The Leading Cause of Death in Australia in 2020

As I write this today, in my home in rural Australia, there have been 907 deaths in my country from the corona virus also known as covid in 2020. And whilst that is not a good thing, it has not been the leading cause of death in Australia, in 2020. 

In 2020, 2000 Australians died from prescription only pharmaceutical over-doses, both intentional and unintentional.

More Australians died from prescription pharmaceutical over doses than died from illicit drug over doses. Let me be very clear, that I do not endorse in any way illicit drug taking. But what is significant is that this is a pattern that has been going on for quite some time. It appears from the statistics, that prescription only pharmaceutical over doses have been the leading cause of death for close on 5 years, in Australia. 

What is even more alarming, is that the number of pharmaceutical induced deaths in Australia is out passing our population growth by 3% every year. That is a significant finding.

Prescribed pharmaceuticals are killing more people in Australia than anything else, including the road toll and our population growth is declining by 3% every year because of this, destroying our families, our livelihoods and our economy.

A covid vaccine is not the solution to a health/economic crisis, no matter how it is formulated. Neither is any other pharmaceutical. They will only escalate the problem as Dr Paul Kelly the Deputy CMO for Australia said in a press conference earlier in the year. Pharmaceuticals don't work for covid he said. And he was correct when he said that. Replacing an illicit drug with a prescribed pharmaceutical is not drug rehabilitation. Replacing one pharmaceutical with another pharmaceutical is not drug rehabilitation either. Drug rehabilitation is the ceasing of pharmaceuticals.

The oxford astrozenica vaccine is made from aborted foetal tissue which has falsely been called "immortal".  Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt spoke of this in a press conference with Prime Minsiter Scott Morrison earlier in the year and said that he understood that was very distressing for Christians. His office have confirmed it with me via phone and restated that they were aware that there were already 10 vaccines in Australia that used aborted foetal tissue. I have heard from others that the aborted foetal tissue is replenished regularly, as vile as that sounds and as we would expect, it is not immortal. Injecting yourself with a virus from the blood of a murdered baby is not going to save you or improve your health.  In fact it's wicked. Other vaccines use nano technology that alters the genetics of the person taking the prescribed pharmaceutical. That too is against God's law. We do not put our faith in sorcery for that is unfaithfulness. We do not put our hope in a vaccine for that is hopelessness for God is the author of faith and hope and love. He opposes it.

There is a very good reason that God said to stay away from pharmaceuticals because they would harm us. He is loving us when He says that. Pharmacy is sorcery in the Bible. The two words are interchangeable as I have written else where. In Biblical greek the word 'sorcery' is 'pharmacy'. God also said, 'if you love me you will obey me.'

Time and time again, the Bible speaks against sorcery, warning us to stay away from it, just like it warns us to not steal, commit perjury, adultery, sexual immorality, murder, treason and many other significant sins.

There is a significant link between pharmaceutical dependence and suicide which is why the Australian Government has an important law that says it is wrong to advertise or promote prescription pharmaceuticals to the public (TGA 1989). "Advertising direct to consumers is not permitted (prohibited by the Act),  as you can see below in the first line.  The reference is below. That is the law.  Yet there has been much of that this past year, to  the detriment of Australians. 2000 unnecessary deaths.  I would think none of us want suicide in Australia. That's what Judas Iscariot did - the traitor. King Saul did it too. (1 Sam 31:4). These are not men we want Australian's emulating. We don't need traitors. We need men and women and children of God who are faithful to God, His Holy Word, His Holy Spirit, their country and their families.

There is no such thing as an ethical vaccine or pharmaceutical. God is eternally just. He rules with justice. He says 'no' to pharmaceuticals and the evidence agrees with Him.

Further Reading:

The Holy Bible

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-31/more-than-2000-australians-lost-their-lives-due-to-overdose-2018/12612058

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-28/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-ethical-religious-foetal-cell/12592800

https://www.tga.gov.au/regulation-therapeutic-goods-advertising-australia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-20/oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-shows-promise-in-elderly/12902334

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-22/astrazeneca-oxford-brazil-trial-volunteer-dies-covid-19/12802396

 

A Good Name.

