minister5writes

God of all power
Maker and ruler of the universe
We worship you
Lord we wake again having Ukraine on our minds

Lord we lift up those who have been pressed beyond measure
And who have a sentence of death in them
Lord we know only you can deliver from this destruction , this tyranny, this abuse

Lord, we ask that you hold back the iron fist and turn again the captivity of the people
We ask that you restore the breach ,
Make the rough places smooth again and the crooked places straight

Lord let there be a highway to glory in the land
Let people know that it is you that save, it is you that can deliver from the power of the dog

Break the teeth of the adversary
Bind up the bruised and broken
Rescue those hiding in caves and bunkers
Set the people free

Lord, we ask that the light that shines from the knowledge of your glorious gospel
Shine down on Ukraine and across other nations and lands
Let men and women have renewed hope in you

We pray for the leaders of the nations that you will give them wisdom and understanding
We pray that there will be equity and justice for ALL those needing help

You are no respector of persons

Let none think that battles are won by brute force, but by your spirit working power
Work out the plan of victory for your children by revelation , by your quickening and your anointing

Manifest yourself Holy God amongst the nation of Ukraine and her people and let the trumpet be blown
Let the world see that you are the one that can save and none can do this by their own hand,nor in their own strength

Deliver the adversary into the hands of your sons and daughters but let mercy always triumph over judgment.

These and other mercies we ask in your precious holy Name

Linda J UK

9/3/2022

A prayer for Ukraine
12/3/2022

Save Ukraine O God, by thy name,
and judge her by thy strength.
Hear the prayer of the people , O God , who stand on this issue with one heart
Give ear to the words of their mouth.
For strangers (nay their own brothers) have risen up against them
oppressor violently seek after their souls: destruction is in the land

Lord God, you are the helper of the helpless , you are with them that uphold the soul of the Ukrainian people
You are with us
You shall reward evil unto our enemies:
You will cut them off in your truth.

We , your people will freely sacrifice unto thee:
We will praise your name at all times , for it is good.

We declare great peace for the Ukraine and restoration for her shores

We know you have (and will) deliver all God fearing nations out of trouble:
We wait for you to execute righteousness and judgement in Ukraine , precepts on which your name stands

We declare our eyes shall see the desire upon our enemies, whenever or wherever they slander, speak or act violently or murderously against us

Linda J UK
12/3/2022

Over the last two years none of us have escaped the shaking that seems to be happening near and far. The whole world has been touched by this pandemic and many have lost loved ones and livelihoods.  We have come to realize that we can have no confidence in our plans, in our  flesh, in man, politics or parties.  We see and hear that from the palace, through parliament and those charged with carrying out the laws, that  there is much corruption. Who can we trust?

Things we never thought we might see or experience in our generation has happened, people dying alone, cut off in wards, in isolation, without the comfort of their loved ones at hand. Lives have been put on hold , with our young people (the next generation) significantly affected. The norms and patterns of their developing , necessary, social lives disrupted and many have become despondent and depressed.

Those who had been living on the fringes have been severely affected ie the homeless, those caught up in patterns of addiction ie gambling, sex, drugs and soul destroying, unstable lifestyles. The rates of suicide has increased – people who have lost hope, looking for a way out. It is (and has been) a sad state of affairs .

Yet there is hope.

As I review my bible this year, I see that these signs we now see have been prevalent from the day Adam and Eve fell from grace. The effect of coming ‘out of cover’ and wanting to go their own way resulted in disgrace, death and disease coming into our world. It is not the first time there has been a ruthless pandemic and where men and women have had to run for cover. I read that the wearing of a mouth mask to prevent the spreading of devastating disease (which many have questioned)was instituted way back in the book of Leviticus – Old Testament – and was instructed by God himself (amongst other remedies ) and to prevent the passing of disease and to save lives. There is indeed nothing new under the sun.

The greatest disease affecting our world is the disease of sin. Sin has reigned from Adam until now. Sin is the breaking of God’s divine laws.

God in his mercy and love for mankind continues to show his love towards us a people. He sent a further remedy found in Jesus (his son) and the price Jesus paid with his own life on the cross, by the necessary blood sacrifice of the shedding of his own blood for our sins.

The Bible tells us

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him, shall not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16

I want to tell you that wherever you are today and whatever it is that you have done or are dealing with, there is hope and forgiveness of sin. The Bible tells us that it is appointed that men must die – that is the nature of the physical man – but there is a spiritual side of man that lives on (never dies ) and that side of us has an eternal destination.

This world is not it, there is another destination and appointment beyond the grave that we all must face. We are all here on assignment ie given the divine opportunity of life and to use that life well. God made it possible (through Jesus) that we don’t have to fear sickness, death or disease, or to suffer the eternal death penalty for our sins, but we can find healing, forgiveness and redemption in accepting the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, his son and by our continued obedience.

The Bible is full of the stories of the patterns of his grace and where the default mode of Jesus was always to forgive. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

It is the start of a new year and I want to encourage you to take hold of the olive branch that Jesus extends from his mercy seat. He is a forgiving God, He can heal, wipe away tears, restore broken homes and relationships and help you to start again. God, through his son Jesus, wants to do life with you here, and in eternity.

