A Higher Realm, The Place Of Clarity, Peace and Glory
In John 3:11 (tPt) Jesus said, “I speak eternal truths about things I know, things I’ve seen and experienced…and still you don’t accept what I reveal. If you are unable to understand and believe what I’ve told you about the natural realm, what will you do when I begin to unveil the heavenly realm?”
We are placed into impossible situations so that we will come to know the one for whom all things are possible. This is not understood by the old creation who wants to always be in control. Placing our confidence in any natural identity is proving that our carnality is still boss and a shadow of the real, the spiritual nature. I want to shout out, that pulling down tomorrow into today, and also, that which has been stored up for us in heaven, is accessible to us now… and becomes a reality for us here on earth today. I don’t want to wait for that day when I get taken home, to discover, that everything my heart desired already existed up there for me. We need a revelation of the heavenly realm and everything it holds and represents for us here today! Jesus is building that foundation in our lives, line upon line and precept upon precept until we grow into a measure of an understanding of His world. Sowing and reaping are the fundamental principals of the Kingdom, where we receive according to what we have done, but the accelerated manifestation overrules the law of sowing and reaping and we enter into the law of blessing where we receive according to what He has done. We have crossed over into a time of divine acceleration into the promises and blessings of God. Jesus has been building this foundation of sowing and reaping in our lives because He wants to take us somewhere else, into a place of divine acceleration, out of this place of limitation. I know that there are places on earth where people are already living in that accelerated place. The idea of planting anything at anytime of the year and seeing it flourishing because of divine acceleration sounds very attractive to me! Who would not want to be in that place, that place of Glory! “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” My experiences of the Glory realm have been brief, but enough for me to never ever want to settle for less. It has always astounded me, that when we attempt to enter a higher dimension in our lives, all of hell seems to want to break loose on us. All of a sudden there are misunderstandings and carnality raises it’s ugly little head. Our walk with Jesus Christ is not complicated, but it does require all of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, not just some, but all , to walk this Heavenly road.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It is obedience to God’s will for our lives that produces good fruit in us. To say we want to do His will and then not do it is hypocritical. What is God’s will? His will is for us to become like Jesus Christ and to walk in His ways.
Co-Creating With God
Jeremiah 33:3: ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish’
A talent that is buried is useless but a skill that is utilized displays the Glory of God who gives all special abilities, talents and creative skills. Have you ever felt really stuck, spinning your wheels? This can happen to any of us creative individuals, it’s happened to me a few times in my life. Our inability to move forward is due to fear and issues of self worth. When I compare myself to others I become weak in faith, I see their gifts as being so much better and different to mine. Comparison can be such a killer. When we were born of the spirit we received His resurrection power that heals, cleanses, restores and gives new life. Being Creative should be foremost on our minds as people of God. For me it has always been my happy place, it makes me feel whole where nothing is missing and nothing is broken. It lifts me up and causes me to love well and be a blessing to others. The work of our minds and hands as a people of God contribute to a culture of two Kingdoms fused together. Having Become aware of my creative nature and how it makes me feel took a time of uncovering layers of self worth issues. As children we were all creative and we had no inhibitions about expressing our creativity, showing the world around us, what we had inside of us. I remember as a child how I would spend hours creating drawings of interiors and I imagined what it would be like being a designer or architect. That was just one of the things I enjoyed doing, among many others. Our Creator placed it all inside of us. Are you willing to let go of what you believe to be true about your creativity and embrace the truth of God? You have to be a brave heart and jump in that river of creativity and not let other people affect you in what they might say. Comparison produces fear and can rob us of our peace and joy. Creativity is also an act of worship, when we worship God in a corporate environment we are creating a way into heaven. Someone with an anointing for worship on earth can lift us in spirit to their level of praise, their anointing carries us with it and we add our voice to the worship being raised to God. There is a sound I believe that when released, can carry us into the throne room of God and we get to experience hearing His angels sing. This is hard to explain for me but I have experienced this in a corporate setting where a certain sound was released by the worship leader (no lyrics) and the worshipers that were sensitive in the spirit, including myself, latched on to that sound with our own voices and allowed it to take us into another dimension. As a result of this we could tangibly feel the shift and hear the angels sing. An Incredible experience! People get set free and healed in their bodies by getting up higher. It has also been said in Anna Rountree’s book “Heaven Awaits the Bride” since all such praise travels to the father, it is like catching a ride on a passing trolley and enjoying the ride to the throne room. If the angels do not ride all the way there, still they have added an imprint to the praise. Therefore, they too have participated, if ever so briefly”. I have believed for a long time, that people do not only form an understanding of what is true based on the Word, but also through their sensory experience of God.
Isn’t it wonderful that the life of Jesus so perfect and complete is able to flow through different individuals, giving unique flavours to what others are able to taste and see. The psalmist writes, taste and see that the Lord is good…
“For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland”
Isaiah 43:19 .
