Wednesday, 19 June 2019
Monday, 21 January 2019
Changes and additions to our dates...
Hi Everyone
Here is an update of our dates for the year since there were some additions and changes to take note of. In particular please note the change in the date of the 'Enthrone Him' weekend in July.
Here is an update of our dates for the year since there were some additions and changes to take note of. In particular please note the change in the date of the 'Enthrone Him' weekend in July.
Thursday, 15 February 2018
Celebrating... the next open door!
After 7 years of hard work, many late nights and a fair amount of labour pains it is just amazing for me to be able to give thanks to Jesus for amazing news today. I have been celebrating all afternoon!
I am convinced that Christian Counsellors can benefit so much from the perspective on personality, Christian character, maturity and the relationship dynamics as a result of our gifts of grace, that I decided to take a leap of faith and apply for a CPD allocation with CPSC.
I am absolutely delighted to let you know that Free2bme and Free2beface-to-face was allocated an amount of 2 Continuous Professional Development (CPD) points each from the Council for Pastoral and Spiritual Counsellors (CPSC formerly SAAP) for personal development.
We are still in the beginning phase of this new direction that we believe Father showed us to take Free2Celebrate in, but we are already seeing progress. In practice this means that Pastoral and other Christian counsellors will be able to earn in total 4 CPD points towards their annual amount of required CPD points when they attend a Free2bme and a Free2bface-to-face seminar.
I love new opportunities, new challenges and new open doors. We are deeply thankful... profusely celebrating and giving all Honour and Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ for opening this new door!
I am convinced that Christian Counsellors can benefit so much from the perspective on personality, Christian character, maturity and the relationship dynamics as a result of our gifts of grace, that I decided to take a leap of faith and apply for a CPD allocation with CPSC.
I am absolutely delighted to let you know that Free2bme and Free2beface-to-face was allocated an amount of 2 Continuous Professional Development (CPD) points each from the Council for Pastoral and Spiritual Counsellors (CPSC formerly SAAP) for personal development.
We are still in the beginning phase of this new direction that we believe Father showed us to take Free2Celebrate in, but we are already seeing progress. In practice this means that Pastoral and other Christian counsellors will be able to earn in total 4 CPD points towards their annual amount of required CPD points when they attend a Free2bme and a Free2bface-to-face seminar.
I love new opportunities, new challenges and new open doors. We are deeply thankful... profusely celebrating and giving all Honour and Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ for opening this new door!
Wednesday, 3 January 2018
2018 - Live fearless - and with purpose
Every year I ask the Lord for a scripture or a message that He wants me to carry with me all year. This year my experience is that His Word for me is a fairly short sentence. Only a few words but I suspect and have an expectation that He will unpack it in the year to come in more detail. I believe this encouragement is packed with meaning and significance that will unfold in a myriad of different aspects of my life, and it will prove to have a far-reaching impact in my spirit as He will unfold it in the coming months.
The sentence I hear in my spirit is:
"Live fearless - and with purpose"
A number of scenarios from scripture came to mind recently:
- Think about Daniel and his three friends for example. They were God-fearing and living righteously, yet they were subjected to going into exile because of the national sin of God's people. They must have had other dreams for their lives than to have ended up in service of the Babylonian king? They must have had their dreams shattered and their fears amplified in a time like that - YET - they managed to find courage and purpose to continue living in faith.
- What about Joshua and Caleb? They had to live through 40 years of continuous desert experience without it being their fault - they were the only ones who were ready to take in the promised land and yet because of the lack of faith of the people they ended up seeing every single one of their family and friends over the age of 20 die in the desert before they could take in the promised land.
...and so we can continue to gather scenario after scenario in scripture where God's people were faced with times where they had to focus on their purpose and live it out in a whole different set of circumstances that they may not have foreseen or planned. However their purpose did not disappear in those times, they just had to find a way to still live it out within a new set of circumstances that they did not bargain on.
"Live fearless - and with purpose" it is a short sentence - but it is packed with challenges and treasures alike. May 2018 be a year where we will discover the treasures that God has placed inside of us before the foundation of the earth specifically to live fearless and with purpose, in faith and trust that He who is able to do far more than what we can even dream will develop in us every kind of treasure needed to fulfil it in every way He wants us to.
May 2018 be filled with blessings from the Father's hand.
