Feeling Close

It’s been the longest time. 

The longest time. Since I’ve felt close to God. And close to His heart. 

The thing about being married to the perfect person (Christ). Means whenever there is a problem with the relationship… it’s always (and rightly) my fault. 

God cannot have faults. He is perfect and I believe that. 

But I am not. 

And over the past year I have seen that … and I don’t even want to call it ‘imperfections’ (that sounds too mild). 

Over the past year I have seen my wickedness out in the open displayed before my eyes. Shocking me. 

Startling me. 

Alluring me. 

Disappointing me. 

Ruining me. 

There’s something about doing something you never thought you could do. 

Being something you never thought you could be ; that honestly turns your world upside down. And makes you question who you are, your whole life, everything you’ve ever experienced. 

For the fact that I don’t really know who is reading this, I’m not going to go into detail. However, I will say : that I have failed. I have had the most defeated awful year where I have compromised. Sinned consistently. Not listened to counsel . Let my emotions get the best of me. Had secrets. And indulged the darkest parts of me. 

It’s been a really hard time. Internally I’ve had some hard moments where I’ve felt disconnected from God, from others. And I’ve just had to past the time with distractions. Sappy TV shows. Mindless music. Busy work schedules just to try and pass the time. 

While deep inside knowing. Wanting. Crying out for a personal experience of redemption, wanting to get out of the mess I’ve made. But being unable to pull my self out of the ditch that I dug. 

From everything I’ve experienced. And as I am starting to see the light again. I can absolutely say this. 

I am me with God. 

The closer I am to God, the more happiness I experience. The more life is worth living. 

The more Hope I have. Contentment. Peace. Joy. 

I don’t knowwww how people live life without God. I’ve experienced the burdens of sin. And it’s not fun. Sure it has its moment. The thrill. The temporary excitement of eating the fruit. Doing the forbidden. But once it’s over. Comes the guilt. The depression. The void - more vast than before.  

Once you’ve tasted the presence, power, love and acceptance of God. Nothing can ever compare. Nothing. 

And that’s what I’m striving for again. 

My callused heart needs to be melted. My thirst for the Bible heightened and filled. 

The warmth of His approval is all that I want to live for. 

The sense of His forgiveness needs to be lived again and His embrace. His embrace. Is what I want to hold close to me in the moments of loneliness and isolation. 

God deserves to have all of me. And I am committed to Him. And despite all my failings, I choose to believe that He still loves me. Even though that love is completely undeserved. 

Unthinkable. 

My life is rooted in Him and like the prodigal I am using any ounce of strength I have left to run back into His arms. Hoping that even if fall, alongside the many bruises that I already have. He will heal and restore our love and the life we  had together. 

I am with God. 

The Royal Wedding.

So this weekend for us Brits was a very full-on experience of ‘British-ness’. There was a huge royal wedding and the whole nation (including myself) were totally infactuated with the entire season. It’s a real-life fairy-tale. Girl meets a prince and becomes a princess. I, also being a girl of colour definitely appreciated the cultural aspect of the entire enchilada. It’s a new day and a new season for the monarchy, we have another royal to welcome- and speaking from the general opinion here; The people of the UK think she is amazing.

I , and in a more restrained way now, loved the entire ordeal, as a firm lover of the history and culture that the royal family brings . I had been waiting for this weekend to come and by jove was not disappointed in any way. Retrospectively I have a different take, but I think the buzz of the weekend got to my head juuust a little bit.

All of my friends were incredibly excited and we all shared in the joy post-wedding talking about our favourite bits, speaking about all that happened. But one of my friends said the most wisdom-filled thing I had never expecte. We had been speaking about the wedding so I called her a day or two afterwards to get her over arching remarks.

“So … doll, what did you think ?!”
“Well… I didn’t watch it.”

 “I’m sorry, what ?!”

I asked her why and in essence, she felt that there was the potential to get to emotionally involved in something that was too much of a fairy-tale to be a healthy intake. I was honestly flabbergasted … not at her absence of the most watched broadcast that weekend; but of her incredible character to do such a thing.

Here’s the deal , as lovely, quintessential, glamourous and elegant that wedding was; to God, it meant nothing more than another couple unifying in a church (that I am presuming) He was not invited to. Now I could be inaccurate – no one knows the heart of all the people there , there might have been some true earnest God fearing indivudals in the wedding party; I just don’t know.