To accept this olive branch and receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life , you can say this prayer.

A Prayer of Salvation.

I believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he died for my sins. I confess my sins today before God and ask for forgiveness in Jesus Name . I surrender my own will and my own way to God and do this in Jesus’ name. I ask that Jesus shows me the way I now should go and how to live.

What to do next

If you have prayed this prayer (and do make it your own) find a bible believing church or fellowship in your locality and seek further instructions from the leader or pastor on how to live a life as a born again Christian.

Evangelist Linda J UK

5/2/22

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Word in the night

“Faith is substance” not Faith is the substance… which we know is from the book of Hebrew, but ‘Faith is substance’. It may seem an awkward rendering, but this is what I received in the night consistent with how Father speaks to me – I never like to add or subtract . The word /phrase was held in tension as I slept and as I held it I found myself praying through some of Father’s promises.

The Holy Spirit would have me hold onto the exact phrase to explore on waking which I have and which is now set out below.

The word substance depicts something that has form, essence, meaning, material, texture , actuality or being. In effect, it is something that is tangible. I have written on the issue of faith before and directed the reader to the annals of faith found in Hebrews chapter 11, but I believe in my current circumstances, the Lord wants me to lift my level of understanding with the hope of appropriating things that I need from God and appropriating things that might also helps others.

‘Faith is substance’ would suggest that the Holy Spirit is conveying the three dimensional aspect of faith ie that it can be held, appropriated and the thing desired, brought into being.

The opposite of substance is poverty, nothingness, fantasy, abstract . These are not states that the christian believer should want to find themselves. The Bible says that without vision ,(dream , substance – extended here for emphasis ), the people perish. Proverbs 29:18 . You not only have to have vision, but you have to stand in faith, to bring those things which are not yet, into being.

I have already shared elsewhere, my experience of the spirit of faith at work in my life and know it has form. You may recall how I saw myself catapulted into the reality of the thing that I was asking God for.

It was the summer of 2018 , I was seeking to secure a home, but I had no money or deposit for that home. However, almost immediately to my asking (in the same instance ) I saw myself sitting in the home in the future and three dimensionally. I just knew in that instant as I viewed the house and prayed that I was going to own the home. I just then kept making the necessary steps in faith, towards my goal and with assurance in my heart . It was January 2019 when I moved into that home and sat on the settee that I had seen myself sitting on (in the spirit) and as owner. The Lord had orchestrated things so that I could reach my desired destination. Wisdom and understanding and provision came and I was able to make the move. I draw from this experience from time to time and when I want to recall the promises and goodness of God.

I am led at this time of my life to again stand on the promises of God which I see as yes and amen. Since the age of 11 there have been many junctures in my life when my life has been held in the balance due to a serious health issue and where I could have been taken out. Thanks be to God I am still here to complete my assignment – one of which is to write.

The other word for substance is ground and confidence and assurance – what I will call giving backbone to our prayer needs by framing ie putting flesh on it fuelled by his blessed Holy Spirit – without which our prayers remain ineffective.

The Bible tells us that the effectual prayers of a righteous man avails the much and is dynamic in its working . James 5:16 . It is the dynamo that I saw when I prayed on two or more occasions (one reported above) leading to the answer to my prayers. But who is righteous enough to pray such prayers? It is the Holy Spirit who prays thru us, making our needs and utterances acceptable to God and lining up with his will for our lives. Essentially He has good plans for us and on this ground we can stand.

What is that thing that you are standing in faith for? See it as already done. See its form, texture, essence, being, as an actuality. You don’t always have to wait long for an answer, The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the diving asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 .

Get familiar with the word of God and use it to bed down that thing that is yours by right and by commandment and bring it into existence. For instance, if you are waiting on healing, you can declare and say that ‘by his stripes you are healed’. 1 Peter 2:24. If you have felt consistently short changed or passed over , see your self as ‘the head and not the tail’ (Deuteronomy 28:13) ‘above and not beneath’. Hounded by trials and tribulations? Confronted by opposition and rulers of the darkness? See yourself as being at rest and divinely protected under his shadow of the Almighty . See your enemies fleeing seven ways (Deuteronomy 28:7) and their necks under your feet when they come up against you. Dealing with lack or impoverishment? See your hands, your home, your basket.. filled with the blessings of God (Deuteronomy 28:11)

The word that came in the night was ‘Faith is substance’ . Let us think again about the opposite of substance set out above and take note that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law , already becoming a curse for us . Galatians 3:13 . Therefore all that we need in relation to our deliverance has already been done on the cross and we simply need to give it substance and form, start seeing the victory eg believe that it is already done and step in.

There are so many times in the Old Testament that the children of israel could not step in because of unbelief. The Lord brought this up again in the parables of the sycamine tree and the mustard seed (Luke 17:16; matthew 13;31; 17:20; Mark 4:31; luke 13:19; 17:6) . It is the fact that we don’t frame our prayers with the word of God and our lack of belief that prevents us seeing those things which are not, come into being.

Now is the time to exercise your faith, believing that you deserve substantially better than your current circumstances because the price has already been paid for your healing and deliverance and it was paid for on the cross . Receive it and activate it, frame it , give it substance, by the Word.

