The LORD of Heavens Armies

What an amazing title!

I am loved by a God who is Lord of Heavens Armies.

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Yesterday was difficult. Yet instead of battling against the spiritual forces, I allowed them to ruin my day. Often we fail to acknowledge the work of satan in our lives trying to prevent us from doing God's will. Satan does not have authority in our lives but he does have the ability to mess things up if we allow him. We need to take the authority given to us and use it to reclaim what it rightfully ours as sons of God. We must learn to fight in the heavenlies whilst remembering that God has the victory. The daily battles we face will not have any effect on the battle that has already been won when Christ died for our sins. The daily battles we face will have an effect on our present day lives if we do not live in the power God has given to us.

We have as our Commander in Chief the Holy of Holies, the Almighty God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Our daily victories are secure if we put our trust and faith in Him and don't allow satan to rob us of our daily inheritance. When we go in to battle in the spiritual realms we are not fighting alone, but alongside the multitude of God's angels who are under the orders and authority of God. Our victory is assured!

All we need to do when satan attacks is acknowledge the attack and go in to battle with the Lord of Heavens Armies knowing the victory is secure.

Honour God with your sacrifices

Malachi 1

6 "A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honour? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, 'How have we despised your name?' 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, 'How have we polluted you?' By saying that the LORD’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favour? says the LORD of hosts.

I was challenged by these verses about my offerings. The offering we should give on a daily basis to God is our worship. Yet how often do I not bother to even give God the time of day? How often do I fail to open my Bible, let alone read it with a view to allowing the Holy Spirit to spend time talking with me?

When I go to church on a Sunday, I love to worship. I love to sing and to be an enthusiastic worshipper. Sadly, I'm easily distracted. I watch others, my mind strays or I just sing because it makes me feel good. My heart and spirit are not always fully engaged. These acts of worship are like the lame and sick animals that were presented for sacrifice.

I've always tried to be punctual and get frustrated if others make me late. I get annoyed inside when people arrive for a meeting after the start time. To me, the meeting start time is when the formal part of the meeting begins, but just as important is the time before when we meet and welcome our friends and catch up on life. Yet many people arrive for church at the start time or later. They chat and go to their seats slowly. The meeting begins late because so few people are ready to begin at the appointed hour.

Isn't this just another form of polluted offerings?

Our corporate time of worship should be as disciplined as our personal time. I show a lack of respect to God when I arrive late or spend time chatting. I show a lack of respect to God when I neglect to read my Bible or talk to him each day.

Father, You are a Holy God and my offerings to you should reflect my love for you. Forgive my lack of respect, forgive my casual attitude to your word. Father, I thank you that you always forgive me when I repent. Your love for me is so immense that you don't condemn my failings when I ask forgiveness, but you open your arms and welcome me with your love. Father, I will make time each day to read your word and to allow you to speak to me. I will begin my day in worship to a holy God who has poured out such love to me. Father, I thank you for your love, your patience and your faithfulness. Amen.

Minor Prophets

The other week I was challenged about where I read in the Bible. "Look for the clean pages, the pages that have never been opened."

Now I have many times begun to read the Bible from beginning to end only to give up after a couple of months. I've rarely read as far as Isaiah, and certainly never read the minor prophets! I remember well a series of Bible studies on the book of Amos despite it being over 30 years ago, but the others? I haven't a clue about them.

I'm going to make an effort to read them, starting with the last book of the Old Testament and working forwards. So, hopefully, there will follow a series of thoughts on the minor prophets. They are going to be thoughts, not intellectual study. I won't be looking deeply into meaning, or probably even the history. It's going to be my thoughts about what God is revealing about himself and myself today.

I hope you find them interesting.

Just passing through or enjoying the journey

The other day a friend saw an image of me sitting on a fast train. It was an express train, travelling at speed through the countryside without stopping. I was enjoying the journey.

As I've thought about the image over the last couple of days I realised how true it is of my life.

I'm really enjoying it! I long for the day when I will live eternity in God's presence praising him. In the meantime, I'm really enjoying my life.

