A Bouquet of LOVE

A Bouquet of Love  

He loves me he loves me not, he loves me……. did you ever play that game with the petals on a flower?  A game where Love was left to chance....

I am Loved with a passion…..  

Do you remember songs of the past?   

All you need is love  love….      Love is all you need  

Love has filled the hearts and minds of people for all time

We each have a Deep desire to be loved   we often do all we can to make someone notice us and love us. t

We often try to fit in to be loved 

being willing to give up our true selves our own identity in order to fit in with the in crowd

Do you know or remember the great revival Hymn?

"Here is love vast as the ocean loving-kindness as the sea"

I for one love the ocean it is so deep and majestic so unfathomable so unknown so vast, it moves me to think that the God I worship is such a God of LOVE

Another of my favourite hymns is:-

"How deep the fathers love for me, how vast beyond all measure"

 and one final one that I used to sing as a teenager.....

"Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus vast unmeasured boundless free"

A love without limits  God is passionate about you 

What is love ?  I decided to take a quick look at a few aspects of such a deep LOVE:-

Aspects of love

Affirming love

We can walk in security knowing that we are loved with an everlasting love not a love resulting from certain behaviour or looks, there is no sense of having to attain to a specific standard before being loved…… I am loved of God and as he knows me through and through, I have nothing to hide I can be myself and be confident of His love  

I don’t have to earn it….. I don’t have to impress

God has chosen to set his love on me    this gives me a confidence to live

I am accepted as I am 

This affirming love causes me to grow and become attractive to others

Protective love

I live under his banner under the shadow of his wing

His banner over me is love….. Song of Songs 2:4

Under the shadow of his wings Psalm 91

He hides me … there is a place of refuge in Him

In fact I cannot escape from this love… Romans 8  What can separate me…..

Psalm 139 where can I go from your presence…..

Creative love

A love that creates in me a clean heart

A love that perfects me

A love that enlarges be rather than locking me up

Corrective love bringing maturity

Psalm 94:12 blessed is the man you discipline o Lord, the man you teach from your law, you grant him relief from days of trouble…

Prov 3:12 the lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in, 

Costly love chasing after us

Behold what manner of love …..

Psalm 139 where can I go from your presence…..

Consistent love 

not subject to what we do or any moods

loved with an everlasting love I cannot make this love go away

"Oh love  that will not let me go" 

We live under love 

I know I am loved regardless of what I do I am loved unconditionally

Knowing this makes me behave differently, live my life differently, no longer defensive but with a confidence

A love that gives us a name and an identity an authority 

He Loved us enough to give us his name his authority

He has taken me to his banqueting hall psalm 23 he has prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies…… personal private enemies…. Don’t need outside enemies enough within…

The table of the Lord place of intimate communion where we take in of Christ what we eat and drink has an effect on us come to the table of the lord and allow him to have an effect in us that will create an outward flow

A love that brings forth

Destined to Reign

The secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living.

by Joseph Prince

“Are you faced with an impossible situation today?  Are you trusting the Lord for a breakthrough?  I encourage you to get hold of the good news of Jesus – faith will be imparted to you as you hear more and more of Jesus.   You will stop being preoccupied with yourself your lack and your weakness and you will be fully occupied with Jesus, His beauty, His perfection and His grace.”

This book is truly inspirational, it will revitalise you, remove any sense of condemnation, guilt, shame or disappointment and enable you to look into the face of Jesus once again.  

We are destined to reign throughout our lives, however we often fall short for so many reasons, one reason is that we allow the accuser of the brethren to dis-empower us and lock us up in condemnation and lack.

Joseph Prince in this book masterfully turns our attention back to Jesus, our full sufficiency and in so doing enables you to transition quickly from a place of disablement to a place of enablement.

This powerful exchange is only available to us through Grace, Grace, Grace, law has no place.    The book opens our eyes to the fact that we so often mix grace with law as did the church in Galatia, and in doing so we allow ourselves to become entangled again with a yoke of bondage.   Mixture creeps in unnoticed and robs us of our full freedom in Christ.

I recommend this book to all who need a fresh understanding of the complete work of Christ, and the gospel of grace that we have been born into, it will revolutionise your thinking and refresh you.

“If you don’t preach grace radically people’s lives will never be radically blessed and radically transformed.”

Review by Sandra Duffty

 Destined to Reign: The Secret to Effortless Success, Wholeness and Victorious Living

Fair Weather Traveller

Fair Weather Traveller

Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, Whether we like it or not”

We have recently heard much about the disruption to travel due to Ash Clouds, strikes, riots, disease and natural disasters. My daughter was stranded at Schipol airport for 4 days during that time she was subjected to sleeping on the floor, on a camp bed, eating only bread and ham with water, being watched constantly by security guards, with no access to showers or clean clothes.