The Bible tells us that the world was framed by the word of God Hebrews 11:3 . In the same vein , you have to say something to bring that dream , that vision, that need, into actuality. Say what God says about it , again give it substance , give it life . Bring it into form by the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart. Let that seed faith grow in your heart by watering it every day by the word of God.

The word of God in your heart and released through your mouth has the power to cause changes. One author puts it like this, ‘the things hoped for in our prayers (as born again believers ) are not mere figments of the imagination, (they are not fantasy or abstract) their basis is the word of God’ . His words are pure and He is a shield to all who put their trust in him. Proverbs 30:5.

God desires to give substance to our prayers. If we ask him for a fish, he will not give us a stone.

The Amplified bible put it best when it says . For we [Believers ] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that Messiah has for us] if only we would hold firm our newborn confidence, the thing [which originally led us to Him] until the end. Hebrews 3:14. Simply put, the same faith we had in believing and receiving salvation and hope of eternal life, is the same faith we are to exercise, give substance to, when approaching God in prayer for things he has already made possible and accessible to us through his word.

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed) and the evidence of things not seen (the conviction of their reality – faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses). Hebrews 11:1 AMP

Faith is substance.

Let us pray

Father we thank you for your word. Your word has the dynamic power to cause changes in our lives and in our situation. Lord you said it and it was done and you have promised that greater things will we do because you returned to the Father. Thank you because you are always speaking to us ushering us towards a better understanding of who we are in you. You are the Christ in us and the hope of glory. Glorify you name in us through our testimonies of how you have brought us through. Your word tells us we overcome by the word of our testimony and the shedding of your blood.

Thank you for the life giving word in our hearts and in our mouth we heard and believed and confessed you as Lord. Let that same faith we had in our salvation be exercised at times of need and peril. Let the power of your Holy Spirit continue to lead and guid us into all truth. Help us to cast off all doubt and unbelief and step forward in the faith in you. Knowing already that you died and ave yourself as a ransome. Because of this we can come boldly and ask anything in your name, believing it is already done and because you have good plans for us.

Help us to see those things which are not as though they were. Give substance an dorm to ur prayers and supplication by the agency of your blessed Holy Spirit and by our application and expression of your word.

Your word spoken is like a hammer that breaks the rock. Your word has the ability to cause changes. Your word is a two edged sword, diving asunder soul and spirit, joint and marrow and is a discerner o f the intents of our hearts. Only you know the depths of our heart , our sincerity and our level of belief.

Increase our level of faith to do mighty things in this hour. You promised that greater things we would do because you go to the Father. We believe you. Help us to speak the word only and to see those things that are not as though they were. Help us to believe the impossible and to know that all thighs are possible with you.

Thank you for the prayers you have already answered and those which are still to manifest in physical form. Through faith, help us to break yokes and to set captives free. Through faith, help us to see the sick healed, the weak revived and those impoverished blessed with all spiritual blessings. Through faith, let us see blind eyes opened, the dead raised and sickness and disease having no power over us. Through faith filled eyes, let us se your kingdom advancely and operating here on earth as it is in heaven.

Evangelist Linda J UK

2/2/2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the Passion bible’s depiction of faith being the ‘wrap around shield’ (see Ephesians 6:16 TPTbible) . Someone reminded me of this today which has prompted this piece .

Yesterday I was at hospital for treatment . It’s only 10 minutes now instead of 2hours so it’s great . We were in a bay. We were talking Carribean food, scotch bonnet (pepper) and Ganga …. Two black nurses , myself and a white man who was given ‘ganja’ in Barbados which had blown his head off (so to speak) . He renamed our bay 1 , ‘Caribbean Bay’. We laughed and laughed. There was so much joy and merriment.

He reminded me I had told him I was a Christian as we shared stories of our diagnosis and our feelings . It was my stance (which I believe is faith personified) . He remembered!! He said he would have died but for the advancement with his melanoma – something the doctors missed despite a number of physical checks . He had caught this from the sun on his back .

We also talked about the scaremongering that had happened with the Covid vaccination and how people had been influenced . I gave him my opinion . I said I hadn’t wanted to take it either but my stance was my faith in God to determine the time and whether this vaccine or virus or cancer or an accident would be the thing that takes me out. I said it is for Him to know and to offer protection as a loving Father, if indeed it would be a premature departure and we pray for protection . I also said I don’t condemn anyone not talking the vaccine either that decision is for them .

He was amazed at my confidence and resolve and it was here he reminded me I had said I was a Christian . The interesting thing is I can’t remember sharing that with him, but I believe the ‘wrap around faith ‘ is evident as we walk , sit, speak , talk and laugh . They know there is something different .

We as Christians are ‘ever ready batteries’ if you like . I walk up the hospital corridor as an ambassador and as a soldier . I feel dressed …🙃. I know who I am. I don’t go to preach but I SPEAK and I know I am here , I am there … for a reason. Our lives are the message people read as Paul has opined in 2 Corinthian 3:2-3

“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? 2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart

2 Corinthians 3:2-3.

May the Spirit of the living God work through your circumstance today . Let his wrap around shield of faith sustain you in every decision making, in every news, in every good or bad report .