Enjoy this video from Casting Crowns - it so underlines this message for me...
Love
Gerda
Monday, 16 January 2017
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Where is Wisdom?
One of the things the Holy Spirit
spoke to me about recently is to continue to be very deliberate and intentional
in supporting other ministries in a number of different ways. In some
cases I experienced that we have to support a ministry by building a platform
of success under them, even if their vision is not part of the vision God gave
us at Free 2 Celebrate. In other cases the support was of a financial nature,
and in yet another way the Holy Spirit has led us to attend other courses,
seminars, Bible studies, or to read outside of our field of interest.
I believe one of the moments the
Holy Spirit spoke to me about this was when He gave one of our prayer walk team
members an image of a heart. A healthy heart has 4 chambers and it
“receives” de-oxygenated blood from the body and “gives” it to the lungs.
Then it “receives” the oxygenated blood from the lungs and “gives” it to the
body. In the event where a baby is born with a heart where both
these systems work properly on their own – but do not work together – the baby
will die (unless there is medical intervention to rectify the problem).
In other words, the heart must be able to give and receive to
function in such a way that it can sustain life for the whole body.
This was a profound revelation to
me since I have more than once experienced how something in the spirit
dies because ministries in the body of Christ cannot give and receive
from each other. We are supposed to be one body with one Head – Christ-
but also with only one heart. We should be working together in His
Kingdom. However, we often are so focussed on our own visions that we
cannot give and receive oxygen from each other. And… it is a
condition of the heart…. and it causes the whole body to suffer and die.
And so it happened on one of the
occasions where I attended another ministry’s meeting that the Holy Spirit gave
me the following scripture… it is from Proverbs 8. Please read the whole
chapter but I am only going to quote the beginning and the end of the chapter:
Verse 1-3
Does
not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
2 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
And understanding lift up her voice?
2 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
And
verse 32-36:
“Now
therefore, listen to me, my children,
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favour from the Lord;
36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death.”
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favour from the Lord;
36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death.”
Whoever finds Me finds LIFE…
Where is wisdom to be found? In this scripture Wisdom stands at the high
places, where the paths meet and at the city gates, entrances and doors…. It is
great Wisdom when we stay teachable, when we give and receive at the crossroads
where we meet other travellers within the body of Christ. It is the Holy
Spirit’s Wisdom when we make sure that Jesus is enthroned in the high places of
our lives (our minds), and when we allow Him to infuse us with the oxygen of
His truth through the gates, entrances and doors of our lives. When
Wisdom is enthroned in her rightful places of authority the body can give and
receive life from each other without fear, without foolishness and without
trying to function in isolation.
Where is Wisdom? Is Wisdom
enthroned in her rightful place? In my life? In your life? In
our city? In our church? Where is Wisdom? It is time to
repent of dethroning Wisdom and enthroning our own wisdom by closing our
borders in pride, fear, arrogance or through being unteachable, not wanting to
either give and/or receive from the rest of the Body of Christ… let us step
across that border and reach out to the rest of the body enthroning Wisdom as
The Gatekeeper, guarding the heights, gates and doors, receiving His guidance at the
crossroads of life.
© November 2016 Gerda Venter - Author and Picture
© November 2016 Gerda Venter - Author and Picture
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
The Spirit of Discernment or the spirit of criticism?
©Photo:
Lizaan Venter October 2016
A question that has hovered in my
mind for some time now is the topic of discernment vs. criticism in the body of
Christ. Just too often I think we
criticise each other rather than discerning, interceding and speaking the truth
in love. We have an auto-immune disease,
so to speak. We attack the members of
our own body as if they were the enemy.
We are the only army in the world that attacks its own soldiers.
While discernment is absolutely
necessary and probably increasingly so in the end-times, a spirit of criticism
unfortunately is just too often presented as so-called discernment. This is nothing but a spirit of religious
pride.
Are there any guidelines we can
employ from the Word to help us to not fall into the trap of criticism, and yet
help each other to deal with the unfinished business in our lives? What does the spirit of discernment look like
and what does it look like when Jesus confronts something sinful inside the
camp? I believe an answer can be found in the letter to the church in Ephesus
in Revelation 2. God speaks to this
congregation in a very specific way. It
is the only letter in Revelations that is written in this manner. I believe what He is doing is modelling the
way the spirit of discernment addresses sin within the body - in love, without
criticism and yet with a decisive straight forwardness.
