Changing atmospheres

This one was for him because…God is Good!

Categories As you go, Bill Johnson, Body of Christ, Changing atmospheres, Christian, Matthew 6:10, Obedience, Stopping for the one6 Comments on This one was for him because…God is Good!

We are having our floors resurfaced in our main living area of our home, after many years of life’s wear and tear. This necessitated moving all furniture and family out of the area for a week – effectively requiring us to find somewhere else to stay … and so we took the opportunity and headed down Great Ocean Road along our rugged, and very beautiful, Victorian coast line.

We left a day late, life being what it has been recently … too frantic, too busy, too stressful, and we arrived midday Saturday.  On our arrival we hurriedly got ready for our inaugural wander on the beach, with plans to stop and have a Devonshire tea (well scones) at the conclusion of our beach walk …

As we went down the stairs I saw a man and his wife waiting for the lift on the ground floor.  He was not quite elderly, but he had a walking stick and so I called out to my five-year-old to not hit the lift button since someone downstairs needed it more than him … he loves going up and down the lift even though it is quicker to take the stairs.  I walked on through the foyer smiling at the couple and gathering together my children, not noticing anything else in particular …

My husband had mentioned that we had forgotten something and so I said we would wait on the beach for him as he went back to the apartment …

We waited … and my husband seemed to take an extra amount of time …

Eventually, he ran onto the beach and said he had stopped to pray for someone … I laughed knowingly and said “it was the guy with the walking stick wasn’t it?”

He said “yes” and went on to explain that he had noticed him and immediately felt God’s prompting to pray for him.  Trying to ignore it he came down the stairs, realised he had forgotten something, went back into the apartment and as he walked back out of the apartment he walked straight into the guy and his wife who had got out at the wrong floor … or so they thought … my husband knew better … it was a God appointment for him!

As he told the story I said I had seen the guy but had thought nothing of it except that he needed the lift more than my son … in comparison, my husband had seen him and knew that he was meant to pray from him, and even in trying to ignore the prompting, God had set the encounter up in a way that was unavoidable and so to not stop would have been blatant disobedience …

And so, my husband obeyed, stopped and offered to pray … knowing that this one was definitely for him …

The couple happily agreed to the prayer and my husband prayed what he felt God was prompting him to pray … that he would have lightness in his step and that their time would be filled with unexpected favour …

We are all being called … more and more … it is not just the ones and twos that are called to release Heaven on earth … but all of us who believe … for Jesus told us how to pray … “on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10)…it’s not hard … but it is challenging …

There is a surge, a ground force, a wave arriving and hitting the Body of Christ … people are choosing to display God’s love in tangible ways … they are taking “risk” … which is walking in faith (thank you Bill Johnson) … and choosing to offer God’s goodness, His kindness, His blessings to the world at large … and, as the Body of Christ rises up to be all we are called to be, God’s goodness will be displayed and atmospheres will be changed with His glory, with His goodness … and I believe that even if nothing seems to happen at the time they have at least, as Heidi Baker puts it, had a “love encounter” … they will know that God loves them enough to send someone to them to stop, go out of their way and offer to pray …

The results are God’s … our place is to listen, stop and offer … their choice to accept or not …

A swing and a hit or a swing and a supposed miss makes no difference … every attempt matters, every attempt is a success …  just to swing, just to listen stop and obey God’s prompting will affect the atmosphere, will affect the nation … just as a bat that swings and misses causes shifts in the air around it … so too our obedience in stopping for the one … just stopping and offering makes the difference …

As we offer, seeds are scattered …  the rest is up to a loving God … and the results, no matter what we think … are always good if we are acting out of obedience because we serve a good God … a kind God … a loving God … we may never know the outcome of our obedience or the outcome of our display of love and compassion, but we can always be sure that through obedience we change destinies, we change people, we change nations because …

God is always Good!

A healing in South Africa and a peaceful chat to follow…God is Good

Categories As you go, Changing atmospheres, Christian, God is good, healing, Peace, praise report2 Comments on A healing in South Africa and a peaceful chat to follow…God is Good

This is a story from May 2009, an early story in my “out there” walk with God.  It is a simple story, but one which I believe reflects what we can all be “as we go” …

A girlfriend told me at school drop off that her Mother-in-Law was ill in hospital in South Africa. She had gastro and a bowel blockage, which they were having trouble removing due to a kidney issue.

I said that we would pray for her at our prayer meeting that night, and as I got into the car to head off I started to pray immediately, feeling the anointing as I did.