In 2016, I saw my grandfather alive for the last time. I called him 'Poppa'. We were living just outside Brisbane and he was living in an aged care facility in George's Hall, NSW. For weeks, I had said to my husband, "I need to go and see Poppa. It's like a smoke alarm going off in my head. I need to see him. God is trying to tell me something. This is important."  I had been keeping in regular touch with him by phone and letters, though this time, I was sure I was being told I needed to see him in person. Money was tight for us at the time. We didn't know how we would afford it. We trusted God to provide and agreed I should go. So, I booked a flight to see him only to be told that he had been admitted to hospital the day before I arrived, if I remember correctly now. He couldn't breathe. He had really bad pneumonia - something that was happening regularly to him, at that time.

He started crying when he saw me. Telling me his body didn't work any more. Nearly 100 years old. "I can't walk any more," he said. I said, "That doesn't matter Poppa. God will give you a new body one day soon. At least your mind still works. At least you can still read God's word and pray and talk to God. Some people loose their minds and start thinking there is no God who loves them. You know that. It is better to have a broken body and know Jesus Christ than have a fit body and not know Him." He smiled. He knew I was right. 

I sat there all day. I talked. He listened. He couldn't really say much. His strength was nearly gone. Me, honourably loving my last living grandfather. He, honourably loving his eldest granddaughter. We'd always been close. Didn't matter that we lived 1000 km apart. He died about 4 days later. Went into a coma the day after I saw him, if I remember correctly. God knew. He knew I needed to say good bye. He knew I needed to say the things that needed to be said between us. Always say what needs to be said, each time. You don't know if you will ever get another opportunity. My friend Deidre taught me that, when my mum was sick.

Leonard Reuben Trivett was his name. Born in Campsie. His father was Reuben Simeon. Both cobblers. I've had lots of lectures over the years about the importance of good shoes from him. He made boots for the Australian army during the war. His mother died at 16. Elsie his step-mother raised him after that. I never met them. When he married my Nanna in 1941, he told me she was fired from her job, because she had become married. He said that was really, really hard for them financially. Later that year he was called up to the Australian army but was discharged after only a few months. That was God-honouring of them. Thank you. Newly married men don't go to war. (Deut 20.) Poppa was blessed with the birth of his first daughter shortly after that. God blessed him. It was not a curse for Nana to loose her job. You know his first house only cost $30,000! That was Sydney back then. Talk about inflation.

My mother was the one of his three daughters. No sons. My mother died in 2011. Poppa and Nanna missed her funeral. Their plane to Brisbane for the funeral was cancelled. That airline was known for being unreliable. My mum's sister missed the funeral too. She was journeying with them on the same plane to Brisbane. Three of them left on the tarmac. That was so hard for us. I found out moments before Mum's funeral started that my grandparents and aunt were not going to be there. You know what that feels like? To have family missing from a funeral when they should have been there? When they wanted to be there? Not having them there for my Mother's funeral...deep pain. Never flew that airline again. Never dyed my hair after that day either. My husband Mark and I agreed it was a waste of God's money. God's word says grey hair is a good thing. It is the splendour of the old. No need to pretend. Poppa died with a thick head of very, grey spiky hair.

"A good name is better than fine perfume and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting." Ecc 7:2

I know what my grandfather’s Bible looks like. Considering I’ve lived over the border since I was 4 years old, I think that is significant. 

How do I know? 

Because I have a strong memory of him reading it often. It was always sitting on the breakfast table near his bowl of salted, oatmeal porridge, ready for his morning reading and prayer time. 

It was always there when I visited and it was always there when he visited us. 

My Poppa personified “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. 

He lived it. 

He let it pervade every aspect of his life.

He was such a man of prayer. Always praying. Always at the prayer meetings. Seeking His God's face.

One day in my thirties, I challenged him on a topic. 

Proudly I sprouted my foolish, modern, feministic view on life. Poppa was sitting at our family’s kitchen table in north Brisbane. 

He told me my view wasn’t biblical. 

I scoffed. 

He explained truths. 

I still remember that conversation clearly. 

He knew how to defend the word of God. 

He knew what it said. 

It changed me.

Another day, whilst visiting in Gosford, Poppa and I went for a walk to buy stamps at the post office. 

Although just a few meters up the road from their villa, this was no quick jaunt.

First he took time to greet the older man in the street and hear his news. 

Next he spent time cheering up the miserable post office lady with one of his many jokes. 

Then on the way back, he chatted for several minutes to another man about the LORD.

 I haven’t even mentioned yet all the other people along the way that he cheered by smiling, waving or nodding to. 

