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Alta Ministries

Alan and Lynne Taylor

Bringing God’s people to maturity

alta (Latin): high, risen up, grown up, adult, nourish


He came down so that we could come up

by | Oct 23, 2024

Just as God came down on Mt Sinai and Moses went up to meet Him, so Jesus came down to earth so that we could rise above our broken earthly existence and come up to be in God’s presence. Click here or on image for video.

Seize the day

by | Feb 20, 2024

With God you can make the most of every situation and every day.
Click the image for a timely word from Lynne.

Be still

by | Jan 15, 2024

The word from God for me this year is to be still before Him, so that I’m positioned to hear His voice.
Click on the image for my video

Got opposition? Dinner is served!

by | Sep 5, 2023

When the 10 spies brought back a bad report to Moses and the people of Israel, Caleb gave a different view and said “do not fear the people of the land for they will be our bread” (Numbers 14:9). This is not a phrase I would use in my normal conversations.

Psalm 23:5 says that God has set a table before us in the presence of our enemies. I would prefer that God’s table of provision was in the absence of any enemies but then I’m not the one setting up the rules of the game. It seems to me that if I want to partake of that particular table mentioned in Psalm 23 then I need to recognise that where I have enemies (contrary circumstances, problems, challenges, difficult relationships, etc) then that is the place in which God has placed a table of provision.

I wonder what is served up for me on that table of provision? Which brings me back to my opening paragraph. God serves up my enemies as bread for me, to sustain me and strengthen me.

So when things come against us, pull up a chair, get your knife and fork and a serviette because it’s time to eat. Our enemies become our sustenance.

How can our enemies sustain us and make us greater? That principle is found in Judges 3:1,2

Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.

In other words, God allows enemies so that we learn to be victorious.

Conclusion: when evil forces come against us, rejoice, for deliverance is at hand. That deliverance will come through us as we defeat our enemies with God’s help. And as we defeat our enemies we will be strengthened, ie they become “our bread”.

It’s time to push back darkness

by | Jul 17, 2023

I was listening to a speaker recently (Carole Ward who’s been effecting huge change in Northern Uganda and South Sudan) and she said this:

When God conquers US then we can conquer the ENEMY.

This was in the context of strategic prayer and coming from a foundation of a surrendered life. Cities and nations are available for the taking – Jesus instructed us to disciple nations and gave us the authority and power to do so.

What I got out of her teaching was that “I’m the problem”. I can’t blame the church, the government, the globalists, the gangs or any other reason. As I walk with God and discern:

  • the territory available to me
  • the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding me
  • the strategy from heaven for every situation

Then I can push back darkness more than I’m doing now.

When I say “I’m the problem” I’m not saying I’m feeling condemned but rather spurred on to action. I believe we are in a season of fresh grace for overcoming and taking ground.

I’m with Joshua and Caleb who said “we will surely overcome” and “our enemies will be our food”.
I’m with David who said “who is this uncircumcised Philistine who’s defying God”.
I’m with John who said “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”.
I’m with Jesus who said “I’ve given you all authority, now go and disciple nations, and I’m with you always”.

Now is the time to reach out and connect in a Spirit-led way to your street, your workmates, and anyone in the various areas of influence in which God has placed you.

I’ve had a few failures, but – to take Peter’s example as he stepped out of the boat – I’d rather be SINKING in failed obedience than SHRINKING back in fear and self-interest like the remaining 11 in the boat.

When the ‘impossible’ becomes possible

by | Jun 4, 2023

The Christian life is a life of faith, it is a life of living out of the riches of heaven and not by what our natural eyes can see.

Recently my husband and I were in a situation where the answer to our prayer for our family of 13 to get together in NZ, after 5 long years of being apart, seemed impossible. At the time we were living in small temporary accommodation and two of our three sons and their families lived overseas. We agreed on the dates for them to come home and they booked their flights. Where would they stay? How would we transport them? These were just two of the many questions that filled our minds. My reasoning was that if this was God’s timing and His will for us to be together, it would all come together – somehow. It was too big for me to work out but I reassured myself with the fact that because God is our provider and He is faithful, instead of being daunted I felt excited for how it would all come together.

We continually committed this to God and yes – you guessed it – all the logistics of accommodation, transport, timing, and the grandchildren’s items all came together. Like doing a giant jigsaw puzzle piece after piece fell into place until eventually the full picture was visible.

If we desire God to provide for us, apart from exercising faith, we also must take action. I was in conversation with a new friend and mentioned our situation and she generously offered her people mover vehicle to us for the 3 weeks.  Then we let it be known to more people that we were looking for a place to call home. We miraculously were offered a whole retreat centre for 6 weeks while the owners were overseas and yes our family of 13 were welcome to stay there for free – it would accommodate us all but we were also wanting to go to Raglan and Auckland for a few days.

Alan was due to go on another mission trip to Nepal for 3 weeks and before he left we received an unexpected phone call from a couple on our ministry mailing list who had seen that we were needing a home. Their long term tenants were leaving town and their rental house was coming available a few days before Alan arrived back from Nepal. We checked it out and it was a lovely sunny home and the owners generously offered it to us at a low rent. We saw this as God’s provision and started moving in the day Alan arrived back from Nepal.  We had a hectic two weeks to move in and get ready for our first son and his family to stay.

Then a week and half later, the other son and his family arrived and we all moved into the retreat centre 20 minutes out of Tauranga in the foothills of the Kaimais.

We had been flat screen grandparents for a number of years, with all our 5 grandchildren living overseas and only seeing Alan and me on zoom calls, so I needed to be on a search for porta cots, high chairs, toys, child car seats, and to buy those special gifts for all the grandies. So many of our friends came to the rescue to help us out. We were provided for in so many ways. God knew that we were going to have more than a week of wet weather so we sadly had to miss going to Raglan and stayed longer than planned in the retreat centre which was such a God given provision and was so ideal for us all being under the same roof for several days.

While in Tauranga our eldest son Daniel came down from Auckland and worked, staying with Miriam’s parents in Tauranga and joined us for the evenings and then when we moved to the retreat centre he joined us there, working remotely during the day, and joined in with us for the evenings. Another jigsaw piece was in place. Then we moved to Auckland for a week or so.

Where were we all going to stay? Daniel and Miriam have their own home in Auckland but sometimes they do some house minding. It just so happened that they were house minding at this time, so Alan and I moved in with them while the rest of the family stayed at Daniel’s home and we drove to meet up with the rest of them at breakfast time each day and until generally at least 11pm every night. The jigsaw puzzle was complete! The ‘impossible’ had become possible.

There were so many other ways God blessed us and we had an amazing family time. On our last evening together we were already planning our next reunion in a year or so. We will trust our Heavenly Father to arrange the jigsaw pieces for that event, just as He did so well for this time. God invented families and when we are serving Him He will give us the desires of our heart even when it seems impossible. Our God is faithful.