What I do know however, is for this time period , as the Americans across the pond would say : ‘I drank the coolade’.

Romans 12:2 New Living Translation (NLT)

2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

GOD

And the world are on two VERY different levels. Its almost like comparing the intelligence of a leaf to a human brain, or the strength of a stick to a rhino and ever more so.

When we uphold what God upholds and look down on what He looks down on – we’ll find that we live in a topsy-turvy world where truly : The first are last and the last are first. (MATT 20’16)

Where the wealthiest people in the world are families who uphold the gospel in their communities no matter what the cost.

Where being born in a privileged family means being exposed to Christ at an early age.

Where beauty is a woman wo seeks God and values discretion and modesty.

Where joy is a state of having a clear conscience and being right with God.

Where freedom is walking as an upright slave to Jesus.

Where love, means sacrificially giving, serving and asking for nothing in return.

Imagine this; the colour yellow is yellow right ? But imagine over a period of time a man kept telling you that yellow was actually blue . Would you eventually end up believing him ?

 We live in a world that the enemy has quite skilfully subverted the true definitions of important things in life and turned them into lies lies lies.

This weekend, the Courts of Heaven rejoiced and upheld in honour a unrecognised poor couple in a village somewhere who gave their marriage to God so, so much more than the pomp and glamour we saw in Windsor.  

We must pray for Kings and those in authority. (1 Timothy 2:2) They set the tones of the culture and the culture sets the direction and course of the world.

But lets not be deceived, lets not believe the lies.

Let us trust in Christ and His definitions -they are the only ones that are true.

This is my desire. The song.

So I woke up this morning with a song in my heart you may have heard it from the old times Hillsong classics;

This is my desire.

I've listened to this song many many times but a line really jumped out at me today : it's the end-part of one of the verses. 'All that I adore is in you'. I immediately thought to myself: is everything I adore in Christ ?

ADORE - is a word I use sparingly; in my mind it's even more emotionally giving than saying you 'LOVE' something or someone. (I use 'love' a lot, and it's probably the only thing that annoys me about the English language, we only have one word for love)
** To Adore :


1: to worship and honour the Deity - CHRIST IS THE ONLY DEITY.
2: to regard with loving admiration and devotion.
3: To be very fond of.


Is there anything else in the world that you are all very fond of apart from Christ? Do you have loving admiration and devotion for your favourite sports team for a particular actor/actress - Or even for a close family member ?
Beginning with myself; we have to closely evaluate what we adore in our lives. If the things we value in life are outside of Christ; we need to seriously consider where our honour and worship is directed.

Giving honour to something is as simple as showing 'merited respect'.
And worshipping something or someone is :

1: to reverence as a divine being or supernatural power
2: to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion "a
celebrity worshipped by her fans"

- do you see the example in the second definition ?


Now I don't really like to call them a celebrity because a celebrity means: a celebrated person and I don't want to celebrate pretty much any of them at all. But even the Merriam-Webster dictionary identifies how people of public renown can be worshipped.
Careers can be worshipped, grades can be worshipped, bodies can be worshipped, television shows can be worshipped.

This time last week I was really frustrated. I was going through the book of Colossians doing a theoretically great Bible study ... But for some reason, the words didn't seem to penetrate me. I wasn't feeling a deep spiritual-buzz (if you know what I mean). And it was incredibly annoying. I knew that I was at fault somewhere; but I couldn't pinpoint.

I asked God about it and I felt like I had this response - I was taking too much in and I was watching too many secular TV shows. Exposed to too many messages that are contradicting to God. And in relations to the definition of adore:- I was getting fond of entertainment.

It reminds me of sometimes when someone is trying to lose weight for for example, when they reach a plateau they have to take the next big step to achieve their next goals.
To cut out all that want to do different or intense exercise. If they want something they've never heard they have to do something they've never done.

In a similar kind of way I felt like I I have drifted from the Bible studies that I knew were possible with Christ. And I wanted them back.

I thought that God wanted me to take a break from secular television this week. And I did and I immediately noticed the difference by days three and four I was having amazing devotions watching sermons in the evenings and finding that Gods Word was staring up on me more than before. I watched Christian movies the dog is of course documentaries and other lifestyle videos and I found that watching enhancing TV is better than watching entrancing TV.

