Becoming a Heavy Wait Champion

"Why wait?" The concept of waiting has grown dim in a world ruled by impatience, we want things now, without delay, not grasping the concept of what it means to wait in joyful hope for the promises of God.

Waiting Brings Clarity and Patience Brings Peace:

Towards the end of Exodus we see that Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the commandments written by God. The people grew restless as they waited on Moses to return, having not heard from Moses or God they decided to take matters into their own hands:

"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Exodus 32:1

All too often I have fooled myself into thinking I have waited on God, all the while I've gone ahead of Him and did it my way hoping He would bless it. We are so quick to manipulate situations thinking it's God's will, resulting in failed relationships and wrong decisions, when all we need to do is remain patient in times of pressure, and wait on God's voice of instruction instead of listening to the voices around us, like Aaron did. They say it's a good thing be a go-getter, but I've come to realise that it's better to be a God-getter, as God will work the world for those who work His will. Sometimes holding back requires more faith than stepping out, as we wait on God to fulfil His promises in our lives.

Let God Lead you:

"He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” Exodus 32:4

You have a choice to be led by two things: Obedience or Emotions. We often make our own promises and try lead God instead of letting God lead us, basing our decisions on things that make us feel good rather than waiting on God to give us what's best. "What are you worshiping in your wait?" If something is distracting you from giving God all the glory, then it probably doesn’t belong in your life. God will bless what blesses you and will take away what takes you away from Him. Let Him lead you into all the promises He has for you.

In Our Waiting He is Creating

Just like God waited on us to give Him our heart, we have to learn to wait on what His heart desires to give to us, and as we do that the desires of His heart will become the desires of our heart.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

In Exodus we read that pure Gold was used to create the ark of the testimony, mercy seat and all the furnishings of the tent of meeting. When Moses or any of the high priests entered into the tent of meeting they were anointed with pure oil and pure or sacred spices were made into incenses and set before the testimony. Jewish men also had to be circumcised and only clean animals could be sacrificed to God for the atonement of sins.

God reminded me that He only gives good gifts to His children, so in order for me to be a gift to others, I need to be a pure sacrifice unto to Him. He has given me a pure spirit through salvation, a pure body through wise choices and a pure heart through daily heart circumcisions.

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God" Matthew 5:8

In order to see God in every situation and relationship I have to allow Him to create in me a new heart, circumcising setbacks, struggles and bad fruits from it, like impatience, selfishness and insecurity. Sometimes we don't know what the promise will look like but we should know what fruit we want the seeds of our patience to produce.

Ps Steven Furtick puts it this way: "The Bible is not filled with ways to find the right person, it is filled with ways to become the right person"

Pure means unaltered and not contaminated by the world, let the Bible circumcise and give you a pure heart daily. If  the people in your life are willing to wait while He creates, then you know that God has given you something worth waiting for!

Grace, Grace:

"Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you." Exodus 32:34

Even though the people were impatient and didn’t wait on God, God still led them to the promise. God is a God of His Word so even if you fail He will not fail you. He will direct your path to align with His promise

"Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants" Romans 4:16 AMP

We need to acknowledge that all good gifts are given to us and not taken by us. Once we wait for what is given, it will be valid and guaranteed and won't be taken away.

Are We There Yet?

"To those who by patient persistence in well-doing seek [unseen but sure] glory and honor and [the eternal blessedness of] immortality, He will give eternal life." Romans 2:7

The moment you said yes to Jesus He gave you glory, honour and immortality, now the only thing left for you to do is follow peace and pursue patience. Following peace is like taking a photograph, you need to know what you want to capture, find the perfect subject and wait for the perfect moment, you'll feel it in your heart, the moment the light hits the lens and everything is illuminated. To capture light, is to capture the very essence of who God is. If you can find God in the thing you are waiting for then you'll know it's God's gift and not just a good gift.

I am so inspired by the story of boxer, Manny Pacquiao, he could only dream of where God wanted to lead him. Through his practice and preparation he probably expected to win the fight against Floyd Mayweather, as many others did too. Although he didn't win the fight in the end God used him to win thousands of souls for His kingdom, which just goes to show that God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Every decision needs a vision, every victory requires a battle and every promise requires preparation: this is the power of patience.

The God things in life are worth waiting for...

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! 

