Have you ever watched other Christians evangelize & minister with supernatural boldness on the streets and you felt like you couldn’t do the same?…

Have you sometimes looked on TV or read books about men who were greatly used by God and then you feel inadequate?

As Spirit-Fileld warriors, we have everything we need locked up inside of us! We have the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the Name of Jesus Christ. We have Christ living and breathing inside of us. We have the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why, on earth, is it so difficult to go out and lay hands on a lost individual in a mall, shopping centre, school or workplace, and pray for healing, prophesy or cast out a devil?

For a long time now I have worked with many Christians and young warriors in Christ. I motivated them, encouraged them, and showed them how to do Supernatural Evangelism on the streets. But for some strange reason I only see 1 out of 10 doing the works of God boldly and seeing results.

I have to be honest, this highly discouraged me. Until, a few months ago I received a revelation out of the scripture about The Ten Talents in Matthew 25.

Matthew 25:24-30 24“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.  ²⁹ ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

I have always been taught that the individual who received only one talent, and failed to multiply it, was lazy and unfaithful. Although it is true, but not 100%… For the first time I read that he actually said to his lord that the reason for him hiding his talent was because he was AFRAID!…

All of a sudden the Holy Spirit began to speak to me and showed me how FEAR can limit precious believers from operating in their talents, gifts, anointing etc.

FEAR will paralyze believers from going out and do the works of God with boldness. The Holy Spirit only operates in BOLDNESS as a rule.

The more serious part of this parable is that if we don’t use that which God has given us then we will lose it. A very powerful truth to the anointing is “If you don’t use it, you will lose it – If you use it, the you receive more” When I get a fresh impartation of the Holy Spirit then I must go out and release and give that to someone else, otherwise I will lose it. If I give it to someone else, then it will be multiplied!

FEAR paralyzes precious believers and don’t only allow them not to minister and operate in boldness, but also ultimately cause them to lose the anointing because of the principles in Matthew 25.

FEAR and INTIMIDATION is a spirit.

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

Let’s deal with the spirit of fear and become fearless warriors for Christ!

HOW DO I DEAL WITH THE SPIRIT OF FEAR?

Find a righteous Christian friend and let him pray for you the following points according to James 5:16-17:

1.) Confess your sins(fear) to your friend and be transparent.
2.) Repent of your sins(fear) to your friend.
3.) Renounce any work of darkness and demonic spirit associated to that sin and let your friend bind the influence of the enemy.
4.) Ask God to heal your heart and fill you with the power of the Holy Spirit

When you do this prayer in faith and boldness, then you will experience incredible freedom!

In His Love,

Leon du Preez

I see them so radical that nothing and no one is able to stop them. Fasting on water is a breeze for them; luxury and material things have no hold on them; prayer is like breathing and studying the Word is their passion. They sacrifice their whole lives simply because they are in love with Someone far greater than themselves – Someone who took their place on the cross! These young warriors will not be bothered by status or position but they will preach with a great fervency to thousands and even a greater passion and fire to crowds of only tens. A nazarite vow will be their life and nothing will take priority in their lives except the will and purpose of God for this generation! They will stop at nothing until they see the promises of God fulfilled for their generation. They will not back down until they see revival. They will take ground, moving forward EVERYDAY!

The scripture below will be their motto:

Luke 14:25-35 25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26  “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

When the scripture above says that Jesus ‘turned to the crowds and said to them…’ it depicts a powerful image in the Greek. In the Greek it actually means that Jesus was so angry that He dramatically turned around in order to rebuke the crowds for only following him for the sake of following.

Therefore, He continued and explained to the crowds who is worthy of being His disciples – only those who are willing to pick up their cross and forsake everything!

Even today the call is going forth from Christ Himself, dramatically looking for someone to follow Him passionately, willing to sacrifice and forsake their whole lives, simply to please Him and the Father!

