Your Response, Your Responsibility

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

As Uncle Ben once said in the Spider-Man movie “With great power comes great responsibility” I believe we have the responsibility to lead people to Jesus, according to the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us! It is our responsibility to make others a priority, to love, inspire, encourage and equip them to go out and do the same.

It Is Our Responsibility To Establish:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 16 – 19

The last words of Jesus before He left earth was an instruction to make disciples of all the nations. This is the Great Commission, but it has to start with a great decision. We can be good at being good and want to change the world for the better but if salvations isn’t the reason behind why we do things then there isn’t a point to it. Being good with God is “O” (nothing) and I believe we are called to be soul-seeking and not self-seeking. We are not called to sit back and be a stagnant Christian, living just to get ourselves to Heaven. The Great Commission is to seek out as many people as we can to come to Heaven with us.

The moment we made a decision to become a Christ follower we automatically took on the responsibility to become a Christ ambassador. Can I encourage you to be bold, to step up and to take ownership by making use of the power that is at work within you.

It Is Our Responsibility To Impart:

“So Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 1 Sam 16:11-12

My entire life has been one of exclusion, I have always been the one who’s invite was forgotten when all my friends went out, the one who was made to feel unimportant and insignificant, the one who didn’t really fit in no matter how hard I tried. Truth be told this still happens to me up until this very day but God reminded me of David.

David was chosen by God to be King but His own father, Jesse, excluded him when Samuel came around looking for one of Jesses Sons to be anointed as King. David just did what he did without expectation and when the time came where none of Jesse’s other Sons wanted to step up to take on Goliath, David did because he knew God would be with him.

I’ve realised that because I have been through many seasons of feeling excluded and lonely, God has used that as my ministry. I feel it is our responsibility to use what God teaches us, to teach others because our lesson is someone else’s blessing. I may not have many close friends but I do have many people to invest into, many people to love on and many people to welcome and show what it’s like to feel completely accepted no matter what! And just like David stepping into his anointing I believe that even though I may be left out of many things right now in this season, God has a role waiting for me that only I can play. I want you to remember that you are called even though you may feel ignored.

God gave me a word last year that only recently became a revelation.

“After staying there some time, he left and went from place to place in an orderly journey through the territory of Galatia and Phrygia, establishing the disciples and imparting new strength to them.” Acts 18:23

I may not know where I am going, what I am doing or who is going with me but one thing I do know is that I am called to establish disciples and impart strength and so are you! Let your response become your responsibility, the moment you said yes to Jesus is the moment you said yes to His Great Commission. Be sold out for Christ, be passionate and be purposeful. Be a light to those who can’t find the light-switch. The only way we are going to live an abundant life is if we live to see others experience it with us! You are the hands and feet of Jesus so take a stand and fight for those who feel they are not worth fighting for – this is the Core-ageous Movement!

Freedom is Fearless

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la, it’s Christmas eve tomorrow, and we have so much to be grateful for! What a year it’s been, as 2013 draws to a close, it provides us with the perfect opportunity to reflect on the good and the bad and maybe even those missed opportunities! Yes, those opportunities that passed on by because we were too afraid to step out of our comfort zone. Fear has the ability to delay, deviate and discourage us from fulfilling our God given destiny. If we can recognise what is holding us back I believe it will allow us to change our perspective so that we can move forward without hesitation.

Fear of the Unknown.

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said,“why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:24-31

God gave me a vision of soldiers preparing for battle. Not only do they have to prepare themselves physically but mentally too. They know they’re entering a warzone with an arrow pointed at their head but they enter it anyways! They were willing to fight till death with hope that their kingdom will reign supreme! I believe that if we choose to live life with the same mindset, taking into account that we are fighting for freedom, that our King is the King of Kings and that through Jesus Christ we are already victorious then our battleground becomes a playground. I know it's scary to leave your familiar, comfortable and mundane life behind, but true life only starts once you step out into the unknown, you might have to leave some things behind but the road ahead promises more fulfilment than you could ever imagine! I’m a living testimony along with hundreds upon thousands of people who have decided to give their life to Christ. It's easier to fight for something you believe in and to fight already knowing that you've won, therefore the battle loses its sting, fear doesn't have favour but we do! We are highly favoured by the creator of the heavens and the earth. The only thing holding us back is ourselves.

Fear of Change.

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” John 3:20.

Before I decided to do a 360' turn in my life I never really set any time apart to check my heart. I did anything I wanted, whenever I wanted, without thinking ahead as to what the consequences might be. I wasn’t a terrible person, I was just selfish. I never wanted to confront my problems because then I knew I might have to change. I had a massive revelation just after I was saved, during a praise and worship song, someone on stage was stating “Lord look at my heart, take it, it’s yours” or something to that extent, I remember thinking to myself, “Yikes, do I really want God to see my whole heart? All my hidden agendas and motives, all my plotting and planning, my jealousy and anger, my pride, my lust and my lifestyle? Can’t He just look at the good, the bits of my heart that I wanted Him to see?” Then I realised He can see all of it anyways so I was fighting a losing battle! From that moment I decided to change my thoughts instead of just focusing on changing my ways. Don’t be afraid to do some serious soul searching! If you are afraid of what people might think of the new you, just remember you live for Christ now, and your change will bring about more change than you could have ever imagined.

Fear Before a Blessing.

“Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.” Luke 1:29-30

As it is the Christmas season, I decided it would be a great idea to reread and meditate on the nativity story, with that said something really stuck out to me, throughout the Bible whenever an angel appears to bring good news it is often followed with the statement, “Do not be afraid”. When a blessing is staring at us in the face we may feel terrified and confused as to what happens next. I believe it is human nature to always expect the worst. It may prevent us from hearing God’s voice clearly, as we continue to fight His unreasonable requests with our logical mind. The Spirit descended not only for comfort and healing but for direction as well. I know I sometimes fear the Spirit, especially when it comes to praying in tongues or listening to its prompting to do something out of the ordinary like praying for a complete stranger in broad daylight in front of a group of people (yes, He does that), but when fear becomes greater than faith that's when you lose the fruits and gifts of the Spirit! So I just want to encourage you to join me as we venture into 2014 with a heart full of expectancy and faith, the Spirit will move if we give it room to do so. As long as fear is holding us back we are still living by flesh and not by faith. God has overcome all things and if the Spirit lives within us, then we too can achieve all things through Him who gives us strength! God wants us to achieve all He has set out for us, if you feel God prompting you to do something, do it without hesitation, if it doesn't work out it's probably because He wanted you to learn a valuable lesson from the experience! Sometimes God doesn't want us to achieve everything all at once, failure is essential for growth not only in our willingness to never give up but in our faith and hope that we have placed upon our God given purpose.

There are so many fears we have to deal with on a daily basis but if can recognise that we are free, we are favoured and God is faithful in all His ways then I believe we can step into 2014 with our heads held high expecting great things to come because of our willingness to trust God and be coreageous in all our decisions, knowing that if and when we fall, He will be there to catch us and encourage us to never give up. We have an eternity of love and freedom waiting for us, “no fear of condemnation” so keep that in mind when you staring fear in face again!

Can I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and come and experience what Christmas is truly all about!

Hillsong Church Cape Town

Kinetic Way Off Century Boulevard Century City Cape Town Western Cape.

Christmas Eve: 7.30pm

Christmas Day: 8am, 9.30am and 11am

Have a blessed Christmas, and thank you so much for all your support throughout the year! 

I told you so...

Guess who’s back? Back again, Nushie’s back tell your friends, okay I’ll stop before I completely lose all of you and I haven’t even got to the real stuff yet. I know it’s been a month and a half since my last post and most of you have probably came to the conclusion that I’ve given up on yet another blog but to be honest sometimes the spirit moves and sometimes it doesn’t I’ve started on a couple of different posts but haven’t felt strong enough to share it with you. But after digging deeper this Sunday the Spirit decided to smack me in the face with a little bit of a revelation, this post is about being obedient to God and the works of the Spirit.

How can one define obedience in the Christian world? We refer to it as the little voice inside our head, the gut feeling, basically our conscious that tells us what choices to make and which road to take. God doesn’t only speak to us through our conscious but through signs, the word and in prayer. I can honestly say that in the past month I have been numb to His word, I still had my quiet time and prayed every now and then but my mind was so focused on things of the flesh, wrapped up in my daily routine that the light that once shined so brightly started to dim, I focused on my everyday instead of my one day. I felt as if the Spirit left me and that my selfishness and lack of effort in connecting with God on a deeper level completely pulled me away from Him and no matter how much I tried to make the fire burn again, it was working. But if I take a step back and look at the bigger picture, God was always there, He has always been there, He spoke to me through the word numerous times, but I was too stubborn to listen, blinded by what I wanted instead of what I needed.

This is what we do, in our jobs, our decisions, our friendships, our relationships, when God tells us to take a right, we take a left because we think it’s the right way. We justify why we think going left is the best option, we manipulate the situation to make it appear as if it’s God’s will and we try and put His purpose in our decisions. And when things don’t work the way we planned we lift our heads up and ask God “Why did this happen to me?” and I can just imagine God saying “I told you so, I know what’s best for you and my plans are far greater than the plans you have for yourself” yes, I did just adapted that from Jeremiah.

One thing I can suggest is to be on the lookout for those signs and if something in your heart is telling you that “this job”, “this new friendship” “this decision” is not right for you and you know that it will only end up with you being disappointed, it’s probably the Spirit prompting you to make a u-turn and get back on track. If it’s not according to His will, then we should be willing to make a decision to walk away from the things we want because it isn’t necessarily the things He wants for us. Remember the devil comes like a thief in the night trying to steal your joy and happiness, and by you doing life your way you make it so much easier for him to shoot you down with fear, rejection, loss, anger, resentment basically anything that separates you from your mission, calling and purpose that God has set out for you.

On the way back from Langebaan two weekends ago the Spirit spoke to me, I took out my iPhone and jotted it down and I feel it’s important that I share it with you. As Christians we like to focus on how Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we focus on the sacrificial love that is Christ, but we often disregard the fact that the real miracle occurred 3 days later when Christ rose from the dead. He defeated death. His disciples believed He was gone for good, some lost faith and others doubted His resurrection. We are often so focused on what we have lost, so focused on the things that don’t go the way we hoped or planned forgetting that somewhere, somehow God is already at work, pre-planning our victory, restoring our loss, reviving our spirit and when we are presented with the miracle we need to be bold enough and confident enough to step out onto the waters in Faith knowing that we can’t chose our destiny when our destiny was already chosen for us by the creator, the King of Kings, the alpha, the omega, the beginning and the end. (Sorry thought I would try be a pastor there, it sounds so much better when they say it...)

Be obedient to God’s will and I can assure you that favour will follow your every step, invest time in speaking to God, He will respond, and put God at the center of your world, if you follow the light you will never truly be lost.