Obedience will bring blessing

What has God put on your heart to do today? Is it something you regularly do, or is it a little ‘out-of-the-box’? This is a story about having the courage to do what God says, no matter how ‘weird’ it seems, and then witnessing how God blesses others through that obedience. I pray this simple story encourages you to follow through on promptings from the Holy Spirit, trusting that your obedience will bring blessing to yourself and others.

Walking and praying

One of my weekly activities is twice a week walking and praying around the school grounds, normally with a couple of other mothers from school. Most of the time we have no idea how God uses our prayers. We just walk and pray in faith that He is at work in the supernatural. We may never know the outcomes of those prayers, but we trust that in this season it is what God has asked us to do.

Plans change

The presence of COVID-19 put a stop to the walking around the school grounds. But it did not stop us praying together, as we like many others around the world quickly worked out how to pray together online.

No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. Isaiah 54:17 NKJV

And, again, as I’m sure many people found during this time, the stretching and having to do things a little differently, actually became a blessing.

In our school prayer example, praying online enabled more mums to pray than could usually be present at school, which led to more conversation and deeper relationships.

It’s a bit like, the enemy had a plan, and God used it for good, sound familiar …

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NKJV

More changes

Now as the restrictions from COVID-19 are slowly reducing, we can walk and pray at school again, albeit in a specified area, the school oval, and with a maximum of three prayers. We are just so grateful to be allowed to pray on school grounds again.

Normally we commence our prayer walk by going around the boundary of the school. Our starting place is the oval. For the past couple of years we have done this on Friday afternoons when sport is on, so the children and teachers were used to seeing us walking and praying.

Last Friday was my first time returning to pray at school, and I was by myself. When I completed my first lap of the oval I thought, “How silly is this going to look, when I walk around the oval again?” As I couldn’t go on our normal route around the school due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

It’s not about me!

But then, with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I remembered that it wasn’t about me! But rather it was about what God wanted to do in that moment. And I had no idea what that was, so I asked Him, “God, why is it that we are allowed only here, on the oval? I know from a COVID-19 safety perspective why we are here, but why have You got us only here? What is it that You want me to do?”

Pause for a moment and picture this – a sports oval filled 7 classes of children and their teachers, and one woman walking around the perimeter of the oval praying. What do you think God wanted me to do?

We have all been impacted by COVID-19 in different ways, especially teachers who had to completely re-think the way they deliver education very quickly, and implement new strategies effectively and efficiently.

Pray for the teachers

So God’s answer to me was simply, “Pray for the teachers on the oval.

So I started on my second prayer lap of the oval. As I walked past each teacher, God gave me a word of encouragement, very specific, which I madly scribbled on a piece of paper. As much as I wanted to, I knew it wasn’t appropriate to walk up to them in the middle of their sports activities and say, ‘Hi, I felt God wanted to say to you …. ‘

Previously I had received specific words of encouragement for teachers, normally one or two, but never seven during one prayer walk. This was a little unusual. What was God doing?

What next God?

As I drove home from school I asked God about those words of encouragement, and how specific they were, and what to with them. Do I email each teacher individually, or send a group email including everyone’s word of encouragement?

You may think, what does it matter how you deliver the words of encouragement? But more and more I am learning that God is interested in the details. It mattered to Him how they were delivered, because, as He was about to tell me, He had another message to deliver to these teachers.

God’s response to my question about the specificity was something like, “This is My body – each one with a role to play and a gift to bring.

The diversity of the body of Christ

I got it! God was wanting to not only deliver a word of encouragement to each teacher, but He wanted to send a message about the wonderful diversity of His body.

It is the same Holy Spirit who continues to distribute many different varieties of gifts.

The Lord Yahweh is one, and he is the one who apportions to believers different varieties of ministries.

The same God distributes different kinds of miracles that accomplish different results through each believer’s gift and ministry as he energises and activates them.