Where Two or Three are Gathered
They loved power and not purity, they loved healing and not holiness, they loved miracles, signs and wonders and not the Will of God. Often I have wondered about the people of God who will stand in prayer lines to receive healing in their bodies but remain ignorant of what could be causing their forever ongoing ailments. Now I am not saying that God would not heal them right there on the spot. He is sovereign and does what He wants. Why, if when, with two or three gathered in His name we are able to displace the powers of darkness that are against God’s purposes in the earth, are we not yet walking in divine health? Jesus told us as His Kingdom representatives, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in Heaven.” (Matt. 16:19). We are agents representing another world and we are releasing the reality of that world into this world through our agreement in purpose. We should all have the same purpose, ie bringing Heaven to earth. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He loves to live in a healthy, pure and Holy environment. Health to our Spirit Soul and Body is connected to our obedience to His commands. Therefore, Honor God with your body. let’s at least make an effort to become more conscious of foods that are weighing us down and dulling our senses, replace those with nutritious natural foods that are life giving. Do you love Him enough to break the stronghold certain foods and behaviors have over your life? When the only stronghold should be occupied by God Himself. If we want to get up higher into God’s presence and deeper into His mysteries we will have to pay a price. There is no such thing as a magic wand getting us there making it all happen. We allow so many things in our lives to control us, like unhealthy mindsets, relationships, food addictions, unbridled emotions, etc. What if we only allowed the Spirit of God to control us and learned to say “no” to certain things that drain our energy and cause us to feel used and abused. Be careful not to move into works with doing things as “unto the Lord” which may not be the Lord’s Will for you. You will know what that is because it will drain you, it will not bring life and upliftment. Preserve yourself for Him, because only He can lift us up into the place He wants us to be by allowing Him to be intimate with us, rising above that religious spirit. We will then see what God requires of us and it will change our perspective of things around us. He said I love those that love me, those that seek me diligently, will find me… Religion tells us what to do and what not to do. True Christianity tells us what to become, and how to become it. Love describes His nature, and Light describes His spiritual essence and power. That Light is the creative power of God, the healing power, the power that imparts revelation and understanding. Many Christians are focused on wanting to become more powerful, they want more authority, more gifts, more anointing. Often that kind of focus and motivation is wrong. God now first requires of us to become ‘love’ in order to qualify for Kingdom power. Religion is based on laws, true Christianity is based in love and acting out of love. The Mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. “And you did not receive the ‘spirit of religious duty,’ leading you back into the fear of never being good enough.” (Romans 8 v.15 tpt) If we live and walk in love we will fulfill all the requirements of the Law and the prophets. When love is pouring through us, Light is pouring through us, and that Light will transform us.
I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus. So let all who are fully mature have this same passion, and if anyone is not yet gripped by these desires, God will reveal it to them. Philippians 3 (tpt)
On Earth As it is In Heaven
The Lord is “God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” Joshua 2:11
My question this morning is, are our beliefs supported by His manifested presence? If not, then we are believing wrongly. Are we walking around feeling depressed, what on earth are we thinking? It’s not complicated, where there is sin, sickness, torment, gossip, slander, divisions, strife etc. there cannot be a kingdom called heaven. We have to be intentional about how we decide to behave or think under all circumstances in our lives. The word of God clearly tells us to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. We need to put that into practice. In James 2 : 19-20 (tpt) it says ” You can believe all you want that there is one true God, that’s wonderful! But even the demons know this and tremble with fear before Him, yet they’re unchanged – they remain demons.” To be joyful is to know God’s presence, our circumstances should not dictate our behaviour. I owe Him my complete trust no matter what things look like, He has done for me, and shown me so much. Jesus never made an excuse for a problem, nor did He camp out around that problem. He always demonstrated what the Father’s Will looked like. When our faith is weak, He always makes provision for access to greater faith through miracles, signs and wonders. It has always astounded me that after experiencing a miracle, sign or a wonder, people still have difficulty believing. Why? because of disobedience and broken fellowship with God in their lives. Most Christians are still in bondage to something other than the Holy Spirit. Change comes when we are touched by the Spirit of God through an encounter with Him, so that our character would be consistent with God’s power. His manifest presence should be with us everywhere we go unless we are thinking or believing contrary to God’s ways. The knowledge we gain through studying and searching the scriptures after we give our life to the Lord is good, but without an encounter with God it merely puffs up and makes us prideful. Our walk with Jesus needs to be in His manifest presence so that we can sense His nudging and we become sensitive to His leading. Our walk should be “that we only do what we see our Father doing, and we say what we hear our Father say.” Believe me, when I say that my actions and reactions are more Christlike today than they were thirty five years ago, I’m not saying that I have arrived. The process is ongoing. I will say, that without those encounters I would have lost heart a long time ago. Press in for more of God, don’t be satisfied with the ordinary in the natural, reach for the extraordinary in the supernatural.
