When God created the heavens and the earth, he spoke them into existence. As our creator God, he demonstrated the power of the spoken word and our ability to create, things that do not exist with our words. “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Being positive and optimistic isn’t just good for our health and relationships, but our words give shape to our existence.

A child derives their self-esteem and their concept of themselves, based on the words that their parents use to describe them. Positive parenting is being intentional, about finding genuine reasons to compliment children, in order to build their self confidence. Much of our self-talk can be sabotaging and extremely negative. Often the way that we feel about ourselves, determine how we speak about others.

Pause and examine your speech patterns and think about, what your conversations convey about you. We can examine a person’s speech, to make an assessment about their character. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).

Since our words have such power, why not be intentional about what we say. Since there is life and death in our tongues, then let us speak things that do not exist as though they already are a reality. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Proverbs‬ ‭18:21‬).

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White lies are sometimes told to protect people’s feelings or to prevent conflicts. The absence of conflict however, does not automatically mean the presence of peace. Sometimes things left unsaid, creates internal conflicts that can manifest itself as illness and stress.

Paul cautioned us to speak the truth in love. This is not glossing over issues and pretending that everything is ok. I had a lecturer at university who coined the phrase ‘carefrontation.’ She felt that we often have to care enough about someone, or a relationship in order to be honest with people about how we feel. This however has to be done in a constructive way, which helps the person and not harm them. She also used the phrase, ‘say it straight or show it crooked.’ In other words if we are hurt, angry or upset about something and we choose to not say anything, it can manifest through our actions.

The advice was to carefully and skilfully, find a way to let people know how we feel, while trying not to hurt their feelings. We know that not everything that we think needs to be said and if our need to speak is to ‘get it off your chest,’ rather than to help someone or restore a relationship, then this is not the right motive.

Timing is important and being mindful of what is going on for other people, will also help us determine the best time to speak. Jesus taught his disciples that if they knew that a brother or sister had a disagreement with them, to leave their gift at the altar and go be reconciled to their brother or sister and then come and offer their gift (Matthew 5:23-24).

You have to be reconciled with others, to be right with God and sometimes being reconciled requires a honest conversation. Relationships grow out of difficulties and conflicts that are managed well. Let us pray to God for wisdom and ask God to show us anyone, who we maybe putting off having a conversation with. People are very rarely able to read our minds and guess what we are thinking. We need to clarify expectations, talk through misunderstandings and speak the truth in love. “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans‬ ‭12:18‬).

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John wrote about the perfect love of God, which casts out all fears, as fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18). If God loves us enough, not to spare his own son, won’t he also give us all good things that we need (Romans 8:32)? As we understand and accept the love of God, we can approach the throne of grace with boldness. This is because we know and believe that as children of God, he will supply everything that we need (Hebrews 4:16).

We know that Jesus is our great High Priest, who experienced the same kind of testing and trials that we experience and he can relate to our difficulties. As such, he is seated at the right hand of God and he makes intercession for our needs. As we draw near to God in prayer, we have confidence that he hears and he will answer and meet every one of our needs.

Since our Heavenly Father loves us, we have to love one another (1 John 4:11). The love of God is made abundant in our hearts, so we pray for the unity of the brethren and for God to strengthen the fellowship of the body of Christ. Today let us focus on accepting that Christ loves us, with an unconditional love and has the desire to meet our needs, even before we ask him. We pray for other believers and pray that we be united in faith and in strength. This is because God loves and honours unity. One can chase a thousand but two put ten thousand to flight (Deuteronomy 32:30).

As we stand united together in prayer and lift each other up before God, we are confident that he will meet and supply our needs. In the Acts church, there was none among them in need, because they all saw to the needs of each other (Acts 4:34). I encourage you to pray in this week, that the church will remain in love and in one accord. We declare that God will meet every need. God will supply all that we need according to his riches in glory. He is a loving and caring father, who longs to do good things for his children.

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One of the major challenges that we experience in relationships, is disappointments and broken promises. It hurts when a loved one makes a promise, that they have no intention or ability to keep. It raises people’s expectations and lands them in despair, when promises are broken and people fail to keep their word.

Children expect parents to be nurturing, loving and caring and to put their needs before their own. Husbands and wives expect their spouses to keep their vow to love, honour and cherish them until death and to remain faithful. A broken promise produces a breach of trust, which then has to be repaired overtime. Frequent disappointments and broken promises from the same relationship, affects emotional well-being. This especially when the relationship is with a significant other, such as a parent or spouse.

