I have watched amazed as others bungy jump from bridges and towers, but I have never jumped off myself. I could tell you that it was the wisdom of years or just the fact that I don't need that sort of excitement or accomplishment, but fear is the honest reason. But I don't feel bad at being afraid - just rather happy at being alive.

Noah was warned by God of things coming on the earth that had never been seen or experienced before. Noah was moved with fear to build an ark that saved his family and was declared righteous because of his faith. Obviously then faith is not the absence of this type of fear. Nor does this type of fear preclude faith. Faith is doing what God says to do even though we may be afraid. Here both fear and faith, served God’s purpose. 

But what is this fear that Noah had?  This was not a faithless terror but a natural fear no doubt taught by his mother and experience.  I mean who wants to drown?  Unlike Phobos which is the usual word used for the fear that believers shouldn't accept, Eulabeomai, means having caution or reverence toward a circumstance or person. Noah was moved with caution and reverence toward who God is and what God had said was coming, so he obeyed. The only other place this word is used is in Acts 23 when the commander feared that Paul would be pulled apart by the mob. So, the commander became concerned and cautious about the developing situation and acted in order to keep Paul physically safe.  Some of Noah’s caution, was no doubt a fear of him and his family drowning and that is normal and also God given. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, based on revelation. The fear of fire or drowning is natural wisdom based on physics and demonic wisdom it's based on lack of divine revelation and selfish ambition.

It has been said that courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.  That is true if we are talking about fear (phobia) of witnessing or praying for someone in the gym or trying to build a destroyer size boat with an adze. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway would be foolish if you're talking about the natural fear (eulabeomia) of leaping from a cruise ship into the sea or trying out an experimental bird suit from a great height.

Friends, God wants us to be moved with a godly fear. To have caution and give weight to the days that are coming upon us, and keep building an ark for the saving of our household. Wisdom begins when we fear the Lord. That wisdom and fear of God then informs and moderates our natural fears and enables us to not be moved by the fear of man or the intimidation of the enemy. Fear God, love the brotherhood and don’t jump.

The tribes of Israel had been immature in the wilderness. God did it all for them but in the Promised Land they had to grow up. (Joshua 5:10 -12).No more manna; they had to plant their own gardens, till their land and draw their own water. They had to take responsibility. We are responsible for the condition of our life and heart. If our soul is negative, we are responsible. If we are bound up in poverty thinking we are responsible. We cannot blame our father, our wife or husband or the government. You and I are responsible and accountable for our own condition and debts. Mature people who souls are prospering, take responsibility for their lives. Till they do they will be stuck for ever. While their life is someone else fault, they are stuck thinking they can never change till that other person changes.

 God wants us to grow up. Children may need someone to care for them, but mature people can not only look after the selves but others as well.  Derek Prince said, “Maturity is measured by how much of others weaknesses’ you can bear.”  If you can’t read your own bible, pray you own prayers, spend time with God and encourage yourself in the Lord when you are down, you’re still living in the wilderness.

Friend, we are not made for wilderness living. Some believers make a career out of being wilderness believers, spending their whole life on crutches instead of getting healthy. But healthy people take responsibility for themselves and even for others.

It had been a good year. “Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45). Israel had inherited the land, but it had required warfare and conflict. God was faithful to His promise, but He asked for their involvement. . They had to do some fighting too. They had to face many battles but that is what enabled their success.

In life we face troubles, trials, temptations difficulties and may be even some afflictions, but it's still a great life. A year overseen by the Father. We only get the trials that we need. We only get the temptations that God knows we can handle. And we only get responsibilities God knows we can be faithful in.  Our times are never filtered from trouble, but they are filtered by the Father. It is not a good year when everything goes well and there's no challenges or difficulties to face. To grow in faith there has to be a challenge. To grow at love there has to be people difficult to love. To grow in generosity, there has to be needs presented that we can respond to. We become faithful when remain diligent in our responsibilities without supervision nor encouragement. What makes for a good year is when we face challenges and overcome them; when we fall but rise up again and when we have grown closer to our spouse or friend, because of a trial we faced together.  It has been a good year when we lived for a great cause, when our hearts were stretched, and we cried out to know God more. When we had to give something up in sacrifice. A great year is about knowing Him and growing up. It’s about leaving the place you were. It’s about being a wayfarer; it's about passing through the wilderness and arriving at our promised land in Christ.

