The Bible is very clear – God has a purpose and a plan for your life.  Sadly not everyone will take up that plan because they fail to take action and do what’s required to receive all that God has for them.

It’s the old analogy of ‘aim at nothing and you’ll hit it every time.’

In Genesis chapter thirteen we read the story of Abram receiving his destiny from God but this didn’t happen until after Lot had separated from him.

And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants[b] forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”

I believe to truly know God’s plan for your life you must separate yourself from the busyness of life, to gain clarity from God.

Often people tell me they struggle to hear God speaking – what they really struggle with is listening to God’s voice over the roar of every other voice that’s trying to get their attention: the children, the spouse, the TV, the boss, the client, the budget, the house, and the list goes on.

While we were not created to be alone in life, there are times when we need to withdraw from the busyness of life and simply enjoy the presence of God.  Certainly one of those times is when you’re seeking direction or vision for your life.  Separating yourself from everyone and everything will allow you to hear from God without distraction.

In the Garden of Eden Adam could be found walking with God in the late afternoon.  Jesus would often withdraw from the crowd to rest and pray.

Friend, we were designed to have times of separation.  Not isolation – but times away from the pulls of life so that God can speak into our life, lead us and guide us into the plan and future that he has for us.

Can I encourage you, this week, as you pursue the destiny God has for you, the first thing you must do is separate yourself from the busyness of life – take time to hear His voice, enjoy His presence and obtain clarity on your call.

Recent tragedies surrounding schoolyard bullying sadly remind us of the power of our words.  Yet, more powerful than our words are God’s words for our life.

I believe one of the most important things that anyone can do in life is to remain firm on the words God has spoken specifically to them.  Before you do anything, can I encourage you to get a word from God.

The Bible is full of stories of people who haven’t just followed the crowd but have stopped and asked God to speak into their situation and provide direction for their life.  As a result, victory has always been the outcome.

A word from God will not only bring you success but will also will give you confidence, assurance and the faith to overcome life’s battles.

There’s nothing like a word from God to get you through a rough time.  When all hope is gone, when you’re alone, broken and feel like you can’t go on, as long as you have a word from God, you’ll know that it’s going to work out in the end

In Psalm 119:105, the Bible speaks of the purpose of God’s Word, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”  You see God’s Word will lead you and guide you and keep you going in the right direction. His Word will encourage you, restore you and help you to keep on going.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to do anything in life until I have a word from God.

Friend, when you don’t know what to do, when you need to make a decision and you’re surrounded on every side there is just one thing left to do, get a word from God.  Ask Him what to do.

There is nothing more stable, more secure, nothing more concrete than a word from God.

This week, in the midst of the silence and in the midst of the crowd just one word from God can change everything for your life.  So, seek His word and live the best life.

Following the crash Emma wrote the song, “Send Another Prayer” for which she gained a recording contract and has appeared on a variety of US TV shows.

This incredible story is a great reminder of a well-quoted passage of Scripture from the book of Romans.  Chapter 8:28 tells us, “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose”.

Friend, sometimes we can wake to beautiful day only to have hell unleash its fury before sundown.  But no matter what happens to you in life, regardless of what is thrown at you or what hits you for six; remember God is on your side.  He is for you, not against you, he is working behind the scenes orchestrating things on your behalf, so that the end might be better than the start, so that you might be in a better place when you finish than when you began.

If you love Him and are called according to His purpose then rest assured that no matter what you’re faced with God promises to turn it all around for your good.  He will see to it that you come out on top.

We don’t have to try and work out how He’s going to do it, we don’t have to understand when He’s going to do it, we just need to trust Him and His word – rest in knowing that He is faithful to His word and He will do what He promised.

It could have been very easy for Emma to retreat after that plan crash and take the next plan back to Australia, thinking her dream was over but she did the exact opposite – she used her experience to write another song – a song that opened doors for her that had previously been locked shut.

It could have been easy for Emma to take the plane crash as a sign that God didn’t want her in America but friend that is not how God works.  He is for you. Thank God Emma recognised that He was going to use this horrible crash for her good.

So, when trouble comes don’t retreat and don’t give up. Take an even bigger leap of faith than you have before – recognise that this trouble means there is a turn around on its way – God is going see to it that you come out of this on top.  Closed doors will be opened, favour will be found where it once wasn’t, and promotion and increase will come your way.

Friend, this week, don’t despair in the midst of trouble. Even if your plane goes down, it’s not the end.  God’s going to turn this whole thing around for your good.

I’m sure the idea behind this difficulty is to make certain that those people wanting to adopt a child really want to adopt a child and will be safe, suitable parents.

The Bible says in Galatians 4:6,

“You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!””

Friend, our relationship with Christ is not based on birth but on adoption.

God didn’t choose birth or foster care – He adopted you.  This is a very significant act that sets the platform for how we should view our relationship with Christ.

He adopted us because it is possible to birth a child and not want to have one but no body ever adopts a child by accident.

