Un-Forgotten

Darkness has prevailed, the storm has not abated, and yet, God is with me in this boat. I can feel Him. I feel Him in the solid calm even when I sometimes have to raise up the sword He has placed in my hand. This morning, I got up, hearing Him asking me to make my bed and get into His Presence. He wanted me to read through the life of Joseph. My initial [and secret] response was a frustrated boredom. “What more could there be in that story for me? I am tired of believing.”

Some background. The devil has been on my doorstep a lot lately. In the form of hostile people who think that I am not good enough to have what God has blessed me with. He, the devil, has felt free to take from me using the excuse of what is traditionally acceptable, what his agents think should be in and outside my house (this one is due to my pair of shoes that have mysteriously gone missing) and what he deems is within my limits of well-being  So he takes away and gives me illness, my household and I. He gives me heartbreak, loneliness, rejection, and try as I may to reject his sordid gift, it sits there on my doorstep and in my chamber, proudly festering, bringing in the exceedingly putrid. I feel homeless, like I have moved but still have no clue to my address. I feel imprisoned  forgotten, unlovable ..and when I cry out and expect this expression of pain to expel the agony that is my life and soul, I lack relief. There is no catharsis. I must sit silently…and wait for God. That is the background of this state in which I tried not to get out of bed this morning.

So I tidy up as much as my strength can allow. In the last two weeks, I have survived the onslaught of pneumonia, gas poisoning and malaria. Not to mention the heart issues…and then I sit. “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that You are God and that I Your servant, have done all these things at Your command.” I pray along with Elijah of old. But am mocked by the ‘immediately the fire of God fell from heaven‘ and I sit deflated wondering if I should also now raise up the prayer of Jabez. I remember ‘to obey is better than sacrifice’, I go online and begin reading the story of Joseph. From Genesis 37.

My response; initially, that his story is eerily familiar. I feel like I have re-lived Joseph…ahem, at least some of his major seasons…especially the tail end of his story before his glorification. I feel like I have sat marinating in it for too long. Its time to move out…then I get to the part where God makes other people’s dreams come true through him, and how he remains forgotten. I have come to terms with that part. God taught me a long time ago that He rarely works out His breakthroughs through people He has blessed through our lives…and to give without expecting to be paid back. But it is a lesson I learn daily still. Especially when you love deeply…you learn to open your hands and heart fully as you give…and not to be surprised by the biting and breaking thrown back at you in response…and to again open your hands and heart at the very next opportunity .

Then God takes a hold of my spirit, my soul, my attention…and this is the word He causes me to declare over my life, and which you can also take upon yours if you like .

“PLEASE REMEMBER ME TO THE FATHER. BUT EVEN IF YOU DON’T, GOD’S SET TIME FOR ME WILL COME, UNEXPECTEDLY, AND HE WILL RAISE ME UP INTO THAT WHICH HE HAS FOR ME. HE WHO PROMISES IS FAITHFUL. HE WHO GIVES ME THE DREAM, IS THE KEEPER OF DREAMS. I WILL NOT STAND IN OFFENCE AGAINST HIM BY DOUBTING WHAT HE HAS SAID TO ME, BECAUSE THOSE WHO KNOW ME WELL DO NOT SEE IT IN ME, MY SET TIME WILL COME, EVEN THOUGH MY DAYS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTOMLESS DUNGEON PREVAIL…GOD STILL SEES ME. HE WILL BRING MY CASE BEFORE THE ONE HE HAS PREPARED TO PROMOTE ME. ALSO LEARNING THAT I MAY HAVE A REVELATION OF EXACTLY WHO HAS BEEN SENT TO BE PARTY TO MY PROMOTION…BUT I CANNOT MANIPULATE THE TIMES NO MATTER HOW DEEPLY UNCOMFORTABLE I AM WITH MY CURRENT SITUATION; I MAY HAVE TO REMAIN HERE FORGOTTEN A WHILE LONGER, BUT WHEN GOD’S SET TIME COMES, HE MAKES SUCH AN APPEAL OVER MY DELIVERANCE THAT NO ONE CAN SIT STILL UNTIL I AM WHERE HE WANTS AND HAS DECREED I SHOULD BE!”