Each believer is given continuous revelation by the Holy Spirit to benefit not just himself but all. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 TPT

God’s response to the ‘How’ question was ‘send as a group email‘ to illustrate the diversity of the body.

Later in the afternoon I sent that group email with the words of encouragement and supporting scriptures. The responses I received confirmed that God’s message had been delivered and understood. All glory to God, He knows what we need and when we need it.

The ‘takeaways’ from this story

So there are plenty of ‘takeaways’ from this simple story. I’ve listed them below with the supporting example.

  1. Make space in your life for God to speak to you (e.g. purposefully set aside time to pray and listen to God)
  2. Trust that God is at work in the unseen (e.g. praying for people, students and families, that we don’t know)
  3. When seemingly barriers arise, be expectant that God will use it for God (e.g. temporary move to praying online)
  4. Take your eyes off yourself and put them on Jesus (e.g. worrying about what others will think about repeatedly walking around the oval).
  5. When plans change, ask God what He wants to bring from the change (e.g. What were God’s plans for us praying only on the oval?)
  6. Be ready for God to do things differently (e.g. God’s words of encouragement for each of the seven teachers on the oval)
  7. Keep asking God for the next step (e.g. how to deliver the words of encouragement to the teachers)
  8. God has a bigger plan (e.g. this was about more than words of encouragement, it was about giving a picture of Christ’s body – unity through diversity)
  9. Obeying leads to blessing others (e.g. obeying God’s call to take time to pray lead to His word of encouragement for others).

Obedience will bring blessing

This is a very simple story of how when we obey what God asks us to do, we can be a blessing to others. Just as God wanted to encourage these teachers that they all have gifts and are part of one body, it is the same for us. We all have gifts, gifts to bless others with, however sometimes we just need a little bit of encouragement to get out there and use them!

So I pray that this story encourages you to do what God has put on your heart, and know that He has gifted you for a purpose, far greater than you could have imagined. And whatsmore, you may never know how far the blessing ripples will travel from your step of obedience.

But God has carefully designed each member and placed it in the body to function as he desires. A diversity is required, for if the body consisted of one single part, there wouldn’t be any body at all! So now we see that there are many differing parts and functions, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12:18-20 TPT

Looking for more encouragement?

Are you looking for more resources to help you draw closer to God, please check out my other blog posts and podcasts.

If you have struggling to trust God with something or someone in your life, my latest ebook may be of help to you, Choosing to trust God. It’s a short summary (only 18 pages!) of what God has been teaching me over the past 10 years about moving from a place of fear to faith. It is now available on Amazon for only $4.64.

Choosing to trust God By Wendy Robinson

Courage to keep standing

Sometimes we need courage to keep standing. Have you been in that place where you feel like the enemy is tempting you to cross the line, to say the thing that is going to bring death, not life?

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it’s fruit. Proverbs 18:21 NKJV

I’ve been there this week. It has taken every ounce of worship in my body to keep my focus on Jesus, and not let fear take hold and cause me to say something that would be destructive.

Every thought needing to be identified and categorised.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

Fear or faith? Truth or lies?

Fear or faith? Truth or lies? What are the promises God has spoken in the past? Do we know what His word says about this situation? What do I know about God’s character? Are we remembering the long, very long, list of testimonies of all God has done for us?

It has literally felt like there was a battle going on in my mind. And it has been just a little bit exhausting! But because of who God is, there has been no choice but to stand firm and trust Him.

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.
1 Corinthians 16:13 NLT

Standing firm can be tough going. Thankfully God always goes before us, equipping us, if we remain teachable, with what we are going to need in the future.

Example … Two weeks ago I started listening to a podcast from the series – ‘Elevation with Steven Furtick’. However I only had time to listen to the first ten minutes or so. This week, in the midst of the mind battle, thanks to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I continued listening to the podcast. The title of the podcast? ‘I caught a thought.‘ A good dose of God’s truth, helped me to keep standing firm.

