Food for thought-Being accountable to God -1 Kings 21:28-29 (NIV)

Old King Ahab Sucks!

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."
-1 Kings 21:28-29 (NIV)

About Ahab; (referenced from Wikipedia)
........ Ahab himself was a wicked person,and he was easily influenced by his wife, and this led to his destruction. In Rabbinic Literature, there are three women who caused the deaths of their husbands, Eve, Delilah and Jezebel.



Mr and Mrs Ahab had the habit of worshipping Baal and doing wicked things to their people. Ahab was a wicked man, who was supported by his wife Jezebel to carry out his evil schemes , and also to direct his worship towards pagan gods.
Elisha came along to tell him what God was going to do, God was going to bring destruction upon Ahab, but Ahab repented, and God spared him, however, his children had to pay.

This is quite chilling; that results of sin can be paid forward. If this principle is true, then I must have inherited all sorts of 'paid forward sin' from my forebears.
I wonder if cancelling and negating, and denouncing does anything? I wonder if dissociating myself and my future generations from evil deeds I do not even know does anything? Gods sovereignty means, He decides whether or not my sins will be joined together with my predecessors and paid forward to my children! What are the things in our lives that have become 'gods'? How am I influencing my family in this regard? What behaviours am I allowing to run unchecked?

Whoa! Hold on a minute, before I get to running amok with such thoughts.

Thank God for grace, thank God for saving grace, in which Jesus has already paid the price to wash me clean. However, I must not allow sin to run unchecked, and I must be conscious that what I do now may be paid forward to my children and my future generations. I must be aware that my position as a woman in the family is important in terms of my sphere of influence over my husband and children.

I know for sure that Women are created to be gatekeepers. Custodians of Godly legacy, to bring about the nurture and development of children in an environment where they strive towards Godliness. Women are supposed to make choices that are focused on the big picture, the long term spiritual legacy of the family.

I don't know if I am just making an undue fuss, thinking of how my actions will affect my future generations, but I am certain that I wish to be aware of what I am doing and how that may affect the future. God help me!

PRAYER:
I subsume myself in you Lord, in your power and your grace, so that it is you that will order my thoughts and my will for your purpose.
Forgive me Lord for acts , attitudes and thoughts that do not line up with your will for me or my future generations.
Show me the path to walk , so that your name is glorified, in and through my family and myself.
Unto you be all the glory and power Lord.
Amen.

About Prayer

artist: lara

If you have ever wondered what your children are up to and suddenly realised that you have not spoken to them in any meaningful manner in a while, you might begin to understand how we all behave towards our Heavenly Father .
Sometimes they pop up after a long silence when their pocket money is running short or if they are in some sort of difficulty. I have often thought about the parallels between earthly parenting and my own relationship with my heavenly parent. I find myself examining the nature of my own relationship with my earthly parents also. My parents are my children's grandparents and there are two generations of separation between them. How am I relating to my one generation away parents? The chain of inter relational connections spanning three generations is right here for me to observe, and I am the middle connecting point between my parents generation and our children's. This makes me examine the idea that I am in a pivotal season because as soon as my parent's generation are called back to their maker, I would have moved up a full generational notch, and will no longer be a generational bridge. The baton would have been passed on to our children, and my generation will really have become the 'old people'.
There really is nothing new under the sun!

It seems to me that the skill set that governs the management of my relationships both earthly and heaven ward, must be paid attention to. Companies call it 'stake holder management'. In some forms it is called 'politics'. Politics is a pre- orchestrated plan to carefully align oneself with the right parties for personal gain, advancement in various ways, and for the extension of power. Fortunately, we serve a God who cannot be manipulated and be politicized in any shape or form. I cannot treat my Heavenly Father as a 'stake holder' that needs to be managed.
These thoughts that have come to me this morning, are leading me to recognize how much I can be wrapped up in my own life and concerns that I fail to keep regular, open connections with my creator. I am also led to consider more deeply, the topic we have been discussing in two bible study groups that I attend. That is; the topic of prayer. We have been discussing what it is and what it is not. We are all in one mind in concluding that prayer is very closely related to our individual relationship with God.

I am absolutely certain that my prayer life is a clear reflection of how I relate to God. It is a clear reflection of my communication style, and most importantly my 'attitude' towards God. The tone and manner of my fellowship with Him.

O dear ! There is a wide gap between what I am actually saying/doing, and what my attitude shows. Just like how with earthly relationships one can see that, what someone is saying can conflict with their body language . I am re- examining, my attitude, my body language towards God this morning, and wondering if they line up to the same thing. In addition, am I actually communicating with God as a natural habit on a regular basis, or am I just popping up when I need something or I am in difficulty?