Living love Letters
Where are the living love letters in the body of Christ? Where are the people that are so filled with Christ that it spills over onto others. Warming hugs and brotherly kisses, we all should be there by now. It’s time to let go of our own self-importance or maybe our insecurities and fears? We need life changing God encounters. The people of the world will know when their attention is caught by the supernatural manifestations that surround the sons and daughters of God who have overcome their fears and are walking in perfect love and not competition, pride and comparison with others. As Christians we are the living love letters that the Lord Jesus has sent into the world to spread His love. How do we gain an awareness of that perfect love that seems so elusive to many of Gods people? By overcoming our fears. Fears of not having enough, fears of giving, fears of rejection, fears of sickness and disease and ultimately, the fear of death. I remember a time of testing after I had given my life to Jesus Christ a few decades ago. He led me into the wilderness, a beautiful place, and orchestrated a time of “surrendering” for me. My finances were about to run out and I had to come up with a revelation as to what to do. Fear took hold of me and paralyzed my body. At that time I did not know that fear was a spirit and that I could have taken authority over it. I remember now that I sat down on a chair and stayed there for a long time fighting that spirit of fear, it wore me out! There were a lot of things I did not know yet, I was thrown into the deep end of a life lived by faith and trusting in Him. In Matthew 4:1 it says that Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil. My coming out of Egypt was supernatural for me, something I could have never done without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. Psalm 91 was my constant companion and my awareness of The Spirit being with me at all times was such a gift and blessing. I was not guided to a church or tribe in the body of Christ after I got saved. I was discipled by the Holy Spirit who took me on a roller coaster journey, teaching me to walk in faith and overcome my fears. It became my conviction that the wilderness experience is that time in our walk with God when the road becomes narrow, wide enough for only us and God. All others fall away, so God can have His most personal time with us. So until you embrace and enjoy the wilderness, our ability to handle God’s best for us, is at best, weak and incomplete. The biggest favour we can do for ourselves is to let God have His way with and in us. It is only the son’s and daughters who have been gently broken by God through the wilderness experience who understand, appreciate, and truly know His love, power and grace.
In Ephesians 3:19, Paul prays that we should “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge”. Can you think of anything else that you and I need to know, that would transcend this?
His Presence the Place of Strength
When we are living in that place of not yet, it has got to be the most difficult and holiest of all. The process between the anointing and the appointing is crushing, to say the least. From the day that we give our lives to God, which for me is now thirty five years ago, there has never been anyone that has prophesied over me that I would have a “ministry”. I was told about fifteen years ago that I was not a prophetess per se, but an exhorter. I was also told that my faith was limitless and that the anointing of the Lord is on me to stir people into having faith in the sovereignty of God. That totally ministered to me. My experiences with God have always been outside of the church environment and completely supernatural in nature. He gave me glimpses of the world to come by experiencing displays of the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe that there is a direct connection between the expansion of our hearts, the renewal of our minds, and the seeking of His presence that opens up the heavenly realms to us. We can’t be passive about the thoughts we are allowing to stay in our minds if we want our souls to prosper, God’s thoughts are much higher than our thoughts, He challenges us to change our thoughts. I have learned that God meets us at our level of understanding. He said to me that this is the level of understanding I have given you, an understanding of peoples’ unbelief for the impossible and for you to stir people into having faith in the sovereignty of God, to pull them up higher and encourage them to believe that all things are possible with God. Now walk in it! Do not be afraid and be of good courage because its takes courage to act outwardly what you see on the inside. Don’t let others hold you back from exercising your experiential faith. Enoch was a person who sought to be in the presence of the invisible God. It was his practice to meet with God in the sanctuary of his own heart and Godly imagination which pleased God. ‘But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a re-warder of those that diligently seek Him.’ ( Hebrews 11:5-6 )
He only needs a willing heart and an open spirit, once you believe that God can and you have faith that He will, you open yourself up for God to move in your life.
Burning for the Divine
The use of the word “Mystic” is difficult for many Christians to accept, it’s a word that people shy away from as we are much more inclined to gain our understanding of God through our reason and the bible, than we would be through a direct encounter with Him. For some reason we believe our intellect is more trustworthy than our actual experiences. I bet you that if you search the scriptures with an open heart you will find many verses about God’s people having mystical experiences or direct ongoing spiritual encounters born through intimacy with Him. Would I be daring to say that if, in John 17:20 God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” could that also include the knowledge of mystical experiences or God encounters? There are people that stumble over writings of Jeanne Guyon and Brother Lawrence etc. and yet we discover that their experiences resonate with ours. Today we hear believers talking and praying about “intimacy” with God, and surrendering to His Presence, which to me proves that we are now practising His presence and desiring more of what He can work in us, and, therefore do through us. There are Leaderships in some churches that don’t like the idea of mysticism because it means that ordinary people can have an unmediated experience of God. This can bring up all kinds of issues about control and hierarchy which can lead to “lovers of God” being accused of false spirituality because of having experiential faith. So, seeking to be a mystic is not popular, but, in the absence of knowledge amongst God’s people as to how to really grow close to Him, this is what happens. People want to emulate those who are close to God. Well, we can be as close to God as we want to be. My own experience has been that we cannot draw closer to God than the depth of our hunger for Him. Our hearts need to become increasingly more open and pure before Him. Until this hunger becomes bigger on the inside of us, it cannot manifest itself on the outside. The depth of your hunger for God is the length of your reach to Him. When you really hunger for God with all your heart and soul, you will have these deeper experiences with Him because you are being filled with the Holy Spirit every time you reach out to the Father in love. It’s that simple. Now is the time to begin your journey to a deeper relationship with Christ. In James 4:8 we are encouraged to “draw near to God and He will draw near to you” Isn’t this exactly what we ask for? In Psalm 140:13 it says that “surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; The upright shall dwell in Your presence… our fruitfulness and our growth depend on our knowledge of God. We ought to be able to understand that it works the same way in the human realm. As I grow in my knowledge of my friends (transparency) I enjoy being with them more and I have a greater desire to please them. That is what occurs in our relationship with the Lord. The more we know of His love for us the more we love Him in return. And the more we love Him the more we want to please Him. As we spend intimate time with the Lord and grow in our knowledge of Him we develop Christ-like traits and we will bear fruit and increase in every good work by the knowledge of God. Lord, I want to be your resting place…
If you continue on this seemingly mystical road, you will find others who have hungered for a deeper place of intimacy with God and as a result they gained an understanding of spiritual truth that religious rulers could not come close to with all their theological training and religiosity. While we adhere to the infallibility of the Scriptures, God can and does reveal Himself in many other ways.