He starts off with introducing Himself to the congregation as the One who dwells between the seven lampstands. What a beautiful and reassuring picture. In spite of our imperfections, sin etc., God still dwells amongst His Bride, His church - perfecting her in love. This church does not have it all together and yet God dwells amongst them. Far too often we act as if we have it all together (which is pride) and therefore God dwells with us and when we discern something that is out of place in someone else’s life we assume that it implies that God does not dwell with them (which is criticism). Well both of those attitudes are grossly wrong.
So let’s see how God addresses this issue. He continues speaking to them and in the first few verses He takes the time to give them praise and honour for a long list of things they do right. Amongst many things He mentions their hard work, patient endurance and the fact that they critically test those who call themselves prophets, yet are imposters and liars. He has no problem with the fact that they critically test others to make sure they are the real deal – in fact, later on He agrees with this congregation that He Himself also hates this falseness. However, I believe it’s the way He goes about doing this that models to us a pattern of how to address sin, problems, offenses or hurtful behaviour within the body of Christ. We hardly ever tell each other what we are doing right, since we are hurt, offended, or so fearful that either we or others will become prideful should we do that. However, ironically we think it’s nobler and less prideful if we “discern” the wrong in someone’s life or ministry and then just stop associating with them or start to warn others of the woes in their life or ministry. This is not the way God goes about addressing this problem. Let’s continue reading to see what He does next. After He praised them for all the things they do right, He then goes over into speaking the truth in love to them. He states that there is this ONE THING – note not a lengthy list of do’s and don’ts that this congregation is doing wrong – He mentions the ONE THING that is out of place which they should address as a matter of urgency. They have left their first love, and He urges them to return to doing the things they did before out of Love for Him. Note that He also does not stop the conversation here. He continues by explaining to them what the root cause of the problem is – he reminds them to remember from which heights they have fallen. This is a reference to satan’s fall from pride. This congregation is no longer walking in love, with the consequential result that they are falling prey to pride. After explaining the root cause of the problem He offers the solution – REPENT – simple and straight forward. Repentance will solve this problem of pride and lovelessness. He continues to spell out the consequences - should they not repent He will take away their lampstand! If there is unrepentant sin and hardness of heart the lampstand will be taken away. However, the lampstand will only be taken away after He has brought to their attention the sin within the camp and only after they have made an informed choice not to repent but to hard-headedly continue in their sin. Having done this, He identifies Himself with the congregation, once again bringing them into favour with Him, mentioning another thing they do right! He does this by agreeing with them that He hates the works of the Nicolaitans just like they do. Finally He explains to them what the reward would be when they overcome this problem they are faced with. Their reward would be the tree of life. The tree of knowledge of good and evil brings criticism and death. The tree of life brings love and relationship. What a reward – the tree of life!
All too often we come with our spirit of criticism wrapped in religious gift wrap which we pride fully call a spirit of discernment and we declare that we discern this or that and that the lampstand has already been taken away from someone. Without addressing each other in this way I believe we will always be wrong even if we are right. The way we go about doing it is so wrong that it is nothing but a spirit of criticism displaying the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil resulting in death instead of bringing life.
None of us – no individual, no ministry, can claim that our healing and deliverance is 100% complete and that there is nothing God still has to deal with us on our journey with Him. The question is: “Are we willing to listen when someone speaks into my life or do I take offense?” And secondly the question is: “How do we speak to each other? Do we do that in love from a “tree of life” standpoint or do we come in a spirit of criticism expecting life to grow out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?”
So let’s summarize in a practical manner the model God gives us through which His Spirit of discernment flows to bring life:
1. Praise and give honour to all that is being done right.
2. Speak the truth in love.
3. Explain the root cause of the problem.
4. Spell out the solution – be specific about what needs to be done or repented of.
5. Be clear about the consequences should there be no repentance.
6. Offer hope by mentioning something good the person does, and by drawing attention to the
fact that the Lord calls us to be overcomers.
7. Explain what the reward will be should the problem be effectively dealt with.
One more thought: As the body of Christ we were called to unity - unity in Christ as the head of the body but likewise we are called to be mutually depended and part of one another (Rom 12). Now more than ever do we need to learn how to walk in unity with each other.
