The day with dianne Louise

Exodus 39:43 (MSG) Moses saw that they had done all the work and done it exactly as God had commanded. Moses blessed them. God's plans are exact, His thoughts are right and true. God's way are just, there is no shadow of turning in Him. When God gives a word, a plan, He know what will bring the best result. One could say God is fussy, particular even. I am glad He was particular when He created me. I am glad He was not distracted. Near enough is not good enough for God. Our job is to search out His mind, His purpose, to find his will and His way and do it. His word, and only His word sets us free. Sometimes it means diligently seeking to find the word that addresses a need. Sometimes the Lord uses a need to cause us to really press in and find a treasure, the answer is not given easily because it is so precious and only to be found by the ardent, zealous seeker. Ah! my God loves to be found! Amen!

Matthew 25:35-36 (AMP) For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and lodged Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me. Last night I went fishing to the biggest pond in town, Paddy's pub, and caught a fish. I had met this woman when she worked on the same floor as me but suddenly she had gone to a new job. I had had a discussion with this lady about DivorceCare (the bait) before and she had shown interest. Last night I listened to her story, what she had been doing since we last met. I discovered she loved to ride and we are now going to ride our bikes together, she loves Trivia nights and there is one coming up at a church function next month. I was harassed by a drunk but kept my eyes open for more fish. I have spotted a few potentials. I will go back ...

Exodus 33:17 (AMP) And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have asked, for you have found favor, loving-kindness, and mercy in My sight and I know you personally and by name. Moses has matured from a reluctant deliverer to a man who the Lord loved and wanted to spend time with. If we had met Moses when he was dragging his feet and complaining about going back to Egypt to confront the Pharaoh what would we have said? Would it have gone something like? 'God pick another guy this guy is useless, look he even failed to circumcise his children.' Patience sees differently. Although Moses did annoy God with his whining God persevered. Patience is a Godly attribute, it knows that in the hand of God a man or woman can be changed. As God continued to keep His word and used Moses to show his power to the Pharaoh Moses started to understand God's ways. As God stuck by him and continued to use him Moses saw God's faithfulness. Underneath Moses had a h...

Matthew 23:2-3 (AMP) The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat [of authority]. So observe and practice all they tell you; but do not do what they do, for they preach, but do not practice. Isn't this amazing! Do what they tell you but not what they do! All of us, as we mature, become quickly disillusioned with those in authority who say one thing and do another. In fact we become disinclined to listen to them at all, even openly rebellious. Yet Jesus was admonishing His disciples to respect the authority and He even went as far as to say, 'do what they say'. Disappointment soon turns to disrespect as a child moves into the teenage years. How can we help? By respecting the office and trusting the Lord! Amen!

Matthew 23:9 (MSG) Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. Laziness, fear, insecurity, immaturity are all things that will cause us to lay down our responsibility and allow others to rule us. God wanted to be His people's ruler but they wanted a king. They did not want to go to him for the answers, He either scared them or was way too holy for them. Today when I sense someone wants me to make a decision for them, I refuse. I don't need the responsibility or the glory (false though it is). When we are fearful because something has happened to cause us to doubt ourselves or the path we are on we have to remember to stay fast to the path, if indeed it is one which has been thoroughly thought and prayed through. I remember a saying I have heard in the past 'when in d...

Matthew 22:8(MSG) Then he told his servants, 'We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren't up to it. I can really relate to this. I see so many turn aside from the stream of life. I know how the truth has set me free but few are those who press in to find the life in the words. So few will do homework, study, seek, search. The answers are there for those who seek. My grief is that so many miss out. How to entice the many? How soon should I move onto the next? Form the ensuing scripture the Lord moved on quickly, He even levelled a city because of hardness of heart, yet He cares more than me. How does that work? Am I wasting my time hanging in there? Is someone else missing out because of my reticence to move on? I have never moved quickly, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to try and trust the Lord to bring back those who He is calling. Amen!

Matthew 21:44 (MSG) Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed." Ah! the purity of the word of God! as I come to the Lord I am aware that my heart is unclean with fleshly ways but the word cleanses me. I am so grateful that there is a place that is pure that I can rely on and come to. Just the same as I am grateful that my shower works and it's fountain is pure and cleanses my body so I am grateful that the word never fails me. There are times when there is a hard rock of flesh in my heart and I want it gone. Many times it is just wrong thinking, carnal decisions, wanting to promote me. Matthew tells me that as I stumble on the truth in the word I get shattered. What gets shattered is the lump of self. It meets a sonic boom and explodes. I would rather come willingly and be made clean than to have the rock fall on me and be smashed. Pride comes before a fall and that fall can be very expensive. Lord show me Your ways! Amen!

