and healing as they pray for their clients. We give thanks to God for the pictures, scripture, “words” that are the keys which open up the damage that has been locked away.

We still see God leading us to pray so that He can heal. We are still amazed at the different ways he leads us to pray. We prayed for a lady with cancerous growths in her body. As she placed her hand on her body where the growths are inside and as we prayed, God released His healing presence. The lady’s hand and body became warm and then God showed us how to pray for each growth. We had to pray separately and differently for each growth. We believe that God has dealt with the two growths and we look forward to seeing that being verified medically. In the mean time we continue to exercise faith.

Thank you again for the support for my trip to Melbourne for Sha. We are still not out of the woods! Sha needs more money to pay for the lawyer and barrister’s fees to present the case in December. Liz, his carer, has invested her savings over the years to help Sha out and her family members are also giving of their money, We will be writing a report and finding out what the costs will be and then asking God to supply their needs.

Twin Towns Church is getting ready for the holiday season. We have seen attendance numbers diminish during October and November. But the holiday makers will come and boost the attendance. Christmas is around the corner and the Christmas commitments come as each group wants to celebrate Christmas their way.

Next week we have an important meeting as we look to where God is leading us; what ministries need to be considered to start and what people power is available for any new ministry.

Liz went to Adelaide to support her girl friend whose mother died after a battle with cancer. She took the opportunity to see our children and our parents. She is doing well and continues to hear God directing her day and giving the ministry God’s insights which have been very helpful. She is a great intercessor and God uses her praying in an awesome way.

We continue to be blessed financially. Thank you again to those who gave money towards the flight to Melbourne. We will keep the extra funds for occasions like this where people will need help in this way.

May you continue to see God’s activity in your life and the world around you. May you respond to the gentle nudges of the Holy Spirit to pick up the phone, sms, email or visit someone that God lays upon your heart!

May you continue to make a difference for the sake of the God’s Kingdom.

Prayer Points

• Thank God that His word is alive and active.
• Thank God that He speaks through His Word to you and your specific situation.
• Thank God for the people who care and pray for you, your family and business.
• Thank God that He provides for all our needs.
• Pray for discernment concerning the next steps for Walking Free.
• Pray for new clients to come at the right time for our team members. Thank God for the new clients that have just come.
• Pray for new people to become prayer team members. Pray for a team to be established at Coolangatta. Pray for the meeting on November 25. Pray that God will gather people to this meeting.
• Pray for a healing centre to be established.
• Pray for Coolangatta church to continue to be open to the healing work of Jesus.
• Pray for wisdom and inspiration to develop material for training etc to put on website.
• Pray for our prayer teams: Hal and Debbie, Barbara, Robyn, Jenny,  Liz and myself.
• Pray for our management team: John, Liz, Jamie, Robyn, Rod, Jen and Craig.  Pray that we receive God’s leading for our ministry.
• Pray for the Toowoomba site of Walking Free. Thank God for Jenny, Robyn and Barbara whom God uses to bring healing to people. Thank God for their faithfulness to use the gifts that God has given them.
• Thank God for the financial provision of this ministry. We are grateful to the many that are obedient and give to our ministry weekly, monthly and one off. We have been blessed with gifts of merchandise and money, computers and printing. We have been blessed with many talented and gifted people who give of their time, talent and treasure each week to help this ministry have a Kingdom impact.