Are you one of those radicals who are willing to give up everything? If so, pray this prayer with me today:

“Lord, I come to You today with my whole life. There is nothing I can give You in return for the grace and love which You have extended towards me, but I want to give You my life! I am willing to pick up my cross and forsake EVERYTHING for You! I am willing to pay the price for the fire of the Holy Spirit; I am willing to pray like never before; I am willing to fast and seek Your presence; I am willing to take my life and place it on the altar in order to become a living sacrifice. I don’t care what my friends will say; I don’t care what my family will say; I don’t care what the devil will say; I only care what You say! LUKE 14:25-35 will be my manifesto and my motto. Here is my life…take it!”

In His Love,

Leon du Preez

The will of the Lord is to be filled with the Spirit.

Many of us are filled with the Spirit of God and it is beautiful! But too many Christians stay and linger at that reality, they never go further!

What is it to go further?

To stir up and cause the Spirit of God to come upon us and then maintaining that glow.

There is a difference between the Spirit within us and the Spirit upon us. We, now in the NT, have the Spirit within us which means that we have the ability through our spiritual disciplines to cause and stir the Holy Spirit to come upon us!

Luke 4:18-19 – THE SIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME.

Acts 1:8 -BUT YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES UPON YOU THEN YOU SHALL BE WITNESSES!

When the Holy Spirit comes upon me then will I have supernatural power to do what is needed.

I can cause the Holy Spirit to come upon me, simply by applying certain disciplines in my life!

When the Spirit comes upon me, how do I maintain that glow? How do I maintain that light? How do I maintain the presence of Christ around me?

How do I stay aglow with the Spirit of God?

Romans 12:10-11 10 “Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honour to one another. 11 Never lag (be slothful) in zeal and in earnest endeavour; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.”

1.) PASSION

The scripture says that we must never lag in zeal! We must never be slothful in zeal/passion!

The commentators say that we must not be lazy in our zeal, Christians are not to go backward, but forward.

Slothful = to loath, to be slow, to be hesitant, to delay!

Zeal = to boil with heat, be hot, a boiling fiery passion!

First of all we must have a zeal, a passion, God Himself is clothed in a cloak of zeal.

Only when we have passion, then we graduate to stay aglow with the spirit, fervent, fiery!

Passion is the first key and quality needed in order to stay aglow with the Spirit of God!

God loves it when we have passion, and passion can cause Gods hand to move despite our disposition and circumstances and lack of theology!

Nicodemus was so passionate and hungry for Jesus that he secretly went by night to meet with Him, he had to find a way!

Peter was so passionate that he completely forgot about his past and stood up and preached in boldness! Raised people from the dead and introduced salvation to the gentiles!

Cornelius was so passionate that even though he was a gentile he still sought the face of God, the bible says he was a devout man! Cornelius applied principles in his life of prayer fasting and studying of the word of God coupled with passion which brought a major encounter to him and his household!

Rom 12:11 “Don’t be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord. ” (GWT)

1 Tim 4:7-8 “But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.”

The word exercise was originally use in ancient times to describe someone who exercised with no clothes on, totally naked! Why? This would eliminate all restrictions, all hindrances, nothing would limit your development! This is the picture of someone developing themselves into the best minister they can possibly be and becoming a delight to Jesus!!! This will not happen by accident! We will need to make a decision to exercise spiritually until we become the best at what we are called to do for Christ!

What godly disciplines can I apply to exercise myself towards godliness?

- THE DISCIPLINE OF PRAYER

The effective fervent/fiery/passionate prayer of a righteous man avails much.

The mantle and power of God does not fall upon the prayer less!

Elisha was praying while he received the mantle!
Jesus was praying while baptized in the spirit
Paul was praying while baptized in the spirit
Cornelius was praying when an angel visited him!

- THE DISCIPLINE OF FASTING

I have no doubt in my mind that the only way we can receive the power of God is through applying fasting!

Jesus said this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting! But we forget to read the verse just before this one.

Matthew 17:20-21 20 “So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief;[a] for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting”

Nothing is impossible to those who believe and fast! We must fast, fasting can cause the impossible to become possible for you!

