As Westernised Christians, there is often a lack of spiritual authority in our lives. As a group we seem less spiritually effective than our Asian or African counterparts. The kind of supernatural experiences that these Christians live with every day seem "over spiritual" in comparison to our lives. They don't have the same cultural barriers to spirituality that we do. The reason we are often failing in spiritual warfare, if engaging in it at all, is because we don't give credibility to spiritual matters and we don't understand authority like we should.

We live in a frame of mind that favours the democratic process over a dictatorship. In our culture, we associate any kind of absolute power as being negative, corrupt and dangerous. We live in societies that are controlled (generally speaking,) by the people and for the people. However, as Christians we live under God's Kingdom, which has one absolute authority; our Heavenly Father. This authority has been imparted to us since the Beginning...

Genesis 1:26
"God said, Let Us make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts, and over all of the earth..."

Through Christ we claim back this perfect authority, and exercise it over the Earth. Yet because we do not understand God's perfect, awesome and complete power we rarely fulfill our destinies in Christ: to bring the Will of God to Earth through our human authority. In the Bible there was a man who understood Christ's authority. His story is in Matthew 8:5-13. As a Roman Centurion he knew that if Christ gave an order, through God's perfect authority, it would be done. But because of our democratic mindset we do not take hold of this whole and complete authority. I challenge you to expand your vision concerning your destiny, and what God has called you to bring to completion in the Earth. By declaring His Word you can exercise your authority as a representative of Christ on the Earth. If you can get past your Western mindset, you too can see the supernatural power of our Heavenly Father.

Remember, we are living in a Kingdom, not a democracy. Don't let the enemy trick you into thinking he has any role as a diplomat in this Kingdom. God is sovereign, he is just waiting for his representatives to exercise that authority he has given us.

You Reign - Hillsong United
What could stand before You
As You chose to embrace
A cross so undeserved You took for me
The weight of sin upon You
When You offered Your life
As You walked the streets of men
With fading strength
How could we live but not see
Your sacrifice
Your glory
You reign, You reign
Over everything Lord, You reign
With power, and justice divine
Over everything Lord, You reign
What was Your last thought
As You drew Your last breath
Where the victory was Yours for us to see
And all will know the truth
As we live by Your grace
Every praise to You alone
See now the King of Glory
Love of God become my calling
Father I surrender all I am to You forever

Something about these words sticks to my heart.
I just can't stop singing...!
Perhaps the powerful visual of Christ embracing his torture?
Or of God Almighty so humbled that he walks with 'fading strength'?
Maybe it's the CALL:
"LOVE OF GOD, BECOME MY CALLING."

"Do you think I want to be like this? Every day when I wake up I think: today I'll be different, today I'll be happy, today I'll sparkle, today... by ten o'clock it's gone. I'm dull, I'm dead, I'm me. I can't be different. Oh, I can be what you want when I'm with you and I can be what he wants when I'm with him. But I'm not with him and I'm not with you all the time. I'm with me and I know and that's it. I mean that IS IT." - Judi Dench, Talking to a Stranger (1966)

What would I be without the promises of the Lord?

Isaiah 61:7
Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

He gives us double for our trouble! Though we have hard days that are ugly, and days where we do not sparkle... though we try... He is there.
He makes all things right when we follow Him; he picks up the pieces and holds us together as we heal.
Not only that, but we sparkle in the Spirit. Though things may seem dull and grey, we are washed in the Blood of Jesus, which makes us shining white!
Seeing the world with physical eyes is very different to seeing the world with spiritual eyes. Circumstances change like the wind, but God is always the same, steadfast and reliable at all times.
So although things may look like a mess on the outside, remember that your situation could change in the blink of an eye: for better or worse.
But if we look with our spiritual eyes we can see that God is Almighty, He is Sovereign, and we needn't fear what goes on around us.
Bless.
xo

I wrote the following letter to a Church that pickets the streets with signs reading, "God Hates Fags" and the like.
This makes me sad.