Every one around seemed to know him or be known by him in some little way. If you knew my Poppa, you know what I am saying is true. He cared about others. He took time to talk and listen to their needs. He put others before himself. He definitely loved his neighbour. He definitely loved Jesus Christ, his saviour.

I over heard someone once say Poppa talked too much. 

But they simply didn’t understand. 

They didn’t understand the joy you can bring to a stranger’s life by simply being kind, listening to them and taking the time to chat and cheer them up. 

Over the years I watched him many times. 

I know all the marvellous good he did. 

I’m learning to be like him. 

To share the LORD and His love with strangers. 

Poppa learned it from Jesus. 

From sitting daily at His feet.

My Poppa may no longer be on this earth. but what he taught me remains.

"Soak yourself in the Word of God daily, Sharon."

"Pray often, Sharon."

"Talk to strangers and share God’s love, joy and peace with them, Sharon."

"Cheer them with good jokes, Sharon."

"Smile and wave at them, Sharon."

"Let them know that they are cared for by God, Sharon."

There is so much I could remember my Poppa for, but this is what I choose to remember him for the most. He wasn't scared of dying. He knew his sins were forgiven by God. He knew he was going to a better place. He knew that God raised the dead. That he would be given a new body, one that was incorruptible. That he would see Jesus Christ and his wife and my mum. He was looking forward to that. He knew there was a better Name - the Name of Jesus Christ. To God be the glory. That is what he wanted said at his funeral. To God be the glory, for everything good in my life. To God be the glory.

Australia's Bikini/Speedo Shame

Let me just say up front, that when I was young and stupid and foolish, I wore a bikini on a beach in public, in Australia, USA and India.

I am so ashamed of that.

I stopped doing that a long time ago now.

I repented before God

For that is who I really offended.

I asked his forgiveness.

He forgave me.

I ask the forgiveness of the men who saw me as well.

And their wives.

I trespassed.

A beautiful model said that she thought it was okay if you're not fat. I said no. It wouldn't matter if I had the best figure in the world....it is still wrong. Shape has nothing to do with it. It's just plain immodest. 

Not only that, but it violates my marriage to Mark to dress like that in public. It also violates me. I am told not to cause other's to lust. Life is not great when you are walking around in public, pretty much naked for all the world to see and lust at. Lust doesn't come from God. (1 John 2:15-17). Perverts. Prostitution. All evil in God's eyes. He hates evil.

I really hate that for years and years Australia has marketed itself internationally as the land of the  string bikini. What are we all? Prostitutes? Is that the image we want other countries to think of us as? Is that our best asset? Our public nakedness? Bowing to the false goddess of tourism. The 'ism' is always the give away.

It is to our own deep shame.

It is to our deep own embarrassment.

It's all debt.

All trespass.

What ever happened to the 

Great south land of the Holy Spirit?

Our Faith?

What ever happened to righteousness exalting a nation

Simply because it is God-honouring

to do so.

Oh yes.

Australia forgot God.

Forgot she needed Him for life.

The Giver of Life

she disdained.

She forgot Her Maker.

Yahweh.

The Eternal One who Breathes out Life into existence.

You see...there are adult men in my household. My husband and sons. I don't want them having to see that at the beach or pool. I also don't want my daughter having to dress half-naked for swimming carnivals and sporting team events. She is not a prostitute. She is not trash. My loving husband doesn't want other men to see me half-naked either in public either. He doesn't want that for our daughter. He protects his daughter as a loving father should. He builds up our family. He protects it. 

I don't care that I might think differently in this to others. I simply don't care. Some things are worth being different about. Goodness is always good. It doesn't depend on the number of people who think it is good, to be good. It is just intrinsically good, in and of itself. God is good. All the time.

I would far rather honour God who loved me and gave himself up for me, saving me from that lifestyle, than follow foolish men and women, who say in their heart there is no God.

It was Fiji and India who taught me about this. God used the time when I was there in those countries to teach me this lesson from His word. Thank you.

Cover up Australia. It is not just about the sun and sunburn. It's about the Son and His Holy Fire. He is our Sovereign King. Jesus Christ. His Crown. The Eternal Existent One. We worship in Spirit and Truth. One Spirit. One Truth. One Way. One Life. 

A Mother's Love - Poem

I wrote this poem shortly after my mother died on Australia Day 2011, whilst processing the over whelming emotions that hit me unexpectedly. I had had other people die in my life - but my mother's death hit especially hard, She was young and I was young, and still raising my very, young children. I still had so many questions I wanted to ask her...and now I had no one to ask them of. 