- THE DISCIPLINE OF STUDYING THE WORD

The word will save your soul!

The word will approve you as a minister of God!

The word is the very foundation of our Christian life!

The word is Christ himself!

Without passion, these disciplines of fasting, prayer and word will only bring religion and become mundane!

How do I get my passion back!

Repentance brings back my passion and then I can apply the Godly disciplines!

2 Co 7:11 “For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.”

Paul was saying here in the above verse that he is exceedingly happy because of the repentance of the Corinthian church. He said that he could see the zeal in their lives! Our zeal and passion will return because of our repentance!

Rev 2:4-5 4 “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

Here in the above verse Jesus is saying that if we have lost our passion then we must firstly repent and then do those first works which we did when we just got saved, those endless hours of studying the word and prayer simply because we were in love with Him.

I want my passion to return!

In His Love,
Leon du Preez

John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Job 33:14 “God does speak, sometimes one way and sometimes another, even though people may not understand it.”

1.) How Does God Speak To Us?

God’s Word makes it clear that God does speak but explains the problem, saying the problem is not that God isn’t talking, the problem is our perception, or if you will our reception! Sometimes we’re just not tuned in. God wants to communicate with us because you can’t have a relationship without communication.

When we talk about people listening to God and God talking to people, many people think this is something very mystical, like it’s something unusual or extraordinary that God talks to people.

Sometimes His communication is spectacular, sometimes veiled, sometimes gentle, sometimes clear, sometimes-audible etc. God spoke once through a burning bush. God spoke one time through a cloud. He often spoke through angels. One time He spoke through a pillar of fire. Another He even spoke to Balaam through a donkey. The key is, are you listening, are you hearing, are you in tune?

i.) GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH THE BIBLE

2 Timothy 3:16 “The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point.”

ii.) GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH INSPIRED PREACHERS AND TEACHERS

I Thessalonians 2:13 “When we preached to you, you didn’t think of the words as being just our own, but you accepted it as the very Word of God — which, of course, it was — and it changed your lives.”

iii.) GOD SPEAKS THROUGH IMPRESSIONS

John 16:13 “…He will guide you into all truth…. He will tell you of things to come”

iv.) GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: VISIONS, DREAMS, TRANCES AND AUDIBLE VOICE OF GOD

Joel 2:28-29 28 “ And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

2.) How Do I Hear God Speak?

In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 1, Habakkuk asks God six specific questions. Then in chapter 2, he waits and listens to God answer and he writes down what he “hears”.

Out of this book we see five steps to receiving an impression from the Holy Spirit. 1) Withdraw; 2) Wait; 3) Watch; 4) Write; 5. Worship — which is expressing my love to God

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer He will give to my complaint. The Lord gave me this answer: `Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.’” (TEV)

1.) WITHDRAW

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower …

The very first thing if you’re going to hear God speak to you is you need to withdraw. That means get alone in a quiet place. Habakkuk says, “I will climb my watchtower”, “I will stand my watch”. That’s a Hebrew expression that means I’m going to get alone, get off by myself, eliminate external distractions so I can hear God speak. Find a quiet place alone.

In today’s world that can be difficult at times, especially those of you who are mothers of preschoolers. I recently read this about Susanna Wesley who was the mother of 18 children. Two of her sons, Charles and John, shaped England in their day. Charles Wesley wrote several hundred songs and hymns which churches still sing today. John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist denomination. With 18 kids, how did Susanna Wesley ever find a quiet place to pray? This was her solution. Every afternoon she would sit in her living room and throw her apron up over her head. The children knew that when mother was in her rocking chair with her apron up over her head she was not to be disturbed. Where there’s a will there’s a way!

A.A Allen would lock himself in his closet with just water for weeks until he found the power of God and until he heard God speak to him. A.A Allen walked out of that closet and exploded into an international ministry!

John Wesley Would go into his room and pray for hours and his assistant said that when he would leave that room that the light of Christ would shine through his face!