And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!” John 16:33 TPT

Courage to keeping standing

There it is again, that word courageous. I wonder how many times it is written in the Bible. This week I needed courage to stand, to keep my mouth shut, to keep believing, to trust that God had a plan and it was unfolding even though I couldn’t see it.

Where does courage come from? From choosing to believe that God is God, and Jesus has conquered the world – no matter what we think, see or don’t see. Our courage to keep standing comes from having confidence that God is good and He loves us.

Praise God, this week I had the courage to keep standing until the breakthrough came. However, an interesting thing happened after the breakthrough came. I was doing a task that should have only taken ten minutes, however due to a software issue an hour later the task still wasn’t completed. Frustration bubbled to the surface and out it came! How disappointed was I in myself, to have stood firm on the major thing all week and then be broken over the minor thing!

The lesson for me – when the breakthrough came, I should have stopped, taken time to give thanks to God, not only for the breakthrough, but for the strength He gave me to keep standing.

But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 NLT

Pause and give thanks

Pausing and giving thanks, possibly combined with a few minutes of worship, would have allowed me to process well, giving the Holy Spirit space to minister and dissipate the underlying frustration that was there, but had not surfaced prior to the breakthrough.

Let’s pray,

Thank you Jesus for who You are and what You did for us, giving us victory over sin and death. Thank you God that You are at work even when we can’t see it. Please give us greater confidence in You and Your ways, confidence that gives us courage to keep standing. Thank you that you are always going before us, equipping us and making a way. Forgive us for when we stray into fear, doubt and unbelief. Please help us to identify the thoughts that are not from You, taken them captive and replace them with Your truth. Help us to always remain teachable, open to the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for Your love and desire to see us become all that You have called us to be. In Your Jesus Name, Amen.

For some more thoughts on the have the courage to stand and overcoming fear please visit these posts …
Don’t fear – Draw closer to God
Are you feeling battle weary?
Are you feeling fearful?
Courage to do the little things
Be strong and of good courage


Courage to do the little things

I used to think about courage in terms of doing ‘big’ physical things, like going on the giant swing at a Sport and Recreation camp, climbing out on the yard arm of a tall ship, and jumping off the 10m diving platform (I’ve never done that!).

But then a few years ago I heard a sermon about having courage for the ‘little’, but often life-changing moments. For example starting a conversation with someone you don’t know; opening a letter that you know you may not like the contents of; and learning how to confidently say how you really feel.

Building courage through action

That sermon changed the way I approached the ‘little’ yet ‘big’ moments in my life. I started to see these moments as opportunities to build courage – essentially increasing my trust in Jesus.

However, these moments/opportunities required more than trust. They required me to actually do something. I could say to myself, ‘I trust You God,’ and then leave the letter unopened on the table for days. Was I really trusting God? No. It was not until I actually opened that letter that the trust went into action and I became courageous. And wow did that feel good!

In my listening appointment with God this week, one of the things I felt God say to me was, ‘Have courage to let me do the work I want to do in you.’

My immediate response was, ‘Need more courage – I need to get more equipped!’ .

I know that over the years God has increased my courage. But this sounded like I was soon going to have some God-given opportunities to grow that courage to the next level. I didn’t want fear sabotaging the work God wanted to do in me.

My Courage playlist

Earlier in the week I had set up a playlist called ‘Courage’ and it included songs like:

‘You’re gonna be OK‘ by Jenn Johnson
Take Courage’ by Bethel Music
‘Your grace finds me’ by Matt Redman
‘Lions’ by Skillet
‘This I believe’ by Hillsong Worship
‘Whom shall I fear’ by Passion
‘No Longer Slaves’ by Bethel
‘Break every chain’ by Jesus Culture
‘Another in the Fire’ by Hillsong United
‘Oh Fear (My God is Near)’ by Moriah Peters.