Suddenly, everything changes. It is like God Almighty has risen in my boat, and has spoken to the winds, the storms, to the biting and the breaking…and though the night still prevails, morning has broken. I can almost hear the feet of the soldiers headed my way, the keys to my deliverance clanging in their hands, and though my heart still hopes and prays that they will not walk past the door of my dungeon, it is no longer a distraction. I will represent God, one more day, one more time, in this place where He has chosen for me to do so, until He decides to raise me up from among the dead and forgotten, to His chosen heights, among the living. I am convinced, that I am unforgotten.

vipslit@yahoo.ca

“But remember me when it goes well with you; and show me kindness, please; and mention me to Pharaoh, so that he will release me from this prison…Nevertheless, the chief cupbearer didn’t remember Yosef, but forgot him…At the end of two years, Pharaoh had a dream…In the morning he found himself so upset that he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one there could interpret them for him. Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today reminds me of something wherein I am at fault: Pharaoh was angry with his officials and put me in the prison of the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. One night both I and he had dreams, and each man’s dream had its own meaning. There was with us a young man, a Hebrew, a servant of the captain of the guard; and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us — he interpreted each man’s dream individually. And it came about as he interpreted to us — I was restored to my office, and he was hanged.Then Pharaoh summoned Yosef, and they brought him QUICKLY out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh. ”…The proposal seemed good both to Pharaoh and to all his officials. Pharaoh said to his officials, “Can we find anyone else like him? The Spirit of God lives in him!”

So Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Since God has shown you all this — there is no one as discerning and wise as you — you will be in charge of my household; all my people will be ruled by what you say. Only when I rule from my throne will I be greater than you.” Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Here, I place you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Yosef’s hand, had him clothed in fine linen with a gold chain around his neck and had him ride in his second best chariot; and they cried before him, “Bow down!” Thus he placed him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I, Pharaoh, decree that without your approval no one is to raise his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” Pharaoh called Yosef by the name Tzafnat-Pa‘neach and gave him as his wife Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On. Then Yosef went out through all the land of Egypt.

Yosef WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD WHEN HE STOOD BEFORE PHARAOH king of Egypt…But Yosef said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Am I in the place of God? You meant to do me harm, but God meant it for good — so that it would come about as it is today, with many people’s lives being saved. So don’t be afraid — I will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he comforted them, speaking kindly to them.

Yosef continued living in Egypt, he and his father’s household. Yosef LIVED 110 YEARS. (Maftir). Yosef lived to see Efrayim’s great-grandchildren, and the children of M’nasheh’s son Makhir were born on Yosef’s knees.”

Genesis 37-50

Learning from our Beloved, How to Best Love Them

If you recently saw me in town, and I seemed to be jogging on high wedges, and talking to myself as I did so, do not worry…I am not unwell, I am just growing up. I don’t know what to feel as I write this. Being in a relationship sometimes does that to you. If you let it.

A relationship brings with it certain expectations. For those of us who have waited long for God’s promise to manifest, with regard to a spouse, the disappointment is magnified when God presents someone, whispers to you his or her name and says – “…this one is for you, ‘To Have and To Hold’. “ And you cannot stop thinking out loud “Lord are You SURE!!!! S/he is not what I thought my prayers have earned me . I definitely do not measure up, but then again, neither do they? How can this be?” Make’s me wonder just what exactly we thought the answer to our prayers would be like. That happened to me last year. And the issues it presented just showed me how  grossly unprepared I was…ahem…still am, for the grown up race of being in a serious and committed fellowship.