My daughter was only just 5. It hurts for both of us now that she has very little memory of her, yet my mother when she was alive, was always there for her. Always kind. Always helping out. Always talking, hugging her. Caring for her. Loving her. Yet my daughter still knows that my mother loved her deeply. Even with only a few, short years of time together, my mother's godly love towards her was written on her heart, like God designed it to be.

My husband's two biological grandmother's, both widows, loved me especially through this time. My own biological grandparents lived a whole state away in Sydney. I couldn't just go to them for wisdom easily. Mark's grandmothers were just around the corner...they blessed me so much. They loved me like their own. I loved them like my own. That is what family is. That's what happens when you marry into a family. The man and wife become one flesh. Our separate families are united through the marriage of a man and a woman. These elder women taught me to so much about motherhood and marriage. I thank God for the role they played in my life. God and maybe two other friends, only know how much that meant to me. My grandmothers were like a life line that was a solid foundation for me through the enormous emotional upheaval of grief I faced. Only one of these women is still alive now. She is still a wonderful woman. Little acts of kindness add up.

Since my mother died, I have found out that ethnically I am of jewish descent. It's not easy being a Christian jewish woman in Australia these days. There is a growing hatred towards us by strangers. I thank God for a mother's love. I thank God for my Grandmother's love. I thank God for His Salvation most of all.

I know my Mummy loves me 

This is what I know 

It’s not only in hugs and kisses 

That my mummy’s love is shown.

She shows me in the way she gets 

up early every morning 

to wash my clothes and make my food 

although the sun’s just dawning. 

I know my mummy loves me 

This is what I know 

It’s not only in games and stories 

That my mummy’s love is shown. 

She shows me in the way she cares 

for me each time I’m sick 

she strokes my hair and rubs my back 

so I recover quick 

I know my mummy loves me 

this is what I know 

it’s not only in jokes and tickles 

that my mummy’s love is shown. 

She shows me in the way she trains 

me to be kind and nice 

and to obey her word each time 

even when I do not like.  

I know my Mummy loves me

this is what I know

it’s not only in tears and cuddles

that my mummy’s love is shown.

She shows me in the way she prays 

for me each day and night 

and reads God’s word the Bible so 

she learns to love me right. 

I know my mummy loves me

 and this is what I know

 it’s in lots and lots of little things

that my mummy’s love is shown.

Author: Mrs Sharon J Stay

Beware of Ancestor Worship

As we approach ANZAC Day here in Australia, I was once again reminded of the importance of only praying to our God - not to any dead saints or ancestors. I am an Australian Christian of jewish ethnicity. I am sensitive to ANZAC Day because of the horrific torture and atrocities that took place. And to be honest, there are still horrific atrocities happening in the world in our times.

The Australian main stream media and media personalities often talk using terms such as 'spirit of Christmas', spirit of Australia' or the 'spirit of the ANZACs' and it appears, they are encouraging the worship of these spirits, which I do not believe are the Holy Spirit of the Living God.  As Christians, we are repeatedly told not to worship, pray or burn incense to idolatrous spirits.

For several years now, ANZAC Day has looked more like ancestor worship here in Australia than a respectful remembrance of past war tragedies and our own sinful inadequacies. Jesus Christ's Name has not been honoured at any service I have attended. Yet He delivered us from evil. There was just a lot of reverent, worshipful kneeling down at inanimate statues of soldiers and all the glory went to them. That concerns me. It looks like idolatry.

And whilst I think there is some importance in remembering those who died in the wars that Australia has fought in, I have concerns that this has turned into ancestor worship or idolatry. We are told there is only one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus Christ. We are told to always give the glory to God, especially when we win war battles. All through out the Bible, are songs written to give God glory for His people's victory over their enemies. Christians might pray for another person or on behalf of another person, but no where, anywhere are we told to pray to a dead person or dead spirit or an alternative spirit. 

You see...Jesus Christ is not still dead. He is alive. When we pray to Him and our Heavenly Father we are praying to a Living God. He was resurrected three days later after His crucifixion. Lots of witnesses saw Him. 

When Jesus Christ was asked by His disciples how to pray, He told them to pray this way..

"Our Father who is in heaven. 

Holy is Your Name. 

Your Kingdom come. 