Friend, I trust this has been a great year and journey for you. Stay on your pilgrimage to ward Him, find the blessing in your valleys; You will enter more of your inheritance and He will crown your year with His goodness, and His mercy.

The people of Israel had been at the base of My Sinai for almost a year. They were gathering material for the tabernacle for the moment they could begin to offer worship to God. The first instance of worship in the Bible was an animal slaughtered and sacrificed upon an altar. (Genesis 4.4). There was no music, no choir and no shouts of praise, just shaky blood-stained hands, and a carcass dead on an altar.  The worshipper was saying to God, “I offer this as a substitute for myself.”

The Hebrew word for sacrifice is “Holo” (from where we get the word Holocaust) and literally means slaughter; something that has been killed and offered to God.  A sacrifice couldn’t be used for anything but had to be consumed in the crackling fire.  Moses’ tabernacle contained some horrible sights; blood, knives, searing meat, smoke and cattle standing around to be killed, but later on King David changed all that.  David about 400 years later realised God would rather have the whole heart of a living man offered to Him (a living sacrifice) than the lifeless carcass of a bull or a goat. (Psalms 51:15-16).  As we worship, we place ourselves “upon the altar” as a willing offering to God; it is the sacrificing of our lives to the one who is worthy (Romans 12.1).  It is not necessarily musical in anyway.  Unlike praise you can’t see or hear worship. Worship is an attitude toward God, in the heart and spirit of a person.

We can come to church, sing, and shout praise to God but if there is no complete surrender, we haven’t worshipped. Only God can see worship and it is our worship that ratifies our praise.

As the Pharisees waited for Jesus' answer of judgment on the adulterous women, Jesus stooped over and wrote with his finger on the ground.“This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground”( John 8:6-8). He did so to separate the sinner from those that would condemn her and to deliver the sinner into freedom. He stilled the voice of her accuser and provided mercy that had the power to change her.The Pharisees brought the women to the right person but for the wrong reason. They brought her to Jesus for judgement for sin, instead of help for her sins. There is nothing wrong with the law in its ability to condemn us but it can’t help us live up to its standard. The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The purpose of the law was not meant to bring death to people but death to sin. The purpose of the law is life and righteousness. In His life, Jesus fulfilled the law not destroyed it and through His love, forgiveness and empowering grace, Jesus can fulfill the law in us.The only one without sin, cast no stones but instead said: “Go and sin no more.” Grace doesn't free us to continue sinning but it tells us what type of life, is now possible. Grace releases empowering gratitude and life-changing self-worth and value.

Friend, the best thing that happened to the woman and to us, was that we are caught by the law and brought to Jesus and His powerful grace.

God met Moses in the desert.

The Lord said, “What is that in your hand?" Moses replied, "A rod."  And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand”(Exodus 4:2-4).

Moses looked down at the old shepherds stick he held in his hand and felt a twinge of shame. Moses thought it was only a shepherd’s rod; but worse, he felt it was a symbol of the 40 years spent in the wilderness and all the mistakes he’d made in the past. It reminded him of the time he lost his temper and made some serious mistakes. It represented all his failures and all his worst moments.
When God said to take the rod and cast it away from him onto the ground, God was helping Moses get some perspective. ” Stand back, get some perspective and see it as the serpent that it is. It is not you; it is separate from you. Your past is not you, it just happened to you. Failure is never a person but only an event”
The enemy had spoken lies to Moses for 40 years. “You are useless, you blew it, you're pathetic, your no use to God and no use to the Hebrews” and it had crippled Moses with regret and shame ever since.
It is never the things that happen to us that become the problem but it is always the lies that Satan attaches to those events and failures that affect us most. God wants us to see that the past is not our identity and wants us to be free from every lie of the devil.
Finally, God said, “Take the snake by the tail it will become a sign of your authority from me.” As Moses tentatively picked up the serpent, it became a rod which he took with him on his mission to Egypt.