Sensitivity in the Spirit
The closer we get to God, the more spiritually sensitive we become. Our personal relationship with God has everything to do with receiving revelation. God’s possession of us ( setting us apart to belong to Him ) enables us to sense His presence with us. So to the extend that we are possessed by God do we sense His presence with us and around us. We need to heed the spirits call to “come aside”. All of our senses are activated and enhanced as we surrender to our creator, yielding ourselves to God and complying to His will for our lives. In Hebrews 5:14 it says that “Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil”. My experiences in God have been in the feeling and vision/dream realms. It has been difficult having to continually surrender my feeling senses to the Holy Spirit so that God can use me in the way He intended when He created me…and not over react when sensing something in my body that is trying to tell me something about my environment or the people I am with. I have become sensitive to atmospheric changes, feelings of pressure and release around me, also pains in different parts of my body that I cannot always identify. What I do know now is that those pains are not my own, I can rest in that and turn to the Holy Spirit for guidance as how to react and pray. My intention regarding discernment is to stay close to the Lord and follow His leading. I have also smelt the sweet fragrance of the Lord on a few occasions, like a rose fragrance and would like to become even more sensitive to the Holy Spirit by keeping myself pure and continually watching over my heart asking the Lord for healing, and progressive sanctification in the area of unhealed hurts. In Proverbs 4:23 it says ” Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the issues of life”. I don’t think that any of us will be completely perfected in this life time, but we can expect God’s spirit to do miracles by getting into His word and drawing closer to Him. Over the years there have been many dream/visions, which have been helpful in making me aware of something I needed to know. God’s love for us is amazing! One of those dreams was about my dog, a dog I had when still living in Arizona. I went to visit a friend in Los Angeles for the weekend and took my dog with me, ( God loves dogs ) on arrival I decided to enjoy the late afternoon sun by taking a walk on the beach with my dog. After a few minutes of walking, I set myself down against a rock facing the ocean with my dog next to me, I must have dozed of because when I woke up my dog was gone. I jumped up and started to call her and look for her, she was nowhere to be seen. The highway was close to the beach and my concern was that she had crossed the highway to the other side into the bushes. The sun was setting and I decided to leave and go back to my friends house. I had peace about the thought that I would see her again. That night I had a very clear dream about me walking on the beach to exactly the same place I was the day before. As I was walking along the beach, in the distance I could see a dog coming toward me, limping on three legs…I could not recognize the dog it was still to far away. Then all of a sudden I saw it was my dog. End of dream/vision.
When I woke up in the morning the first thing that came into my mind was the dream I had that night. I got out of bed and got dressed in a hurry to go back to the beach, to exactly the same place. As I started to walk down the beach I saw a dog coming toward me, limping of course, just as I saw it in the dream. I was ecstatic but at the same time apprehensive not knowing the condition of her leg, as she came closer I saw that her tail was wagging and she recognized me. Her back leg (thigh) was in a bad condition and ripped open, it looked like she was hit by a car which had been my thought and concern. Back in the car, I took her to the nearest Veterinarian and they lovingly fixed her up. What an amazing example of Gods love for us and animals. He truly cares about every detail of our lives.