It made me question how much I really adore Christ how much of my time is geared to wanting to learn more about him. I do you Leah and I'm striving for this myself everything we do with the work rest hopefully should have some way of pointing back to Him. The Bible says to seek his will in all you do and he will make your path straight


It says; He delights in every detail of your life

It says :when they seek me with their whole heart they will find me.

I want to be relentless in my pursuit of Christ and like an athlete doesn't do anything to destroy the training that they have been undergoing in the run-up to the Olympics.


- we are running up to the end of time we have to lay aside every lurking sin, and every weight that so easily besets. - no matter how small. And invest in the things that will help us get closer to Him.


IMTAPA

In my thoughts and prayers always

How to Honor and Please God - the formula.

COLLOSIANS 1'9-10

9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

I've been feeling abit recently that I really need to get stuck into some deep study with Gods Word. Some deep, life transforming, arduous, diligent, study. 

And thats the thing, with school work, you put in some work , and you get the grade. It's fairly black and white. But you don't get that with God; He doesn't give you a grade for your Bible efforts of the plans and books you've aimed to finish reading. He doesn't grade you by assessment guidelines...He gives you something so much better. 

He gives you fruit. 

Your character begins to change as you seek God more; you realise your need for Him, you incapability and terrible, terrible lacking of self control. His character (not the law) shows you how far off you are, and gives you a goal.
He is the 'assessment guideline'.
He is the standard to which none of us can achieve. It's sort of like, if you have an exam to enter a prestigious school ... and the pass mark is 100%. The exam is impossibly hard, and no one will ever get full marks. You may even get above 80% - higher than all your friends but it's not 100%...
But somehow, by the mysterious plan of the headmaster you get an acceptance letter; and then after a few years you find out that He expelled His Son from the school so that you could get in. 

- I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but Jesus accepts us even when we have no right to be accepted. The only thing we can do is give our lives to Him and let His sacrifice give us a meaning to our lives. 

----

"...We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord..."

So I was reading Col 1'9 this morning and it struck me. 

In order to abide in the will of God, 

You must have Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding.  = Then the way I live will please Him.

ie: FORMULA =      Spiritual(Wisdom+Understanding)/Applied = Pleasing God

So how do I get this Wisdom ? 

1. ASK = JAMES 1'5 // 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

2. FEAR GOD = PROV 9'10 // Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.

Now we understand the process of asking, we do it every day... but what about fearing ?

** FEAR - profound reverence and awe.

- All we need to do to Fear God , is to have an accurate picture of who He is. When you understand who an important person is, fear comes automatically. Read the Old Testament epic stories ... read Jesus New Testament Miracles , Watch the Blue Planet . Look outside !!!

When you see the things He's made, what He's done in the past --- the very fact that HE IS GOD of the Universe and beyond. It'll come ;)

How do I get this Understanding ? 

1. Knowledge = PROV 9'10 // Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding. 

What does it mean to know someone ?? 

-
**KNOW = (1) : to perceive directly : have direct cognition of

(3) : to recognize the nature of : discern

(1) : to recognize
(2) : to be acquainted or familiar with
(3) : to have experience of

- Do you see those words ?! It makes perfect sense ... to know God is to recognise Him, to be acquainted with Him, to have direct cognition of Him. 

- Okay now KNOW is a verb of finality... it takes a process of which 'to know' someone is the end result. 

So what is this process ?

I literally googled this and found some results that said things like :

- Initiate a conversation

- Spend time together

-Pay close attention to the person

-Listen carefully to them 

-Be vulnerable with them

There were lists and lists of thing to 'get to know someone'. 

Think about it in your own life ... whose your favourite person in the world, how often do you speak to them ?

For example ... My Mummy and I are best friends , we speak on average about 1.5 hours a day (I'm a few hours away from her at Uni), when I have an important decision to make I call and ask her what to do, I get her permission on things like trips and outings, I value her opinion above anyone else, when something amazing happens she the first person I want to tell. When I'm upset , shes the one I go to, when I find something funny - I think: "Mummy would have loved that."

- Get the picture ?

I know you have someone in your life who is like that too. But more importantly GOD - is to be in that relationship with you and share in so much more, because He never leaves. He's always around and PSALMS 37'23 : The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

Thats right EVERY DETAIL. 