God bless You

Evangelist Linda J UK
21/1/22

I had this strange dream. It is perhaps a hard one to break but may the Lord help us. The interpretation offered below is not meant to be exhaustive, but it is as the Lord has illumed to me today.

There may be a word or a nugget for someone and may the Lord (as always) direct his work & word in truth. As one author puts it ‘love is always behind everything God does’ and he shows us dreams, thus directing our paths, and to help us to continue to pursuing Him in holiness.

Dream

I dreamt I was propping up my Father and taking him out for something to eat. It was late and many of the eateries where he could eat were closed – the dream emphasized that they were ‘no longer open’ . This appeared to be as a result of famine or a pandemic. It was night time. My father was lame and resting heavily on my shoulder. I sensed as I walked that people were wondering at the spectacle – that is: this young woman struggling (almost carrying) , this very old disabled tall elderly ‘black man’ but I wasn’t ashamed, he was my Father.

We approached an eaterie/pub that was open but had large crowds waiting. I knew I could jump the queue if I had asked (given my Fathers state) but I reasoned that he wouldn’t be able to cope with the crowds or the mayhem or what the people might culturally have to offer there. I went out to the back kitchen to see if there was food I could take out , but I saw that those who were serving were binning even the good food and there was nothing available.

That was the dream .

Interpretation

Interpretations belong to God and this dream is very strange. The Lord uses similes and symbols to speak with us and He has taught me all I know about dreams to this point and by his blessed Holy Spirit. It is a word that can be taken individually and a word I believe for the Body.

There are a number of things that jump out for me which is worthy of note. It was a black man that carried Jesus’ cross through the city as he was being taken to his death on Calvary.

The dreams speaks of burden bearing and taking the message of the cross through the streets. Here also is a picture :

For surely ‘He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment ], yet we [ignorantly ] considered Him stricken , smitten, and afflicted by God[as if with leprosy] . But he was wounded for our transgressions , He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us, was upon Him and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole’ Isaiah 53:4-5 AMPC

The dream raised the issue of those spectating and embarrassed about what they were seeing – they scorned at his suffering and shame . But I say it was the Apostle Paul who said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ , it is the power of God unto salvation. (Romans 1:16 ) .

Jesus was bruised and broken as He navigated those streets to his death. He did this for us. Not many ran to his aid save (we are told) Simon of Cyrene who incidentally was a black man.

The way of the cross is open for all and is not about color but I need not comment on the experience of this group of my forebears in history and our Father will make redress in time.

Significantly, I believe the dream points to the duty of bearing the burden and hear of the day and carrying the cross as He did.

What is the cross?

For sure, it is as Jesus taught . It is about denying yourself, standing in the gap for others, healing the broken hearted and setting captives free – it is about showing mercy to the poor and dejected. It is about giving assistance to the halt, the lame and the blind. This was the symbolism in the dream not necessarily about my earthly Father, who is now at rest. The dream also shows the role females continue to play in bringing the message of the cross. Jesus had and continues to have special compassion for the widow and the fatherless.

The dream reminds me also of Mary and Joseph seeking a place for the Messiah to be born. The Lord continues to look for a place that is worthy, where he can find rest, eat and where his soul can be satisfied.

It was the Lord who implored through the prophet Isaiah , ‘..heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool (but) where is the house that ye build me and where is the place of my rest ?’ Isaiah 66:1.

Elsewhere in the book of Haggai, the Lord rebuked Israel for making and dwelling in cieled houses, when his own house, was left laying to waste. The prophet went on to warn of a time of famine coming, despite the labor and efforts that the people had put in. The prophet admonished that whilst they were working hard (dead works) their substance was being put into ‘a bag with holes’ and there was an urgent need for them to consider their ways. (seeHaggai 1:4 and onwards).

I want to say that God doesnt need our help or our religiosity to build. He wants us to submit and surrender to his ways and walk the road he walked to the cross. He is seeking a place of rest.

It was interesting to see the crowds waiting outside this public house jostling for position and place. It was clearly a time of desperation as we have seen in this generation and our time. I believe it is only a small reflection of what is still yet to come. May the Lord help us and give us to grace to stand. May we never be found wanting or waiting in the wrong queue.

The Bible warns that wide is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that find it , but narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7 :13-14) . In the last days many will be running to and fro seeking refuge and rest and the word of God, but cannot find it.

There was a distinct check in the dream not to go into this place, even though it would have given us respite but it wasn’t the Lord’s house and I feared my Father would have again been bruised. Many of us continue to bruise the Lord by the wrong choices that we make.

There have been many creative ideas to extend kingdom in our time, but we must take care that we are not deceived and to be careful where our feet take us ie not to mix or have fellowship with unbelievers. In the dream , there was potential room at this inn, but it was not appropriate to take Father there.

The Bible warns that we ‘….cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the devils , (we) cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and the table of devils’. 1 Corinthians 10:2. It is the Holy Spirit that will draw souls and we don’t need to stoop to the dictates of the world or try this or that just to fit in. Our Father will make and give us provision and our meat in due season. Let Him lead us where He will.

It was concerning to see good food being thrown out by those serving . I think simply put, the dream is saying a couple of things , warning us about not giving what is holy to dogs (Matthew 7:6 ; 15:26 and Mark 7:27) , to remember the poor and to be careful how we use what He (our God) blesses us with.

