Take-off time!

To start something new
Is like leaping off a cliff
To get a feel for your wings.

The air-rush through your feathers
And the sudden thermal uplift;
The view shudders through me
On such a day.

It often takes a few quiet thoughts
And a few steps in a certain direction
To gain momentum
And then all of the voices that say, you can’t
Get hushed and shoved one by one
Until you can only hear, you can,
Whoever said no in the first place?
It’s only one big yes from up here!

I’m free fall flying now
Catch the surge of a cloud
In a rainbow sunshine sky
And that’s me, it’s take-off time!

J Graser

The Flavour of Miracles

Time is like a thousand years, some days.

One of these days, a thousand years
Could happen, all in the space of a day.

Stars are like pinpricks of Heaven
Where people who have gone before
Peek through, and say, Look up!
Sometimes one of their prayers gets all ignited
With excitement
And a shooting star swishes some praise
Up into the face of God.
We get a reflection.

Tastes are like that,
Wine tasting, you get an idea
And then you want to buy the bottle, if it’s that good!
Well, looking up at the stars, seeing all the Heavenly host
All the saints routing for us up there
Pointing the way beyond the universe
Far beyond the restrictions of time
To where Heaven comes down to earth
We realise, the Kingdom is here, the Kingdom
IS here!

I want to crack open the bottle reserved for the end of the feast
THAT is the wine of miracles, the best is saved
For those who wait til the end
And then we savor the flavour
Of miracles.

J Graser

Consuming Fire

In 2 Kings 2:8 - 15, Elijah rolled up his cloak and the water parted for them to cross. Elisha was intent as he asked for a double portion of his spirit. Then Elijah was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind by a chariot and horses of fire! "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" Elisha took up the cloak and struck the water, it too parted before him so that he could cross over.

It is time for us to cross over to the other side. Jesus has gone before us, into Heaven where he is seated at the right hand of our Father. He has given us his Spirit which is like that double portion mantle. Obstacles part as we walk into the purposes he has prepared for us. We need to take up the mantle of his Spirit. We like Elijah are being caught up in third Heaven encounters as the fire of Holy Spirit carries us in whirlwinds of worship. But there is a difference, we get to carry it into our world and live out heavenly realities here on earth. We carry the whilrlwinds of the heavens and the fires of his Spirit.

In Daniel 3:19 - 29 Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace. "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." (vs 25) We can only walk in the anointing of the holy fire of God by the power of his Spirit, with Jesus who made the way into the holy of holies for us. If we try to walk in this in our own strength, it is impossible. Consider the soldiers who died from the intensity of the blaze. But, we are clothed in his righteousness and can walk in this most intense holiness of love and power, because Jesus accompanies us in the flames. Burn all dross in your holy fires of love! "No other god can save in this way". We become a testimony of God's greatness, the God of impossible realities - miracles.

Exodus 3:1 - 14, the burning bush of unquenchable flame is burning in our hearts with holy love - "I AM has sent me to you". We are at the burning bush of God's revelation in the most intimate place of our hearts. Let us remove anything that hinders us from his Presence, "take off our shoes" as it were and come into His Presence with nothing between us, for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 12:29. We are sent out to others with fire that does not burn out.

Flee to the Spring

In Genesis 16 Hagar flees into the wilderness when she comes to a spring. God speaks to her there and she calls it Beer Lahai Roi, Well of the Living One who sees me. Returning to our First Love is like fleeing to the spring in the wilderness. We come to the end of our ability to figure things out, we don't know which way to turn, or who to turn to for the answers. And then, Jesus reminds us, come. Even in the desert where everything seems barren, there is water for us.

We have a friend who recently went on a trip to Israel. In the dry hills and amongst the sparse vegetation is a spring of fresh water. Our friend climbed to the jumping off point, which was quite high up and took some time to decide whether to jump into the pool or not. Eventually, he took the jump. God takes us to places like this, where we have nowhere else to turn to but Him. There is no alternative. This is the only pool in the desert for who knows how many miles. And then He takes us to a new vantage point of trust where He doesn't want us to only drink, but to actually jump into His Spirit water. To not only drink, but to swim. To trust like never before. It really takes faith to take that leap, it is such a high jump and scary to leap off the cliff and trust everything is going to be ok. God loves us in this place, because then He gets our complete devotion, our full surrender and our worship.

Hagar named the spring, The Well of the Living One who Sees Me. God hasn't forgotten about you or me. He never will. In the same way He gave Hagar a clear direction in this place, when we come into His presence in this completely surrendered and desperate way, we will hear Him leading the way. You will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it. "My sheep know my voice." Even if that voice is simply saying, Wait.