So I added some more songs to the list and started playing them and declaring their truth

Courage scriptures to declare

Then I made a list of some scriptures relating to courage ….

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV

The Lord is my revelation-light to guide me along the way;
he’s the source of my salvation to defend me every day.
I fear no one!
I’ll never turn back and run from you, Lord;
surround and protect me.
Psalm 27:1 TPT

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NKJV

Also David told Solomon his son, Be strong and courageous, and do it. Fear not, be not dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail or forsake you until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 28:20

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15 NLT

Remember to say alert and hold firmly to all that you believe. Be mighty and full of courage. Let love and kindness be the motivation behind all that you do. 1 Corinthians 16:13 TPT

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

We do not have a spirit of fear

So now I daily worship and mediate on these truths, declaring that God has indeed not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. When the prompting from the Holy Spirit comes, step out trusting that He has gone before me. No fear, in Jesus Name.

Perhaps there is something in your life that requires you to step out and be courageous, and yet you are hesitating. I pray that as you read this post and take time to read again the truth from our God, trust and courage will rise up and you will be able to just do it – in Jesus Name. Remember God has gone before you.

For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control. 1 Timothy 1:7 TPT

For some more thoughts on the overcoming fear and having the courage to keep standing, please visit these posts …
Don’t fear – Draw closer to God
Courage to keep standing
In the Battle
Are you feeling fearful?
Be strong and of good courage

When your kids teach you …

Over the past three days I have had the blessing of being away with two of our children. I thought I had a pretty good idea of how the three days would go. All the practical preparations were done to make sure we got to the right place at the right time with the right gear, although that didn’t always happen! However, I was completely unprepared for what God was about to show me and teach me through these two beautiful children.

Lesson 1: Be courageous

One child has overcome many challenges, and knows well that ‘things‘ happen, and we have a choice to retreat in fear or pain, or we can press on and go after the desires of our heart. As I watched her courageously press on during the first day of the swimming competition, I felt God say to me, ‘Be courageous too.’

I knew exactly what He was talking about.

I thought about all our daughter has been through, and all the choices she makes every day to keep getting up and just doing it.

And I thought about some of the songs we used for our ‘Be Brave’ concert last year for the children’s creative ministries program at church …

Courageous – by Casting Crowns …

We were made to be courageous, it starts with us tonight …… Lord make us courageous …

Lions – by Skillet

Today we live, today we breathe
Today we know that we are strong when we are weak
Today we trust, we overcome
Take every chain that kept us slaves and throw em’ off

We’re not waiting for permission
We defy our inhibition
Like our middle name is “fearless”
Unafraid

And I thought about Joshua 1:9 (how many times have I spoken that scripture to our children???)

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

And I thought about what God has directly spoken to me about a couple of weeks ago. I needed to be obedient to what He had said.

So I phoned my husband, explained what I was going to do, and asked him to pray for me, which he did, and he gave me some words of advice. And off I went – like my middle name was fearless, trusting that God had gone before me, with a picture in my mind of a young girl with a left leg that doesn’t work properly, wobbling on the swimming blocks, holding on so tightly so she didn’t fall in and false start, then finally dive in and swim her heart out, achieving a personal best time. All the time saying to myself, “Be courageous Wendy, believe that God wants this story told. It is His story. He wants people to hear about His faithfulness, His goodness, the victories that come in Jesus Name”

Thank you Jesus, that indeed when we are weak, You are strong. Thank you that you gave me eyes to see that truth again this week through my daughter. Thank you that you gave me the opportunity to live out of that truth this week and be courageous.

Lesson 2: People matter, love well.

Through these blog posts, or if you know me, you have probably gathered that I’m quite task focused. Give me a task and I’m all over it! Sometimes though I forget about the people and it takes a purposeful stop and a considering of where I am, who am I with and what their needs are. Along with a gentle reminder from the Holy Spirit that relationships with people are not tasks! God very clearly reminded me of that through our other precious daughter that I was away with.