God is hiding and we must find Him!

Luke 5:16 “Jesus withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

If Jesus needed to do it, certainly we do too. If that were all that was needed for us to hear God it’d be real easy. Just get off by ourselves and we’d hear God every time. But AFTER we get in a quiet spot then we need to quiet our own minds, our own emotions and ourselves. That leads us to the second step.

2.) WAIT

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait …

What does it mean to station yourself? It means don’t move, stay put, don’t run around, be still. When I station myself it means I’m going to stay there for a while until something happens.

God speaks to the person who takes the time to listen.

Never get distracted. When you make a decision to wait in silence for the Lord every thought will come into your head to stop you.

Most people never get past that mental chaos stage. Often times, when we do, then we come up with the second enemy before we hear God, and that is negative emotions. Satan loves to play on your conscious. He is the accuser of Christians. You start thinking of all the things that you’re not doing, that you’re guilty of, your sins, your faults, and your weaknesses. Satan is screaming, “Guilty!” To get past this you have got to decide, am I going to focus on what’s wrong with me or am I going to focus on God’s love?

3.) WATCH / LISTEN

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer He will give…

There is an unseen realm a spiritual realm, where we can see what God is saying and hear what God is saying.

Our spiritual senses must be exercised!

We have the ability to train our spiritual eyes. So many times when I pray I simply ask:

“Holy Spirit, please speak to me about this one…”

Then He speaks…

4.) WRITE

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer He will give to my complaint. The Lord gave me this answer: `Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.’” (TEV)

In Chapter two, he writes down God’s answers back to him. This is called the spiritual habit of journaling. Almost every great Christian in history has journalised.

They wrote down their prayers, what they wanted to say to God and then they’d wait and then what they felt impressed of God they’d write that down, what God said back to them. There are many benefits to doing this. How we got the Bible is godly men and women were praying and talking to God and when God talked back to them, they wrote it down. If you want an example of journalising, there’s a whole book on it. It’s called Psalms. In Psalms, in almost every one, David starts with a question. God, how come my enemies are prospering when I’m trying to live for You, and I’m not making it? And then he waits and watches and he writes down God’s answer. We call those the Psalms.

5.) WORSHIP

Habakkuk 3:2 “Oh, Lord, now I’ve heard your report and I worship you in awe.”

You thank God for speaking to you. He says, now that You’ve spoken to me, I love You and I want to express my love to You. When you have received God’s loving response, you’ve asked a question and you’ve heard an answer in your mind and you write it down, it’s going to make you want to love the Lord more and draw you closer. This turns prayer from a monologue into a dialogue, a conversation.

There are really three kinds of relationships you can have:

1.) You can believe in God. That’s the lowest form of relationship.

2.) Or you can be acquainted with God. That’s a little bit deeper relationship.

3.) Or you can be the friend of God. Jesus wants that kind of relationship to you. He says, I want to call you My friends, where we commune and discuss and dialogue and converse and know each other. God wants you to be His friend.

This post was very much inspired by the teachings of Marc Bredenkamp and Kim Clement including their quotes as well.

In His Love,

Leon

Judges 6:11-17 “11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” 13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” 17 Then he said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.”

1.) God Is Not Interested In Your Circumstances, But Interested In Your Destiny!

11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.

This incident tells emphatically the tale of public distress. The small quantity of grain Gideon was threshing, indicated by his using a flail instead of the customary treading of cattle—the unusual place, near a wine-press, under a tree, and on the bare ground, not a wooden floor, for the prevention of noise—all these circumstances reveal the extreme dread in which the people were living.

Gideon was a coward! He was a coward of deluxe! He was scared, insecure and had absolutely no confidence! He was almost like us!

12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

Woah, here God is calling him Might Man Of Valor! That was quite the opposite what he was! There was absolutely no might there and no valor!