God didn’t choose foster care because it’s never permanent.  The goal of foster care is to reunite the child with his or her blood relatives.

When you read that God has adopted you, He wants you to know that it was by an act of His will that He selected you.  It wasn’t a mistake or a coincident. It didn’t just happen.  God didn’t learn to accommodate you and you didn’t just grow on Him.

In fact, God sought you out.  He selected you.  He wooed you into His Kingdom.

It’s God’s desire for you to live the best life and to receive all that He has for you.  That is why He selected you and preferred you.  It could have been anybody at all but God chose you.  He handpicked you.

You may have thought that you chose God but in reality God chose you.  You see, when you’re chosen you’re handled differently – you’re treated better and shown greater favour than someone who just invites themselves along for the ride.

Friend, God has chosen you, He wants you to be in His family.  He wants you to be in His kingdom and receive the best He has for you.  That’s why He chose you.

And no matter what you have done in life, nothing changes the fact that you have been chosen by God.

It’s amazing what can happen while we sleep.  You can go to bed one night and everything is all right but wake up in the morning and all hell has broken loose in your life.

Has there ever been a time in your life when you wished you just never got out of bed?  Everything’s great until one day you get out of bed and everything has changed.

The Bible recalls a time in Elisha’s life when he and his servant woke one morning to a situation just like this 2 Kings 6:15 tells us:

When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Ah, my lord, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.

Often we wrestle with things in life that we want to be able to change but can’t because we have no control over them. So, in despair we cry out, “God, what am I going to do now?”

Isn’t it amazing how we lose perspective when we are hard pressed?  How easy it is for us to be deceived by a situation that has us surrounded and causes us lose focus of that which is truth.

It happens because we are looking at that problem with eyes that can see but have no vision and as a result we have blind sight. We can see, but we’ve lost vision.

There is only one thing more dangerous than a blind man leading the way; it is a man who has no vision for where he is going.

The real reason many people wished they’d never gotten out of bed sometimes is because, in the midst of their hell, they have lost focus of what God has called them to do.  They can see the natural but they have lost the ability to dream once more.

Friend, this week, if you are facing turmoil, don’t lose sight of the big picture. Always remember, God is with you, God is for you and God will bring you victory. Live a life that doesn’t just see a problem, instead live a life that has vision for a solution to your problems.

During those seven years she had been fired from several jobs and couldn’t work out why. She was a good employee, she was a loyal and hard worker but things just didn’t seem to be working out for her. Eventually she realised that she was not following God’s plan for her life. Years earlier God had asked her to attend college but she was afraid and didn’t want to study so she entered the workforce.

Sometimes the situation you are in can seem better than the place God is leading you to. There is, however, a purpose in God bringing you out of where you are, even if where He’s taking you looks unpleasant.

In Ezekiel 37:1 God gave Ezekiel a powerful and supernatural vision:

“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.”

Ezekiel explained that God’s hand was on him and God brought him out of where he was and led him to a valley of dry bones – a place that was desolate and isolated.  It seems crazy that God would do such a thing.

God was about to do something miraculous in the middle of the dry valley and he was going to use Ezekiel to do it.  Thankfully Ezekiel was obedient to the Holy Spirit’s leading, even though he didn’t understand why he was being taken to a graveyard.

The entire situation was a set up for a step up.

If you want to see the miraculous happen by your hand; if you want God to do something supernatural in your life, then allow the Holy Spirit to take you where He wills and watch what He will do.

When we are obedient to the Holy Spirit’s leading God will take what is dead and bring it back to life again.  Here God took his hand and his Spirit and brought the two together to take Ezekiel, a man of obedience, and create a miracle.

God’s not going to lead you into destruction.  He has great things in store for you.  No matter how bad the environment looks, remember God will use you to create a miracle out of it.

Trust God in all things.  Follow His leading – even if it doesn’t make sense – and recognize that the Hand of God is upon you.  Where God is taking you is better than where you are at right now, even if it doesn’t look like it.  Just remember, the way you treat a set back can make it a set up for a step up.

Happy Easter!  We hope this special Evotion finds you living in the fullness of all that Christ won for you on the cross.

As we take time to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, we’re reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

This is only possible because of incredible sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  The real power of the message of Easter is not only in His dying but also in His rising from the grave.  If Jesus didn’t rise from the grave, His message and works would have died with Him.  It is through his resurrection from the dead that we can truly take hold of His words and ministry, not just as a prophet, or a teacher or a wise man but as the true Saviour of humanity.

His rising from the grave gives us hope and confidence that God can do the miraculous in our life too.

Friend, whatever it is that you’re believing God for, remember, this Easter, that Christ’s work on the cross is an accomplished work.  That means ‘it is finished’.  Jesus has won for you, your healing, your redemption, your forgiveness, your restoration, your breakthrough….whatever it is that you need.