So then I find that the scripture ’Can two walk together unless they have agreed?’ rings true in canal as well as supernatural matters. I used to be athletic…but, well, lets just say that these days, my steps are more carefully determined and taken. He, my sweetheart, is still given to covering distances in huge gulps…and my heart rate cannot handle it. When he will not slow down to keep in step with me, I feel rejected…I interpret it to mean that,somehow, he is ashamed of being seen with me. And then, he has never, in my presence, introduced me to ANYONE  as his woman. It’s always  something else, with ‘my neighbor and my friend”, topping the scales [Ok…I confess, I refer to him as my Bible Study and Prayer Partner to retaliate…but hey, he started this ]. Biblically beautiful terms, powerful terms…but vague and easy to misinterpret. And again, I prefer other terms…like ‘Love of my life’ etc etc. I so understand him – which annoys me further. You see, we ARE  an odd couple…but I am learning that the best couples are odd…unexpected…like God strikes His Paintbrush to startle us out of the status quo…by making something out of what was not there before.  Genesis 1 …the very beginning of God’s Word tells us that this is God’s favorite Modus Operandi.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

 The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face

of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface

of the water. 

 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

 God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light

from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness

He called Night. So there was evening, and there was morning,

one day.”

Genesis 1:1-5

God makes something, and even though it appears to be disorderly, His Spirit still covers His Work of art. I can never read this without being struck by how ‘Artsy’ this beginning is…it seems as though God just happened to make something beautiful because of the beauty that is Him. I hope you understand that last sentence…am trying to. So am patiently waiting for God to work, particularly in me, so that I am upgraded to something He considers good in this relationship and in others as well.  Not one day but ONE FLESH. But I digress from the title…let me go back.

Being introduced by, and walking with my sweetheart in particular, has really helped me understand what God means when He defines the parameters by which He, not others, defines my relationship with Him. How do I introduce God to others, in relation to myself? Do my words capture the true state of our association? What about how I act towards Him? Not that this is an accurate measuring rod for my friendship with God, but if someone were watching my walk with God – even casually, would s/he think ‘they are soo together?’ or would they wonder if the world has become populated by people so lonely that they talk to themselves for seeing two in the space of 10-15 meters who seem to be having a deep and animated discussion with themselves? [You can feel my frustration by now right?] Does God have to go through the agony of controlling His Jealousy when He watches me bond with others in the way I should be with Him more naturally? Do others slander God, or me, for the way I have related with Him? Do they judge Him adversely because of the way I have presented Him to them? When I don’t understand something He is saying or doing, and I comment out of my ignorance, how many people have I misled into dismissing him as a potential ‘Eternal Husband’ for me and for themselves?

I have understood in these questions and challenges, that God has made me intricately in His image. That if I am able to face my own disillusionment with my canal relationships, then I may just be able to face His disappointment as He relates with me. So then, do I stop…do I give up? God has taught me that you don’t give up on someone because they don’t measure up in the first 10 to 20 years . You keep waiting, keep loving, allowing your love for them to become stronger, allowing your voice to raise up in love to encourage them to be the best lover they can ever be; and sometimes dispensing some tough love by way of discipline if a particular characteristic in them, is detrimental to your relationship. This may or may not include a temporary, or permanent separation,  BUT the latter…God resorts to, only when we have demonstrated to Him, that we are determined not to be identified with Him and walk with Him anymore. He is Almighty – He is Gentle.

Who is He…That Man by your side,

The One Who walks beside, and sometimes ahead of you,

The One Who carries you on His Shoulders,

And sometimes cradles you on His Chest,

When the walk overwhelms you?

Who is He…That Man by my side?

The One who walks beside, and often leads me,

The One Who carries me on His Shoulders,

And sometimes cradles me on His Chest,

When the walk has overwhelmed me?

He is my Eternal Lover, my Father, my Life Companion

He is my very Breath, The Joy that fill my Life,

He is my Eternal Husband, My King, My Boss,

He is my Healer, my Protector.

On His Person He bears the scars that remind me

How eternally loved I am

In His Voice, His Expectations, His Touch, I am reminded

Kept aware,

That for Him, our walk is one eternal,

And that He is not willing to drop me even though I love Him back

Imperfectly.

This Man…He is my very Life, my God.

So, if you ever catch sight of me in town, jogging on my relatively high wedge shoes, and I seem to be talking to myself, know that, even though things have been really rough, its not that I have gone insanely lonely, but, simply that, I am keeping up with the growth of the answer to my prayers…God is perfecting us.