What I learnt here is that God is not into belittling us even if it is the truth! Even if we are in a state of cowardice, God will not call us by that, He will always speak the opposite, the way He sees us. Why do we care about ourselves if God sees us as MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR! – All of you – Cleansed by the blood

God is not seeing you according to your today, nor your yesterday, He is looking at you according to your destiny/tomorrow/future

I mean first of all, if God himself comes to me and calls me MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR!, Listen, I will shake the nations after that statement, but yet Gideon carried on in his complaining!

13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

This Guy was so blinded by his circumstances that he couldn’t even see God. Do some of you feel like that? Listen, he said “O, my lord”  this means in the Hebrew language, “sir”… He did not even recognize God, even after God spoke to him!

Scholars say God came in the form of a traveler! God loves to disguise Himself in our circumstances and to that which is the norm so that we can practice the ability to see deeper and look for the hand of God in our lives!

14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

Listen to this! “Then the LORD turned to him..” In the hebrew this denotes

1.) – A Face being turned away, but now turning towards the person whom talking
2.) – Starting to pay attention to the designated person

God doesn’t even listen to his moaning, groaning and complaining. Sometimes people talk to us and we don’t listen, there is an element of God in that, He does it when we are complaining! He kind off like acts as if He is listening but not really!

God is not interested in your circumstances, if I can say that lightly! There is one thing which He is interested in and that is your Destiny!

God saw him in the future! God is interested in your destiny!

God is not into our circumstances but into our destiny!

Have u done that before! Have u ever tried to moan and complain to God about how bad you are? It doesn’t work! Trust me! I have tried it too much only to find out that as soon as I stop looking at my failures and into my future then all of a sudden I am surrounded by Him!

He loves to discuss our futures and destinies!

God does not want to talk to you on the issue of your circumstances. He wants to discuss your destiny!!!

God is saying, listen, I am not here to discuss your circumstances, but I am here to show you the warrior, the general whom you are called to be and whom you will be so that when you look at this awesome destiny I have for you that you can suddenly become blind to your circumstances!

Seeing the future will blind you to your circumstances!!

15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

Check this! Now he says “O my Lord.” In the Hebrew, this speaks not of “sir” like the first but speaks Lord as Sovereignty… All of a sudden a switch happened! All of a sudden a shift and change of perception took place! All of a sudden he recognized that this is God, simply because God shared with him his future and destiny! When you see your destiny and future, a shift of your perception will take place and you will see God!!!

16 And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

It takes chaos, night, darkness to have an encounter with Him!

Instead of focussing on your self-pity, rejection and insecurities, focus on your destiny.

Gideon was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he was complaining and had no faith! If you and I don’t live in the process of our destiny in the pathway of our destiny, then we will feel like our lives has no value and purpose. You need to be in the pathway of your destiny. The only way I can be in the pathway of my destiny is to know it!

Why must I know my destiny?

2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;”

Does this means that I will never fall, never stumble, no, it simply means that when I stumble, I can’t stay down, I have to get up and keep going, because I have made sure my destiny, and my eyes are continually on it. Even though I stumble, I see destiny and gotta keep going!

How do I get to know my destiny?

Isaiah 45:15 “Truly You are God, who hide Yourself”

Are you saying Leon that God is hiding? YES!!!! You need to find Him

Prov 25:2 It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them. NLT

Prov 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. ESV

2.) Seeking Him, In The Midst Of Our Night And Darkness, Brings Destiny!

Gen 32:22-31 “22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”
27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.”

I am going to use Jacob’s wrestle with God as an illustration on how to get to know our destiny! Our purpose!

“22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had.

Again, this whole instance with Jacob happened in the night! Same as Gideon! You and I met God in our darkest hour!

24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.

25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.

Whoa! God saw that He was not winning with Jacob! Jacob did not give up!!! He wanted to have an encounter with God!

Smith Wigglesworth “If God doesn’t move then I will make God move”

Sometimes we just need to get right up into God’s face and not let go of Him until we have seen our future and have a changed nature and experience and encounter which will affect the rest of our days!