I don't think you're helping people.
I am a Christian, and I believe that homosexuality, as with many other things, is a sin.
In God's eyes all sin is equal, and if we're going to say that God hates homosexuals we must also hold signs saying, "God hates people who cheat on their taxes", "God hates people who lie", and, in fact, as ALL have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, "God hates EVERYONE". But the Bible says that God so LOVED the world that he sent Jesus!
Homosexuals are craving the same love and acceptance as all of humanity, the love of God. Sadly, they're looking in all the wrong places.
They need to know that although God hates sin, he loved them enough to die for them, and they can find that love in Jesus Christ, instead of in the arms of another.
We, as Christians, are called to share the love of Christ with a fallen world. Satan is the one who hates people. He hates us and wants to destroy us with sin. But God wants to save us from that sin. I agree that people need to know they're sinning, but in this fallen world most sin goes unacknowledged. The only way to know the difference between good and evil is through a relationship with Christ, which will only come about through love and acceptance of people who miss the mark.
May God bless you,
Rebecca.

I wrote a Psalm.
Well, I didn't write one of the Psalms... obviously... but I have a prayer book, and as I wrote this prayer straight from my heart (obviously with the aid of the Holy Spirit, without which I can do nothing,) and when I read it back I realised that it sounds like a Psalm.

How I love You! How I love Your ways. You lead me into peace and holiness. Though trouble comes upon me, You are always there!
Though my heart is weak in human strength, You quench every fear. Oh, how I love Your Word! It extinguishes the fiery darts if my enemies.
Though they slander and do evil, You never leave me. My enemies scoff behind my back. Those whom I once considered my closest allies turned on me. They engage in ungodly practices and worship idols.
They claim to know You, O Lord, but they hate Your Word.
Bring them to justice, Lord. Be the loving Father who disciplines His children. Show them who is truly the Almighty One of Israel.
How I love Your ways. How I love Your righteousness. Your mercy and love cover me, they shield my from Your wrath.
Though I am unworthy, You call me Your servant, and You lift me up. You see my pain and suffering, and you soothe my suffering with the healing balm of Your love.
You teach me to have faith; I put my trust in You. Though the scoffers and the hypocrites are out in the street, making a mockery of Your name, I will dwell in Your house, O Lord.
I will seek Your face in my quiet place. They try in vain to drown out Your Word, Your Truth, Your Righteousness by setting up idols and engaging in perverse behaviour. But Your Word, O Lord, endures forever. It will never be shut out. It will permeate the darkness and bring all wickedness into the Light.
I praise You Lord! You alone are worthy! You love and mercy endure forever. Your faithfulness keeps me in Your hands.
Show me Your ways, and guide my footsteps, that Your name may be glorified in all the Earth.
This is my solemn prayer.

It means that the Spirit of God burns things up in your life.
If you burn with love for the Lord, all else will be consumed by the fire, and what's left is God's powerful, selfless love.

Very few people know what love really is. They think love and hate are opposites. They are not. The opposite of love is selfishness. If you put your own interests, desires, ambitions and feelings before those of others, than you are not loving them.

We all do this from time to time, but to walk in love is to continually crucify the flesh and put others first. We live in a society that honours pride, selfishness and arrogance. God hates these things. Proverbs repeatedly warns us against living with an attitude that is selfish, as it leads to corruption and eventually death.

I know this is a bitter pill for many to swallow, but it needs to be said, because 1 Corinthians 13 warns us of what happens when we do not love. All our ambition, everything we have strived for, is worth absolutely nothing unless we are walking in love. Love is not a funny feeling in your guts. Love is not a tingling in your spine. Love is not something you can feel on the outside. Love is something you DO. Love is putting others before yourself.

Love is different.

Read 1 Samuel 1-2:10
Hannah refused to listen to the negative people in her life. She trusted God and worshipped Him in the hardest times. The men around her were always trying to bring her down a peg or two, but she refused to conform to what they expected of her. Instead, she sought after the approval of the Lord.

We could all learn a lot from Hannah! Especially women, as we are so often defined by the men in our lives. There is nothing wrong with seeking the advice and support of Godly men; in fact I would recommend it; but first and foremost we must seek God! He is the one who defines us and provides for us. Hannah knew this, and because of her great faith she bore a son, Samuel.

Sometimes, God shuts things. He closed Hannah's womb, and this caused her to seek after God. There are times in our lives that he shuts things in order that we may birth something greater. Instead of becoming despondent when God removes something from your life, look to God to answer your prayers. Ask Him to strengthen you with His Holy Spirit. Do not despair; the Holy Spirit is there to fill in for your weaknesses, that you may stand strong in Him even though you feel weak. It is a great challenge, but with God's help we can see something that many would consider a loss or a failure as an opportunity to go deeper in Him.