Seven stages of Awareness
The journey for me has been about a journey of seeking and looking for God in all the right places. I believe today that those places, were the right places for me, because it was in those places that He caused me to draw closer and closer to Him. From sinner to seeker, to believer, to disciple and to overcomer. I learned that I passed through seven stages of awareness in order to be brought out of bondage towards the fullness of truth and into the life of an overcomer. The word “awareness” meaning the knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. My first stage of awareness was a “hunger for truth”. When I reached the age of about 24 years old and after abusing my body for about 6 years with alcohol and drugs, I hit a wall, and started to scream out to God for truth, and, that this life that I was living could not be all there was! God heard me, and responded with giving me the desire to “seek for truth,” which was the second stage. Note here, how I don’t call it “the Truth”, that was still a long way off. Now, I don’t know why God took me down this road that I was about to embark on, but He did. Maybe it was so that I can tell you that everyone’s journey is different and that He broke the mold when He created me and set me on my own individual journey. The road that He set me on, finally led me to choosing “the Truth”, but only after almost ten years of “seeking for truth” which took me into eastern teachings, guru’s, channeling of certain beings, and 3 day intensives, this is where I was touched and never smoked a cigarette again…all these experiences caused me to see things from a different perspective and softened my heart, but, there was still something missing. Only after I finally chose “the Truth”, which is the third stage and then started to except “the Truth”, that being stage four, did I have an encounter with the Lord that changed the direction of my life and caused me to go deeper with Him. The fifth stage of awareness is knowing “the Truth”, and getting to know the Lord on a intimate level where His presence is felt in a tangible way and it starts to change us from the inside out. The sixth stage is believing “the Truth” where we start being tested in the things of God, His word and His promises, and then, to finally get to the seventh stage of living “the Truth” where we are now well on our way to living the life of a true believer in Christ and we are trusting Him and are being led and guided by Him on a daily basis, listening to the unctions and promptings He gives us. The level of awareness of God’s manifest presence in our lives will impact the way we live, pray, worship, treat other people and deal with problems.
As the revelation of our destiny unfolds, as clarity of heart and mind begin to align themselves to each other, we will begin to take our place in that which God has given us to do, and we will be able to say with conviction “for this purpose I came into the world”.
Becoming Uncomfortable in what we were once Comfortable In
Often I have thought of the importance of a spiritual family versus a blood family, which seems to be something that becomes more clear as we grow up and mature into people who have found the greater threshhold, where the second stage of life may be initiated and begun. To discover your purpose you have to lose your home, (metaphorically) the son of men had nowhere to lay His head. We need to become uncomfortable in what we were once comfortable in. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “when you follow me as my disciple, you must put aside your father, your mother, your wife, your sisters, your brothers —–yes, it will even seem as though you hate your own life…this is the price you will pay to be considered one of my followers. And anyone that comes to me must be willing to share my cross and experience it as his own, or he cannot be my disciple. So don’t follow me without considering what it will cost you. If you have ears opened by the Spirit, hear the meaning of what I have said and apply it to yourselves.” Jesus the King of love is not saying to hate, but to put aside every other relationship into second place.
Well, it will cost you everything that you thought you could never live without. If you don’t believe me, just keep following Jesus. There is great joy in becoming free of earthly bondages. You can focus on what you would lose or on how hard it would be, but you forget that the reason you let go is to be opened to more joy. You will then begin to feel more confident and more peaceful. The upheavel of the one that decides to go to the next dimension, out of their comfort zone…needs the help of someone that has already gone there, such as a person in the spiritual family. The blood family certainly has its place, we love our families, there is an emotional connection that binds us but not always in positive ways. Negative, critical thoughts and words from our blood families do not make us better at life. They make us feel stuck, weak and unmotivated to move forward. It is choosing to look at circumstances positively that will empower us to do the right things. Find the hope that new beginnings are always possible, no matter what.
Promises Revealed to Promises Fulfilled
These last few days my mind has been on the “contending” for a promise given and the necessity of perseverance to see it through, no matter what. This is not only for ourselves but for others, that they may see that God is good and that their faith may be strengthened because of it. Some people just give up too soon when they are at the threshhold of breaking through promises revealed, to promises fulfilled. When we receive a prophetic word from the Lord He has a date of fulfillment in mind. After that word is released, He starts working in our hearts and lives to make sure that His word comes to pass. Our lack of response to that process of change, causes the timing of fulfillment to be delayed. This is not for the faint hearted or the worldly believer, I know, at times it takes all of our strength we have to continue. I remember years ago in America when I was at the brink of breaking through a situation which really tested me. There was an opportunity that would have presented itself to me, should I have persevered and stuck it out. It was something that I really wanted to do but I could not wait any longer for that door to open, and began believing it would never happen. Only some time after that, did I realise what actually happened there, it was total lack of faith on my part (spiritual immaturity) and allowing myself to come under the influence of negative voices of people that thought I was wasting my time there. I learned a great deal through that experience, it taught me to always persevere in something I believed in. It gets hard when we don’t see the results we are hoping for coming to fruition. We run out of everything, but God is so good. He gives us renewed strength and renewed hope on a daily basis and also the ability to keep persevering when this road grows long. Our personal victory will build a testimony so that others may benefit from it, and it will help them to receive strength and encouragement to keep going. Who knows, we might be contending for the deliverence of our entire family, friends and church. This is not for us alone, there is a higher purpose in it…—-so that His name should be Glorified in all of this.
