A personal note

Grace and peace to you.

Please forgive me for having been a bit erratic in my postings over the last few weeks. I will also not be posting for the next week or 10 days.

MY wife and I were recently attacked, beaten, robbed and rape was attempted a number of times over a few hours, while on a ministry trip. We were flown home to South Africa for medical treatment but our badly damaged vehicle remained there.

Today I start a journey to recover the vehicle. I am flying tyres up with me as ours were all slashed. Once drivable it will take me about 5 long days to drive the vehicle back to South Africa for further repair.

Please pray for me and please pray for my wife. Please pray for our ministry.

If my daily devotions have been blessing perhaps you would like to bless us

Till I am back stay blessed

Norman Frost
pastor@fishingformen.co.za

Pslam 28 – Pay back!

Pay them back for what they’ve done, for how bad they’ve been. Pay them back for their long hours in the Devil’s workshop; Then cap it with a huge bonus.

Human nature screams for revenge. We are injured, suffer injustice we demand payback. Perpetrators must be dragged to court and given sentences harsh enough to satisfy us. We call it justice.

No wonder we struggle so to understand grace. To receive grace, to live by grace. Grace is not a natural action or thought in the human psych. Even praying the Lord’s prayer is not natural for us. We want forgiveness but we don’t actually know what it is in the natural.

It is not until we can forgive that we will understand the magnitude, the effect of the forgiveness we seek. It is only when we can give the same measure of grace will we know the grace that has been heaped upon us..

So revenge, mob justice, the craving to see punishment that is the natural way of man needs to be satisfied. It is however never really satisfied and there remains always a need for more. The bonus.- take his eye and cut off his ear to teach him a lesson. So the real fix comes when man’s mind has a supernatural encounter and can think in the supernatural.

There has been payback. Christ bore the brunt of your transgressions. He suffered for everything you did to the point where there is no demand left against you. He did it in the flesh but gained a supernatural victory for you. One that would set you free forever. The world can think what you like but you are not judged and condemned in the natural but declared righteous in the supernatural.

So look around you, read the news, consider your experiences. What emotions are rising up? What is your mind thinking? Are you screaming for justice?

Or can you today dispense the love and grace of God. Can you see Him on the cross in your place? Can you look at others as He looked at you? Are you a recipient of the finished work of Christ? Then dispense justice, supernaturally.

Psalm 28 – Moonlighting.

They talk a good line of “peace,” then moonlight for the Devil.

Wow! Sometimes the moon is so bright it could almost be daytime. One cannot help but be fooled into thinking that the moon is actually a light. It shines as this big orange glow or brilliant white light in the sky, contrasting the darkness and even bringing so much light onto the earth it causes shadows.

The fact is that God gave a light to separate the day from the night, the sun. The moon is not a light. It catches the rays of the sun and appears like a light, even projecting an illusion of light on the earth.By itself the moon reflects a portion of the glory of the sun and yet claims the light as its own, pretending to be a source of light.Yet before the sun rises in the morning it’s light fades and becomes insignificant.

 God sent His Son. The true light of the world. The one that does not shine in the darkness but who dispels the darkness altogether. The light that does not give aid to living in the darkness but who removes us from the darkness and places us in His glorious, perfect light.

Satan  can create nothing. All he can do is to take what God has said and done and created and somehow twist it away from God yet still making it appear as true. He is the deceiver. He is a part of the darkness causing the true light to look like his own in a manner that lets people think the light is true.

So Satan does not deny the true light. He pretends to be part of it so that people will eventually forget that there is one true light and let His lie light their path.

Preachers, prophets are rising up like moons and stars. Speaking things that sound so good. Standing in front of the cross, holding the Bible in their hand. Speaking things that draw the attention of man. Seeing the cross and the Bible man thinks he hears them speak, presumes they are the light they are seeing. And while the people are oohing and aahing they speak the twisted falsehoods, the true sounding lies. Instead of shining forth the glory of the true light they illuminate the darkness so that people may continue to dwell there.

They take the finances that belong to the Kingdom but they are moonlighting for hell. They pretend to be advancing the Kingdom but they are turning people back. They take up popular positions, become world renowned, cause a huge following of their deception. They often are the preachers first invited. They often are the leaders of the richest ministries. The shout loudly, speak with boldness. They rule the darkness. They cause Son worshippers to embrace the darkness thinking they can see clearly.

Be careful who you listen to. Be careful who you follow. The beauty of the full moon can be bewitching.

 .

Psalm 28 – Eish!! The law!!!!!!!