The desire just grows and grows

No matter how many times I placed everything on hold
Even placing those very things on the flames of surrender
I just could not let go of the forming
Deep inside of me, I reached down into bedrock water
And took hold of it; I’m still drinking.

Now we look for the things we had long ago,
Thinking, if only we could have what we had before
But we lose sight of the fact that
Once we have lived a moment, we cannot live it again
And when we live in the moment, we embrace life.

The wine tasted really good before
But then one day, someone told me, the best is yet to come
And my heart so believed him,
I knew, He’s right! I haven’t even tasted that kind of vintage!
And it’s just around the bend in the road.

It’s nearly here for us, we can see it with our heart vision
And it’s all new, just complete surrender into life
Just trust like we never did before
Throw off all of the paraphernalia
Feel your heart beat through your chest again
Get rid of the stuff that clutters up your space
Step out of the familiar.

The desire just grows and grows
We throw off the old things that tangle and hinder
We live into it, taking the moment
By both hands, anything can happen!

The Wells of God

It is amazing how God opens up themes in our lives and takes us deeper. Just over two months ago, Karl was retrenched. We felt that God was preparing us for a whole new season. We set aside some time to seek God and felt that this time was about unblocking the wells. Here is some of the journey of wells I have been on.

Jesus told us that we have wells of life giving water within us, flowing up to everlasting life!
"…the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
Sometimes the enemy of our hearts comes to block up these wells. God desires to unblock the wells of our hearts. How do we do this? Return to First Love.

We become very busy and forget to draw from our wells. Over time these can become blocked up with the stones of forgetfulness. We don’t make time to rest with God. We can become too focused on work and lose sight of the God of the work. We need to return to our First Love. I felt God really highlight this scripture not so long ago. With tears I read Revelations 2: 5, "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." I felt Jesus drawing my heart into a deeper connection once again. Jesus lifts the stones out so that the pure, fresh life giving water can really flow.

In Bible times, the well was people’s main water source and was most often found outside the town along the main road. Many had to walk a mile or more for their water. They came to draw water in the morning and evening. This was the best place to meet new friends and chat with old ones. We need to leave the busy place and draw daily from His Spirit water. His wells are a place of friendship with God and others. When we draw of Him on a daily basis, we will not thirst. "…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." John 4:14 I was chatting about this with Karl a few weeks ago, and he spoke about Jesus being our fresh bread as well, the Bread of Life. We can both eat and drink of Him everyday. A few minutes later, I read on a huge billboard advertising sign, Fresh bread baked daily! I said, That's it! Jesus wants to be our fresh bread and the water we draw from everyday!

Let's just look at that for a bit. What is it to draw daily from the wells of God? It means we place such a high priority on what we need to survive spiritually, because we just can't live without that water. Have you ever been without water for a day? Well, imagine the toxins in your body trying to get out, your tongue gets thicker, your body slower... and the headache! How about our spirit man? We all know what it feels like to thirst for God and to feel so dry and in a spiritual desert. How do we draw from that water so our spiritual life can really thrive? We can swim in the wells of His presence.

I was thinking about really listening to Jesus, what is that like? "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased, listen to Him!" Matthew 17:5. I remind myself I have two ears to practice that listening, and one mouth. So I can tune down the talking part, and turn up the dial on my ears! There is an amazing statue at Kirstenbosch gardens. It is of a face with a huge opening where the eye is, you can see through this "eye" to the gardens below, such a beautiful sight! The mouth is so tiny, you really have to look for it. It is called "See more, speak less". So, we look to see what God is showing us wherever we are in our day. When we ask him to show us how to see with His eyes, what is normal can suddenly become supernatural! An advertising billboard can suddenly become a message from God!

We read in His word, not because we have to, not out of obligation, but because we come to relate, we are romancing our God and feeling His romance through the pages of the Spirit sword. We let the words flow over us like waters and just meditate on a few sentences, or, we read the Bible like a novel and get new insights from the Holy Spirit even though we may have read it many times before. Isn't it amazing how God does this?

As we spend time with friends, sharing and praying together, we can be the touch of God to each other. And worship? We can worship with each breath, just a conscious knowing that He is here, and practicing the Presence as we drink and drink again. These are just a few ways we can draw from the well. There are so many more. The important thing is, the drinking of it. That the water is free flowing. And, it flushes out the toxins of this hectic life we are living. We can ask God to just drench us in His Spirit. I've heard and read of people who are just intoxicated with His love and live there. I can say Amen to that! That is what I want!