Exodus 20:19 (MSG) They said to Moses, "You speak to us and we'll listen, but don't have God speak to us or we'll die." In relationships we can often choose to not trust and keep our distance. What causes us to not want to be intimate? Yesterday I experienced unfaithfulness in a close friend, it hurt but I went to the Lord to find out why. My friends character had let me down, it had said I really don't care about your interests, I want to do what takes my fancy and not be true to my word to you. I knew I must speak to my friend about this but the Lord has woken me up in the wee hours and given me a revelation. This friend has had several failed meaningful relationships and probably wonders if this pattern will continue. The Lord showed me why. I saw a young person of 10 who lost their mother. The enemy of all our souls had lied and said 'your mother is unfaithful to you in leaving, in fact the Lord is unfaithful to you in taking her'. The liar had di...

Matthew 20:32-33 (MSG) Jesus stopped and called over, "What do you want from me?" They said, "Master, we want our eyes opened. We want to see!" Oh that I might see. As I see more and more of God's nature, I understand His ways and His love for me. There is peace and contentment in knowing Him. As I see things that once frustrated me lose their power over me. As I see I step into greater levels of faith and take more of mine in the Kingdom of God. Understanding sets me free. I am happier, more fun to be around as I grow in understanding. There is so much in God to be obtained, such a wealth of knowledge, so much insight, so much understanding. I am smitten with a desire for more, more of God, more of the beautiful treasure He holds. I will never be content with a little of God. Diving into God is like jumping out of an aircraft at 18,000 ft, scary but such fun. I know because I've done it. I have had many adventures, flown in all sorts of aircraft, ju...

Matthew 19:26 (MSG) Jesus looked hard at them and said, "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it." Jesus had just being teaching about how hard it is for rich people to not trust their stuff or ability to get it, and so inherit eternal life. The disciples then said to him, 'where does that put us?' We could say the same and Jesus' reply would be the same. We cannot earn eternal life ourselves, it is by grace we are saved through faith. Our God wants to be the giver and us to be the responder. I am so grateful for grace. Thank you Lord! Amen!

Exodus 13:22 (MSG) The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people. The Israelites had begun to get to know their God. He had just performed 10 signs to the Egyptians, each of which was horrible but did not touch God's people. The last sign, the death of the firstborn chilled the Egyptians to the bone. Israel's God was giving them rituals to follow, it was all new. Now He leads them out by a pillar of cloud during the day and stays with them as a pillar of fire at night. That is some commitment by God. Now we can have His presence with us always, in our hearts. As the Israelites had to choose to believe and allow God to be God we must. My God wants fellowship with me. He wakes me in the night just to spend time, His love is there. He doesn't say anything, yet I know I am loved, I feel His presence so strong I can almost reach out and touch Him. When I am at work, He is there, His love surrounds me, he loves to watch me work and I love to h...

Matthew 18:4 (MSG) Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. Having little grandchildren I understand this scripture. Little children love with all they have, they trust their mummies and daddies. Yesterday I watched a little girl desperately try to walk as fast as her mum to keep up. her mother was talking to her friend and had little regard for her child, when she did have regard she scolded her, yet the little girl still wanted to be with her mum. Little children believe what they are told. Adults will struggle to believe and sometimes outright disbelieve. My quest is to find childlike faith again and as my God reveals Himself to me I change and become that trusting child. What peace and contentment that brings.

Exodus 6:6-7 (MSG) Therefore tell the Israelites: "I am God. I will bring you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I will rescue you from slavery. What can appear a rescue package can turn into bondage. When Josephs family went to Egypt there was a famine in the land. There was provision in Egypt through Joseph. It is easy to become attached to provision yet provision comes from the Lord. Attachment to Him moves us whereas attachment to places of provision immobilises us. After Joseph died years passed and the people did not have a man who sought the Lord. They went their own way. Moses shows up, the reluctant leader. God really tested Moses when he appeared to lose face in front of Pharoh. Pharoh hardened his heart. Pharoh represents the key keeper to Egypt. Because the people had given themselves to Egypt they were in bondage to food, drink, a place to live. The very thing they went to Egypt for became their Lord. The Lord wanted a people who saw Him first, who knew H...