Many are seeking, looking for food and I don’t think this relates to just physical food alone. Many are seeking the unadulterated word of God but there is a dearth and famine as the scriptures had already warned us there would be in the last days.

James 2: 15 tells us ‘if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and we say ‘depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, yet we give them nothing needful for the body, what does that profit us ?‘. How often have we seen or experienced this in our time and been guilty too of not going that step further. It is not of God to see the need and just pray or say ‘I will pray’ and not attend to the need when we have it by us. We have to reach out and come out of our ceiled houses and also from behind our screens, to see or meet with our brother or sister and minster to their needs. May the Lord help us as we reflect on how we might have been.

It was the prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations who lamented on the Lord’s inheritance being turned to strangers and the Lord’s house to aliens, leaving many as orphans and fatherless and mothers as widows. Interestingly in the dream the color of my Father was significant to me – ‘a black man’ – I am black also, so the dream was pointing to deeper things and in context.

I have already commented on the man that helped to carry the burden of the cross, above. In Lamentations the color black is used as synonymous with famine which is what I had also picked up in the dream ie this was happening in a time of social distress and unrest.

I quote Jeremiah’s lament here Lamentation 5 verses 1- 18 for ease and as it is also a prayer for restoration

Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us:

consider, and behold our reproach.

Our inheritance is turned to strangers,

our houses to aliens.

We are orphans and fatherless,

our mothers are as widows.

We have drunken our water for money;

our wood is sold unto us.

Our necks are under persecution:

we labour, and have no rest.

We have given the hand to the Egyptians,

and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

Our fathers have sinned, and are not;

and we have borne their iniquities.

Servants have ruled over us:

there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

We gat our bread with the peril of our lives

because of the sword of the wilderness.

Our skin was black like an oven

because of the terrible famine.

They ravished the women in Zion,

and the maids in the cities of Judah.

Princes are hanged up by their hand:

the faces of elders were not honoured.

They took the young men to grind,

and the children fell under the wood.

The elders have ceased from the gate,

the young men from their musick.

The joy of our heart is ceased;

our dance is turned into mourning.

The crown is fallen from our head:

woe unto us, that we have sinned!

For this our heart is faint;

for these things our eyes are dim.

Because of the mountain of Zion

My own prayer

Father we thank you for your word. At the entrance of your word is light.

Thank you for you desire us to walk as you walked and live as you lived here on earth and without compromise. Thank you that you have chosen us to bear the cross with you and our desire is to do as you would wish us. To go where you send and to not be afraid of the faces of men.

Thank you Lord that through love you were bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace laid on you and by your stripes we are healed . We declare we are not ashamed of bearing your cross or the gospel which is the power of God , our Father unto salvation, to the Jew first and to the Gentiles.

Lord you seek all those who desire to know you. You are no respecter of persons. Let those that seek you find you.

Lord helps us to use what you have given us well not to throw what is holy to dogs, but to distribute to all fairly.

Lord we see in our time how sin is represented across our society and as Jeremiah prayed above , both princes and politicians are caught up in scandal , children and women in peril, there is much darkness and the crown has fallen from many heads.

Lord as you help us to consider our ways, forgive where we have fallen short of your glory. Where we have paid lip service to others and traded things to fit in with the crowd and the call of this world. Help us in this dark hour to wait on you and not to seek to build our own empires. To shine as your sons and daughters continuing to bear the cross and despising not the shame.

Lord we want to make room for you , to find you a place of rest with us, in our hearts.

Move us out of the way where we cause road blocks and frustrate the gospel, leaving many destitute for your fresh and Holy word.

These and other mercies I ask in your Name

Your daughter

15/1/22

Reviewing Matthew 8
JANUARY 13, 2022

Matthew 8

I wrote this in 2020 (which seems a life time now). The review is not exhaustive .

I write as instructed not necessarily for an audience nor to attract likes…! However, as my daughter is in the book of Matthew, I thought I’d resurrect it, share it with her and cascade wider. The word always locates those God intends it to. It is His word. It is His work.

Oh the beauty and joy of electronic devices – that ‘saves’ materials, ‘keeps’ memories and ‘satisfies’ 🙃It always amazes me to look back on what I wrote in another season and why and whether there is any growth or change to my understanding . Let us use these devices for good and to advance kingdom.

Reviewing Matthew Chapter 8

Matthew 8 touches on the healing ministry of Jesus, but essentially the ability of the individuals to receive what Jesus gives or brings, by faith.

The passage commences with the symbolic message ‘he came down from the mountain ’. A picture to me of Jesus now rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to work… This should have resonance for us ie we have to go up to the mountain to be filled and be connected with God (prayer and fasting) and then come down to do the works of God on the level of the people.

Matthew harmonizes with Romans 10, highlighting that the same faith in us to receive salvation, is the same faith we must exercise to receive or do the works of God. The word of faith is forever close by, even in our mouths and in our hearts as chapter 8 of Matthew exemplifies, by the centurion whose servant was healed and the leper who was cleansed.