Friend, our past is not our identity. Once free from our past, it can become a great ministry tool to those you are called to reach. Take up your rod today. God is about to turn the mess of yesterday into your message of freedom tomorrow.

C.T Studd the missionary talked about Chocolate Soldiers in the church.  Those that melt in the heat and who need to be wrapped in foil to survive life.

We all live through the heat of battle at some stage in our lives.   In Gideon’s day, the Midianites always waited till Gods people were about to harvest and then they attacked. They come to steal the harvest and fruit from Gods people. Just when it seemed that God was giving something to Israel, the enemy came to take it away.  They needed a Gideon.  Maybe you were just beginning to prosper in an area of ministry or life and something came along and it brought you back to square one. You were tripped up or did something stupid in your life.  It seems like it has been two steps forward and one step back.

God has a way to defeat your enemy but it will require you. It is never “whatever will be will be”, but whatever you let be will be.  With God, whatever you defy can be defeated but we cannot conquer what we will not confront.   Gideonites beat Midianites.

God calls his Gideon “a mighty man of valour” and God calls you that today. You are what Heaven says you are.  God sees something in you, you can’t see in yourself.  Hell only fights you over what Heaven calls you. The devil didn’t show up until after God said to Jesus “You are my beloved Son.”  The devil only turns up after the Dove.   Father tells us who we are and the devil comes to see if we believe it!

Friend, believe it today. You are not chocolate; you were birthed from above and sent from God. The same heat that softens the chocolate only tempers steel and prepares earthen vessels for Him.  You don’t need to be wrapped in foil because God has promised to be your shield and buckler.  Stand up and drive the devil off your harvest, your family and your finances.

Many years ago I “hit the wall”. In the space of one year, I lost my mentor, my assistant pastor left, my own father died, and we lost a child before it was born. One day I found myself refusing to answer the phone - I could not face another problem or loss! Whether it was emotional burnout or depression, it all felt the same to me.
Depression is now a major health problem in the world and is the leading cause of suicide. Apparently, depression is experienced more by females than males and it occurs most in the 40–55 age bracket. In saying that, anyone can feel depressed in a very stressful time of life.
Depression is an emotional state marked by feeling of sadness, worthlessness, dejection, and worry, but it is not new. The earliest book in the Bible records the acute depression of a man called Job. After losing his possessions, his children, and any understanding from friends, he exhibits all the symptoms of a depressed person. We also know that Elijah and David’s had bouts of depression.
There is a continuum of severity of depression, from situational depression, to neurotic depression to clinical depression. Clinical depression (or major depressive disorder) is more severe than situational depression; it can be caused by disturbance in neurotransmitters, organic or hormonal imbalance. People who experience this are not able to respond to teaching, advice or being told to cheer up. They will not respond positively to parties, picnics or even prayer meetings. Anyone in this situation and anyone suicidal should see a doctor and receive treatment.
However, nearly everyone at some time experiences some situational depression stemming from emotional and mental stress. Jesus, in His humanity, certainly felt emotional pain and depressed emotions in the garden, but He fought it off perfectly. Depression can stem from a severely oppressed upbringing or losing someone or something important to you. It can also be brought on by a blow to our sense of value, a virus, or wrong priorities that bring on fatigue. It can be as the result of a traumatic event such as childbirth, divorce, the death of a friend, a serious accident or retirement. Sufferers may look sad, and feel empty, pessimistic, rejected and unloved. Their eating and sleeping can be affected and if agitated, can find it hard to sit still. Sometimes they have episodes of crying and may withdraw from activities and it can be accompanied by suicidal thoughts. Most people who experience situational depression begin to have symptoms within 90 days of the triggering event.
While there are many possible causes, it is far more profitable to know how to get out of it, rather than to know what causes it. Bestselling author and psychologist Dr Minrith of Minrith clinic believes that there are things we can do to help ourselves and that there is no reason why a person, particularly a believer should fall into situational or neurotic depression. Depression is not something a person chooses but it is something that we must choose to deal with. Dr Minrith states while it is totally avoidable, we must follow the right path to avoid it. In other words, happiness is a choice. Depression is not caused so much by the initial problem, but more by our response to that problem. Doctor Minrith, after treating thousands of depressed people, says the most common root condition that predisposes people to all types of depression, is pent up anger, either toward themselves or from holding grudges toward others. He said some people come to him thinking they have endocrine deficiency or hypoglycaemia, but what they actually have is an unconscious resentment they aren’t aware of, (or they are too ashamed to admit that they have). These people he said, have found an excuse for their bitterness and call it battling depression.
Dr Minrith says three things enable any person to overcome depression and live a happy life: Having a personal sense of value, intimacy with other people and feeling right with God.