Matthew 16:18 (MSG) And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. Jesus sees what we do not, if we allow Him to speak we discover an us we did not know about. Peter had a revelation about who Christ was, that opened the door to hear who he was. 'Christ in me the hope of glory.' The magic ingredient is Christ. When we allow Him to speak He does. What stops us? Fear? Unbelief? Dare we believe? Moses was told by God that he was to be a deliverer, he said 'God that is not me, send someone else.' He persisted to the point of making God angry, but finally was persuaded. He was a reluctant deliverer, how he had changed. I see many people, so beaten by life, that they miss opportunities, they are reluctant to take what is theirs. Yet God is there for them. No matter what I might believe about myself or my circumstances God sees differently. Things begin to change as I see through His eyes. Lets take what is ours, Amen!

Exodus 2:15 (MSG) Pharaoh heard about what Moses had done and tried to kill Moses, but Moses got away to the land of Midian . He sat down by a well. It is amazing how God is involved in even our worst nightmare, He uses it in His master plan. Moses would wonder at his failure to help his nation and think all is lost, 'I may as well settle in the backside of the desert and be a shepherd'. I am so glad God is God. He is not fazed by our failures, He has the big picture. He goes to work on our character and when we are ready he brings us out. Moses, like Jacob, had to run away and like Jacob found God had a plan. Character had to be formed, they had to know their God. My God is forming my character, loosing me from all that binds, preparing me for the lost. Like Moses, having a passion for the hurting, the lost, is not enough, I must be shaped into the deliverer God wants. I cannot assume that the tools I had before the backside of the desert are sufficient. My God loves th...

Matthew 15:1-3 (MSG) After that, Pharisees and religion scholars came to Jesus all the way from Jerusalem, criticizing, "Why do your disciples play fast and loose with the rules?" But Jesus put it right back on them. "Why do you use your rules to play fast and loose with God's commands? I have a dear friend who's family are very religious, even exclusive but do not have grace. My friend does not know Jesus because grace was denied her. The Lord has given me this lovely friend to lead to His grace, I sense His love for her. Yesterday this friend went to see a clairvoyant , I said to her 'why did you not come to me, I could have told you your future and not charged you a cent.' She replied 'yes you probably could have.' I am concerned for my friend that her family is driving her to rebel in such a way but I trust the One who seeks her love, for she is a very loving woman. Holy spirit go to her, minister to her about truth and righteousness, wo...

Genesis 46:2 (MSG) God spoke to Israel in a vision that night: "Jacob! Jacob!" "Yes?" he said. "I'm listening." It is amazing that God chose Jacob, the supplanter , to speak to. Jacob the trickster was favoured and continued to be favoured. God met Jacob 3 times and spoke to him, on one occasion Jacob wrestled all night with God that he be blessed. God saw into the heart and found something He liked and fellowshipped with the man. I am grateful God looks inside, I am grateful He desires to meet with us and I am so grateful I can do it whenever I want because He now lives in me. He wants to fellowship with others, the now lost. His love is so great that He longs to share it with hungry hearts. Loving God give me more, give me the lost. Amen!

Genesis 45:5 (MSG) But don't feel badly, don't blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. Proverbs tells me that even an evil man is used by God for a purpose. We can cry and complain as to how our lives have turned out but if our God is involved then He uses all to mould us. At 18 I left home to go a long way away to Wollongong to nurse. As I look back the Lord enticed me there. It was hard to be alone but I found God there. Rejection can be a tool in the hand of the Lord. It casts us out. We wander in the desert for a while but eventually when get overcome the pain of rejection we discover our purpose. I have been cast off, cast out and it hurt, it hurt a lot but God had a plan. Hiding safely away from the pain I was not fulfilling God's plan. I must use pain for His glory because His ways are better. Amen!