Shalom.

vipslit@yahoo.ca

MY HEARTS CRY FOR 2013

After a really really eventful last day of the year, and a night-time in which I was to weary to cry, pray, talk to anyone, or even worship…I wake up wrapped in the Grace of God….joyful, triumphant, hopeful. My cry is for you and I to be restored back from all the places to which we strayed, sometimes in an attempt to seek sanity away from The Presence of God. There is no soundness of mind apart from Him as we cannot ‘out-wise’ God. That is just the way it is.

My Hearts cry begins with ‘Those whom God has put together…” and ends with ‘…LET NONE PUT ASUNDER’. I have cried for myself and for many others, as I watched them grope around trying to find a stable place to place their broken hearts and lives, after their homes were torn, sometimes by their own hands. I have watched them try to put their lives back together, after God-ordered and ordained relationships crumbled…and they thought they could easily get fixed if they connected to another partner. I have watched people walk away from their divine connections, in ministry, in vocation, in careers, in friendships, jobs, and businesses, because satan appointed and anointed an expert to slander the intent of God in bringing them together. I have watched as nations tore themselves and others apart by the same satanic slander of God…and His purpose for putting a set of diverse peoples together as one nation.

My cry this first day of January 2013 is a reminder to satan and his agents that they are defeated, and that I, VIP KNOW IT TO BE THE TRUTH! I know at least one other person, who does. So because we are in agreement…The ones that have strayed are coming home, repentant and forgiven!. God is bringing back that which He has ordained to be, and the purpose of His Spoken Word will be accomplished. Go back to Him…What God has put together CANNOT and WILL NOT be sustained independently of Him. Let us go back to God.

““Come on, let’s go back to God.
He hurt us, but He’ll heal us.
He hit us hard,
but He’ll put us right again.
In a couple of days we’ll feel better.
By the third day He’ll have made us brand-new,
Alive and on our feet,
fit to face Him.
We’re ready to study God,
eager for God-knowledge.
As sure as dawn breaks,
so sure is His daily arrival.
He comes as rain comes,
as spring rain refreshing the ground.”
Hosea 1:1-3

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 13,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

God and I on a Date

The Almighty God took me out…”The Hand of The LORD was upon me, and He brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.”...and set me in a place that looked and reeked of death beyond death. I wondered what He was up to but had been convinced by His resume…”He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and ALL His ways are just. A faithful God who DOES NO WRONG, upright and just is He.“…so I ignored the slander of satan that usually began with words like ” Has God indeed said…”

My Beloved asked me a simple question as we stood in that perplexing place that had devoured a human army before, possibly stronger than I…a question that He is asking you today, “Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, You know!” How else do you answer The Almighty in a place like that…a place where your sight and senses are full of death and decay? And He gave me an assignment “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live; And I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and I will put breath and spirit in you, and you [dry bones] shall live; and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].“

I am doing as I have been told, and finding that the place of certain death, is becoming for me, in the Presence of my Eternal Father, a place of SURE LIFE. I am learning to speak into every situation, in my family, my nation, my region, my world, the Truth as God declares it, not as my human senses perceive it. And since He knows everything, He will determine the outcome of every situation I find myself in. This is what He said to His friend many many years ago, words that echo into our lives today;

“Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you [back home] to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord [your Sovereign Ruler], when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people. And I shall put My Spirit in you and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then you shall know, understand, and realize that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it, says The LORD.”

What an outing that was! Allow Him to take you out from time to time “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service…Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].“
References: Ezekiel 37:1-14, Genesis 3, Deuteronomy 32:4 and Romans 12:1-2

shalom,

vipslit@yahoo.ca

Do The Women in Your Life Know Who and Whose They Are?

Tell me, do the women in your life, know the power and authority of God in which they live and move and have their being?

via Do The Women in Your Life Know Who and Whose They Are?.

Dear God, Do You Have Other Sons Aside From These?