There are ups and downs, times of trial and joy, but in essence I'm excited by what God is doing in this present age. I'm excited by my life. I know there's a lot more to do and see but for the present time - I love living here and now.

The greatest lie

I think one of the greatest lies that Satan tells today's christians are that we are not important enough for him to be bothered with us. Satan will do his utmost to prevent us from doing God's will. We need to acknowledge his interest in our lives and come against him with the authority given to us through the blood of Jesus.

I've had a rotten day at work. I've been so near to tears on many occassions and at other times I've succumbed. Satan has robbed me of my joy, peace, self-control and I've let him!

Yes I have the victory, but on a daily basis we all sin. We make mistakes, say wrong things, do wrong things, think wrong things. We go about our daily lives wanting to live God's way yet not asking him whether what we're doing is actually what he wants us to do. We assume that because we're not planning on sinning, what we're doing must be God's will. We have the audacity to assume we know what God wants us to do.

Jesus spent hours every morning in prayer. Now we can assume he was just having a chit chat with his Father, or spending time praising him. But isn't it more likely he was spending that time asking his Father what his will was for that particular day. Seeking information about who he should spend his time with, which relationships he should cultivate, where he should go. He knew when to heal and when to cast out demons. Yet we often just blindly pray for healing without asking God whether a sickness is a sickness which will bring glory to God, or whether it is a sickness brought about by demonic powers.

Satan is determined that we will not have the power and the victory that Jesus had. When we sit passively whilst people around us are crying out for God, when we don't speak up for justice, when we don't speak or pray or heal for fear of what the other person will think, or for fear of failure - then we are listening to satan's lies and not God's truth. When we don't act because of fear, we are sinning.

My bad day has been caused by my own sin. I have wallowed in fear, frustration and anger and it's prevented me from living the victorious life God has planned for me. Instead of allowing the things that have come against me to show God's victory I've allowed them to destroy my day.

I'm glad I've got a heavenly Father who loves me despite my failings. I'm glad I've got a heavenly Father who will forgive me my failings. I'm also glad I'm beginning to acknowledge that when I allow the bad to cause me to be negative then I'm allowing satan to come in to my life and steal what God has given me. My joy, peace, patience, self-control etc have been taken because I've allowed them to be. My repentance will restore God's glory in my life and cause me to worship my awesome heavenly Father.

I've had one of those annoying days when I've not really felt I've achieved much.

It started early, when I logged on to the net and chatted with my mum in Spain. I told her about my husband, Ian, being ill and she said I needed to get him checked out. Checking out has taken most of the day and resulted in him being admitted to hospital pending further tests. I'm now at home wondering where all the hours have gone, feeling lost because he's miles away in a hospital with no family around him and feeling frustrated because now all I can do is wait for the next batch of tests and their results.

I've done all I can do. Instead of allowing him to sit at home ill, I've dragged him off to get medical advice and I'm relieved that I haven't been wasting their time. The medics are concerned about his welfare too!

If I think about things sensibly, I've done nearly all I can. He's in good hands at the hospital. He's in better hands in God's care. I haven't done ALL I can do, as I still need to be praying. Praying for Ian, for the medics and the staff who are caring for him and praying for his brother when I phone him.

God holds us all when we go to him. He's our strength, our peace and our protector.

He's our creator and he know better than anyone exactly what is wrong with Ian's body and what is required medically to fix it. But my God is a God of miracles and I'm praying Ian will return from hospital without the need for surgery.

Awesome beauty

I was told the other week that I'm a worshipper. Now, in my eyes, everyone is a worshipper to some extent. In my case I was told that I can look at the beauty of a sunrise and it just causes me to lift my heart in praise and worship.

Well I have to agree! I just love God's awesome creation! The picture on this page was taken one morning as I drove to work. I was stuck behind a bin lorry collecting rubbish and had to stop, so I took out my phone and clicked a couple of pics. (Isn't technology great?)

The beauty of God's creation makes me stop and sing! When I walk on the mountain behind where my mum lives in Spain, I sing praises to God at the top of my voice.