Sometimes people may choose to distance themselves from the constant offender, in order to gain healing and wholeness. Sometimes our experience with loved ones, can translate into our relationship with God and affect the level of trust that we place in Him. Our comfort is that God is not a man that he should lie, nor is he human to change his mind (Numbers 23:19).

Isaiah stated that even some nursing women can forget their children, yet God will never forget you (Isaiah 49:15). God’s word to us is an everlasting covenant and he never fails. If God says it then, you can trust that he will do it and he will keep his promise to you. “Although the vision seems delayed, it will come to pass if you wait for it” (Habakkuk 2:3).

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After Joseph’s father died, his brothers were worried about their fate in Egypt. They had this worry, because they remembered that years ago, while Joseph was still a young man, they sold him into slavery (Genesis 37). His brothers had done this, because Joseph was his father’s favourite son. In addition, Joseph had shared a dream with them, where he saw his entire family bowing down to him.

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him”” (Genesis 50:15). Many people will be worried that as God raises us up, that we will be in a position to pay them back, for the wrongs that they have done to us. It is a good thing that we adhere to the principle of not rendering evil for evil, but to repay evil with good (1 Peter 3:9).

It is extremely difficult, when we are experiencing trials and testing, to imagine that anything good can come from it. There are still challenges that we have encountered, that we can’t quite come to terms with how, this has served any purpose. How can such painful situations possibly bring about any good?

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Some of our afflictions, feel anything but light and some of our misfortunes, have left us feeling scarred. When we surrender our hurts to God, then he is able to turn things around for our good.

God can use our worst experiences, to minister and bring light to others, who maybe hurting in similar ways. It is a process of refining, that makes us ready to be used and being patient within the process. Knowing that all the while, God is working to make it all for our good. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans‬ ‭8:28‬).

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Earlier in (Exodus 14:2), God instructed Moses to tell the people to encamp near the Red sea. This seemed like a dead end on a journey to their land of promise. It was this view of a dead end, which gave Pharaoh the confidence to pursue the Israelites. “For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in’” (Exodus 14:3). God used this situation to (1). Harden Pharaoh’s heart; (2) give him the confidence to pursue the people and (3) allow God to get the glory over Pharaoh and all his host. Why would God go to all this trouble? So that the enemies would know that He is the Lord.

There are people who have written us off, because our current situation looks like a dead end. “There is absolutely no way he/she is coming back from this.” “It’s over for them now, they are finished.” “They are no match for these great powers that have them cornered.” They do not understand that we serve a God who makes ways through the wilderness and streams in the desert (Isaiah 43:19).

Our God knows the end from the beginning, he is infinite, timeless and limitless. Is there anything that God cannot do? God supernaturally opened the Red Sea to allow his children to cross on dry land. How stupid of Pharaoh and his host to pursue them. The natural man cannot comprehend supernatural things. If they understood what God was doing, they would have stood in amazement and beheld the splendour of God. This instead of pursuing God’s people and perishing in the sea.

“The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained” (Exodus 14:28).

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There is a difference between isolation and solitude. Isolation is unwanted time alone, which sometimes creates anxiety and distress. Solitude however, is time alone which does not necessarily stem from being or feeling isolated. This often relates to a choice made to seek time alone. Jesus sought solitude, in order to remain connected to God and to remain in communication with God.

Jesus fasted for forty days, after he was led by the spirit into the wilderness. He was tempted by the Devil and then strengthened by angels who ministered to him (Matthew 4:1-11). Notice that Jesus’s fast started after his baptism by John, in the Jordon river. This was just before John’s arrest and the start of Jesus’s ministry.

His time of solitude and waiting before God, prepared him for his ministry, which would transform the world. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness, to prepare for his mission in leading the Israelites out of bondage. Those years alone helped Moses, to gain intimacy with God and matured his faith and understanding of who God is. Moses is considered as one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament, because he heard God audibly and daily communicated with God.

What can we learn from the solace and solitude, which Moses and Jesus experienced, in preparation for ministry and events that changed bible history. Their time alone in the presence of God, gave them insight and revelation knowledge to lead the world closer to God.

Every year, we celebrate Pentecost Sunday in June. The background of the Pentecostal movement, stemmed from the 1906 Azusa Street Revival, led by William J. Seymour. He was the son of a former slave. Seymour had a revelation about the work of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. He along with seven men waited on God in Bonnie Brea Street. The men were knocked from their seats by a bolt of lightning and spoke in other tongues. This movement attracted people from all races, nationalities and cultural backgrounds who were moved by the power of the Holy Spirit. This movement brought about revival and unity in the church.

There is a lot happening globally which is heartbreaking and sad to watch and see. The enemy has used differences, to create division and segregation in our church. I believe that God can transform the current happenings, into a major move of God to bring about unity and revival.