Ourselves: Make sure we are not angry at ourselves through guilt or even false guilt. True guilt is our conscience telling us that we have violated Gods law; we feel guilty because we are guilty. Thank God He forgives us when we ask Him. Guilt also should motivate us to change our behaviour - when we stop doing the wrong, we can stop some feelings of depression.
False guilt and shame on the other hand, comes from breaking some convention of man or because of the judgments of significant people in our lives (like parents or partners). E.g. feelings of not measuring up or meeting their expectations. We need to refuse guilt that does not stem from some specific disobedience to God and receive assurance that our value comes from our Creator, not from what people may think. It is good to admit to friends that you need timeout and it is important to eat healthy food and exercise. For me, a quiet week in the country helped restore my soul a lot.

Others: Remove all resentment or grudges against others. If we do not deal with it daily, we will wake up depressed. We need to forgive people fully, finally and freely every day. To get angry is not sinful yet it can become sinful when it hurts you or others. If we have got a “thing” about a parent, a sibling or someone else we must forgive them. Refuse family feuds- do you best to resolve it and leave the rest to God. Continue daily routines regardless of your feelings and even do something good for others every day or week- it will make you feel better. Build important relationships by going out with your wife and playing with your kids. Create balance in your work life. You may need to earn a living for your family, but your family needs you, 1000 times more than they need the extra money. Spend time each week with people that leave you feeling better not worse. Do not wait for others to come to you but take the initiative to build a strong relationship with two or three friends lest one leaves town. Jesus in his darkest hours chose some close friends to be with him. He shared with them his feelings and asked for their support in prayer and proximity (Matthew 26:36-38).

God: If you need to, get back into relationship with God. Each day relate to Him as an understanding Father who runs to help you in your failures. Be thankful for your blessings and pray for patience and strength in your battles. Jesus poured out his heart in prayer “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” but in the end He rested His soul in the wisdom of God. Then we need to intentionally reprogram our mind with God’s promises, so it does not just replay on a loop of negative depressive thinking. It is uncommon for people with a positive attitude, to succumb to depression.

Being burdened by shocks in life is inevitable but failing under their weight is not. In Gethsemane Jesus shows us a way that is not painless but also is not passive. He was delivered troubles that He never wanted but He found a way through. He shared with His trusted friends and asked them to watch and pray with Him. He poured out His soul to the Father and rested on the wisdom and love of God. Jesus looked beyond the pressures of the moment to a future before Him that was filled with joy and hope. Although difficulties in life are not avoidable, it seems that depression might be.