Don’t shove me into the same jail cell with those crooks, With those who are full-time employees of evil.

For so many centuries it has been the law that has dominated the religious mind of man.What is allowed and what not are the automatic questions by those participating in any form of life and any change will need the questions to be asked again. It is how we please ourselves. How we deal with matters of conscience. How we grade ourselves and judge others. It is how we calculate the state of depravity around us. It is the measure we use to decide who deserves what.

The Bible says the law came to add power to sin. Power to kill. The law kills. Judgement always brings along condemnation. So any kind of law application will result in some form of death.

The Psalmist, concerned he is not hearing God falls straight into the age old trap that is set for the believer. You say it’s all by grace, you believe that Jesus has overcome and fulfilled the law. You believe you are free and that there is no more condemnation for you in Christ Jesus. You claim that by the law of the Spirit you have life. But let it all go wrong?? Get into a position where things are not working in your favour? Be in a place where it seems God is not answering you??

And out steps the law. The very law you decry. The very law you say has no bearing on you. Eish! The law steps out and slips the old question in.

Why should God answer you? Well you are not a sinner. You are not like the sinners. You are righteous. God cannot see you in the same way He sees the unrighteous. They are bad and you are good. You are such a wonderful judge. Such a faithful servant of the law.

Why isn’t God answering you? You must be doing something wrong? Is my life right? Am I walking in His calling and guiding? Did I take the right direction at the last intersection. Should I have? Maybe I shouldn’t have? Am I? Did I? Didn’t I? But surely you are are not like them? You are such a good prosecutor and judge. Such a good servant of the law.

What can you do to please God? To influence Him? Give more? Do more? Pray more? Read your Bible more? What???? What???? You should know you wonderful servant of the law.

But by the grace of God I am no different from anybody else. The law asked its questions concerning me and Jesus answered them on my behalf. The law passed its judgement and condemned me to death. He stepped up and accepted that judgement and paid the price in my place. He took my wages and gave me life instead.

Oh friend be free from the law if the truth has set you free. It has asked its questions and they have been answered. Don’t go back into captivity. Don’t become its servant by asking the questions it asks.

Grace is free for free. He has set you free. Stay free. He will stay faithful.

Psalm 28 – Hooking up

I’m letting you know what I need, calling out for help And lifting my arms toward your inner sanctum.

An electric toaster is purpose built to turn bread into toast. It is specially designed and guaranteed to deliver toast, done to perfection in a stylish and yet practical manner. And yet unless you plug it into a working electrical socket and switch everything on it will do nothing. The appliance is only efficient when the electrical current runs through it.

So you need something. It is available somewhere. Someone can help. Do you just sit staring at your toaster? Hoping luck will provide? When you share your need sooner or later someone will tell you they have a connection and offer to hook you up. Send you to a source.

The Bible says God knows what you need before you can speak it. The Bible makes it clear that God is able. All things are possible. The Bible tells us over and over that God will take care of all your needs. So you have an incredible source of power and provision. Your need is known and will be taken care of. Your bread is in the toaster and will be toasted.

Wait. The Bible also teaches us to ask. To approach the throne of grace. To make our needs known to God. Is this a contradiction? Certainly not. It is reminding you to hook up.

Prayer, supplication, asking God is not putting your need on Facebook and seeing if someone out there responds. Prayer is your turning away from other sources and turning to God as your only hope. Asking is not because God is unaware it is rather an acknowledgement of the faith you have in Him to answer. Lifting your arms to His inner sanctum, directing your faith and hope right to Him. Asking with thanks and praise on your lips acknowledging that there is no other place you would rather go.

Approaching God, asking Him, and waiting on Him. You just hooked up. You plugged into the ultimate and perfect source of power and provision. Your toast is about to pop out, perfect.

Psalm 28 – Who is ignoring who?

A David psalm. Don’t turn a deaf ear when I call you, GOD. If all I get from you is deafening silence, I’d be better off in the Black Hole.

Have you ever wondered why often the same theme is found in so many Psalms.Well the Psalms are written out personal experience and relationship with God. As much as the Psalms, like all scripture, are God inspired many people say you cannot use them to build your theology. I don’t believe that to be true but what is true  is that God used David to bring his true feelings, based on his real experiences into the life of those who read the Psalms today. This is because you too have these same real experiences and feelings. Often we are ashamed and think that it is a sign of weakness or lack of faith to have these thoughts and emotions and so try to suppress and ignore them. But God knows they are real. So over and over David and the other Psalmists share exactly how they felt and the more you read and realise that even this great man of God was just like you, the more you might see how his relationship with God spoke into his life.