There is now nothing that stands in the way of you and God.  Because of Christ, you are a new person, free from the sin of the past, with an exciting destiny and a bright future.  You can now freely receive all that Christ has won for you.

Let us encourage you, this Easter, focus on the accomplished work of Christ – His death and resurrection – the completed work of our Saviour.

Believing God’s best for you, this Easter season.

Mark & Simóne

He won by the tiniest of margins but his income was over three million dollars that year, while the second place winner received just thirty thousand dollars as a Ski Instructor.

Just a little extra distinguishes you remarkably above average. Conformity is the shortest distance to acceptance in the crowd.

The word “EXCELLENCE” is derived from the word “excel” which means to go beyond average.

Psalm eight reveals that our God is excellent.  It’s a part of his character.

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth.” Psalm 8:1.

The name of a person in the Bible denotes their personality and character.

God is an Excellent God and everything He does is excellent.  He doesn’t do anything wrong, He does it right the first time.  When He made man, He created him excellent, above all other things on the earth.

Excellence is not how you get to heaven, it’s what distinguishes you while you’re here on earth.

If our God is an Excellent God, all that He does is Excellent. Then we as his people ought to be people of Excellence.

Statistics reveal what would happen if we settled for 99.9% as our standard for being good enough:

• 22, 000 cheques would be deducted from the wrong bank account in the next 60 minutes.

• 12 babies would be given to the wrong parents each day.

• Almost 270,000 defective tyres would be shipped this year.

• Nearly 2.5 million books would be shipped with the wrong covers.

• Two airliner landings, each day, would be unsafe.

Just point one of a percent can make a huge difference to your life.

Can I encourage you, this week, go beyond average.  Do a little more than your boss requires of you, refuse to settle for the status quo. Look for ways to stretch yourself, to get better and to do better!  Aim so high that even if you miss you’ll still go higher than everyone else.

It’s that little extra that takes something from ordinary and makes it excellent.

The favour of God will cause you to stand out and shine above the rest.  When the favour of God is upon you people will want to help you and show you favour, to employ you and promote you.

The favour of God can cause people to make exceptions and change their policies or do something unusual.

It was King David who wrote, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  His attitude was, “I just can’t get away from the good things of God.”

Don’t expect to get the short end of the stick or that things won’t work out well for you.  Every day expect God’s blessing to chase you down and for the goodness of God to overtake you.

With the favour of God upon you life who knows what exciting things that can happen.  It’s God’s favour that can bring you out of your difficulties and turn your adversities around for good.

Think about Noah who would have been tempted to get discouraged during the biggest challenge of his life: building an ark.  Yet the Bible says, “Noah found favour in the sight of God.”

Ruth lost her husband in a foreign land, during a time of famine but in the midst of trouble Ruth found favour with the owner of a field from which she gathered crop.

Joseph had been rejected by his family, sold as a slave and yet found favour in the sight of his master who placed him in charge of everything he owned.

Friend, regardless of the circumstance you might be facing right now don’t expect the worst, expect the favour of God in your life and believe that your situations will turn around.

Can I encourage you, this week, expect and declare God’s favour in our life.  Begin each day by declaring, “Father, I thank You that I have Your favour that’s opening doors of opportunity and bringing success into my life.”

While we might be in the renovating business, God doesn’t renovate – He creates.  He makes all things new.

When you gave your life to Christ you were made a new person – a new creation.  Every sin that you committed was wiped out and you started a fresh.  You are a completely different person.

Just because you sinned before salvation doesn’t mean you need to live in fear of punishment of your sin once you become born again; because the person who committed that sin is dead and buried.

The problem is when trouble or disappointment comes into our life it is possible to be new but not feel new.

Perhaps you’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel fresh on the inside – that deep sense or that knowing that life truly is good.

There is a woman in the Old Testament who is in this very predicament.  Her name is Ruth.  We read about a period of time in her life that was very difficult: Her husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law had all passed away.  She was left with no money, no income and no hope.

Sadly in her difficulty she developed a mentality that said, “Poor me”.  Despite having God in her life and walking in salvation as a new person, Ruth doesn’t feel new. So, she collects scraps left behind by harvesters.  When Boaz, the owner of the field tries to show her favour, she questions, “Why are you doing this, I’m only a no body”.

Boaz’s response is simple yet so profound, “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers.”

Their conversation and her life have just gone from victim to victory.

One word changed it all – But.

Friend, you may think you’re not worthy.  The truth is you’re not worthy BUT Christ has made you worthy.

Perhaps you have been sleeping around, maybe you’ve even prostituted yourself.  BUT I also know you’re a new creation in Christ.

Could it be that you’ve cheated and now you’re marriage is over; or you’ve failed and you’re life’s a mess.  BUT I also know about the mercy of a restoring God.

Friend, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past; it doesn’t mater who you used to be.  Apply the word BUT to your life – apply the accomplished work of Jesus to your life.

This week, live on the right side of the word BUT – forget about everything that preceded it and begin to live in the blessing that comes after it.