Tuesday, April 29

THE HOLY SPIRIT - OUR COMFORTER


SCRIPTURE READING
John 14:26
But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

1. THE HELP THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS TO GIVE US, IS VERY PRACTICAL IN NATURE
• What is a Comforter? – An advocate, intercessor, a consoler, comforter, helper.
• The Greek original is Paraklétos - pará, "from close-beside" and /kaléō, "make a call" - Example, a legal advocate who makes the right judgment-call because they are close enough to the situation.
• It also means an advisory-helper.
• One called to one’s aid.
• It is a picture of one who comes alongside.
• In its most basic form it means helper.
• Help is something practical. If I am drowning and someone comes and helps me, they step into my situation and help me out of it.
a. THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS TO COME AND COMFORT YOU
COMFORT
Comfort: To comfort means to come along-side and give you strength and hope.  To comfort means to console and encourage.
CONSOLE
Console: To console means to alleviate the grief, to alleviate the sense of loss, and to alleviate our troubled or saddened hearts. He wants to identify with you in what you are facing. The word consolation means to do something to make a person feel less sad or disappointed. It speaks of a lifting of any heaviness and the lifting and removal of burdens.
ENCOURAGE
Encourage: To encourage means to come and fill you with hope, confidence and determination.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement), Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.
b. THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS TO COME AND HELP YOU
The Holy Spirit wants to come alongside you and I and be a helper to us. A helper is someone who helps another person with a job or a task. But the helper we have is also an advocate. An advocate is a highly skilled individual who knows your rights and is able to defend you. This is the kind of practical help you and I need in our daily lives.
John 14:16 ‘And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever!’
To help means to give assistance or support. To help means to improve and relieve what you are facing or going through. It goes beyond that to include the fact that He wants to rescue and save us. Our helper is someone who does not come and go but He is with us and will be with us forever. It is for this very reason that we should develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

2. WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT - OUR PRAYER LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!
• Our prayer life changes when the Holy Spirit comes alongside us.
Jude 1:20 ‘But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God's love.’
• The Holy Spirit wants to come and help us in our praying.
• Prayer never again needs to be a struggle or a chore.
Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Romans 8:26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
• So we can pray with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can pray under the leading or guidance of the Holy Spirit or we can pray as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. This can and will include praying in tongues from time to time.
• The great revivalist TB Barrett said the following: ‘Surely I have never prayed like that before! It was the Holy Spirit who prayed through me.’

3. WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT - THE VERY WAY WE SEE THINGS CHANGES
John 14:26 ‘But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things…..’
• ‘Will teach you all things’ - This is the work and business of the Holy Spirit.
• There is so much of the wonder and greatness of God that we don’t understand or even grasp.
• But the Holy Spirit wants to come and reveal so much of this to us.
• A lifetime will be far too short to receive all He has to teach and reveal to us.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him." But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets.
Ephesians 1:17-19 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people and His incomparably great power for us who believe.
• Look at some of the areas:
1. The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.
2. The Holy Spirit will reveal things to you.
3. The Holy Spirit shows us God’s deep secrets.
4. The Holy Spirit wants to give us wisdom and revelation.
5. The Holy Spirit wants the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened.
6. His anointing teaches us about all things (1 John 2:27)
• The Holy Spirit Himself wants to come and change the way we see things.
• The same Spirit of God that revealed the Bible to writers through the ages wants to come and reveal more of God to you.
• He wants to come and magnify Jesus to us.
John 16:3 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.
• I have seen the following quote: ‘A mind, once stretched by a new idea never regains its original proportions’.
• Let the Holy Spirit come and change the way you see things.
• Let Him come and so stretch your mind that it will never regain its original proportions.
• Let Him come and enlighten the eyes of your heart.

4. WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT - WE CAN EFFECTIVELY TOUCH THE LIVES OF OTHERS
• It is interesting the effect that the Holy Spirit had on the lives of the men and women in the Bible and in particular the New Testament.
• They went from cowering, fearful and timid people, hidden in the upper room and overnight they became bold, fearless and filled with holy courage, speaking in loud voices on the streets and in public.
Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
• This boldness put these disciples in danger. Their lives, their futures and their interests were endangered by this boldness, but that did not influence them.
• How often when we are threated or our interests are threatened we can lose our boldness.
• But when the Holy Spirit comes on us we can lose those selfish fears and become supernaturally bold.
• It was this boldness that caused many people’s lives to be touched and changed and as a result many came to know God and the church grew exponentially.
• Perhaps your faith is a quiet controlled faith and you don’t want to offend anyone?
• I pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon you and that you will be filled with boldness and that those whose reactions you fear will be astonished and that in the process they will find Jesus Christ for themselves.
• May you be armed with holy courage!

5. WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT - WE'RE EMPOWERED FOR SERVICE
Luke 24:49 Now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.
Acts 1:8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
• God wants to use you.
• There are myriads of ways in which God can use you.
• Sometimes we limit the ways in which God can use us to a few examples.
• God wants you to be a witness for Him wherever you are.
• He can use you in ways you could never have imagined.
• This all becomes possible when the Holy Spirit comes on us.
• Our comforter wants to empower us for service.
John 14:12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
• God has got greater things for you.
• Never write yourself off, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His power and to use you for His glory.

6. WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT - WE CAN FACE THE STORMS WE GO THROUGH
• Our Christian walk is not always easy.
• We go through trials, tribulations and persecution.
• We face opposition, challenges and hurdles.
• The life of Stephen, the first martyr, is an example to us.
• He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything about him was different as a result. He saw things differently and he was filled with boldness. But his end was rough. But at the end, while he was being stoned, the Holy Spirit gave him the strength in this most difficult of battles and God came through for him.
Acts 7:59-60 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!" And with that, he died.
• Even his suffering has become a testimony through all generations.
• How could Stephan die such a horrendous death with such a positive attitude and produce such a powerful result for the church then and now?
• Simply because he went through the most difficult time full of the Holy Spirit.
• If we are full of the Holy Spirit, we too can face any storm and in the process our lives can be a positive influence on the world around us.
• So let the Holy Spirit come right now and fill you so that you can face the storms and still be a testimony and a witness to God’s faithfulness and love.


By: Andrew W Roebert

Tuesday, January 28

My Story, By Liesel Gaffley



I asked a friend of mine if she was willing to share her journey with us and she didn't hesitate for one minute.
She struggled for many years to have a baby and is now blessed with an adorable little Prince.

Enjoy the read :)


Hi Mish
I've been thinking long and hard about what I would like to add to your blog and I reminded myself that the whole story, the truth will be better than sugar coating it as most people do.

I hope to give someone out there hope.


Here is my story:


My husband and I got married 5 years ago on 3rd May 2008.
I always thought there will be time for children and we won't need to rush.  Boy was I wrong! Immediately when we came back from our short honeymoon I wanted to have a baby.



A year passed and there was no baby. I never felt down but I thought it will happen when it's meant to happen.
Another year waiting and still there was nothing.


We then decided to see a specialist and found out that I have Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), meaning I don't ovulate and my eggs don't grow, hence not being able to fall pregnant.
I cried so hard when we left the doctor. I felt like I had died inside. I doubted my body and its capability of working properly as a woman's body was meant to. I felt so down and hurt not even my husband’s encouraging words could help.


I put my all into wanting a baby and with every single test I took, I had hoped that it was the day it would happen.
Every time a family member or a friend fell pregnant I was happy for them but I kept on wondering when my turn would come to feel a baby inside my tummy…. to get morning sickness, to feel that little hands inside your hands, to hear them laugh. I wished for the smallest things some people take for granted. I wanted that to experience all of that.


Four years passed. We had done countless treatments and spent thousands at the specialist but it seemed like nothing worked.


Finally in January 2012 we decided to save all we had. We decided not go away for any holiday, not to buy clothing, makeup, jewellery, no entertaining. We would save every penny we had and do IVF as our last resort in January 2013.
We fasted for 40 days and prayed to God to bless us with a baby. We put all our hope in God and just prayed for a miracle for this little angel to come our way, for him/her to choose us even if it's just once, just this one time.


We did our round of IVF and without knowing whether it was successful or not, my husband came home and said “let's go shopping for baby, we have to have faith” I was angry because how can we buy clothing for a baby we don’t even know we have yet, but we bought a few items. 


A few days later I took a digital test. I wanted to know if I am pregnant or not pregnant and not a maybe or blurred lines. Within two minutes it said “pregnant 1-2 weeks”, I cried, I was speechless!

I waited for my husband to get home. I thought maybe the test was faulty but still all I could do was thank God. We took another test and another positive. We were both in shock, I think we starred at it for 10 minutes thinking it would change, but it never did.