The psalms then, through the repetition, are simply setting you free to be honest about your experiences and the emotions they generate so that God, by His grace, can minister to you. You are normal. I would seriously doubt anyone claiming they have never had these same thoughts and emotions. Claiming to be only walking in David’s faith statements would reflect a forced faith, a legalism, a conformity based on pride and not a reflection of relationship.

The opening  words of this psalm are the repeated cries of all of us to God seeking Him to respond to us in our times of need, our times of doubt, times of depression, of desperation, of loneliness. It is not about whether God exists or not. It is about what your relationship is with Him. David was not throwing words up into the wind and hoping they would be caught by an ear somewhere. He was talking directly to God. It was not about whether God could actually hear him. It was about whether God would cock him a deafy.

 David is clear about this. If God is going to ignore him then death would be his best option. being ignored by God is worse than going to hell. It puts you in unstoppable condemnation. never knowing. Always seeking answers to questions you should not be asking. Seeking alternative ways to get His attention. Driving yourself mad.

Find peace in this today. Be honest with yourself and with God. We serve a living, loving, caring, compassionate, mercy filled, grace motivated, good good God. Base your faith and your hope on what He has already clearly spoken through His Word and know, yes know that he loves you and has bought you at a price. You are His and He will never leave you nor forsake you. As He always eventually turned David’s seemingly despair in to praise, so He will do the same for you.

Call upon the Name of the Lord and you will be saved.

Psalm 28 – They!!

A David psalm. Don’t turn a deaf ear when I call you, GOD. If all I get from you is deafening silence, I’d be better off in the Black Hole.
I’m letting you know what I need, calling out for help And lifting my arms toward your inner sanctum.
Don’t shove me into the same jail cell with those crooks, With those who are full-time employees of evil.
They talk a good line of “peace,” then moonlight for the Devil. Pay them back for what they’ve done, for how bad they’ve been. Pay them back for their long hours in the Devil’s workshop; Then cap it with a huge bonus.
Because they have no idea how God works or what he is up to, God will smash them to smithereens and walk away from the ruins.
Blessed be GOD- he heard me praying.
He proved he’s on my side; I’ve thrown my lot in with him. Now I’m jumping for joy, and shouting and singing my thanks to him.
GOD is all strength for his people, ample refuge for his chosen leader;
Save your people and bless your heritage. Care for them; carry them like a good shepherd.

They! Them! Who are they? Clearly not us. Not me. The world you see is neatly divided up into us and them. Me and they. He who is not with me is against me. He who disagrees with me is part of them. Those I dislike become them. They are the ones. They are at fault.

The object always is to highlight “me” as not being part of them. I can take the spotlight off me by pointing to them. If I can attract enough attention to them, show them to be in a bad light then I slip under the radar. They must be wrong therefore it goes without saying that I must be right.

Who drew this line between you and them? You did. You put yourself on one side based on your beliefs, your ideas, your judgement, your behaviour, your desires, your language, your culture, your nationality, your education, your privilege. You have defined you all by yourself. Then you looked around for those who fit your mould and invited them to become part of us. One wrong move though and they are out joining the ranks of all the misfits and becoming them.

Then you declare us righteous, deserving, worthy, favoured and condemn them to hell. After all they deserve it.

Don’t you remember how you got saved? How it is that you are righteous? How it is that you are favoured?

It is because they are loved by God. Jesus died to save them so that they could be a part of His ‘us’. You too were part of them.

Don’t build your own us and them. Join the us in Christ and reach out to them that they too can be where we are.

Psalm 27 – behold, He comes

Stay with GOD! Take heart. Don’t quit. I’ll say it again: Stay with GOD

Our need for the presence of God and for the fulfilment of His promises cannot be dictated to by theological arguments that try to define the re appearing of Christ. We are in a very real present tense relationship with the living God and our expectation is that He comes to us when we call on His name.

Often Christians find themselves beginning to wonder if there is actually any hope for their situation. Will healing ever come? Will financial relief ever come? Will the fear ever be gone? When will the pain of loneliness find relief? How much longer? And all around people are quoting scripture at you. Those not where you are speak many Words intended to comfort and strengthen you but they begin to sound hollow.

I know that I have eternal life. I believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. I believe Him to be and therefore call Him Lord. I am guilt free and have peace concerning my future. If you are like me though there are times when your need is so immediate that the big picture fades and your desire for Jesus to appear has nothing to do with eternity.