26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

God said “Let me go”  God wanted to stop, but Jacob said no! Woooooo! If things look like it is falling to pieces, hold on to God!!!

Let’s make a decision today to stop complaining and start focusing on the future and destiny which God has for us!

In His Love,

Leon du Preez

As I was studying what transpired that night I was incredibly blessed to be reminded of the power of Christ which is resident inside every single believer!

I want us to look at the powerful events which took place in the Garden of Gethsemene.

John 18:4-6 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”  They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.”Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. ⁶When Jesus said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

Jesus said the exact same words which God Himself said to Moses on Mount Horeb to identify Himself to Moses -  “I AM”…  “ego eimi”

As Jesus opened His mouth to utter those words a power was released from Him which knocked over 300 special forces of the day soldiers plus more police who came with!

There was more happening at that very moment in the Garden…

Mark 14:51-52 And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his naked body. And they seized him,  but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

The scholars tells me that when Jesus said those words that suddenly a young boy was raised from the dead running naked out of the garden. We can easily ‘assume’ this truth because the linen cloth which this young boy wore was only used to bury people in the New Testament. There was also a cemetery right next to the Garden of Gethsemene.

So much power was released that it not only knocked down over 300 special forces soldiers of the day, but raised someone from the dead as well!

Matthew 26:53 “Do you think that I cannot pray to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”

1 Legion = 6000 angels

12 Legions = 72 000 angels

1 Angel strength killed = 185 000 men in one night

1 Legion of Angel’s strength can kill 1.1 billion men in one night

12 Legions of Angel’s strength can kill 13 billion men in one night

Jesus was making a bold statement here. After He knocked them all down with the power of God, raised a boy from the dead, He carried on saying that they must not think He cannot be given so many angels which will wipe the very human existence from the face of this planet!

The statement which Jesus was making was very clear. He was simply saying that no one has the power to take His life. He alone has the power to lay down His life and to take it up again!

This is the Christ Whom we serve!

This is the Christ Who lives and breathes and moves and has His being inside of us!

Why must we fear?

In His Love

Leon du Preez

So many times we approach the Lord full of guilt and shame.  Or we approach Him with negativity and need. So many times we approach Him feeling bad for all our sins and all we do is apologize and repent.

When last did we approach with a smile, full of joy and praising Him; despite our mistakes, mess-ups and weakneses. God knows all our weaknesses and it is nothing new to Him. God is also not surprised if we mess up or make a mistake.

I can just imagine being a father, and every time my son talks to me he just repents and cries. I would get so tired and irritated by him, in fact, i would try to avoid meetings with him because all he is going to do is repent out of guilt. I would want to enjoy my time with him. Of course there will be serious moments, but that cant be the norm. There must be a healthy balance.

Just in the same manner, i believe God is getting tired of us always repenting in His presence and never enter with joy. Let’s enter and approach Him full of joy despite all the bad things. Let’s enter with laughter the next time we pray. I want to change my prayer life by starting of with praise like I use to in the early stages of my salvation.

Just a thought: “If I fear someone, then I can’t love them purely, but if I love someone then there will be no fear. If I love God, then my fear will be healthy. If I fear God then my love will not be pure, and my relationship will be based on fear. My praying and reading the word will be based out of fear.”

Let’s reconsider our time spent with Him.

LETS GO!
Leon du Preez

Drop a comment and let me know what you think of this video!

Wow, I never really thought how difficult this “365 Days of Love” would be before I started it. Too late to give up now I suppose! I want to encourage everyone to join me as we do an act of LOVE every single day for 365 days of Love.

It is amazing how we as humans find this difficult! I have found out that my only true inspiration to love others is because TRUE LOVE was crucified for me, when I absolutely deserved nothing! I will take that motivation with me to my neighbors, my brothers and sisters, my family and the lost!

Someone told me that it is very easy to love your friend and to lay your life down for your friends. But what about loving your enemy and laying your life down for your enemies…mmmm! That was Jesus’ style of Love!