Your will be done 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day

Our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation

Deliver us from evil

for yours is the kingdom

The Power and the glory

Forever and ever

Amen."

In Jeremiah 18, we are told that God has the power to raise up Nations and Kingdoms and to destroy them. Here God links a Nation's destruction to it's idolatrous prayer life. God also goes onto say, that if a Nation is being obedient to God's way and will and then stops being obedient to God, then God has every right to withhold promised blessings on that Nation. 

But...God also says that if a Nation repents of it's idolatry, though it had been idolatrous, God will forgive it and restore it's blessing. 

Now further on it the chapter we are warned that the Nation that refuses to repent, once it has been warned is disciplined with famine and death and infertility. Now that is something we definitely don't want here in Australia.

So as we approach ANZAC Day here in Australia - 

Shall we ensure we lift up the Name of Jesus Christ above everything else that we do. 

Shall we raise our hands in worship to the Living God.

Shall we give Him all the glory for all the good He has given us. 

Shall we repent of the times when we have not fought in the Name of Jesus Christ but in the name of some other idolatrous spirit. 

Shall we fight our battles in the Name of Jesus Christ and by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

Shall we remain in His presence as we go about our lives.

Shall we ask Him to bless Australia abundantly as we lift up His Name.

The Marvel of 'Unschooling'

I could have done any number of different things today. In fact, it's the same every day. The choices are endless if you think about it. So how do we as Christians decide how we actually fill our days, or to put it another way, how do we know with what activities of daily living we are to occupy ourselves with?

For me, it all comes down to what God desires of me each day. I have learned over the years, that God always give me what He thinks I need, not what I necessarily think I need. You see, I am a created being. He is the Sovereign Creator King. The Bible says that He has prepared good works in advance for me to do. By faith, each day, I ask to do those good things. The things that build up His kingdom, bring justice, defend the widows and fatherless, deliver me or others from evil. I could go on. ....I submit to doing that. Usually it's a heart/mind thing - an aligning of my will with His as I rise or wake up each morning.

In Zechariah 4:10 we read that we are not to despise the day of small things for God's eyes see everything. That's pretty encouraging to me. He sees the little, ordinary things.

My husband has a wise saying in our home "Little things add up". I guess when I was growing up, I had more of a 'Marvel super hero' perception of defeating evil and defending the widows and fatherless and restoring justice. But it is the stone that the builder rejects that becomes the cap stone. Jesus Christ.

You see it's not us that defeats evil at all. It's all Him. All Him. All Him. Jesus Christ is His Name. You want to hear that again? 

So we take captive every thought in the Name of Jesus Christ. We pray over every bill and business in the Name of Jesus Christ. We cook and clean and listen and write and speak and pray and spend and save and invest and draw and code all in the Name of Jesus Christ.

I love Acts 4. Peter and John are preaching and a 40 year old man is miraculously healed. And all the 'VIP's' get very, very worked up about it. "By what power or by what name did you do this?" They ask.

And the disciple Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit...You know what He does? He just preaches the Name of Jesus Christ. 

You know what really 'gets' these 'VIP's? The boldness of Peter and John - "For they were just unschooled, ordinary men." they said.

Unschooled.

Ordinary.

That makes me smile.

We currently have a mass exodus of school children out of the institutional schools into home education and 'unschooling' in Australia. Some VIP's are getting a bit upset about it all. I can understand that to a point. Change can be stressful for some. The unknown ahead. Near us, only 60 children are attending a state school that normally has 400 students. That's a pretty big drop. The education system that Australia has been using for many years now, is proving to be unsustainable and many, many parents are turning to unschooling. I am not preaching illiteracy here. Don't get me wrong. I am talking about a way of learning that is super ordinary. It's the same method most of us learned to walk and talk and eat with. 

How did you learn to walk or talk or eat? Did you go to a teacher to have it taught to you? No. God had wired it into your body, as developmental milestones, so that you just learned it. And your parents...they just knew how to teach it...for He had wired that in too at some point. And loving parents, they pray each day for their children, to meet each milestone they need to reach in life.

Apparently Australia hit a milestone last weekend. That's what the Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. Not sure what it really means in reality. Maybe we all just started preaching the Name of Jesus Christ and the salvation that is found only in that Name...and stopped worrying about the non essentials. I hope so. I hope that's what he meant.

"For what does it profit a man or woman or child, if they gain the whole world and lose the Name of Jesus Christ? " 

Jesus Christ means salvation. 

