Colour Conference 2010 - Opener

Bobbie Houston: Thursday 18th March 2010 at the opening of Colour Conference Sydney.

• Heaven believes in you and so do we (being Sisters in the hood)
• Psalm 121 (AMP) A Song of Ascents: 1[a]I WILL lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]--From whence shall my help come? 2My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
• Psalm 91: "HE WHO dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]" Our days are full of peril but His hope is an anchor to our soul (Heb 6: 19-20)

We are encouraged in His word to gather by His Spirit. Zech 4:6.

Jesus said that "The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], 19To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day [a]when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound." (Luke 4:17-21).

God's thoughts and plans for us; Jeremiah 29:11 (Amp) "For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome."

Bobbie encouraged us to give due diligence to what is in our hands, i.e. do diligently whatever you are doing, whether raising kids, working, socialising etc.

Ps 133: Where there is unity, God has commanded blessing. Unity, firstly, to His Spirit and secondly to one another. Psalm 133 uses the analogy of Aaron, the first high priest, where the anointing of oil drenched his clothing, causing it to cover his entire body. Aaron was literally covered from head to toe in the oil (representing the spirit of God and anointing).

[Please note: This blog was uploaded some year's ago in draft and never posted.  I am posting 'as is'.]

Sisterhood United Nite 26/11/2013

Bobbie spoke on '2 Poems, a Proverb and a Painting'

Bobbie quotes the first poem in context of a meeting with Roma Downey and her husband, Mark Burnett, with regard to their upcoming movie "The Son of God".  She paints a picture of a beautiful L.A. home, and describes the scene of seeing the mist of the clouds meeting the grey of the ocean at the horizon and the tranquility there.  She feels like she's 'in a romantic movie" and inquires of Roma "How did you cope with all the public scrutiny during the making of 'The Bible' mini-series?". [paraphrased]

In response Roma refers to the below Rumi poem:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense.

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi - 13th century

Bobbie, focuses on "the world is too full to talk about";

God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. (Psalm 23:1-3 MSG)
 

She encourages us to pursue the "Secret Place" in order to practice the presence of God. In that 'secret place' His words resound in my heart. 

Psalm 91. Describes that secret place as a safe refuge, a place of safety and relationship with God.

2) Proverb 31- noble woman of character. V 14 She is like the merchant ships loaded with foodstuffs; she brings her household's food from a far [country]. (Proverbs 31:14 AMP) 

A merchant ship in context of spiritual food. Port = He has us here for a reason. To load our lives so that others might be privy to His presence and promises.

3) 2nd Poem: 

Gone from my sight - Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

 

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone."

 

Gone where?

 

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

 

[And that is dying...] - This final line is absent from Bobbies commentary.

This poem reminded her that God wants us to grow large in mast, hull and spar. The bigger the sail the faster it can go. Every boat, no matter the size of its sail, can reach its destination, however the higher it soars, and the bigger the sail, the more wind it can catch and the faster it can reach its destination.

Strong spar - height of the sail is proportional to the weight of the hull.

The more frequent our visits to the secret place, the bigger, higher and stronger our 'sails' will be, which will result in a greater knowledge and understanding of the power and presence of God and develop a depending love with our Father and His Son.

3) Painting: Brave men run in my family".

This represents, uncharted waters and the pioneering spirit. 

Bobbie ended by encouraging each of us to 'get your brave on!', in context of the full armour of God as depicted in Eph 6.

Colour 2014- the year of knowing His love in greater dimension.

She encouraged us to a greater tenderheartedness, developed In the 'secret place'.

Be a Servant in your every day life.
Brave the battlefields of Thy Kingdom come.