And yet friend that is where your hope gains the most strength. Of all that I believe that I have found in God’s Word, the sure and certain fact that Jesus will appear again stands foremost in my mind. The how, the when, the times, the signs are all trivial issues not worth the time or energy to argue about. They confuse, they delay, they create false expectation, they actually detract the believer from what is important.

You see friend he may appear to you right now as a thought. He might walk into your room as a breeze. He might step into your situation as an angel. He might be the peace and calm that comes over you. Or He may speak to you in an audible voice or move the mountain you are speaking to. Or he might come with the cloud of witnesses.

It might be the moment when all is changed or it might be the moment your immediate call is answered. Come the proverbial hell or high water you had better believe, cling to the knowledge that He will come.

I say with the Psalmist “stay with God” Believe His Word. Don’t let go.

Behold He comes

Psalm 27 – and on earth….

I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth.

Actually life sucks. So much hardship and suffering. So much sickness and dying. So much hate so much sorrow. So many things just coming against you. And then look at the politics, the crime, the unemployment. Boy am I glad I am a Christian. One day when I die I will escape all this and go to a perfect place. One day when Christ appears He will judge all this and us believers will go with Him to a better place.

Is that so? Do you really believe this? Is that how little you think of God? Does that mean that His promises are all for one day up there? Hang I won’t need anything there so how can that be.

David had an encounter with the one true living God. He realised that God had never set up entry requirements for this place called heaven. In fact God never said to follow certain rules and then one day He would accept him. No! He realised that God had stepped into his here and now. Surrounded by enemies, being constantly attacked. Living in a corrupt and dying world, David did not see his hope lying waiting for him one day – He saw God at work right there right then.

Friend Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to you. His coming and His sending of the Holy spirit put God amongst us and in us. His victory established His rule both in Heaven and on earth. Your living in Him started the moment you believed and therefore everything in heaven, in His presence, becomes real for you right now on earth.

Life is yours now on earth. Power is yours now on earth. Healing, deliverance, freedom, peace, joy. Today! Right now! Right here! You don’t have to wait until you die. You can see the goodness of God amongst the living. As you live on earth God’s goodness abounds to you. And His glory will fill the whole earth.

So are you ready to die or ready to live? Deny what Jesus has already accomplished or embrace Him today.

David said it was this knowledge of God’s reality that made it possible for him to live. Are you living for God or living to die?

Psalm 27 – Devil dogs

Don’t throw me to the dogs, those liars who are out to get me, filling the air with their threats.

Knowing, keeping, walking in truth means being in perpetual freedom. Your hope, your peace, your joy is all rooted in truth. Mess with the truth and your foundations get rocked. Where any of joy, peace or hope is lacking you will find there is a lie creeping into your mind somewhere.

Jesus says the devil is the father of lies. So part of what he does is to constantly barrage you with lies in the hope that you will somehow let one find a place in your life. Doing that gives him the way to steal your joy. Joy gone so off goes peace. Where there is no peace there is no hope. No hope no faith. No faith no life. Satan may no longer be your accuser but he is trying to be your deceiver causing you to turn your back on the truth

It is so crucial for believers to know the truth and remain in it. It is also important that we are not surprised when lies are broadcast all around us. We need to know the difference so that we embrace the truth and let the lie go past. Lies will be told to us and lies will be told about us. All of them aimed at making you loose sight of the truth.

Again Jesus says the lie mongers have the devil as a father. So we will have lies thrown about by those who oppose Jesus, by those who oppose us and by those simply being used by their father to do his dirty work. Some of the worst lies, the most subtle, the most true sounding will come from the very mouths of people claiming to be Christians.

Dogs barking at you, devil dogs baring their teeth looking to consume you, to scare you, to make you run and hide. Rabid dogs seeking to destroy your flesh and fill you with fear. And some with the nicest sounding voices.

The worst mistake you could do would be to engage the dogs. They hunt in packs. Fight off the one and another will appear. Soon you will be surrounded, weakened as you fight in every direction, small wounds appearing.Sooner or later you will begin to doubt yourself. You will begin to give the lie credibility.

Rather immerse yourself in the truth. Study and be secure in the truth and let the truth ensure your freedom. Walk away from the dogs. Don’t take all the lies and slander personally, you know who you are in the truth. Don’t fight back, leave the battle to the truth. This isn’t between you and them or even you and the devil.

Best of all the dogs will get so worked up and when they see they have no effect on you they will turn on each other. Truth always wins.