Hiddenness and Manifestation
Have you ever thought about why it sometimes appears that God is nowhere to be found? These are the seasons when God is hiding, so to speak, also known as a time of “hiddenness” which is when He wants us to totally rely on His word and promises, always busy stretching our faith. We all need to learn the discipline of walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh. During these times of hiddenness ask Him for wisdom and understanding, God’s wisdom is the revelation of who God is and what He is doing in our life in a particular season of our life. Faith depends on our understanding of the nature of God, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that He is faithful and that He will never leave us or forsake us. We are like little children always wanting to unwrap presents, we expect life to be adventurous and exciting all the time and we don’t want that to change, but it does! There would be no spiritual growth if there were only times of “manifestation”, the seasons where we feel His tangible presence and His touch upon our lives in an immediate way. I remember the time when I opened my heart to the Holy Spirit and was filled with His power, that was a time of manifestation, it was awesome. This was a season where I truly entered another dimension, His presence manifested itself to me on a regular basis. What an incredible gift that was. I call those seasons “times of awe.” Without these different seasons there would be no building of character, no trusting Him for our provision, and no faith walk required. Our faith needs to become the “walking on water” kind of faith, not the “just getting the rent paid” kind of faith. God always increases His flow when we are stretched, and when we decide to go deeper with Him… much is required of us, because much will be given to us which we will have to be responsible for. When God hides from us it is a time to draw closer to Him. He is with the risk taker, not the one that plays it safe… —the testing that we go through is not evidence that we have heard Him wrong. All progress in the Christian life is by faith, and God has no plans on changing His way.
What can God do for us that He hasn’t already done, He can do it for us again! We can come and come again, and God is willing to give, if only we believe…
We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it! (Ephesians – tPt)
Uniquely Wired
This morning in my time with the Lord I thought about why there are still so many of God’s people questioning their purpose here on earth, and are still wondering what they should be doing to bring that into fulfillment. I believe that we are all uniquely “wired” for a specific gifting. What has He placed in your hand? What gift has He given to you, that you can use as a platform? He wants you to use your gift as a platform. What God has for you is in the deep things, don’t be so careful…go deeper. Let me give you an example…
I received something in my spirit…and now I am walking in it. Now if you have received something in your spirit and believe that you have received it, keep walking in it, and you will have it! I am a spirit and I have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who searches the deep things of God and then reveals it to my spirit… how then can we still doubt when we have been given the Holy Spirit who knows all things. Exercise your spiritual senses, you have them! We have got so much more than we believe, the problem is that maybe we have heard something about ourselves ( an untruth possibly ) and believed it. Until we change the words that are in our heads…nothing will change, because what we imagine in our heads will manifest in our lives. “We did not receive the spirit of this world system but the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and experience all that Grace has lavished upon us. And we articulate these realities with the words imparted to us by the Spirit and not with the words taught by human wisdom.” (1 Corinthians 12. (tpt) Don’t listen to what other people tell you and to what they think is expected of you if it doesn’t feel right in your spirit. Follow the road to fulfilment by understanding God’s redemptive design for you and allowing it to guide your footsteps.
“Things never discovered or heard of before, things beyond our ability to imagine – these are the many things God has in store for all His lovers. But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things. After all, who can really see into a person’s heart and know his hidden impulses except for that person’s spirit? So it is with God. His thoughts and secrets are only fully understood by his Spirit, the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 12. (tpt)
The Liberating Action of Dying to Self
I want to run and not be weary; I want to walk and not faint. This boundless, sustained energy only comes from spending time with God. We can’t receive it through the laying on of hands or some other form of ministry; it only grows from resting in Him. Everything in life is a gift. It’s a powerful moment when you’re broken and finally realize that the striving goes away, you don’t do things for recognition, you do things because you’re recognized by Him. C. S. Lewis wrote in his book “The Weight of Glory,” that the Lord finds our desires not to strong but to weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased…
For sure, living the overcoming life and standing on promises that have been given to us is not for the faint of heart. We come to church and expect God to do something for us, remove our mountains perhaps? The mountains are placed there for a reason, not so that we can go around them and then expect victory. What is your mountain? What is it that you are not willing to let go of and let God do that needed work in you, that catapults you forward into his great promises. Is it your anger, pride, idolatry etc. Whether we are gifted or not, knowing that the gifts come without repentance, we still long to enter that promised land and that’s where it becomes costly. Moses never entered his promised land and God used him in a powerful way, unfortunately his anger and disobedience got the better of him. Too many of us are still postponing the inevitable where God will have His way in the end. Words spoken out over us is a heavy thing to carry and the price is high, God says ——die for my Kingdom here on earth, flesh has no place here, only life in the spirit. We forget we are in a battle, and that bringing down heaven to earth is a fight. Ease, comfort etc. are momentary states that rarely last a long time for a true deciple of Jesus Christ. When I say the price is high, by that I mean we have to give up certain things and let go of some other things that hold us back, and that offends our flesh and is painful. The enemy knows this and assaults us with disappointment and discouragement. Dying to self ultimately is a liberating action that produces joy and peace and also causes us to have a walk with God for ourselves, hearing from Him ourselves.
