Happy New Year to you!
It's more than a month since I last wrote on my blog. Time flies and we are already in a new year. It was great to start it off with a week of prayer and fasting as a church. We do two of these every year, one in the beginning of the year and one in the fall. God always does a lot of amazing things when we pray and fast, and this week was no exception. There was a lot of excitement when we prayed, strong praise and worship and people having encounters with the Lord. In one of the services the glory of God came so strong that I couldn't share what I had planned to share. I felt the anointing so strong that I had to go and share it with everyone present, laying hands on them. People had visions, there were prophetic words and one lady was so strongly under the presence of God that her husband thought he has to carry her to the car. She told us later that she was touched in a very powerful way in Kathryn Kuhlman's meetings years back, but this was new and different. We're expecting God to move in our church in a mighty way in the days, weeks, months and years to come. The best is yet to come!
On Sunday I felt led to preach about "the little things". Many times we want mountains being moved in our lives, but in so many cases the mountains that stand in our way have started as something very little. There is a very interesting verse in the book of Song of Songs. The whole book is about Solomon and his wife to be, and it is also a beautiful picture of the relationship between Jesus and his bride, the church, us believers. In chapter 2:10-14 we can read about Jesus speaking to us about a wonderful season that has come. Winter is past and the time of singing has come. Flowers appear on the ground and everything looks beautiful. In the middle of all this he says:
"Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom." (Sgs. 2:15)
The blooming happens right before the fruit starts appearing. And as much as we love flowers, we want to see fruit! In John 15 Jesus speaks about him being the true vine, the Father being the vinedresser and us being the branches. And then Jesus goes on to teach about the importance of abiding in him so that we can bear fruit. Have you ever been in a situation in your life when you feel like something great is about to happen in your life, a breakthrough is on its way, it's like you're in that spring season, but then the fruit still never appeared? Let me ask you, could it be that there were some little foxes, some little things that came and spoiled and ruined your vineyard before the fruit could appear?
Sometimes small things make a huge difference. And if we don't catch the small foxes, those often become wolves, then lions, then bears and so on. Eventually things are out of control and we wonder why. The reason is that we didn't catch those small things at the beginning stage.
I won't share the entire sermon here, it would be too lengthy, but let me encourage you to let God show areas in your life where maybe some small foxes are devouring your intimacy with Jesus. The Bible says: "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." (1 Cor 5:6) It doesn't take much. If we catch those foxes and guard our hearts, we will see beautiful spiritual fruit in our lives. So let's go hunting!
God bless you!
Ps. Feel free to comment if you'd like!
It's more than a month since I last wrote on my blog. Time flies and we are already in a new year. It was great to start it off with a week of prayer and fasting as a church. We do two of these every year, one in the beginning of the year and one in the fall. God always does a lot of amazing things when we pray and fast, and this week was no exception. There was a lot of excitement when we prayed, strong praise and worship and people having encounters with the Lord. In one of the services the glory of God came so strong that I couldn't share what I had planned to share. I felt the anointing so strong that I had to go and share it with everyone present, laying hands on them. People had visions, there were prophetic words and one lady was so strongly under the presence of God that her husband thought he has to carry her to the car. She told us later that she was touched in a very powerful way in Kathryn Kuhlman's meetings years back, but this was new and different. We're expecting God to move in our church in a mighty way in the days, weeks, months and years to come. The best is yet to come!
On Sunday I felt led to preach about "the little things". Many times we want mountains being moved in our lives, but in so many cases the mountains that stand in our way have started as something very little. There is a very interesting verse in the book of Song of Songs. The whole book is about Solomon and his wife to be, and it is also a beautiful picture of the relationship between Jesus and his bride, the church, us believers. In chapter 2:10-14 we can read about Jesus speaking to us about a wonderful season that has come. Winter is past and the time of singing has come. Flowers appear on the ground and everything looks beautiful. In the middle of all this he says:
"Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom." (Sgs. 2:15)
The blooming happens right before the fruit starts appearing. And as much as we love flowers, we want to see fruit! In John 15 Jesus speaks about him being the true vine, the Father being the vinedresser and us being the branches. And then Jesus goes on to teach about the importance of abiding in him so that we can bear fruit. Have you ever been in a situation in your life when you feel like something great is about to happen in your life, a breakthrough is on its way, it's like you're in that spring season, but then the fruit still never appeared? Let me ask you, could it be that there were some little foxes, some little things that came and spoiled and ruined your vineyard before the fruit could appear?Sometimes small things make a huge difference. And if we don't catch the small foxes, those often become wolves, then lions, then bears and so on. Eventually things are out of control and we wonder why. The reason is that we didn't catch those small things at the beginning stage.
I won't share the entire sermon here, it would be too lengthy, but let me encourage you to let God show areas in your life where maybe some small foxes are devouring your intimacy with Jesus. The Bible says: "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." (1 Cor 5:6) It doesn't take much. If we catch those foxes and guard our hearts, we will see beautiful spiritual fruit in our lives. So let's go hunting!
God bless you!
Ps. Feel free to comment if you'd like!