Today my baby, my precious angel, Alexander Gaffley is 4 months old and as clever and beautiful as can be. He was born on 30th September 2013 at 2.4kg.
Every day I see him and I can't stop thanking God for blessing me with my angel.


Just remember never to lose Faith in God. If 2 or 3 agree in His name so shall it be, whatever you ask for in God’s name you will receive.


I thank God for my blessing.
My angel is right here by me and I don't doubt God with anything. He will always provide and His timing is perfect. 


All the tears, the waiting, the prodding, the injections, the scans, the blood tests…. It was worth it. Five long years of waiting was worth it.
It made me who I am, a strong, powerful, testimonial woman of God.

I hope to inspire women with my story. Anything is possible with God :) He can do all things.



Liesel Gaffley

Wednesday, January 22

My Daughter Changed My Life

This is a piece a I received from an anonymous writer.
Reading it brought so many knobs to my throat... I am not sure if I should blame it on the emotions that comes with the pregnancy or if its a "mommy" thing :)


Two months before our wedding  we were blessed with the most amazing gift from God,  we were going to be parents. 
We were ecstatic and nervous all at once. During the pregnancy I made many plans for our little angel. During the last few months of my pregnancy we were told that retrenchments would be happening within the department at work. This stressed me out a lot seeing that we had this big responsibility coming our way. 
What added to this stress was that our lease at the flat we were living in was up for renewal. I was not sure to renew or not especially with the unknown of who was going to be retrenched at work and I couldn’t leave everything up to my husband to deal with. 

In the 9th month of my pregnancy we moved to my parents. Moving was easy on me as I didn’t lift a finger. No one wanted me to touch anything to which I was grateful for. I could hardly walk at this stage. 
I was more at ease having my mom around during the last few weeks of my pregnancy especially after having my unplanned c-section. I had a lot of support from my parents and my in laws.

We did not know the gender of the baby until the birth which is such an amazing experience, waiting for the doctor to announce it to us but in our case our doctor showed the baby to my husband and he then shouted It’s a boy!!!! Oh no, it’s a girl!!!!” 
This was the most amazing feeling I could ever have felt. I could feel the tears just rolling down my face. I was never an emotional person but since then tears are now part of my life. 

I had a complicated birth but it was all worth it, I would do it all just for her; the sleepless nights, the pajama days; all worth it. Seeing my baby girl laying on my chest changed my life forever, everything revolves around her. Since her birth I would find myself just taking my cellphone and looking at photos of her. 2 years later and I still do it, I look at baby photos and start crying.

Just recently I watched a reality series on TV and realized that my life has changed so much over the past 2 years since I had my little girl. Some people may think I’m boring and I don’t know how to have fun but I am happy and content.
 I have a beautiful family and that is what I live for. 
Wherever I go, my little girl goes too. There has only been a few occasions where she was not with me at weddings etc but every outing myself and hubby does we take our little girl along. 
When she is not around I don’t have fun and I miss her too much. I look forward to my weekends so that I can spend time with her. I rush home in the evenings with a smile, knowing when I step through the door my little girl comes running saying “ hello mommy”. 
Every night as she is put to bed I thank God that he gave me this beautiful blessing. She has not only changed her mom & dad’s life but also all the family that surrounds her. She is such a caring and sweet little girl, when she says “ sowi mommy” and kisses me on the forehead, it just melts my heart. 

Being a mother is a hard job, there is no book that is able to prepare you for this amazing full time job. I am not perfect at it but I try my best to raise her to the best of my ability. I feel honored that God has given me this beautiful life to take care of.
Everything I do in life is for her. I try to live a better life and build a good life for myself so that I can raise her with good values and everything she needs in life.

I couldn’t imagine a life without her.

My Growing Family - Part 3

Hi guys

I know I am a day late with Part 3 but things has been a bit hectic on my side... here you go :)


It's been nearly a year since Leah's birth and finally I started feeling like my old self again and not just like a wife and mother of two.
I was in a happy place, comfortable with my now "complete" family tree.

Suddenly, I started feeling really ill. This carried on for weeks and just got worse as time went by.
I suspected that I might have cyst on my ovary. This would not entirely be uncommon as I have had them before.
I made an appointment to see my gynaecologist so that we could get to the bottom of these "cysts".

19 November 2013 came and it was the day for my Dr's visit. 
Whilst in the consultation room, I explained all of my symptoms to the Dr and also what my concerns were. He asked me if I had done a pregnancy test and I said no, it was highly impossible that I would be pregnant. 