After many discussions at bible study before church last Sunday, there were three important elements that emerged as crucial parts of prayer. I think these encapsulate what I must pay attention to very nicely.

• Conversation
• Fellowship
• Communication

I was further led to put them together in a phrase that I think defines prayer well.

Prayer is a conversation with God that communicates with Him in fellowship.


I almost feel like saying ' go and do like wise' as a parting phrase, but I think I will leave directing anyone for the moment and go ahead to look deep within myself first.

artist: lara

Jealousy- reflections on Genesis37:1-5, 31-35

When Joseph's brothers became jealous of him, there were a few contributing factors to how that came about.
1. Their father's favouritism
2. The content of Joseph's dreams and the implications therein that reinforced the idea gained from their fathers favouritism ,that they were somehow less valued.

If Joseph's dreams were of an abstract nature that did not infer his older brother's bowing down to him etc, maybe their jealousy would not have raged quite as high. But there was the matter of the beautiful coat as well, a constant visual reminder that their father paid special attention to Joseph.

Joseph's brothers are accountable to God for their attitude towards the situation in their family life. Their jealousy left unchecked led them to contemplate murder, and they actually went as far as selling Joseph into slavery.
But God's plan was unfolding, and He still brought about Joseph's rise to be the second most powerful official in the Egyptian government, second to Pharaoh.
What God had already deposited in Joseph unfolded over time to show very clearly that he was a man of integrity. His character and commitment to God, brought him blessings and an elevation to higher levels.
However, he had to walk through very tough trials and times. It was in distinguishing himself during those trials that qualified him to receive the blessing God had already set for him.

I must keep this principle clear in my mind. God has His own plan for my life, my main job is to submit to Him and ensure that in the place of trial, that my yieldedness will bring about Godly character. I can see from the Joseph story that I must not submit to the normal feelings of jealousy that may arise in various situations. I must do well to be sensitive to the feelings of jealousy, and check any unGodly attitude generated from this.

If there is a message through other people's attitudes and words that I am less valued, I must view those received ideas in the light of what God says about me. As long as I focus on the truth about what God says about me, I cannot be tempted by hurtful words and behaviour of others, or by feelings of inadequacy when my juniors or peers succeed beyond my own accomplishments in one area of their lives or other.
It is clear to me that absolutely no one has it all. Everybody must face one challenge or other, and challenges can sometimes come in series. This is a fact of life. I realise that the people I may be envying in one regard will certainly have some crushing challenge that I cannot see. Everyone must walk their own path. I must walk my own path and live with the negative outcomes of my earlier bad decisions, and any disappointments those lead to. I must take responsibility for my own part in the outcomes of my life. I must recognise the unwanted outcomes which arise out of situations that are not of my making. I must trust God to carry me through both my self made troubles and those thrust upon me by life.

Prayer:
Lord God, forgive me for envy and jealousy towards other people who have attained success in areas where I deem myself to have failed. Forgive me Lord for loosing focus of who I am in you.

The woman at the well

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
-John 4:23-26 (NIV)





Wow! Why did Jesus reveal his Messianic identity to this woman at the well? In the eyes of society, and even in her own eyes, she was not fit to visit the well at the hour other people did. She knew that her behaviour and lifestyle was not right. Then God, the saviour of the whole world, the creator of this woman, and all the earth and sky and space is standing right before her at the well.
Oh my Lord God, that is awesome. What is more remarkable is how He pointed out her errant ways, and at the same time ministered healing to her. Our Lord Jesus was never more a demonstration of love personified!
I love this story. I can just imagine the burdens, the sadness, the regrets that were coiled up in her heart that day as she went to the well.

I am excited about how her encounter with Jesus totally transformed her life. There was honesty, there was owning up to her part in her troubled life, and there was forgiveness, there was love from a man who loved her with a totally different kind of love, very different from her many husbands. Something new, and refreshing and pure. A love totally untainted by selfish desires, and completely motivated by compassion and a desire to restore this woman to whole ness.

Jesus is still in the business of restoration to wholeness. I am so humbled by the depth of my own encounters with Him. I am transformed, and I am able to forgive myself because of my encounters with Him. I am free to choose what is right, I am free to walk in God's will, and His promises to me. This is the basis of my heart's worship. I worship out of thankfulness, out of deep gratitude as I become more and more aware of the great thing God has done.
He has come down from the lofty heights of heaven to minister peace to me.