This is the daughter who has from an early aged looked for opportunities to help, lovingly anticipating the needs of others in her family – Mum, Dad, Sisters, Brother. She has a heart ready to love and serve.

I had the blessing of seeing that love in action many times over these three days. But two of these times especially stood out to me – probably because they were actions of love directed towards someone outside of our family, that I, the adult should have initiated, not the 9 year old child. And why didn’t I initiate them? – because I was too busy with my tasks!

On both occasions she quietly came to me and said, “Mum, could we …..”. She had seen the need. She had come up with a solution. She had taken action to make it happen. I had been humbled by her love for others compared to my love of tasks!

Thank you Jesus for reminding me to “stop, look around, listen and love well.” Thank you for a daughter, who probably for the rest of her life, will be reminding me by example, that people matter. Thank you God that you set the example of how to love people. Please help me to follow these examples well.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NKJV

A final prayer ….Thank you Jesus for the people that you bring into our lives, children, family, friends, pastors and preachers, and for all that we can learn from them. Please help us to always be humble and have a teachable spirit. In your Name we live and pray, AMEN.

Be strong and of good courage

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NKJV

There is a song, “Take Courage” by Bethel Music, here are some of its lyrics,

‘Hold on to your hope as your triumph unfolds’

Oh that can be so hard to do, hold on; press in; stand. But sometimes there is no other choice. We have to believe that our triumph will unfold. And that we can learn to worship God in the waiting, something that I believe we only truly learn in those deep dark moments.

I remember a milestone moment in my constant journey of learning how to trust God more, and more, and more, and more. It relates to our daughter Victoria, and happened about 4.5 years when we had just found out that the tumour had started to grow for the third time.

There was a choice to be made – continue to live in fear that the tumour would continue to grow, or be strong and of good courage and choose to live each day to the full – trusting God that no matter what happens He would get us through this. God helped us with making that choice by taking us to a Camp Quality camp where His Word – John 10:10 was displayed on posters in the dining hall.

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

Getting God’s truth louder in our mind

That visual message was the starting point for helping me to change my hopeless thinking. I say starting point, because although God had given me that clear sign with the posters, those feelings of hopelessness didn’t just go away overnight. They had to be attended to, and over-time they got quieter and quieter and God’s truth got louder and louder in my head.

Here is a bit of what that process required …

An Awareness of what my focus was on – diagnosis vs declaration of faith (John 10:10)

Action to replace those thoughts of hopelessness and fear with God’s truth

Acknowledging that I couldn’t do that replacement in my own strength.

Asking God daily to help me take that action.

Allowing God to do that work in me – not resisting, but instead surrendering. And only then I could ….

Authentically worship God, despite the circumstances because He was restoring my hope in Him.

Pressing into Him in the waiting season, learning to trust that not only would He get us through, but that His triumph would unfold – no matter what – here or in Heaven, has been a huge journey – and it continues now only in different spheres of our lives.

But it is a journey that despite the pain, I would not swap because it has grown a greater hope, a stronger faith and a deeper understanding of God’s love for us.

Let’s pray …

So today, as you face the circumstances in your life, why not take a deep breath and say to God,

Okay God, I’m trusting You with this, please help me to grow in hope, faith and love through this situation. I choose to worship You. Thank you that you are with us wherever we go and that will get us through this day. Thank you that our triumph will unfold because of Who you are and what you have done. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Lord, I will worship you with extended hands as my whole heart explodes with praise! I will tell everyone about your wonderful works and how your marvellous miracles exceed expectations! I will jump for joy and shout in triumph as I sing your song and make music for the Most High God. Psalm 9:1-2 TPT

Be strong and of good courage, in Jesus Name.

For some more thoughts on the overcoming fear and having the courage to keep standing, please visit these posts …
Don’t fear – Draw closer to God
Courage to keep standing
In the Battle
Courage to do the little things
Are you feeling fearful?

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