In the examining room, he did the sonar to check out my ovaries and there it was a tiny little body and an amniotic sac.
The Dr's words to me were "Mishkah, jy is swanger" (Mishkah, you are pregnant). At first I did not believe him, as he had a huge smile on his face and because he was joking about it whilst consulting me. I calming said to him that it was not the time nor the place to be making silly jokes. He said to me "I am not joking, there is your baby and there the amniotic sac is busy forming. You can listen to the heart beat now."

I was 6 weeks pregnant! My heart at stopped beating the minute I heard the works "jy is swanger." 
I could not believe that I was pregnant. On our drive back to my work, Darryl and I were both silent. We were both in shock and all I did was sit there and cry. 
This was not in my plan, after all, I'd had my pigeon pair already and that was where it was supposed to end. 
We were nearly at my work and finally we spoke, we agreed not to tell anyone about the pregnancy just yet. I was not ready for all the questions and judgement that was going to come my way.

When I got back to work, I could not concentrate. All I could think about was my Dr's visit and each time I thought about it, I started sobbing.
The sad reality was, that I was not ready to have another baby, not emotionally and not mentally... I did not want to have this child.

On our way home that evening, we stopped at the pharmacy. I wanted to get a pregnancy test. Although this sounds crazy, I needed to have the test to give me piece of mind. Needless to say the test was positive.
I cried and prayed for days on end. Cried because I felt like the timing was not right, that so much was happening in my life at that moment and that another child would complicate or mess up things. I prayed for God to guide me, to strengthen me and to help me make peace with having another child. I also prayed for forgiveness for feeling the way I did.

As weeks passed by, I felt worse. I was edgy, moody and very down. The guilt of being so unhappy about this pregnancy had finally creeped up on me. When I found out about the two previous pregnancies, I was so happy and excited, I wanted to share the news with the world but with this pregnancy all I had was negative feelings and I was trying to hide it from the world. 

We had our second Dr's visit and still I felt no excitement. All I thought was, I still cannot believe we are having another baby.
Three children seemed like way too much and I was not sure if I could handle that. 
I knew that Darryl was excited about having another child, he always told me he would like to have three or more, I always told him he was crazy.
He did not show any excitement because he was aware of how I was feeling. This made me feel even worse.
He kept teasing me saying I would love this child the most, to which I replied, it was impossible for a mother to love one child more than the other. 
Each time I asked him when we would be breaking the news, he said "whenever you tell me you're ready babe"

We agreed to break the news on Christmas. As time drew closer, I changed my mind. I was just not ready.
New years came and went and still we did not break the news to our family and friends. I started feeling baby move by then.

On Sunday 5 January 2014 I laid in bed and decided to open my bible, the first verse I saw was:

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. 
I had goosebumps in my stomach. For weeks I had been praying to God to send me a sign. A sign to tell me that everything would be okay and that I could do this. This verse confirmed this for me. 
God has appointed me as "a prophet to the nations". My nation is my family, my husband and my children. I was appointed to take care of them, nurture them and be the glue that binds us together. After all, this is what a mother was created to do.
Suddenly I did not care about the rest of the world and how they would judge or question me for having another baby. This was what God had planned for my life, this is what was put out for me and I needed to claim it, rejoice in it and embrace the new blessing that was coming my way.

The following evening I told Darryl I was ready to come out and break the news. 
Slowly we started telling our friends and family. Some were more excited than others and then the bare minimum had nothing at all to say. This did not bother me, I felt a sense of relieve that I was no longer carrying this weight on my shoulders.

I thank God every morning for opening my eyes to what was something amazing and for the strength he gave me to move away from Satan and the lies and disbelief he was planting in my head. After all, the only thing that mattered was that I was married to the man I was having this child with, we love each other with all our hearts and this child will be yet another perfect reflection of the love we share for one another.

On Monday 20 January 2014 was our third visit to the Dr and he confirmed we will be having another boy. FINALLY the excitement for this pregnancy started oozing out and so did the belly :) I now have a perfectly tiny baby bump.

The past two months has taken my faith to new heights. I am again in the happy place I was before the pregnancy.
As much as we try to plan our lives, what God has planned for us is so much greater and better than what we think is best for us.

I am embracing my blessing and looking forward to the new addition to MY GROWING FAMILY! 



I hope the 3 part story to my growing family was an enjoyable read for everyone :)
God Bless