Salvation from sin and death's sting and God's eternal wrath.

Can you say the Name?

Where you work?

Jesus Christ, I mean.

Reverently?

Do you have that ability? 

Or did they mute the Name there too?

Ordinary.........

Unschooled they were. 

Two ex-fishermen. 

Nothing corporate here. 

Yet marvellously turning the whole world upside down for Jesus Christ and seeing people saved and healed and God's Name being glorified.

No wonder we all want to be 'ordinary unschoolers' for Jesus Christ.

No wonder there's a mass exodus. 

It's just marvellous.

It makes me smile.

Reflections

The last few nights the weather on the mountain where I live, has turned a little cooler. Autumn is finally starting to show it's colours and I reflect on the warm months that have just passed and all that God has gifted me, my family and Australia, in His grace.

One morning during the bushfires, we had a very early knock at the door only to be told that the neighbour's little girl was missing. I'd heard sirens all morning and knew it was urgent. There was a grassfire just up the street. We prayed. She was found safe within 10 minutes. No fires touched our home. No fires destroyed our property. The air remained breathable where we lived. All glory to God. Faith prevailed.

Next came the drought. We ran out of water five times. Five. Times. In 12 or so years of living on rain water, we'd never run out like this before. The grass died. The vegetable garden died but the fruit bearing trees didn't. Once again though, it was just another opportunity for my God to show His power and glory and provision. It miraculously rained twice. I took photos of the concrete the first time it rained miraculously. Never been so keen before to capture the moment when big drops of water formed dots on the path. Sang outside too. Raised both my hands to God as the tears and the rain poured out. Tears of joy that is. Neighbours said they did the same. None of us ashamed of thanking God loudly, publicly. Each time He provided it was a little different to the first. Just gently, quietly showing He can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants. He's not tied to our way of thinking. Our rigidity. Our framework or rules. He writes His own. He has written His own. That's why He's God and we're not. Oh and because He is the Creator and Sustainer of everything... He wants us to step out in faith and trust Him with the important as well as the unimportant. That's my God. Jesus Christ is His Name. He is King of Kings. Always sovereignly in control. Never missing a beat. Just in case you hadn't noticed. He likes to win. He always does. That's my King.

Then came a virus that swept the world clean and drew us back to the essentials of life. Love. God. Faith in Jesus Christ. Song. The shops may have run out of toilet paper and eggs and milk and frozen vegetables and tissues and flour and tinned foods and seeds and seedlings but there was always plenty of fruit though. That didn't run out. I'm not just talking about the eating kind, you know. There is another type of fruit. 

The children stayed home from school. Grandparents were fought for. The mums and dad's began to work from home too so as to spend more time with the children. The families started to enjoy each other more and family meal times were restored. The neighbours started sharing kindness and love and swapping food and seeds and eggs and seedlings and skills. Each giving in kindness and love. Faith once again never skipped a beat.

Some might say that Australia has had a disastrous eight or so months. You could look at it that way I suppose. But is it really a disaster if all we did was show more love to each other? You see, from what I saw and heard in those eight months, the naked were clothed, the hungry were fed, the thirsty had water, the homeless were sheltered and the lost were found. 

Did our faith in the Creator and Sustainer of this world increase?

Did our reverence for Him and His Sovereignty increase?

Did repentance increase?

Did our obedience increase?

Did our holy love increase?

Did the presence of the Living God come down?

Did the singing increase?

Yes to all of the above.

There were days when His presence was so close, I was prostrate. 

For you see, what I saw and heard, with my spirit and with my mind and with my heart and with my ears and eyes and for that matter, every fibre of my being, was that the body of Jesus Christ is well and truly alive and well in 2020 and intrinsically communicating not only with the Father but inexplicably with each other in ways and languages that only He could ever truly create and sustain.

God bless. God bless you abundantly as we all look forward to the rest of this year.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,

whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought,

and never fails to bear fruit."

Jeremiah 17:7,8 

For Further Reading:

Jeremiah 17, 18.

Jesus Christ gifts Worship

One of the most beautiful things I have enjoyed over the past years of being a stay-home-mum who home educates, and works form home is the fact that I can listen to worship music and sing along through out the day. I can work in an environment where there is peace. I could not do that when I worked outside of the home, before we had children. Back then, I used to love it when I was given car trips to do for work, where I'd spend the day driving around Brisbane visiting patients. What I loved most about that, was that I would take along sermons and christian music to listen to in the work car whilst I drove. It was just refreshing that time alone with god amidst it all.