Don't lock even one door of Your house to Him. You might find that His transforming skills make your house in to the most beautiful home. 

IMTAPA

xXx

Hope in the tough

This week has been really tough for England.

I had a dream a few nights ago, of a tall rise building, one that looked identical to the hospital in my university town burning, it seemed to be some sort of hospital, I remember the panic, and the feeling of the building shaking, and everyone trying to get out although not everyone did. I remember, in my dream being so emotionally gripped and crying to see a mother realise that only one of her three children had escaped. In this dream however, the building collapsed, while people on balconies fell.

I woke up so disturbed , I prayed, and talked to God about it, but I had no idea of what would occur 2 days after that.

Some people might attribute the present distress to the political instability of the nation.
But I don't care for politics, at least in relation to the incomprehensible tragedy that occurred in London a few days ago with the Grenfell Tower.

This one really gripped me.
It still makes my heart hurt and honestly, I'm trying to distract myself and find the
light of this situation, but there is none. I've grown up in the generation where the news tells of disaster every week. That it's almost just expected. An old, but young-at-heart friend of mine , who since has gone to be with God told me how she would cry whenever she watched the news. because it was just so heart breaking.

These are the times you just look up to God and whisper His name.

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Luke 21'28

I cant think of anything worse, I really can't. 

Today after locking my bike by the side gate and walking under the trees into my halls, I heard a quiet but evident crack , like a fragile item had been dropped on the ground. 

I looked around, and noticed. The an egg had fallen from a birds nest and had splattered below. 

I'm not a vegan,and I'm not an overtly obsessed animal lover. 

But something about that made me feel really upset. It really highlighted to me the fragility of life. 

I am praying for peace, for God to take over this situation and somehow shine His light through this utter darkness. I'd also like to have peace myself. Jesus tells us not to worry about our lives in Matthew 6 : 

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

I'd like to live out this verse. Every single day .

God knew about that egg that dropped today , and He knew about the lives that were cut short. 

He knows of everything. And right now , all we can do is cling to Him more tightly, ask for His Mercy and pray for peace a peace that surpasses all understanding (PHILLIPIANS 4'7) - because we don't understand. 

The negligence of humans caused something unimaginable. 

But God is still King, He still reigns , He still sets free. 

Later this evening I looked online at a weather article , once I saw the picture I Knew it was God. 

A cloud in the Huddersfield Sky of the East Midlands saw a cloud shaped like England passing through. Ultimately , People can say what they want, explain how it was formed with the sun-to-air heating properties. But for me , this was from God , 

This is God saying that He has not forgotten about England, He used her mightily in the past and He will use her again, He is Present and not passive, Able and not abandoning, Here, and not hiding. 

There truly is hope , and Jesus is that hope.



Psalm 91


1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”


3 Surely He will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with His feathers,
and under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.


9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For He will command His angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.


14 “Because He[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for He acknowledges My name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-40287817

Maturity is a choice, not an age.

'When I was a child, I spoke, thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up , I put away childish things. 1COR13'11

So it's just over a week ago , I celebrated my 21st birthday. It was special time where I was able to ponder and think. - Bearing in mind I was in the middle of exam season, and so it wasn't a complete day off. But I'm grateful for birthdays like this when I am able to reflect on my life, as present and what I want it to be. 

It was a gorgeous day, so after the gym and opening a new read I purchased for myself [click here to see the book.] I spent some time studying then met with two friends for an evening-Costa date. It was lovely, and bright - the sun was warm, not penetrating and so we sat outside with our treats. 

Then one of my friends turned to me and said : ' So ... what are your new years resolutions ?'

'Woah, lets start it off at the deep-end shall we ?!'  we all laughed at the directness of this question. 

'I've been thinking about this and talking to the mummy, and I'd really like to become more mature.'

'But what is maturity ? - what does maturity mean to you ?' - I won't type out the entire conversation but I will say at least 17 minutes of the entire 3 hours we spent talking about God and life was coming up with a personalised definition of maturity. 

One of my friends suggested : ' I think its when a child realises that they are a child, understanding their emotional, physical limitations.' 

- I thought this was a really interesting thought. 

Thinking back to the verse : 'When I was a child, I spoke, thought and reasoned as a child does... 1COR13'11 - Here, Apostle Paul the writer highlights that maturity is understanding the phases of life. Understanding that childhood, and the childhood mentality is a passing season and being aware of the seasons passing with time. 