Somewhere in the Bible it says that people cannot help but know God exists. All they have to do is look around at his wonderful creation. (I really must find out the reference and learn it!) To me it's the most obvious reason to believe.

I'm getting so frustrated!

I'm really being challenged at the moment about living every moment in God's will yet it seems an almost impossible task!

When I'm driving to work, I get frustrated by the drivers who sit close behind me trying to intimidate me into driving faster - and breaking the speed limit. Surely it isn't God's will for me to be frustrated? So I'm not living in his will at those times.

I get annoyed when other people leave my work space a mess for me to return to - I wouldn't leave theirs a mess, so why should they have so little regard for mine? Getting annoyed isn't God's will for my life.

After almost 9 months of no pain, my husband has been suffering a migraine for several days. Now this one is REALLY frustrating me! I know God has healed him. It hurts me to see him suffer, yet I fail to pray with faith for the pain to just miraculously leave his body.

Talking to my son on the way to his life group I mentioned these things. I said I don't believe we should be surprised when God heals, but rather surprised when He doesn't! Could you imagine how surprised Jesus would been if He spoke health in to a life and it didn't happen? And yet we're told we are to do greater things than He did.

I believe we are living in a time when miracles are happening on a daily basis, I'm just not seeing them on a daily basis in my life and I'm getting frustrated!

More than anything, I'm frustrated with myself because I'm not expecting them to happen!

Freedom!

There's just one word to describe how I feel these days - excited!

God's teaching me so much about living in His freedom, about claiming victory over Satan in my life and about living with God's authority in my life.

God is showing myself and many others the need to be aware of the plans of Satan to prevent us from doing God's will. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Satan will win (he's already lost!), but we often listen to his lies when God gives us a task and so we fail to follow through God's plan. God's ultimate plan will never fail, but we often allow stumbling blocks to prevent us from moving on as quickly as we could.

By recognising our failings and admitting they are sins, we can go to the Father for forgiveness. This then places us into freedom and the release and excitement that comes through repentence is immense! We gain a power to live!

Prayer that releases freedom! What an awesome gift from our heavenly Father!

My Heart's Desires

Often when I think of God giving me my heart's desires I imagine the biggies. In reality it's the little things that make life great. The little things that I fail to mention to friends, and sometimes even family, that seem insignificant to anyone but me.

Yet often it is in these things that God shows me how much He loves me. I've been reminded about how special I am to Him twice in a matter of days.

A couple of days ago I mentioned to my husband that I haven't seen my mum for what feels like ages. Last September she underwent major heart surgery and was so ill before the operation that she died on the table BEFORE they began surgery! It took weeks before she was fit enough to return home and she's seen a slow but steady return to health. Mum lives in Spain and so it isn't a simple job for me to just pop over to visit. I came home from work 3 days ago to be greeted by my son telling me to "Phone Nanny, she's coming over to visit." She's only coming over for a long weekend, but it's exciting because 5 months ago it was touch and go whether she would survive, and now she's fit enough to fly over and visit. But it's more exciting because the announcement came after I had expressed a desire to see her before our planned trip in August. God's given me the desire of my heart.

This morning I woke and had a yearning to chat to my son on the Internet. He's recently returned to the French Alps to ski and chef and I miss him when he's not in the UK. I thought about sending him a text message but know that it's expensive to reply and I hadn't had an email from him so felt he probably hadn't found an Internet cafe this year. I didn't mention any of this to anyone. This afternoon whilst on the Internet, Rob suddenly appeared and chatted. He's met up with someone he worked with last year who has a laptop and the guy was giving him to surf time. I was thrilled to be able to chat. I was more thrilled that God had once again given me my desire.

My family is very important to me and I would give them their desires if I believed it would be good for them. God has the same heart for me. These desires were beneficial, not just to me, but to the others invovled too. God has a family heart for His children. I am so thrilled that He loves me so much that he knows my desires, even the ones I don't tell Him about. He knows my desires and it pleases Him to give them to me.