Genesis 41:50-51 (MSG) Joseph had two sons born to him before the years of famine came. Asenath , daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, was their mother. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh (Forget), saying, "God made me forget all my hardships and my parental home." Joseph was finally out of jail and given an important job, the Pharaoh also gave him a wife and Joseph settled down to his new life. Joseph thought that this was how it would be and probably thought he would never see his family again, that he would now be an Egyptian. BUT God had a plan. God's plans are so far ahead of ours, He plans to give us a hope and a future. We, in our limited understanding, will see what is before us and think 'this is it now'. How wrong can we be. Our God is restoring all, going before us and working all out for our good. Yes I may forget the pain but the promise, the God breathed vision is not dead. As a seed goes into the ground and dies before it produces the fr...

Matthew 12:34,35(MSG) It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. I love words and the colour they contain, I love the use of words. I love to play scrabble with my mum, we both share a love of words. Yet, my love of words will be useless unless I have a heart that loves the creator of those words more. My God is the master poet, when I lock in to His heart I hear beauty and when I take that beauty in it can flow to others. My heart has not been changed by all the books I have read, with all the interesting phrases, word uses. It has been changed by my love for the word of God and giving it right of way in my heart. As Peter said to Jesus 'You have the words of eternal life.' His words give eternal life and as I open my heart to that life I am filled. As I allow Him to rule in my heart His words come out to others. 'Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my hear...

Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." The unforced rhythms of grace. I love that! It sounds so peaceful. Lord show me how You do it? What are You doing? what are You saying? How are you listening? 'Keep company with Me'! Lord today may I keep Your company and watch You in action? Lord I am ready to 'live freely and lightly'. Amen! What are the steps? 1) Come to You 2)Get away with You 3)Walk with You 4) Work with You 5) Watch 6) Learn 7) Keep Your company, constantly, not just a 'one-off'. Stay! (Sit!)

Genesis 35:3 (AMP) Then let us arise and go up to Bethel , and I will make there an altar to God Who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me wherever I went. God had proven Himself to Jacob to be a faithful God. When Jacob first met God at Bethel , on his flight from his brother. Genesis 28:20-21 (MSG) Jacob vowed a vow: "If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I'm setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father's house, this God will be my God. God had been faithful and Jacob knew it. Now God was calling him back to Bethel . This time Jacob is not alone. He has two wives, two concubines and 11 sons, with another soon to come. He had much cattle and herdsman. He was blessed. Jacob knew God but his family didn't. They wore charms and fetishes to ward off evil spirits, they had house gods whom they honoured but now they were being taken to the one true God at Bethel . The foreign Gods were b...

Matthew 10:39 (AMP) Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life]. What is my lower life? what is my higher life? Is the Lord here talking about having stuff? Is it wrong to have stuff? Should I become like a Buddhist monk and forsake all? and spend my time seeking the higher life? The way of peace, contentment? It is easy to condemn what we do not understand. When we are in a place of devastation and we see how valueless stuff is it is easy to create a personal doctrine about stuff. For me my higher life is my relationship with the Lord. I seek Him and His ways. It isn't the by products of that life ie holiness, goodness etc. If I have stuff then it does not consume me, He does. I will not fight someone because they break my stuff or do not appreciate it. I do appreciate it because the Lord has blessed me with it and therefore I care for it but it does not own my heart. Today is mo...

Matthew 9:15 (MSG) Jesus told them, "When you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!" When God is moving we cannot box Him in or regulate His movements. When something is totally new who knows the rules? 'This is the Kingdom come'. I find myself wanting to regulate because I do not want to bring ill repute, but would I do that anyway? The Lord is working in a new way. Last night I went to a pub and met a woman who ran a shop near where I work. Before I went I was saying to myself 'I will only eat and drink this and that, I will only do this and that'. We had good conversation but I was aware that I need to be freer to touch her life. My internal rules and regulations prohibit me from really touching her. How did Jesus do it? He was so free but did not sin, yet He was a welcome place, a saf...

Genesis 26:24 (MSG) That very night God appeared to him and said, I am the God of Abraham your father; don't fear a thing because I'm with you. I'll bless you and make your children flourish because of Abraham my servant. Isaac did not have the same relationship with God that his father had. He was blessed because of his father. I want to be blessed because of my relationship with my God. A good relationship with the Lord cannot be handed down, it has to be developed personally. What is unique about my relationship with the Lord that my 'spiritual fathers' do not have? My own relationship must be forged out of a heart for the Lord and knowing Him for myself. I long to know what he is saying to me personally. I want to walk where He is taking me, not just walking over places where my fathers have gone, even though they are good. I want to know Him, uniquely for myself. I want to fellowship Him in our own way. I want to hear His voice and have Him visit me in ...

