I AM HERE

John 5:5-9 One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no-one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, SOMEONE ELSE GOES DOWN AHEAD OF ME.” Then Jesus said to him, “GET UP! PICK UP YOUR MAT AND WALK.” At once the man was cured; he pick up his mat and walked.

Here again is a great bible account of Jesus’ healing ministry. But before we overlook something let me put some flesh into the skeleton. Here is a man, invalid for 38 years. Yes, 38 STRAIGHT years. And you are right…his second home is a Pool in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate. As it were, once each year the angel of the Lord came down to stir the waters at the Pool. Hence, the first person who entered after the stirring received their healing. But poor man, for 38 years someone else always outwitted him. Then one day, something changed. Jesus happened to pass by the Pool and learned about his fate.

EXTRAVAGANT LOVE: OUR BOX OF GOODIES

From the comfort of my home, I wish you all a HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY and love all year round. I made this box of goodies especially for you, with the help of my husband, Chris and our daughter, Renata. I hope you will find strength and courage each day to fill it with love, goodness and tender mercies for your family, friends and people around you and above all for the GLORY OF GOD.

The blueberries were handpicked by my family and I last autumn and represent OUR LOVE ADVENTURES.

The strawberries were bought and frozen for use over the winter period and represent OUR LOVE RESERVIOR.

The scented candles with an orange fragrance represent OUR EVER GLOWING LOVE.

The tiny heart-shaped lid in the middle concealed the greatest gift a man can give to the woman he loves…my engagement ring…and it represents OUR EXTRAVAGANT LOVE to each other for life!

May the Lord cause you to find LOVE EXTRAVAGANT because HE IS LOVE!

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

Luke 17:21 Nor will people say, ‘Here it is, or ‘There it is,’ because the KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU.

Yesterday was no different…the winterly and cold weather outside is as fierce as it was a week or two ago. But yesterday was different…the battle within was fierce unlike any other in recent times. No, I was not battling with a person, but rather with my feelings and the circumstances around me. I asked God, ‘Why does it have to be this way and not any other way?’ Then as I reached out for the tea pack to brew myself a cup of hot mulled tea, I heard the Lord speak into my heart; THE KINGDOM IS WITHIN IN YOU. I knew that scripture verse but

A JOB PLOT

Job 1:9-11 “Does Job fear God for NOTHING?” Satan replied. Have you not put up a HEDGE around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herd are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely CURSE you to your face.

Two questions came to mind as I read the above scripture verses.
How much does God know about me? How overconfident is Satan about the issues in my life?

You see, Job was a man like you and me…flesh and blood. But there was something that God knew about him that makes me extremely glad. GOD KNEW THAT JOB WAS GOD-FEARING AND SHUNNED EVIL. But Satan had a different and overconfident opinion over this matter. Does Job fear you for nothing? He asked God. And there we go again.

In the past few months, I hear Satan, the accuser of the brethren asking this same question over and over again. DOES

BECAUSE YOUR LOVE…

PSALM 63

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.

BECAUSE YOUR LOVE IS BETTER

PROPHESY TO YOUR DRY BONES

Ezekiel 37:3-4 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, You alone know.” Then He said to me, “PROPHESY TO THESE BONES and say to then, ‘DRY BONES, HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD!

Last night I looked at my husband and made this statement, ‘I WONDER WHERE I WILL BE FIVE YEARS FROM NOW!’ He looked back at me, smiled and said nothing. And yes, while this was a statement made out of my loud thinking, my husband did what he knows best to do…HE DIDN’T TRY TO PLAY GOD. Of course, he has no answers to most of the questions on my mind. Suddenly, in the still of the night, when the house was asleep, I heard the Lord’s clear voice in my heart say, “PROPHESY TO YOUR DRY BONES.”

A LOVE CAPTIVE

Proverbs 5:15-19 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may your rejoice with THE WIFE OF YOUR YOUTH. A LOVING DOE, A GRACEFUL DEER – may her breasts satisfy you always, and may you ever BE CAPTIVATED BY HER LOVE.

Captive is defined as; a person or animal that is confined or restrained; a person whose behaviour is dominated by some emotion:a captive of love; held as prisoner, under restriction or control.

Captivated is defined as; to hold the attention of by fascinating or enchant.

Yesterday, I watched with my husband a movie series based on the novel, WAR AND PEACE by LEO TOLSTOY. It reminded me of the courtship period

STEP OUTSIDE

Genesis 15:5-6 He took him OUTSIDE and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – IF INDEED YOU CAN COUNT THEM.” Then he said to him, “SO SHALL YOUR OFFSPRING BE.” Abraham believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Something happened to me yesterday. Something that I could no longer hold back even from the Lord himself. Yes, its Him who is the PROMISE-GIVER. Its Him who spoke to me about what His plans for my future looked like. No, I did not ask nor pray for the promise. But all the same, he give me this promise:

I AM ADDICTED TO LOVE

With the LOVER’S DAY round the corner, I would like to brag on this one: I am A LOVE ADDICT. First of all, for the love I gain and the love I give. I wake up to love, I live to love and I lie down to love. In essence, my life is saturated with love. I don’t know about you…but if you look around…you will find what I already have.

DUST YOUR SHOES

Mark 6:9-11 Wear SANDALS but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, SHAKE THE DUST OFF your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.

Dust on my shoes? Are you kidding me? Dusty shoes for the modern, urbanized western man is something which is but a rare occasion. But not for me. Having grown up and spent most of my life in Africa, dust on the shoes is a familiar everyday scenario, which tells the untold story of the traveler. In Jesus’ earthly life, dust too on SANDALED FEET also represented