I am right now on Day 5 of my 365 Days of Love Challenge and I find it extremely difficult. The first 5 days I had to live with my family whom I haven’t lived with for many years. I soon realized how selfish I could become in my personal space and how easily the lack of love was manifest in my life!

I thought of doing this “Challenge” a bit more interactive and get everyone on the internet involved so I will be posting videos of the acts of Love done at least once a week. I will also be challenging those who will be joining me to do the same and then I thought of taking it one step further. As I do an act of love for a stranger, I will also be sharing with them what LOVE did for me!

Also write some comments below and tell me what LOVE did for you?

Join me! Keep following the blog for new updates and new videos of 365 Days of Love every week!

LETS GO!

Leon du Preez

Joel 2: 1-11 1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand: 2 A day of darkness and gloominess,  A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations. 3 A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. 4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run. 5 With a noise like chariots Over mountaintops they leap, Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array. 6 Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color. 7 They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, And they do not break ranks. 8 They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column.Though they lunge between the weapons, They are not cut down. 9 They run to and fro in the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief. 10 The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness. 11 The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great;  For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?

Right now statistics are telling us that 1/4 of births/conceptions in the world are being aborted… You see, when we look at history we see that when Moses was born as a deliverer to Israel, then Pharaoh killed the firstborn, the little babies.. Then a few thousand years later Jesus Christ was born as the Savior and again Herod killed the male children below 2 years of age, the little children…. Right now we see that satan is loose again to kill little children, because right now there is a generation which is arising with revival on the inside of them and satan is getting scared, and the only thing he can really do is to try again to kill the little children…

But he has a bit of a problem right now, because it is no longer just one person, but Christ has been crucified and is now living and breathing as a great Mystery on the inside of us and it freaks the devil out because it doesn’t matter what he does, God is still raising this generation up to take one of the greatest revivals I believe!

The army and people which the prophet Joel spoke about is us! Most of the prophets in the O.T were prophesying and seeing a people which will be great, a people full of fire and light and they were speaking about you!

I am fully convinced that right now it is God’s intention for this generation to take the greatest harvest and revival which planet earth has ever seen.

As we go on, I would be unfolding a secret, and that it that i will be introducing you to yourself!

I want show you 3 Characteristics of this army which is the Lord’s army, which is you:

1.) Relevant

This army will be RELEVANT!

Matt 9:9-10 “9 Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him. 10-11Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?”12-13Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

• This generation will not have a form of religion and judgmental attitudes, they will have the ability to be so comfortable with sinners, crooks and riffraff’s that the religious system will feel offended!
• This is one of the ways which this harvest will be taken, through social infiltration and relationships…
• I have not seen Jesus ever rebuke a sinner, only religious leaders and those who were religious?

2.) Reputation

This army will have a REPUTATION in the Spirit Realm! They will not be known as wishy washy Christians, but they will have the ability to walk in a place and let the devil know they are there!

Acts 19:13-17 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “Weexorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them,so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

• Jesus had a reputation and Paul had a reputation… Paul had a reputation even in hell and this tells me that the devil knows exactly our spiritual state and condition!
• This generation will be a people who will have a reputation against the enemy, they will be a people who will pray and when they wake up the morning the devil will freak out because the whole of hell will know that they are awake!

3.) Radical

This army will be totally RADICAL and over committed!

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

• This will be an army which will not be scared of sacrifice! They will have the passion and the ability to lay their lives completely down for the cause of the King and His Kingdom!
• This is a generation who will have the heart and spirit of a nazarite and they will be so consecrated and separated for the Lord’s work! They will have absolutely no pleasure before His presence!

Because of the continual sacrifices which this generation will make, the Lord will answer those sacrificed lives by His fire as in Joel 2:3 “A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns;”

Luke 9:23-26 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

4.) Revolutionary

This army will be REVOLUTIONARY!

Acts 17:6 “…These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

• Nothing is going to stop you to take this nation and the nations for Jesus Christ!

Let’s rise up and become what He says we are!

LETS GO!

Leon du Preez