Matthew 8:13 (MSG) Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, "Go. What you believed could happen has happened." At that moment his servant became well. I love how God chooses those outside to teach those inside. Our God is not consumed with the inside workings, the politics, the performance, He is on His own mission. He is looking for the one. Jesus went where the lost congregated. If He was here today He would visit places that we, the church, view as unseemly. He would go there not to partake in sin but to seek and save the lost. I am convicted that I must go to the lost and not hide in church. I will go where the lost are, where they congregated and feel at ease. I will go with eyes that see and ears that hear and a heart that cares. This is where my God is, calling to the lost, drawing them to Himself, I will not be alone because He is there. Amen!

Genesis 21:11 (MSG) The matter gave great pain to Abraham—after all, Ishmael was his son. Abraham was a man of relationship, he had heart. When a dispute arose between Lot's herdsmen and his own he gave lot a choice of land. Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah because of the righteous, the victims of abuse. Abraham entertained the angels of God and waited while they ate. He went out to war against kings who took Lot and his family into captivity not expecting a reward. In chapter 21 he and Abimilech come to an arrangement because their herdsman were fighting. He does it with heart not attitude, he is gracious. Abimilech is the same guy who saw the beauty of Sarah and took her, not knowing she was Abrahams wife. When God tests him with his son, he obeys with heart and faith. Now I know why God loved Abraham, he had His heart to those around him. He was generous, kind, he could fight fairly for what is his, he is not afraid except in losing his wife, his one weakness, this i...

Genesis 18:20 (MSG) God continued, "The cries of the victims in Sodom and Gomorrah are deafening; the sin of those cities is immense. The cries of the victims do not go unnoticed. We may not hear them but the Lord does and comes down to aid them. Lord may I hear the cries, may I 'go' as the angels you sent to rescue the ones caught in that bondage. Open my ears that I might hear, that I might care, that I might pray, that I might 'go'. Amen! The city has those who are abused by evil men, these victims need to know 'help is on the way'. Our DivorceCare team is going into the community to find the lost. We have permission to put our material in the divorce courts and have them included in the kits given to divorcees. The ones we want are the little children and the abused, Lord give them to us. We are going into the armed forces with our material but there is more. Give me souls Lord, give me the lost, give me the hurting, give me the way. Amen!

Genesis 17:3-4 (MSG) Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face. Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: You'll be the father of many nations. As we are diligent and faithful God comes to us with His promises. As we choose to walk faithfully with Him He is faithful to us. Promises are birthed in faithfulness. I choose to be faithful to the Lord and my whole being is saying 'I promise to honour You'. I am not alone in promise. He is there and His promises are so much greater. As we see above 'You will be the father of many nations'. God takes the man, the woman, who chooses Him and who walks faithfully with Him and promises, 'From you great things will flow, You will influence nations'. I see the great things, I see the promise, it is coming down the road. The vision sustains me and keeps me faithful. I love the path chosen for me, I love the training along the way, because as I respond I gain authority. Greater things are yet to come, ...

Matthew 5:5 (MSG) "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. Liking who I am is the best place to be. My God made me just like I am and just like I am, I have a task to complete. I have people, little people, old people and all those in between who look to me, waiting to see how I behave. Today, will I create life or death? What attitude will my heart portray? The times I fail, and I do that sometimes, I go away with regret. For example I had a mammogram recently and I complained about the machine and it's creators because of my discomfort. I am surprised at the things I did say, they were not good, in fact, not becoming at all. I left the place knowing I had failed to show Christ. I knew that the lady assisting me that day probably needed living water and she got sludge. Yes I repented to the Lord but that did not take the experience back to...

Matthew 4:19 (MSG) Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." Previous to meeting Jesus Simon and Andrew focused on the natural, they fished for food, they fished to earn a living. Jesus came and in a moment changed their worlds. To go off with him and leave their business something mighty must have happened. They also must have had a heart that was searching for truth, hungry for more. When we are hungry we are fed, when we seek we find. I would hazard to guess that fishing for souls would never have been on their agenda. It is amazing how God takes a hungry heart and fills it with His passion for His purpose. My prayer is that I stay hungry for Him and all He has, packaged as He likes. Amen!