With the leper, we see that it was clear that he recognized the inherent power of Jesus and his ability to heal ie ‘you can make me clean’ (emphasis on the ‘can’). He knew it in his heart and he spoke it with his mouth. From the abundant need and belief in his heart , his mouth spoke. He said something. You have to say something… This is the same for salvation and for healing.

With the centurion the delegated authority that he knew Jesus had (akin to the authority he had over his own servants) was sufficient for faith to work on his behalf and from a high level, but he also humbled himself. He said ‘speak the word only’ – ie you dont need to come to my house – Simply put : I understand and accept the anointing on your life, Further, I believe in you and understand chain of commands-let your word now do the work, and it did.

Jesus marveled at the centurion particularly as he had not seen such faith amongst his own people. Elsewhere we see in the scripture he was hampered to do much work amongst his own people, due to their unbelief. Confirming the words in Malachi ‘ from the rising of the sun to the going down the same, my name will be great, amongst the Gentiles’. Malachi 1:11

Thank God for that door that was opened to us to have access to healing and salvation and to become spiritual Israelites.

That said, the Chapter is a salutary reminder of the need to bear fruit worthy of repentance, or the kingdom will be taken away from us and given to those who bring forth (see also later chapter of Matthew 21:43).

What is the message of Matthew 8 ?
Father is seeking personal trust and walk of faith; one that produces submission and obedience . I see this both for the ministered to and the minister.

As can be seen with Jesus and the centurion’s posture .. Jesus came down and did not scorn the leper – the Centurion also humbled himself to receive on behalf of another. He recognized hierarchy even though he too was a man of authority and holding a degree of power. Father is wanting us to bend the knee… and our hearts… he is seeking a positive confession of the acknowledgement of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, not just for ourselves, but to help others.

May God help us. He won’t wait forever – it is very much a whosoever will. Believe it in your heart and confess Him and that thing you desire with your mouth, and it will be yours by faith.
I repeat – it is the same faith and person that you lean on for salvation JESUS -which is the same faith and person that will give you the ‘salve’… salvation…. healing for your body, and address emotional, financial and spiritual issues again for yourself and others .

Prayer

Father we know that faith without works is dead. We ask that you increase our ability to believe that you came to set the captives free. Healing is our bread and you are just waiting to bestow upon us if we just believe.

Help us to exercise simple faith in what we say and do.
Help us to acknowledge you as Lord and be willing to let you administer your healing power to us and so that we can be free to help and witness to others.

Teach us the good and perfect way to walk in authority and as your ambassadors of the kingdom.

Take not your anointing or your Holy Spirit from us, but empower us to do of your good pleasure.

Help us to trust that you are in control and that we need not be anxious for anything.

Help us to give you a place of rest in our hearts so that you can continue to manifest yourself to us, to the world and to those in need.

With your word (and in our mouths expressed), we know devils, demons , disease and decay will flee, and the sick healed and recover in our churches and the environments you have placed us.

It is time for us to bring forth those precious seeds. Help us to speak the word only.

This I ask in your precious Holy Name

Evangelist Linda J UK

Written 9/1/2020

Edited & Reposted 13/1/22

I dreamt I was ministering to a few people in a house church, but it was like a school room.

I was busy trying to get the video to work to go with the worship but to no avail. The people were waiting for me to begin. I was nervous as I hadn’t anticipated such a gathering, nor that I would preach or lead on this particular occasion, but as I turned round the place was full and filling up. All eyes were on me.

My sister Cherry was there in the audience as were T & T from M24. I was bundling my tools together including my old bible to begin, but I hadn’t prepared a scripture. I knew I should have been prepared to roll at any opportunity but I knew I wasn’t. I felt out of practice.

All of a sudden the word came and started to flow through me . I didn’t begin with ‘Good morning’ but

‘.. thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place’ 2 Corinthians 2:14

I went on using the light of the world and the salt of the earth and seasoning – ie wherever we go we should be emitting a light, a sweet fragrance and also taste good . The audience smiled and there was engagement. I could feel the anointing at work.

I asked the question whether they thought that was true of themselves ie what scent they were giving off /giving to the world – whether they felt they tasted good.

Then I heard me use the link scripture

As He is so are we in this world. 1 John 4:17

I then launched into ‘come taste and see that the Lord is good’ – preparing to catch a soul – but my daughter then closed the front door going out to work early this morning and disturbing my sleep. I woke up from the dream.

What was interesting in the dream was that people were seeking, enthusiastic, needy and expectant – they had (if you like) their hearts open. These people hadn’t been given an invite nor had they been marketed by anyone, but the Holy Spirit had clearly drawn them to this place. I saw three people who were ‘church people’ but the rest were people I didn’t know – they looked like seekers. I got a sense this was current event/era happening in Covid time.

The dream also shows we don’t need props and equipment, but that the word of faith is in us. The anointing is present and at work through the sharing of the word. We must be ready and prepared to do of His good pleasure and to give an answer for the reason of our hope. We must have faith to just ‘ do’ . His word says ‘open our mouths and He will fill it’ Psalms 81:10. People are ready waiting. The dream showed, they are coming in! The Lord is depending on us.

I close today with the key scripture, with extension :

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.

2 Corinthians 2: 15-16

There will always be those at different levels of inquisition, knowing and need. Ours is just to speak. He will do the rest.