The film “Frozen” is a favourite with the kids of every age. I have seen it myself and my grandkids can sing the songs. What is better than a princess who can turn things into ice. Of course, hundreds of popular films are based upon superpowers, miracles, and witchcraft where people can transform themselves into other things or creatures. It is great entertainment, but I came away thinking about how closely it parallels the real world in which truth is stranger than fiction.
Last year a frightened woman asked us to come to her house where a spirit had taken up residence. The spirit appeared at nights in the adult son’s bedroom and that half of the house had become really cold, like frozen. The son had shifted his bed into the lounge to stay warm and refused to go near his bedroom. After sharing how Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and to forgive and save us, they received Christ. We removed all the witchcraft items from the house and commanded the spirit to go. The next day they rang me, happy that the apparition had gone and the man was back in his bedroom plus the house had become warm again.
A few years back I was in Vanuatu holding a village crusade. While I was preaching there was a commotion at the back, and after the meeting, some boys came forward to explain what had happened. Apparently, a local witch doctor had morphed himself into the form of a dog and was coming out of the bushes to disturb the meeting. When the boys threw rocks at the “form,” it cried out with a man’s voice and ran back into the bushes. Three days later the witch doctor from three villages away, died. This was a bit hard to believe until a missionary acquaintance of mine told me how he was threatened on a mountain road in Mexico, by spirits appearing as mountain lions and by witchdoctors who flew through the sky like bats.
While these things are strangely fascinating, they have a more sinister message for people everywhere whether in the west or the third world. There is an unseen world just as real and more long-lasting than the one we can see with our eyes. Paranormal TV shows catch on camera, the activity of spirits but seem unaware of the origin and disposition of demons. Mostly they conclude that they are the spirits of a long-departed resident or a friendly or sometimes crotchety ghost, rather than a demonic spirit impersonating a departed person. The spirits of dead people do not stay around the house, instead evil spirits remain among us deceiving and destroying everything God wants for people: peace, happiness, freedom, relationships and health.
We know that evil spirits hate the Lord Jesus and people, not just because the Bible says so, but from experience. One night I was visiting a couple who had been involved in witchcraft. As I sat in their lounge calmly explaining from the Bible how they could be put right with God by repenting and calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, the woman suddenly leapt up from her chair and rushed at me snarling like a wolf with her hands out to grab my throat. The name of Jesus prevailed! Another lady in our church had been involved in a coven and although she had left the witches coven, they continued to torment her. On the night of the coven meeting, spirits would astral travel into her house and sprinkle the walls with blood. Also, when she initially took the Lord's supper, she would break out in welts all over her body.
After rebelling against God, Satan came to earth to deceive the people and usurp worship by standing behind idols, false religions and godless philosophy. He has continued to promote rebellion against the Creator, by convincing people to decide for themselves what is right or wrong. He blinds people spiritually, so they remain unaware of the spiritual realm (naturalism) or illuminates them to the world of the occult, witchcraft or the calling up of spirits. He fosters pride in people’s hearts to think that they can fix the world themselves (humanists) or foolishly claim they know everything about a world they cannot even see (atheists). In ancient history, he spawned numerous religions that demanded human sacrifice and sexual perversion, resulting in broken relationships, hatred and mistrust in families. Today the altars for the human sacrifices are abortion rooms, perversion spews continuously from the TV and false religions are considered part of some nations culture. One family after seeing their son set free from drugs and alcohol, came to enquire how this happened. After sharing the love and power of Jesus, the whole Hindu family committed to following Jesus Christ. At their house, we removed all the idols and altars and that night for the first time in many years, the mother was not attacked by snakes from the spirit realm as she slept and was free from what had been nightly torment and pain. Removing idols is necessary as demons inhabit or associate with any occult object or “deathly hallows,” in your house. I once told a tormented man to destroy a death mask he had in his house and a scream came from it, as we burned it.

If evil spirits operate on a family or personal scale and they do, then we know that they will also have a global presence and strategy to ensnare mankind. The Bible tells us there are spirits that seek to rule cities, nations and even the world itself.
Demons do not just inhabit Hogwarts and cold castles, but also the halls of powerful political and financial establishments. There is a demonic scheme to extend the devils rule on the earth through human representatives and a global government. He cares not whether people are religious or secular, Satan only needs the world to ignore Christ and for people to give in to the same three temptations which Jesus refused as a man, in the wilderness: To act independently from His Father, to distrust Gods protection, and to want something other than Gods will. Thankfully, Jesus did not want to be independent of God, He did not need God to prove Himself and Jesus did not want the world, He wanted only us.
Jesus came to warm frozen hearts, to deliver people from the icy grip of a hateful enemy, and to bring us into His kingdom and His care forever. To be on the right side of history and eternity, we too need to choose dependence upon God, believe without seeing and reject any allegiance with the “lord of the flies.”
There is only one Spirit on the earth who wills our good. He is as powerful as He is loving. The Holy Spirit is called the Helper, the Comforter and the Counselor. We do not have to call him up or draw him down with candles, bells, food offerings or altars, we only need to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit will come to us. He will dwell in our homes and our hearts and warm our lives with His presence and help until at last, we dwell in the house of the Lord forever.