We have to come away from the daily happenings, to wait on God, to pray and ask for his outpouring. We need to hear God speak amidst the roar of anger, frustration and hurt. We could be on the brink of a significant move of God, but God needs intercessors and men and women who will watch and pray for a revival. We have to stay tuned, to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church, because God is changing our world.

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Most marriages don’t instantaneously fall apart and dismantle. There is often an unnoticed chipping away, at the fabric of this godly institution, by the world’s ideas and concepts. Sometimes ideas creep into our subconscious and many people wake up one day, feeling out of love and with the deep desire to separate. “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom” (Song of Solomon 2:15).

Marriages need constant pruning and to be constantly placed before God, for their maintenance and survival. Solomon wrote of catching those small things, in the vineyard of love that are likely to spoil our vineyards. We have to work hard at love and ask God to show us areas where we can and need to make improvements, in order for our marriages to continue to flourish.

The ideas of divorce and remarriage have become extremely pervasive. Moses was instructed to write the certificate of divorce, due to the hardness of the people’s hearts (Mark 10:4). There are times when a marriage is an unsafe place, due to constant abuse and neglect or perpetual infidelity. At these times persons can be supported to separate to preserve their life and sanity.

Other marriages can be eroded overtime, like a constant ongoing landslip, or the erosion of a seabed. I scarcely have all the answers, but my confidence is in God to help us preserve as best we can and to restore and recover in areas where possible.

We continue to pray for the restoration and maintenance of godly marriages, where godly children can be raised to continue to preserve, God’s intended institution of marriage and family. “Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians‬ ‭12:9‬).

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Isaiah prophesied about Jesus’s coming, his work to heal those who are hurting and to bring freedom to those who are bound. Isaiah’s prophecy continued to expound on Jesus’s mission, to proclaim favour on God’s people, the day of God’s vengeance and to bring comfort to the hurting. The Jewish society was extremely divided, at the time of Jesus’s coming. People were hoping that he would be a military King, who would overthrow the Roman oppression and implement freedom and equality for the Jews. Unfortunately, Jesus did not come to establish an earthly kingdom, but to die for mankind.

Contrastingly, the religious leaders at the time were mostly concerned with religious dogma. They were more interested in maintaining their status and alignment with the government, than they were with meeting the needs of the oppressed people. Jesus did not seek alignment with the religious leaders, but often stood in disagreement with their practices and teachings.

We can draw parallels with Jesus’s ministry and that of Moses. Moses was grieved by the systemic oppression of the Jews by Egypt. This was the catalyst for his mission in leading them to freedom. Jesus’s message is one of freedom from bondage and oppression. His strategy was one of peace and a wilful submission up to the point of death. His message continues to be world renown and his very name brings healing and freedom.

The church has a role to play in supporting disadvantaged groups. The work starts with our conversations and a willingness to listen, to the ways in which people communicate their hurt. Dismissive attitudes are unhelpful and the only way to understand what people need, is to show a willingness to listen. Systemic oppression relates to the intentional disadvantaging, of groups of people based on their identify, while advantaging members of the dominant group (nationalequityproject.org).

We boldly declare the gospel of Jesus Christ and work to bring about freedom, healing and reconciliation. Jesus came to set the captives free, to bring justice where there is injustice and bring comfort to the hurting. “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah‬ ‭1:17‬).

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Isaac was the son of Abraham’s promise, whom God said he would bless and multiply. Now after Abraham’s death, there was a famine in the land where Isaac lived. The custom at that time, was to travel to Egypt to get supplies in the times of famine. This as Egypt was a great nation, which was able to sustain many people. But God’s instruction to Isaac was, to stay where he was and to trust that he would bless him despite the famine.

“And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him” (Genesis 26:12). A hundredfold is defined as a hundred times as much. Not only did Isaac reap a harvest, during a time when everyone else was experiencing a famine, but the harvest was a hundred times what was expected.

God is the God of the harvest and God is not limited by the economy, by the stock market, by the interest rates of the bank, or the financial situation in your company. God owns the wealth of the world and he is the God of the supernatural, the omnipotent, omnipresent, all knowing and all powerful God. He knows the beginning and the end and his knowledge is beyond human understanding.

Our confidence and security is in God, as we serve him and trust in his promises. Isaac had a relationship with God, where he could hear God speak and discern his will. Isaac didn’t need to travel to Egypt, to ensure that he and his family were sustained. All Isaac needed to do, was to remain connected to God, believe his word and his promises and continue to sow and to reap the harvest.

“and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.” (Genesis 26:13)

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