This experience highlighted to me the extremes of emotions we face when circumstances change so dramatically causing us to be faced with situations in which we feel out of control and displaced.

All this got me to thinking about what sort of traveller am I….. am I simply a fair weather traveller….. I travel or journey well when everything is going in the direction I desire, when everything is running smoothly and everyone travelling with me is in one heart and mind and is happy in the journey?

We are called to be pilgrims, the word of God says "Blessed is he who has set his heart on Pilgrimage." We are not guaranteed Fair weather travel all through our life's journey, but we are guaranteed a friend to journey through with us, through the valleys, the hills, the dry places, the deserts, the wilderness places and the high places, the rocky places and the smooth places. Whatever terrain we have to navigate we know that the Lord is with us to make the rough place smooth, and to bring water in the scorched land.

I have decided to enjoy the journey whatever the terrain, I will be a traveller not simply a fair weather traveller but I will set my heart to Know Him and walk with Him through every circumstance of Life knowing that the journey will be rich with His grace and abundance.

Eat the Bread

As a child I grew up singing, hymns became a part of my life, here is one such Hymn:-

Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,

as thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;

beyond the sacred page I seek thee, Lord;

my spirit pants for thee, O Living Word!

Bless thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,

as thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;

then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall;

and I shall find my peace, my all in all.

Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me,
Thy holy Word the truth that saveth me;
Give me to eat and live with Thee above;
Teach me to love Thy truth, for Thou art love.

O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes, and make me see:
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.

Are you hungry for the Bread of Life on the Inside of You?

Is there a deep longing within you to know him….

To know him… to see him….

Jesus is the bread of Life in Him what do we receive....

In the Bread of Life we see:-

I see the Lord…. I see the Lord he is high and lifted up…..

I see the Lord…… he is poured out……

I see the Lord he is ever before the father making intercession for his bride…..

I see the Lord rejoicing over us.. with singing….

I see the Lord … the king of peace……

I see the Lord of rest…..

I see the God of Hope……

Hope for you, hope for the people, hope for the city, hope for the nation….

I see the Lord…..full of righteousness and justice….

I see the alpha and Omega….

I see the Lord with eye salve…..

I see a servant….. He chose to serve us His bride….

He will serve us at the marriage supper of the Lamb…

I see the Lord a warrior…..

I see the I AM

I see an overcomer…..overthrowing the enemy….

We start from a point of victory we are not just journeying towards it….

I see the lord as the sustainer of all things in him all things hold together…..

Come and feast on the Bread of Life and be sustained to Live once more.. INSIDE OUT

The feast is Christ Himself….

Christ himself is the bread of life

He is the Sustainer…

Be aggressively hungry…

O lord place me in the direct line of your visitation…. Make me a gate for your glory…

The Above Touch

Touching the untouchable

The touch of God in the hand of Jesus

Touch connects us, joins us, expresses our feelings and emotions….

The touch of a mother connecting with her baby, looking, touching, hoping, dreaming….

The touch of a friend that says I`m with you…

The touch of a lover close and intimate reaching way down inside your heart..

The touch of an enemy to push you away

A touch is creative - it brings with it joy, hope peace….

We see the touch of God in creation, he touched the dust and created man

He touched the heavens and put the sun moon and stars in their place..

He shaped the mountains and the animals

We see the touch of heaven through Jesus in

Matt8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5;12-14,

Luke 17:11-17

Jesus touched the leper, the excluded, the diseased, the dead, no reach was too far for His hand.

Imagine the initial discovery of leprosy firstly hiding the thought of it..

Knowing it is highly contagious…you are no longer able to conduct life as others....

No longer able to touch…longing to touch others but not wanting them to catch the disease…

As it becomes more obvious….you can hide it no longer…

The shame comes, now everyone knows…

Sorrow enters the heart and the smile on the face disappears.

Finally excluded from the community ringing a bell sent outside to live a death sentence….

Waiting to die with no hope….

But today there was hope

Jesus was passing by …..this Jesus who changed things

This Jesus who had an above touch

A new hope entered into them

If only I could touch

If only….Jesus was passing by,

perhaps he would not pass this way again.

Today Jesus is still passing by….he wants to touch you today

What do you need

He comes with a creative touch

To remove your sickness

To bring you new hope and a future

To restore your soul and to bring you peace..

He is here to touch you now

His touch comes with fire, with power and anointing

Power to burn up the rubbish and light a new passion in us…

When we have been touched by the masters hand

The hand of the creator

So we too can touch others

our commission is to go and touch them, affect their lives

Open their eyes to see bring them peace

You also have an above touch... the touch of heaven

See things from above a new way of looking at life

No longer trapped in the now circumstance but viewed from above….

We are now seated above with Christ Jesus in heavenly places

The above way is the INSIDE OUT Way..... Live from Above