At the prayer meeting we also prayed, some time between 7.30 and 8.30pm that night … when the meeting was always held.

The following morning I was to catch up with my friend for coffee.  My then 2 1/2-year-old was being looked after, but I had promised to see her to chat about my faith etc, and to try to answer some of her questions about Christianity and so I caught up with her even though she had her 2.5 year old with her.

During our chat in a coffee shop I discussed life with God.  We covered so much, but I kept it very real letting her know that I certainly was not perfect, but that I had somewhere I could go when I struggled.  At the time she was struggling with being at home, was stressed, bored, talked about going to back work – to which I said very bluntly that working would not change things for her since she was trying to fill a gap in her life with busyness so that she did not have to face some issues about who she was in relationship to God etc.

She recognised this and she asked about the peace I had – I talked about it somewhat and asked her about her Mother-in-Law.

She said that at 8pm the night before her husband had got the phone call to say her Mother-in-Law was being discharged.

I told her that she would not believe me if I told her what time our meeting was – she was amazed to find out 7.30 to 8.30pm.

I laughed and said how God so had her in His sights.

She talked about my professional background and how it did not seem to match the Christian walk – the money etc.  I said that Christians could be wealthy too and we talked about a loving Father and used her beautiful parenting as an example as to how God also loves us so much as a loving Father and wants all that is good for us including money.  She noted that she had a cousin that she would say was like me in her walk with Jesus – her cousin was wealthy, and it surprised her.

The whole time her child played happily and quietly.

At the end of our catch up (1.5 hours) she said she felt great, refreshed and excited about going on a journey of discovery with me …  She then noted how calm my children seemed to be – I reminded her that we all had tough times, but she came back to it and then said how calm her son had been the whole time we had caught up … she said so calm that it could not be a coincidence … she had never had him be so calm and content at a coffee catch up before and she said she was sure it was me and my influence (I did not do anything in particular with him in fact he entertained himself very happily).  I said to her I believed it was God .  I also said that I believed the peace was prevalent so that we could talk calmly – so that God could show her who He was – a God of peace.  I had also prayed before going to see her and I had prayed the day before for her and her family.

What was lovely was how she saw how God can not only impact a person but how God can then, though that person, impact others and environments … it was so very encouraging for me and so very, very enjoyable!

Later she said how much she enjoyed our catch up and how refreshed she felt … to which I can only respond …

God is Good!

Stories of secret santas … God is Good!

Categories As you go, blessing, Changing atmospheres, Christian, Giving, God is good, God's Glory, God's love, Habakkuk 2:14, Love, praise report, random act of kindness, Stopping for the one4 Comments on Stories of secret santas … God is Good!

What is it about this season that causes people to become generous-hearted? 

It is more than just the season … I know this for sure, given the number of stressed shop staff that I have spoken to that have mentioned the unpleasant treatment they have been receiving from stressed and busy people racing through the shops to get “the shopping done” …

There is that, the unpleasantness, but then there is something else, an atmosphere, or an attitude which can be caught, which can be spread, which can be given away and which can change atmospheres … we can release it as we go, and in doing so it has the potential to change districts, cities and even nations … Christians and non-Christians alike can “catch” the breeze on this one, and regardless of belief systems an attitude of generosity can be caught, can infect people …

A blogger visited my site, and in turn I visited his.  His blog appears to generally be more political in nature … but there, in the midst of political comment, is a piece about the generosity of people toward strangers … a story that has impacted others in such a tremendous way that those others have then gone on and done the same … a story that in turn has inspired more acts of generosity, which in turn have caused more acts of generosity and so on … the potential is endless … His loving kindness is infectious …

I encourage you to read this simple story and marvel at how a basic anonymous act of kindness can impact others … and how in turn such an act can then resonate through a community … it is a story of how “a secret santa pays for other people’s lay-buys for Christmas” … please take the time to read … it warms the heart!

Reading this story reminded me  of my own such experience, posted over a year ago which I recount now:

We decided to go out for dinner where the river meets the bay.  It was a beautiful night.  We were all tired, but it was fun to go and as a family we headed out to enjoy a balmy Friday evening together.

The children enjoyed watching the boats, gobbled their dinner and we had a lovely evening.  I sat and finished my drink and A went to pay for our meal.

When A came back with a receipt he said “look at how much the bill was?”  Expecting a big bill, I looked and was surprised at how small it was … I thought “there were no problems with the meal, we had made no complaints, what was going on?”

I looked at A and he said “Santa paid for our meal”.

Incredulous I looked at him and said “what?”