Forever Hopeful
With out hope we are hopeless, as far as I can remember back into my childhood I’ve had hope and vision. As poor as we were, our house was always the best house with the warmest lighting flooding out of the windows (that’s how I saw it of course ) Coming home in the winter just after dark at about five pm I was usually running to get home in time, so that my mom wouldn’t worry. As I approached our place I slowed down and looked at our windows thinking how inviting those windows appeared, the neighbours’ windows always appeared cold and unfriendly to me. Even then God helped me to look beyond my circumstances and filled me with hope. We weren’t brought up in God, my mother did her best and raised us on good principles, and for that I am grateful. Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen even when nothing looks like it will. I had plenty of those days in my childhood. Hope keeps us positive and gives us a will to live. Many times we were told not to put our hopes up, maybe that is why today I am forever hopeful. It says in Romans 5:5 that this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us. ( tPt) I dreamed and had visions of going to America, land of the free, and ended up there years later. My point is, don’t ever give up on your dreams and keep hoping for the miraculous to manifest in your life…don’t settle for less then what God wants to give to you which is the desire of your heart.
A Gift to be Unwrapped Over Time
If you are amongest those less fortunate to have not received an education, you are most fortunate and blessed to have received talents and gifts that can open doors that no man can shut. My whole life has been about stepping into unknown territory, hoping that the unknown territory would take me to my destiny. Our destiny is what we are best cut out for, it’s what gives our life meaning, hope, joy and deep satisfaction. I discovered though, along the way, that the journey is more important then the destiny. It’s not only about reaching our destiny, but about what we are learning on the way there. Are we learning how to love, have we died to ourselves and our own negative pride, have we learned to be grateful, patient, tolerant, etc. Preparing for our destiny is all about honing our skills and maturing into them, building character, so that we are able to handle not only what comes…but also what comes against us. It takes time and perseverance to come to a place of completion. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. (Proverbs 16:3) You can’t give up, destiny happens over a lifetime it is an unfolding of who we really are. It’s a gift to be unwrapped over time.
Conditional yet Unconditional
I have always had a faith that was supernaturally placed within me and a love that is unconditional for my fellow man. This kind of love didn’t always serve me well until I gained some wisdom and understanding and was able to detach myself from certain people and situations that were very toxic. Trying to love unconditionally and getting it wrong can be a miserable journey. I love my partner/friend unconditionally doesn’t mean I love that person with a purity that transcends my everyday interaction, but it does mean that in every interaction, I come from a place of love. That place of love means I act respectfully and treat my partner/friend as an equal. That means I don’t judge or try to control and I don’t hit below the belt and use my partner/friend’s vulnerability against him or her. These conditions are best not to violate… If I love unconditionally but I am not loved in the same way, it isn’t unconditional love — it’s damaging self sacrifice. Set your boundaries. A boundary is nothing more then a healthy understanding of my own value, and of which behaviours value and devalue me. Boundaries are not conditions we set that say, I’ll only love you if you do X, or I won’t love you if you do Y. Is God’s love unconditional? There is such a thing as unconditional love in God, but it’s not what most people mean by it. Yet when we read the scriptures, it shows that God’s love for us is conditional. For example; It is not the love that will admit us into heaven when we die because John says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” and faithfulness is a condition. ( Revelation 2:10) Also James 4:8 says “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” these are just a couple of conditions in the word of God. There are plenty more… —-for our good. So then, how does God love us unconditionally, he loves us with electing love unconditionally. “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians) When we speak of the unconditional love of God it would serve us well to search out the biblical meaning of what the scripture says and find our feet on solid ground… —-for me this has cleared up much confusion and given me something to meditate on.
He works all Things Together for Good
God wants to take us from strength to strength, from victory to victory, and from glory to glory. In Ephesians 3:20 it says that he wants to do abundantly above and beyond all that we could ever ask or think, according to his work within us. So, to the extent that he’s allowed to work in us, will be the extent that he does great things through us. After meditating on this for a while, I envisioned so many people walking away from their dreams, because people are refusing to die to themselves, and let God have his way in their lives. To what extent do you allow God to have his way in your life? I realise now that God is always good but that everything that happens to us, is not always his will for for our lives, but he is always able to bring good from any situation as we trust him. His awe inspiring, all knowing sovereignty means that he can take my weaknesses and use them for his glory. It means that when people wrong me and the consequences of their decisions fall upon me, I don’t miss out on his favour. Whatever happens to me that is outside of his perfect will, he is able to work together for good, because I love him.
To Be a Conqueror
And he chose us to be his very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundations of the universe. Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in His eyes with an unstained innocence. Ephesians 1 : 4 (tpt)
God is not the back up plan for those of us that did not have a good upbringing, he knew us from the beginning and loved us, and, that alone should give us the confidence to believe that in him, we can do all things and succeed through Christ who strengthens us. When words are spoken out over us, hold on to those words, speak them out, read them over and over again. A prophetic word is an invitation from God for the person who is prophesied over to journey with God in relationship toward his desired outcome. It is to experience him and the reality of what it means to walk in relationship with him, to be guided by him and see his plans for our lives come to pass. The Word given, is to be a true representation of God’s heart and intent for us. Do not give up, if you give up at this stage, you will never get to the next stage. Yes there will be complications, without them, you can not be a conqueror.
