Redemptions Kiss Awakens You! Part 2

If you read my last blog, you will be familiar with Psalm 78.

“Beloved ones, listen to this instruction.

Open your heart to the revelation of this mystery that I share with you.

A parable and a proverb are hidden in what I say— an intriguing riddle from the past.

We’ve heard true stories from our fathers about our rich heritage.

We will continue to tell our children and not hide from the rising generation

the great marvels of our God— his miracles and power that have brought us all this far.

The story of Israel is a lesson in God’s ways.

He established decrees for Jacob and established the law in Israel,

and he commanded our forefathers to teach them to their children.

For perpetuity God’s ways will be passed down from one generation to the next, even to those not yet born.

In this way, every generation will set its hope in God

and not forget his wonderful works but keep his commandments.

By following his ways they will break the past bondage

of their fickle fathers, who were a stubborn, rebellious generation

and whose spirits strayed from the eternal God.

They refused to love him with all their hearts.

Take, for example, the sons of Ephraim.

Though they were all equipped warriors, each with weapons,

when the battle began they retreated and ran away in fear.

They didn’t really believe the promises of God;

they refused to trust him and move forward in faith.

They forgot his wonderful works and the miracles of the past,

even their exodus from Egypt, the epic miracle of his might…..”

The people of Israel rebelled and were not faithful to God (78:8). They forgot about the miracles God had done (78:11-12) and put God to the test by making demands of Him (78:18). They lied to Him and tried to flatter Him (78:36), and they continued to turn away from Him even after He did great works on their behalf (78:42-56).

Yet God woke them up with His redemptive kiss! The acts of these painful rebellions in his Word are so that we can avoid the same errors.

They limited God because they put a cap on what He was able to do! They had lost sight of knowing that nothing was impossible for God.

“For with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1:37

Like sleeping beauty, we can forget the wonderful breakthroughs and answers to our prayers, the miracles, healings and love that has already been poured out upon us. Yet like sleeping beauty we have an enemy, whose only aim is to rob, kill, steal and destroy. Steal your peace, relationships, joy; rob you of your possessions, dreams and future; and destroy your health and have untimely death!

Joshua and the elders were exposed to supernatural interventions that there were no natural explanations for:

The phenomenal parting of the Red Sea. (Exodus 14)

The bitter waters of Marah. (Exodus 15)

The manna and quail from heaven. (Exodus 16)

The water from the rock. (Exodus 17)

The Lord’s presence to Israel on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19)

The waters parting. (Joshua 3)

The fall of Jericho. ( Joshua 6)

Achan’s sin. ( Joshua 7)

The sun stood still and the moon stayed in place. (Joshua 10)

They didn’t remember his power.

We can forget our own history!

Our greatest miracle is our own conversion! Do you still sit in awe of that momentous day? Maybe it was a process, or you attended a meeting, or someone shared their testimony with you. That divine moment when the scales fell off your eyes and just knew that Jesus was real, he was alive, and he was speaking to you right at that moment! You moved from darkness into his glorious light. Your chains fell off and your heart was free!

The grass was greener, and the sky was bluer.

That glorious day changed your life for ever; you became God-minded, you wanted to go to church, to attend every meeting, to read the Bible, speak in tongues, heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead! You became that new creation, in awe and wonder of a God who knew you personally, before you were even formed in your mother’s womb, who had a wonderful life planned out for you, written in the book of your life that’s stored in heaven!

Then one day you realised that you had lost the awe and wonder for God.

Life’s circumstances crept in unchallenged, and you began to doubt the goodness of God!

“Listen then to the [meaning of the] parable of the sower:

While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside.

As for what was sown on thin (rocky) soil, this is he who hears the Word and at once welcomes and accepts it with joy;

Yet it has no real root in him, but is temporary (inconstant, [b]lasts but a little while); and when affliction or trouble or persecution comes on account of the Word, at once he is caused to stumble [he is repelled and [c]begins to distrust and desert Him Whom he ought to trust and obey] and he falls away.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the Word, and it yields no fruit.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.” Matthew 13:18-23 AMPC

When we lose the wonder and awe, we become easily offended by what doesn’t go our way. If we can hide our offence in the will of God, then it justifies it! Reasoning takes over outside of the wonder. When you become accustomed to the wonder you begin to evaluate and criticise those around you.

“The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: “Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me.”

Mark 10:13-16 MSG

When we lose the courage for obedience we lose the awe and succumb to the battle, and a person living in compromise is much more nervous about facing the battle, than the person who knows the giant living on the inside of them!

February 1984 in my bedroom was when my life became radically changed forever. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and I found purpose for my life! I began to reminisce with Holy Spirit some of the crazy and exciting adventures we had, me not knowing what I was really doing, just obeying what Holy Spirit was saying. Going up to total strangers, having ‘read’ their mail and telling them what God was saying to them. Climbing into a man’s car while at my daughter’s parents evening who’d had a heart attack and died, praying for him and seeing the Lord bring him back to life and a paramedic welcomed it! Praying outside a local sex shop and declaring it gone and two days later it mysteriously burned down with no loss of life or damage to any other property. The joy of preaching and praying for others watching them fall to the ground under the power of the Holy Spirit. Starting a church where the Holy Spirit could be the boss! We didn’t have any musicians at that time so having to make music tapes, yet the anointing was so strong that people were delivered from demons; glorious encounters with Holy Spirit. Spending hours in his presence being bathed in his love, devouring his word.