© Author: HG Venter 2016
He starts off with introducing Himself to the congregation as the One who dwells between the seven lampstands. What a beautiful and reassuring picture. In spite of our imperfections, sin etc., God still dwells amongst His Bride, His church - perfecting her in love. This church does not have it all together and yet God dwells amongst them. Far too often we act as if we have it all together (which is pride) and therefore God dwells with us and when we discern something that is out of place in someone else’s life we assume that it implies that God does not dwell with them (which is criticism). Well both of those attitudes are grossly wrong.
So let’s see how God addresses this issue. He continues speaking to them and in the first few verses He takes the time to give them praise and honour for a long list of things they do right. Amongst many things He mentions their hard work, patient endurance and the fact that they critically test those who call themselves prophets, yet are imposters and liars. He has no problem with the fact that they critically test others to make sure they are the real deal – in fact, later on He agrees with this congregation that He Himself also hates this falseness. However, I believe it’s the way He goes about doing this that models to us a pattern of how to address sin, problems, offenses or hurtful behaviour within the body of Christ. We hardly ever tell each other what we are doing right, since we are hurt, offended, or so fearful that either we or others will become prideful should we do that. However, ironically we think it’s nobler and less prideful if we “discern” the wrong in someone’s life or ministry and then just stop associating with them or start to warn others of the woes in their life or ministry. This is not the way God goes about addressing this problem. Let’s continue reading to see what He does next. After He praised them for all the things they do right, He then goes over into speaking the truth in love to them. He states that there is this ONE THING – note not a lengthy list of do’s and don’ts that this congregation is doing wrong – He mentions the ONE THING that is out of place which they should address as a matter of urgency. They have left their first love, and He urges them to return to doing the things they did before out of Love for Him. Note that He also does not stop the conversation here. He continues by explaining to them what the root cause of the problem is – he reminds them to remember from which heights they have fallen. This is a reference to satan’s fall from pride. This congregation is no longer walking in love, with the consequential result that they are falling prey to pride. After explaining the root cause of the problem He offers the solution – REPENT – simple and straight forward. Repentance will solve this problem of pride and lovelessness. He continues to spell out the consequences - should they not repent He will take away their lampstand! If there is unrepentant sin and hardness of heart the lampstand will be taken away. However, the lampstand will only be taken away after He has brought to their attention the sin within the camp and only after they have made an informed choice not to repent but to hard-headedly continue in their sin. Having done this, He identifies Himself with the congregation, once again bringing them into favour with Him, mentioning another thing they do right! He does this by agreeing with them that He hates the works of the Nicolaitans just like they do. Finally He explains to them what the reward would be when they overcome this problem they are faced with. Their reward would be the tree of life. The tree of knowledge of good and evil brings criticism and death. The tree of life brings love and relationship. What a reward – the tree of life!
All too often we come with our spirit of criticism wrapped in religious gift wrap which we pride fully call a spirit of discernment and we declare that we discern this or that and that the lampstand has already been taken away from someone. Without addressing each other in this way I believe we will always be wrong even if we are right. The way we go about doing it is so wrong that it is nothing but a spirit of criticism displaying the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil resulting in death instead of bringing life.
None of us – no individual, no ministry, can claim that our healing and deliverance is 100% complete and that there is nothing God still has to deal with us on our journey with Him. The question is: “Are we willing to listen when someone speaks into my life or do I take offense?” And secondly the question is: “How do we speak to each other? Do we do that in love from a “tree of life” standpoint or do we come in a spirit of criticism expecting life to grow out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?”
So let’s summarize in a practical manner the model God gives us through which His Spirit of discernment flows to bring life:
1. Praise and give honour to all that is being done right.
2. Speak the truth in love.
3. Explain the root cause of the problem.
4. Spell out the solution – be specific about what needs to be done or repented of.
5. Be clear about the consequences should there be no repentance.
6. Offer hope by mentioning something good the person does, and by drawing attention to the
fact that the Lord calls us to be overcomers.
7. Explain what the reward will be should the problem be effectively dealt with.
One more thought: As the body of Christ we were called to unity - unity in Christ as the head of the body but likewise we are called to be mutually depended and part of one another (Rom 12). Now more than ever do we need to learn how to walk in unity with each other.
© Author: HG Venter 2016
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