PRAYER

Father we thank you. We thank you because you are our ever present help in the time of need. Indeed you are the sweet smelling savor ever present and willing to work through us for your purposes here on earth – to catch souls.

Lord, we have become complacent and unprepared for the ‘setups’ that you have prepared for us on the way. You want to use every one of us in our small corner. We have delegated our ministries to others, depending on props and equipment to help make you attractive to the world. You are already altogether lovely and nothing can compare. We need add nothing but to speak .

Lord, take us back to basics . Help us use the gift that you have already deposited in us to reach the world – a world that is waiting. We have been in the school room of learning far too long and it is time to rise. It is time for us to run with what you have deposited in us so that other can taste and see that you are good.

Lord, help us to know this is not our work, but your work and you are waiting . It is you who convicts, saves and satisfies. We are simply conduits of your manifold blessings.

Increase our faith to do of your good pleasure. Ever ready willing and waiting to speak the word instant in season and out.

Thank you Blessed Holy Spirit that it is you who draws men. No one can come unless you call. Those who seek will find. You Lord will do great and mighty things if we simply obey and remain available.

Your word says that we should preach the gospel to the whole world and that you will be with us always. You will do your wonders in our time.

Increase our faith in you. Fill us to overflow so that we will be the fragrance of light and life in the dark and essential food for others.

Linda J UK

3/1/22

I have been waiting on the Lord for that fresh word that may save someone soul and this is it. My reading this morning took me to the scripture

Hosea 3:1

Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

I want to use the scripture to share some of my personal history but more importantly to highlight how much God loves us and the pain we cause in his heart of our rejection of him.

If anyone has experienced strong attachment or ‘love relationships’ with a subsequent break of separation (not of their choosing), they may comprehend a bit of the heart pain, I am talking about. When this happens, some people simply don’t want to go on and make the choice not to.

We think that all our life, future hope is tied up in this one person. There is nothing like them – we think. But of course, they too are just flesh and cannot save us . And… if we can wait , we will see there is so much more.

Sadly some don’t wait around to find out the ‘so much more’ and take their own lives. It’s a tragedy.

I thank God for His blessed Holy Spirit for his redirection, wooing and divine call on my life and that He rescued me ‘just in time’ that I didn’t sink in the pit of no return, just for a man .

I have made a number of mistakes poor choices since then, but His hand remained on me throughout my journey, calling me out with a Abrahamic call in 2004 , when I was at another crossroad.

At this point I was just beginning to hear from the Lord. He told me to pack up and go and leave everything , children, family, house , job … I didn’t know where I was going or what I was walking into, but I walked by faith not by sight and against a lot of negative comments . I couldn’t resist the call . Even up to the day of the move, the removal men came at the time appointed but I was battling two forces , one telling me to stay and another telling me to go. The higher call won the day. Praise be to God. It was the saving of my very soul.

The reason I am sharing this today, is as a result of myself and my adult daughter reminiscing at the tail end of 2021 about our respective and joint lives . Both of us can see God’s hand and how it has moved to bring us to His desired destination. He knows the plans He has for us …

It has not been without pain or suffering , but through it all we have come to know the God of the bible. He directs our work in truth. He alone orders our steps whether to Stay or to Go. We have come to know you can have no confidence in the flesh.

The above verse from Hosea which prompted this write up, highlights the love of God, the pain He also feels when we go ‘a whoring’ (sleeping around), from him. He uses the analogy of a spurned heartbroken husband longing after a wife that has gone after another, in adultery . Despite this, Hosea sticks with and maintains his love for his rebellious wife – becoming a living ‘metaphor’ of God’s love for His people.

God’s love is unconditional and different from the love we have for each other. His love is known as Agape. He first loved us without our works or our affection. It is the highest form of love. Our love for a man or woman (outside the marriage covenant – let me add) the bible terms adultery, as the above scripture also captures or worse, fornication.

The word term Phila can also be used in relation to an abnormal love for a special thing as defined in paedophilia. These kind of ‘love’ aberrations including ‘love’ outside the covenant of marriage, come from a dark place, is demonic and is not of God.

Love for a friend is known as Phila – denoting fondness as used in Luke when Jesus introduced his friends, but you don’t have intimate sexual ‘heart tie’ relationships with friends – although we hear the term ‘friends with benefits ’ blinding minds and flying in the face of what has been constituted and commanded for our good.

When we are ‘in love’ as the world depicts it for us , we think it is everything, but of course when we are in our ‘right mind’…..we know it isn’t . But the attachment//soul tie is so strong, separation hurts. I know that pain. God uses the analogy of painful rebuff and rejection through the life of his prophet Hosea. He wanted to get the message a cross to His people . He knew we would understand this. He uses it to demonstrate the ache He also feels, when we spurn him and look to another but his desire to continue to love us inspite of this.

His word says , He will marry the backslider .

Yes he loves us so much more than our fickle dalliance with a young man or woman who is perhaps just ‘sampling’ as my mother would say bringing up 6 girls : ‘Don’t turn no sample for no man’ .

I am older and wiser now, but as young people of the world and with many barriers down including break down in families and (dare I say) proper spiritual leadership and mentoring in churches, young people are left to their own devices . Back then, we thought we knew it all . We were (some of us still are) blinded by the dark forces which desires us to imbibe on its fancies and then unceremoniously topple us (with a grin) to our spiritual and physical demise, without a hope.