So now, to have the privilege of listening to worship music playing in the kitchen as I work...it is such a blessing. For no matter what is going on in my life, this music...this love song .... from God...it keeps me focused on what matters. Him. His Kingdom. His Life.

He must increase. 

We must decrease.

And from time to time, I find myself, raising my hands in worship, with wet eyes, grateful so very grateful for my God who has delivered me from evil. For as I wash dishes and clean sinks and floors, as I plant vegetables in the garden, hang out washing and sew, and write submissions to government bodies and pay bills and taxes He is Sufficient. His Name can always on my lips.  And I love that. And no matter what it is that I am doing.....He is there. He is providing for every opportunity.... He always meets my needs.... He always leads me by His Holy Spirit.

And this singing, this life that He pours in and then we as His people pour out in a song of prayer...that is what heaven is. I see it in Revelation. The hours and hours of singing in the presence of the Living God. And I begin to understand why heaven is called heaven. For the presence of the Living God is there. And that is Life. Living in the presence of the Living God. The great I am.

And the Word of the Lord Came To Me

God tests us to see if we can follow His instructions obediently and to see what is in our hearts. We don't get to test God to see if He will follow our instructions and jump to our commands. 

It just doesn't work that way. 

God is the Sovereign King. He is the LORD of Lords who has all authority and splendour and owns the kingdoms of this world. We don't rule over Him. He rules over us. We revere Him. 

“In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.” These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit. 

"For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago, have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men who change the grace of God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord."

"Yours in the Kingdom. Yours is the Power. Yours is the Glory forever, and ever amen".

Christians know the word of the LORD when it comes to them by the Holy Spirit. They worship in Spirit and Truth. For salvation is of the jews.

"My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they know me."

"Then the word of the LORD came to me."

"I will put my words in your mouth." 

Christian prophets and prophetesses are appointed by God, before they were born, to be God's mouthpiece on earth. They didn't ask for 'this gig.' They were given it. It's  a gift. A spiritual gift unlike a physical gift.

God appoints His prophets and prophetesses and fills them with His Holy Spirit.

The word of the LORD came to me, saying:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I set you apart

and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

They ate the scroll.

And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it; and it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter. 

Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.
“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.”

So I ate, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. 

They build up and tear down nations and kingdoms, through the power of God's Holy Spirit when they prophesy and speak the words of God. 

Behold, I have put My words

in your mouth.

See, I have appointed you today

over nations and kingdoms

to uproot and tear down,

to destroy and overthrow,

to build and plant.”

They are not always speaking about themselves.

And they told me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”…

 “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them. 

"Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”

It is a leadership role.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.

And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put that Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself. And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spoke unto him, and took some of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

It changes them intrinsically when they begin to prophesy, often many years after their birth, when they are adults.

The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.

They are not held accountable for whether or not anyone listens. They are held accountable for whether or not they speak the word of the LORD to those they have been told to go to. The point is that the message from God is said.

But the house of Israel will be unwilling to listen to you, since they are unwilling to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.  

Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.” 

They may speak in terms of allegory, metaphor or simile. The meaning of the message may not be obvious at first. You need the Holy Spirit's counsel to interpret in His time.

“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts. What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.” 

Then I asked the angel, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lamp stand?” And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold pipes from which the golden oil pours?”

“Do you not know what these are?” he inquired.
“No, my lord,” I replied. 

So he said, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing beside the Lord of all the earth.”

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish. 

They call the people to repent and turn back to God. They speak of salvation in Jesus Christ. They speak of a time when all people will prophesy.

I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would place His Spirit on them!”

In the last days, God says,

I will pour out My Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams.

Even on My menservants and maidservants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness,

and the moon to blood,

before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

will be saved.’

For further Reading:
https://biblehub.net/search.php?q=then+the+word+of+the+Lord+came+to+me
https://biblehub.com/revelation/10-10.htm
https://biblehub.com/bsb/numbers/11.htm
https://biblehub.com/1_samuel/10-6.htm
https://biblehub.com/bsb/revelation/11.htm
https://biblehub.com/jude/1-4.htm
https://biblehub.com/bsb/acts/2.htm
https://biblehub.com/bsb/joel/2.htm#28
https://biblehub.com/john/10-27.htm