- Can you identify with this ?

When you're a child; life just never seems to end. Christmas comes round once every millennium and childhood is all you know. You never really , truly step back and understand that this is a passing phase, you may appreciate it , relish it and take it all in . But the future is just that - the future; and it seems so far away. Perhaps time becomes more real to you the older you get , I heard someone once say , that when you get to 90 years old , breakfast comes round every 6 minutes. 

Okay, so we understand that time is a huge aspect of maturity , but the extent of this I believe varies for person to person, from ideology to ideology. 

Have you ever met a person who didn't act their age. I know of a dear little boy, who will be turning 6 later this week , who has a protective demeanor of early-integrity. A slight discernment and awareness that takes my family by surprise alot of the time. I also know of men into their 40's who just seem to be 'out-of-it' - if you know what I mean , No initiative, or intuition - and as my mum says common-sense really is not common. 

What is the difference ? Why do some men - and women in some cases have the Peter-Pan syndrome ? And how can we cure this millennial generation of this awful disease ?!

As much as I love the freedom and vibrancy of childhood. There's a physical transition occurring in my generation that we cannot deny. 

We're growing up . 

Forget the concept of adolescence: that corrupted 'phase' only sprung up in the past 50 years, and consists of  teenagers who want the liberation of adulthood without the responsibility. [Here's a message by Paul Washer on this]

Now I don't deny that there are different forms of maturity : 

1. Spiritual Maturity

2.Emotional Maturity 

3. Physical Maturity  

-- Each of these can correlate to the 3 parts of our being : Spirit, soul , and body respectively. Physical maturity as we know happens at a set physiological time, all within a certain age range,

Spiritual Maturity occurs after Spiritual Birth. - ' Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God."John 3'3 And it can take 1 year, or 30 years (etc.) depending on the individuals diligence in seeking the Father: '... And if you search for Him with all your heart and soul, you will find Him.' Deuteronomy 4'29 , an openness to His Spirit ,and ultimately , the Grace of God. 

Here I'm specifically talking about Emotional Maturity. Growing up as a person, putting away childish things - childish behaviour, childish emotions, childish habits, even childish thoughts - Coming to a reality of : the place of time in your life, or the significance of time in ones life. - This is my evidence-based view. I believe this type of maturity is a choice.  - Why ? Because physical maturity is external and 'happens' to everyone, there is no choice . But when it comes to the inward parts of a human, Spirit and Soul , there is a greater deal of control - and here is where the role of freewill plays a big part.

Many people revel in the thought of having a time-freeze machine. Stopping time. 

- This is anti-God , and anti-Christ. The fact is, we small , miniscule humans will never have the power within ourselves to manipulate a key factor in this universe like time or space. The world keeps moving and you just have to keep up. In the same way the natural laws of time and space continue to rule the world, Lets adjust our own calenders of life and ask God for a Spirit , His Spirit of Maturity to enter into our lives. 

How else might someone define maturity ?  - Wisdom , understanding ?

'The fear of the LORD is the foundation for all wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment /understanding' PROV 9'10

'If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.' James 1'5

I've recently made the decision that with Gods help , He can enable me to step out of one phase and into the other. I don't know exactly what maturity may look like for me on a daily basis, but I have some initial thoughts and I know that when we ask God for a wisdom-filled existence of maturity. He will graciously provide. 

IMTAPA

Lessons learnt from Nature

"In the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight"


We have heard of the song throughout the years and humans have always appreciated the hierarchy of the animal kingdom that of which the lion has always seemed to dominate.

The lion is no insignificant creature, not in nature, and not in Gods word. it is mentioned numerous times in the Bible and is even identified with the righteous character of God Himself being the 'Lion of the tribe of Judah' (Revelation 5'5)

So, what does this picture really mean for us today in our daily struggles with certain circumstances ? And How can the concept of a lion help me in my daily life ?


This Sunday our Pastor got back from celebrating his 40th Wedding anniversary in the game reserve of Sub-Saharan Africa and despite the challenges of being in the Savannah - and the creatures that he and his wife encountered, he highlighted the relevance of a lion and the lessons that God told him from those experiences.

I really thrived on this concept and felt like there was a lot to be learnt from the lion so here we go :
He dominates.