Okay girls, I know especially for the single and searching, this may be a question you ask often as life presents you with options: tall and handsome, but not the choice of God. Impressive, doing well for himself, but not the choice of God. Has great potential if they found someone dedicated enough to do the mining, buffering, filling, and ordering, but still, not the choice of God. After several resumes are presented, interviews conducted, you re-advertise for that vacancy in your life. And you go through the same drama all over again, until you are convinced that there is something worse about you than these excellent displays of manhood – there must be. Surely, everyone that could be an option NEEDS to be in this same room at this same time! Surely, everyone that could be an option, must have heard about the search, the interviews and availed themselves for such a high price.

A sad thing that we do, is that we get convinced that there is something wrong about the standards we have set based on our knowledge of ourselves, our circumstances, our life purpose and needs that are valid. Many get exasperated and settle for the tall handsome one who looks like he not only has great potential but is already doing well for themselves. Then they settle into the horror of the realization that ‘themselves’ is the ‘only who’ for whom their chosen ones have any intention of ‘doing well’. No one else matters. By then though, you have entered into a life binding contract, from which any retreat, often has the effect of making you look blotched and him, more handsome and appealing because no one else can see what you fled from. Ahem, or perhaps, the only reason you could get him, was because the others had seen what you have lived and would not have touched him with anyone they cared about’s pole, let alone their own 10 foot one.

Anyway, since this blog is about Living and Leading, am not just discussing marriage and romance; I am going back to the original context of these words, 1 Samuel 16. They were directed to a father, who had a splendid display of sons, one of whom, was God’s choice for Israel’s King. But he was not in the room where the obvious choices were being made. He was not appropriately networked, packaged or branded for the office of national leadership. In fact, the only things he seemed to be trusted with, by those who knew him best – his father and brothers, were the family’s herds. And if God had not pushed the prophet further, and reminded him of the peril of his previous choice, David would have remained among the herds probably. But God is Sovereign…everything happens for His Purposes. And often, He is behind your searching, exasperation, and the decision to advertise again, so you can be sure you have ‘your man’ so to speak. Your rightful King, President, CEO, Pastor, Husband…Wife, Queen.

So here we are again, on the verge of National choice yet again. Some of you have gone past it, and have new leaders. I hope you heard God and waited for the shepherd boy to be brought in and anointed King before you put your feet up and considered your civic duty done for your country. Do you think, your nation needs, even deserves, a King that is chosen by God? Do you think that leader would lead your country to be the best, because The Creator of All that is Excellent is responsible for his or her ascent to that seat? Is there work needed, taxing work, to push your nation to become all that God created it to be, and there is need for a man rightly anointed and appointed to lead that work? Are you conscious, with acute soundness of mind of the amount of work needed, the tightness of time, and the kind of person needed to catalyze and sustain this as a mirror of God creative and redemptive work? Have you sometimes sat down and looked up , and cried out to God ‘Do you have another option? Are these what we HAVE TO work with?’ You know you yourself could never do the work, but you have an inkling of what is needed “Oh God do you have other sons aside from me and these? Do you still have a purpose for my country? Is it ending or is it beginning?”

I mentioned the prophet and his last choice? The tallest, handsomest man with the tendency to care for self, and to elevate self above all else? Sometimes I listen to us discuss the choices we made in our leaders, and I wonder, did we really push for God’s best, or did we settle for the one that looks a little better than us, can be manipulated to worse depravity than we think ourselves capable of if we so wish, the one with most aesthetically appealing external qualities, and then take the lead in calling in the lynch mob when they seem to disappoint us at some point during their endeavors?

Let’s be honest with ourselves, we have now, the leadership that we chose and have sustained. We know their limitations, and have not often sought to build their capacity, but have weighed them down, with our scathing criticisms even when we have no idea why we do so, or what we ourselves truly want. Have we sought the Heart of God for our Nation? Have we heard His vision for our Nation? Have we sought Him for the team that would best work that vision into reality from the chaos we now are in? Have we sought Him, for who would lead this visionary team or do we simply decide and then try to manipulate His will into making things more comfortable for us? Do we really want our nation becoming, at the closest opportunity, what God had in mind, when He created it? Dear God, Do You have other sons and daughters aside from these in the room?

Shalom

vipslit@yahoo.ca