Preconceptions, Our Greatest Misconceptions

What a busy week it’s been, haven’t even had time to share my thoughts with you, but after Sundays I tend to be so fired up that the only thing I can think about is writing. Firstly I would like to say count your blessings every week, I am so truly thankful for the blessings I received last week. Quick highlight roll, my blog reached 1000+ views, had a successful week at work, and had a wonderful evening at creative night, although that night ended differently to what I imagined! The shop my dad manages had an armed robbery and my dad was held to gun point, with the robbers constantly shouting “I’m going to shoot you”. Our God was his shield, He gave him peace in the midst of the situation and my dad said he felt at ease. So thankful that God intervened and gave my dad a second chance at life, I could’ve been sitting here right now typing a memorial post about my father but instead this is an opportunity for me to express how short life truly is, be thankful, and celebrate each day, time is a gift be grateful when you live to see another.

Okay let me get down to it, my post today is about preconceptions; making up your mind about something or someone before taking the time to experience things first hand resulting in your own opinions which are influenced by the opinions of others. (Wow that was a mouthful).

I want you to realise that preconceptions are our greatest misconceptions. We don’t know or understand everything but we like to think we do. We look at a situation or at people from the outside (judging a book buy its cover), we stand there tapping our foot and rubbing our chin formulating ideas, and then coming up with our own conclusion.

As humans we tend to like our comfort zone and we become complacent, we become picky about the people who form part of our inner circle and if they don’t really fit in then we become cold or stand offish. We form preconceptions about people because of what others have told us and what we think we know about their history and lifestyle. We think we know why others do the things they do and why they have made the decisions they have made. We chose to believe what we want to believe and like the people we want to like, we want others to fit in the mould we have already carved out for them. But I want to pose this question to you today, who are we to judge one another and think we are any better than the strangers we pass in the street! Who are we to choose who is good enough for us to hang out with, who we want to be seen with and who we want to invest our time in, there is no ranking system the only thing that separates us is difference. Imagine if Jesus were picky, choosing only the perfect, none of us would have a fighting chance. He loves all of us no matter how different we are, no matter how sinful we are, his grace allows for us to be close with him to have a relationship with him even after rejecting him at times, so shouldn't we extend the same grace to others?

Of late I have been accused of being the stalker friend, yes you accusers know who you are, haha but fact is if I ask God to surround me with more friends and he does I am not one to be picky, sitting here and selecting who I want to be friends with, people cross my path for a reason and I want to celebrate that, sorry but a hi and bye friend is just not good enough for me. I want to get to know everyone and ANYONE because I find the differences in people absolutely fascinating. My proposal to you is to get to know someone in spite of who you may think they are. When we dismiss people it may turn out to be a blessing missed.

The same goes with situations, we make up our minds about things instead of experiencing things first hand. We need to trust the fact that things will always turn out for the better. Your greatest endeavours are birthed out of your nevers. As a young successful male singer once said, “Never say Never!” We tell ourselves oh I will never leave my job and travel, I will never go to a happy clappy church, I will never go to a gathering alone, I will never pray in front of people, I will never stand a chance because .... (insert own preconceived idea here). Preconceptions are flat out excuses, excuses formulated by fear, fear of change, fear of uncertainty and fear of failure. Climbing into situations which scare you, and doing the things you would never for a minute think of doing could change the course of your life. We all think we have it figured out, our perfect 5 year plan to achieve success, truth be told you may run into dead ends or detours which may cause you to follow a different route or plan which could result in you ending up at a place far better than your original plans, far greater than the destination you planned for yourself. If you stop and take time to get to know someone and their story, if you care and love others regardless of their choices and who you think they are and see the goodness in them you will give them hope for better days! We are all equally important there is no corporate ladder for life.

Your journey is only at the beginning, take the road less traveled it’s filled with adventure and beauty far greater than the concrete highway you have taken a liking too. YOLO for God (You only live once for God, on earth that is) but if you chose the highway (no pun intended) YOLO could end up being YOUR LOW! Glorify His name in everything that you do, make decisions based on the things that will draw you nearer to Him and surround yourself with people who speak highly of Him. He loves all, encourages all and provides opportunities for all. It’s your choice whether you dive in with full trust or whether you wait at the shore holding everyone’s glasses, flip-flops and hats watching others having fun and experiencing the life you want to have! Go for it, the future is yours!