The dominating head of the animal kingdom the lion is no victimised creature, it dominates nature and one would agree that there seems to be an in-built fear from all other animals because of this very principle, that the lion is the most powerful the most devouring and the most dominating animal in the jungle. So how does this apply to me ?


We must know our position in Christ: God has set us above all of the works of the enemy; He surrounds us with His word that gives us the power over all the powers of darkness and of men.


It's a jungle out there, sin and the daily struggle to deny our flesh makes the jungle seem rather ruthless and out to get us. BUT we must remember that we are the kings of the jungle, we are royal priesthood and a holy nation; we are children of the most high God and that is the principle by which we should conduct ourselves through the personal struggles of life. This must not be confused for pride, but a great knowing that we are the head.


To let any enemy to overtake us would be an invalid injustice to the very nature of our beings as children of God.

Ever seen a lion been chased by gazelle or hiding away from a meerkat ? When we look at sin as something so big and so beyond our grasp we are looking at it from our own strength, we are not seeing it as God sees it. I am very much guilty of this myself; when I know there is a character flaw that I need to overcome it can seem like a giant in my my way of living that makes me think to myself :oh my goodness will I ever get over this ?!


But like the laws of nature that a gazelle will not pray on a lion, God has set for us the principles of His kingdom that sin will not dominate us. Romans 6 '14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.


And one could largely say that the visible confidence that a lion has to hunt without fear to attack without fear to assert his authority within in the food chain comes from this very fact.


It is the same confidence an mentality that David had when He went to fight Goliath - 1 Samuel 17. Let's not hide away and slip away from the things that God has already put under us.

He roars .


God has put a word in our heart and that is the Word of God. Your Word, have I hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against You. Psalms 119'11


That word comes out of our lips and its truth, the Power of Jesus who is the Word of God - John 1'1 comes out of our mouths directly paralysing the lurking temptations around. Just like the lions roar. It is a deathly frightening sound to all the creatures in the vicinity letting them know that a power greater than theirs is present. We see in Matthew 4 during the temptation of Jesus, that He directly answered each temptation with scriptures. He roared. He used the word of God to attack the schemes of the enemy. We must sued Gods word - scriptures that are relevant for each area of weakness that we have. Memorise it and use it .

But sometimes the lion can die...
There are some occasions where the lion falls to a creature less powerful than itself. Its an unfair plight, but it happens. Most of the time it's not from a very obvious cause lets look at an example : sometimes a porcupine comes and pricks the lion causing a slow painful death by poison: this is a great injustice ... how does it happen ?The lion underestimates the small creature not knowing the great disabling poison that lies within. Sometimes it's those pesky small sins that don't really seem like much to you. So the lion plays around with it, because surely it wont destroy your life ?? But underestimation facilitates the enemy to prick us when we least expect it and cause a slow painful spiritual death that separates our way from God all because you thought you could handle it.



Some sins, we should not try to handle or play around with , we should JUST FLEE to avoid a prick of poison.
1 Corinthians 6'18


We must always trying to be aware of any sin that might be looking in the shadows about to get to us that leads me on to the second predator of the lion.


The snake is another sly animal that slithers through the grass , but in God's providence He gave the snake a 'rattle' - this enables nearby animals to be aware of the snakes; but sometimes the lion can get distracted, listening and being pre-occupied with other things. Unaware of a slithering rattling snake coming to bite leading to a poisonous slow death.If only the lion would have listened, kept watch. Not relying in his own confidence but appreciating, understanding and applying the principle that is the head of the animal chain and that he has the authority to trample on any snakes and scorpions that might come his way.

If you are a child of God you are the head of the food chain.
We must realise that and stop hiding away from the sin that tries to hurt us.
They will only attack when you are under the mindset that they are more powerful than you are BUT they are not.


God has given us power to trample all snakes and scorpions and and to overcome the power of the enemy Luke 10'19. Do not be ignorant of the devil his devices and his schemes. 2 Corinthians 2'11 Watch out for the sin that so easily beset you. Hebrews 12'1 Stay away from the anger outbursts the sly jealousy the lust of the eyes, the lack of self control and indulgence. Be aware keep watch. And just as Lions always dominate the Savannah make sure that you dominate sin by trusting in Gods keeping power of Grace and seeing yourself as God made you.







You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master." Genesis 4'7