A complete stranger had picked up our entire food bill and wished to remain anonymous – the waitress said that she was instructed to say “Santa had paid”.

We were amazed, a bit shocked … in fact rather incredulous … and felt so very blessed …

My daughter and I prayed for whoever they were and released a 100 fold, a 1000 fold return, blessing them where we sat …

I wrote a short note of thanks … “Dear Santa …” and handed it to the waitress who was beaming as she watched the Goodness of God unfold in our lives … as she watched God’s love unfold in our lives – what a witness … to us and her!

God’s goodness, His loving kindness is remarkable … a complete stranger released it upon us … we did taste and see that God is good … and as I write this testimony I am still amazed at how loved I feel by a complete stranger and by a gloriously good God!

God is Good!

Bill Johnson tell’s a story of how one person from his church in Redding California paid for a person’s coffee at Star Bucks and in doing so started a chain reaction where each person that came after them “paid it forward” … they paid for the next one, who paid for the next one … and so on and so on … the “chain” of generosity remained unbroken for some hours … something had shifted in the atmosphere … the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and had been released …

Could you be a “Secret Santa” and bless someone?  You could even be an “out there” Christian and pay for a stranger’s groceries, or bread (click here for related story) … they in turn may pay it forward … 

Go ahead, be a secret Santa, but please, also, make a decision not to be a secret Christian.  Let God out of the box, take Jesus out of the Church and onto the streets, out of your Sunday and into your every day … let God out of you … let the river of life flow from within … if you do He will impact nations through you … it only takes one … with God … to alter the course of history … so imagine what an army of us could do if we just let Him out, if we would stop and pray for the one and believe what He says we are capable of in the Bible … it would be miraculous, it would be magnificent … all “the Earth would be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of God” (Hab 2:14) … his goodness, His loving kindness, because …

God is Good!

“This little light of mine … I’m going to let it shine” – changing atmospheres…J’s story of a Good God!

Categories Changing atmospheres, Christian, Giving, God is good, Matthew 5:15, Rev 19:102 Comments on “This little light of mine … I’m going to let it shine” – changing atmospheres…J’s story of a Good God!

You may recall the post … “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy … “ (Rev 19:10) see link: http://godisgoodstories.com/2011/09/07/for-the-testimony-of-jesus-is-the-spirit-of-prophecy-revelation-1910-releasing-the-goodness-of-god/.  Well here is another testimony from the same person.  He is finding that others are “seeing” the light that He carries … and that others are noticing that where ever he goes, he changes the atmosphere …

My friend writes:

Here’s my story about God’s Shining Light …

I pulled into my last stop for the day on Tuesday afternoon, and started collecting coffee orders from my regular clients. Before I started I got an email from another one of my clients 2 factories down asking when I would arrive, as she was in need of a coffee. I replied “I’m here now”. So she walked over to the van and, while I made her coffee, she unloaded her ‘stuff’ on me.

Then the operation manager for the place I arrived at walked past, said “hi”, stopped and said to me: “You know J, you are like this big shinning light of peace and serenity when you come here!”

The 3 of us just laughed, The Ops manager kind of walked around in a small circle, deep in thought, and he then said, “you know what? The boys have worked really hard lately; they have put through some big quotes. I want to shout the whole office coffee.”

By then I had finished Nadia’s Coffee order, and bid her farewell saying “here’s your cup of serenity” … she agreed whole heartedly.

We carry the presence of the creator of the universe … the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is inside us (see Romans 8:11) … we may not recognise it, but we are representatives of Jesus Christ, wherever we go … we are gateways, portals, through which heaven can be released, and through which, I believe, Heaven can leak …

My friend J leaks the presence of Jesus.  He is consciously aware that he is a representative of the Kingdom of Heaven and so he chooses to conduct himself as such, and in doing so he affects the atmosphere to such an extent that the Kingdom’s peace comes with him and is recognised by others and the Kingdom’s generosity is “caught”, as it was by the operations manager … who came under the influence of the peace and serenity that J carried …

This is a question I ask myself regularly, especially on my “off days” …

“Am I conducting myself as a daughter of the Most High God? … Who and what am I representing right now? … Am I representing the Kingdom of Heaven, which is peace, joy and righteousness … or is it some other kingdom?”

Will you let your light shine?

Or will you choose to hide it?

God does not light your lamp to hide it under a basket … He lights your lamp so that you can SHINE … and give light to everyone … (see Matthew 5:15)

So as you go, remember the song … “this little light of mine … I’m going to let it shine” … and as you do people will know that …

God is Good!