But there is hope in God …

‘For (He) God… so loved the world that He gave His only begotten soon Jesus (ie coped with this awful separation from his own ‘right arm’ His beloved, just for us ) …that we would not perish but have… (the chance – we have to accept it ) …of everlasting life’ ( John 3:16 with my own heartfelt interjections & paraphrase).

I heard it, I believed it and I caught God’s hand and arm. I caught the vision of the eternal, ágape – the highest unconditional , marvellous love, that He has for us and Said “Yes please” and “Thank You” for wanting me and saving me.

I don’t know where you reader are in the scheme of things, but today I ask that you consider your ways and your choices .

Don’t miss it .

Don’t be a sample of this world’s dictates forms and fashions.

Be a child of God .

Be a faithful witness .

Wait on Him. He is Love…! His love is unconditional. Love there for you from the beginning of time .

Forgiveness is there for any sins and acceptance – even when our mother and Father forsakes us , (King David said) He is there to pick you up.

His arms are open wide. He alone knows the plans He has for you. They are good plans . He alone knows the way you should take .

Put all those worldly attractions – love interests to one side and call on Him whilst it is ‘Today’.

‘Today’ if you hear his voice , through a message, or a word ( like this one) or a dream , harden not your heart .

We are praying for You. In particular I am praying that some of our young people will also catch the real love message, before it’s too late.

Evangelist Linda J Uk

At the break of another new day ❤️

31/12/21

A Word

My niece, Tiffany had sent me a row of pictures of Imogen (my 6 month old grandniece). I haven’t seen her much because of the pandemic but how much I love her already and pleased to be called grand aunt and to play a role in her life and be part of her family.

As I looked at the pictures I felt the Holy Spirit turning over my mind, I thought how much, as a species , we love to celebrate our children, be proud about how they relate to us, and put their pictures on our mantel piece, in our albums – even the mantel piece and albums of our hearts.

Straight away as I was thinking this (and this was in the early hours of the morning), the Lord gave me a word in the way He often does and said tell their parents this :

We are born in sin and shapened in iniquity, even the innocent babe. He impressed that until we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, what actually is the reality is that our pictures, our identity and that of our innocent loved ones, sits on the mantle piece of the enemy of soul, Satan – (the god of this world) who currently rules and reign over lives.

Why Aunty Linda they might ask? Why such a serious word ?

Because time is short . Because you need to know that Satan was given authority for all when Adam sinned. Whilst the foolish action of giving up birthright (which Adam and Eve did) is still in process . The reversal process (to right all wrongs) started with the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross now some 2,000 years ago. In the meantime there is something the individual has to do not to fall foul of eternal damnation but to make a choice. I now not only speak to both the parents, but those other individuals inside my own family and for those outside.

Let me explain further by using the imagery Father gave me to use. How He loves to speak to me in pictures and parables..!!

What makes the difference is when someone accepts the Lord Jesus Christ, their identity is in his both in Christ and in Jehovah God and if you like, their photo and their beautiful smiles sits on His mantelpiece. When we have said yes (believed in our hearts , repented of our known sins and confessed with our mouths), we are immediately adopted in Him. We now belong to Him and he owns us. He is proud of us and proud to show us off. He knows our name because we know His and have called on Him.

The life here on earth is the chance we all get to make a choice ie whom will we serve and to firm up identity . God is not wanting any one to perish and without having the opportunity to receive the free gift of salvation and to change identity.

Remember my first word, ‘we are born in sin and ‘shapened in inquity’ but we don’t have to remain framed by the god of this world. None can escape the necessary process. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptised for the remissions (washing away permanently) of your sins (inherited, past and future sins).

Let me be clear, for babies and those not reaching the age of consent or competence or those dying at birth or in the womb, the scriptures are silent, but I believe God will judge sovereignly and will be merciful. However for the mature ie those who have heard and have the opportunity ‘today’ to say where their little image or picture will sit or be framed….. to say to whom they belong , there won’t be a second chance.

Don’t be too smart for your own good either…. thinking that not to choose protects you. By default (and by not choosing), you are in fact choosing to stay in the way of the sin nature in the fallen ‘adamic identity’ in which you/we were all born and with the eternal ie never ending consequences.

Our Father has no desire to see you cut off nor to see you damned. He has no joy in the death of a sinner making provision through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ . For , ‘for this very purpose was the son of man manifested to destroy the works, cunning and plans of the enemy’ (1John 3:8 my emphasis added) . Satan intended for you (from Adam down), to lose identity and the inheritance.

Our Father, by his Blessed Holy Spirit , is speaking expressly and again today. He wants to give you life, assurance and a correct identity, in Him. Ask yourself : Where is my picture sitting? On whose mantlepiece have I been framed ? With whom do I identify ? And even more pressing : Where will I be spending eternity?

Let me say again:

Today, is the day of salvation,
Today is the acceptable time.
If you hear his voice today (and through the voice of one of his servants ) harden not your heart.

God bless you and lead you aright as you contemplate the word.

Please feel free to share.

Evangelist Linda J UK
7th December 2021