There is one occasion that is so deeply embedded in my heart - we had just bought a new family home. It had three floors, high ceilings, a huge landscaped garden with a fish pond with koi carp, a huge kitchen (not that I did a lot of cooking in it!) but it had a wonderful seating area to sit, drink coffee and talk. It was my favourite spot to meet with Holy Spirit every morning with a cup of coffee! He was always waiting for me, I could feel his presence as soon as I opened the kitchen door!

The kitchen needed a paint job, so one evening while everyone was asleep I decided to freshen up the walls in the kitchen. When I had finished, I stood back admiring my handiwork. The Holy Spirit spoke, ‘Do you love this more than you love me?’ I was taken aback; my heart was deeply touched, and I began to cry, ‘No Lord, I love you more.’ I responded. I left the kitchen and went and sat down in the lounge. I could feel him sitting next to me, I don’t remember talking about much, but a couple of hours had gone by and as I got up to leave, I felt his hand on mine as he said, ‘Five more minutes, just five more minutes.’ I was undone. I held my Bible close to my heart, with tears running down my face saying over and over, “I love your word, I love your word.’

Why would God himself want to linger in my presence when he had more important people to spend time with! I didn’t have a worldwide ministry, I wasn’t leading thousands to Jesus, I didn’t have a church or ministry at that time. I was a wife and a mother, struggling with an unhappy marriage!

Holy Spirit wants intimacy with us more than we realise. How many parents out there long for their children to put down their phones and just have a conversation, and how many children wish the same of their parents! Holy Spirit so enjoys your company, He wants to tell us how proud he is of us, the great plans for our lives, to listen to our concerns, to laugh with us, to empower us to overcome everything that this life throws at us. To bless us in every way possible and to pick us up, dust us down and put us back together, better than before when we mess up, make wrong choices, or are on the receiving end of trauma at the hands of another. To have abundant life!

Jesus also said: “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

James said this: ‘ Consider it nothing but joy, my [a]brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. 3 Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace].’ James 1:2-3 AMPC

I take comfort in the fact that he says, ‘when you fall into various trials’ - most of the things I’ve fallen into, just happened, like falling over your own feet; you don’t plan to do it, it just happens!

The rug gets pulled from under your feet, disappointment sets in and often intimacy goes out of the window!

I have had occasions when I have allowed myself to become so overwhelmed with trouble, that I saw no way out and I was sinking under the weight of pain in my heart. There was no prior warning, no way to prepare my mind or heart, it was like an arrow had pierced my heart, ripped it out of my body, stamped on it and now it had lost its rhythm and beat! What hit me spiritually was also affecting me physically. Three major things came in very quick succession, situations in a friendship, in my church and in my family!

For a time, all I could see were the situations, I was overwhelmed and living under the lies of the enemy of John 10:10.’ The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].’

I had got stuck in the first part of this scripture!

Here I was having had so many amazing adventures and answered prayers, then I’d gone from the mountain top to the pit! I felt like Joseph, without the right attitude.

If like me you have found yourself in a pit with no water, look up as help is a breath away.

The story of David at Ziklag can encourage and motivate us to get our eyes off our situations and turn them back onto Jesus!

‘David and his men burst out in loud wails—wept and wept until they were exhausted with weeping. David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken prisoner along with the rest. And suddenly David was in even worse trouble. There was talk among the men, bitter over the loss of their families, of stoning him.

6-7 David strengthened himself with trust in his God. He ordered Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the Ephod so I can consult God.” Abiathar brought it to David.’ 1 Samuel 30: 6 MSG

It’s got to be bad when your friends are blaming you for all the trouble and then thinking of stoning you!

Notice, David encouraged himself in the Lord! At that time, the Holy Spirit came upon a person and the priest used the Ephod as a means of communicating with God. Now we have the Holy Spirit with us, our bodies are His temple. Think for a moment, the fullness of the Godhead, God the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of us and He is sealed within us until that day we meet Jesus face to face. The fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in us, wow!

Have you ever wondered what that might have looked like?

I believe that David reminded himself of all the testimonies that he had in his life of God’s goodness, deliverance, power as with the lion and the bear. The other times he had his back to the wall and God came through, vindicated him, caused him to overcome to succeed. Even the times of his sin, as David acknowledged it and repented and asked for forgiveness, God delivered him and restored him. He was the greatest king that Israel ever had and he was the proverbial ‘runt of the litter’!

God's redemptive kiss is to awaken us to have a determination to remember the testimonies of God's goodness, power and deliverance in our lives, that will strengthen us and empower us to go through whatever life throws at us victoriously.

As you reflect with the Holy Spirit may a fresh faith, hope and confidence rise within you to overcome whatever challenge you may be facing at this time.

May your testimony be a tool to help someone else find victory and hope in the goodness of God today!

‘Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honour, and authority! Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm. Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. And as Christ himself is seen for who he really is, who you really are will also be revealed, for you are now one with him in his glory!’ Colossians 3: 1-4 TPT

Remember YOUR history!