Viewing the World Through God’s Eyes
This morning during my quite time I reflected on my past and everything that I have gone through, no regrets, it made me the person I am today. I now realise that my faith played a big part in my past and without it, I would not have come to the place I am today…standing in faith for God to do what seems to be impossible in the eyes of others. I now also realise how faith and love are connected and that we cannot have one without the other. God puts us right with him by the power of his spirit working through our faith. So what really matters is faith that works through love! Why is faith so hard? Is it that we do not have enough love…how are faith and love connected, have you ever wondered what faith and love have to do with each other? Galations 5:6 says; all that matters now is living in the faith that is activated and brought to perfection by love. When faith and love are brought together our entire outlook will begin to change and we will begin to view the world through God’s eyes. God wants us to walk in love, because his love never fails.
Loving Others as we Love Ourselves
Some more of my thoughts on love and the heart, if we are centered we are living from the heart in a balanced state of love and trust that is in sync with the natural flow of God. Our perspective is one of balance and we tend to listen to the muttering of our own heart when faced with decisions. I think that a heart disorder is the manifestation of the opposite mindset. If we are having heart trouble we probably tend to take everything to heart, or take things far to seriously. We are not allowing the flow of God in our lives and fighting the current to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion. We tend to deny our own needs and fulfill other peoples needs in order to be loved. We seek love through what we do for others…Jesus tells us to love others as we love ourselves, do we love ourselves enough? I doubt it…something to meditate on and place before God. This has been something that I have had to deal with on my journey with Jesus.
Christ our Ambition and Focus
We have a wealth of information stored deep inside of us, but we need to learn to access it, it was placed there by our creator from the beginning. When we let go of past hurts and deeply suppressed emotional imprints from our past, those channels unblock and revelation floods in. Yes, only God can do that but we have to place ourselves in an atmosphere of becoming increasingly separated unto God. Sanctification comes in the realm of the truth, in the presence of the truth. “Sanctify them by the truth” John17: 17 The key to sanctification is to know and obey the truth…our identity needs to be found in Christ first, where we no longer chase after the desires of our flesh but instead seek to bring God glory in all areas of our life. Spiritual growth is a process, a progression toward holiness, embrace the process and lets get intimate with the one who is the answer…we can not grow in Christ if we are focused on our sin, failures, or the devil. The more we seem to focus on our struggles the more we become consumed with what we focus on. If we make Christ our focus, then all good fruit will grow out of that relationship, an abiding relationship. He needs to be our ambition and focus…
Beautiful Surrender
To be seated in heavenly places with Jesus means entering into His rest and giving up control of everything we do not have control over…then, by constantly using our faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside of us, and the resting place of God’s love will become the very source and root of our life. Sweet beautiful surrender…that’s where I want to be, nothing is worth holding on too if it isn’t part of His plan and purpose for our lives. Our displacement pushes us into our purpose, I will never fit because I am not at home, not yet. So today again I surrender with a contrite heart and a longing soul for all things good…
A Measure of Jesus
My thoughts this morning were on forgiveness and to me that covers a wide range of things. Do we tolerate each other, do we except each other for who we are, do we show genuine interest in one another? These are just a few things to me that cover forgiveness. Forgiving someone that has wrongly treated us is a small part of the whole, although a very important one. I have learned over the years that we can only get so much from people because none of us are perfect, the rest we have to get from Jesus. He is the only one. So my question always remains; are we spending enough time with him? To allow him to change us…his nature needs to be formed in us so that we then can be all of the above. I love people so much but only with the measure that Jesus imparts in me…the rest would be conditional.
Everybody needs to get to a Place where they get Touched by God
Again this morning…Lord take us deeper, lift us higher…help us to grasp the limitless possibilities of your presence. One minute of God’s presence can accomplish more than years of our striving to get it right in the love department. Everybody needs to get to a place where they get touched by God…cry out for it, cry out for the baptism of fire, do it for the sake of the Kingdom here on earth. Without His power we are powerless and in affective in our efforts to love others in the way that He loves us, conditionally, yet unconditionally!
Ken Mattox stated this so beautifully…
“There is going to be a remnant baptized with Holy Ghost and Fire, they are going to burn with passion and love, and you are going to catch fire when you are around them because they are lit up. Who wants to live un-lit? I love fire! I think God loves fire. God is fire. Every sacrifice had to be consumed by fire. God is a consuming fire. Israel was led by a cloud and fire. Holy Ghost falls in tongues of fire. I love that God has fire as an attribute of His character. Fire consumes. Fire empowers. Fire enlightens. Fire heats up the situation. I believe God is ready to baptize us with Holy Ghost and Fire.”
Please click on “Faith Like Feathers” for my testimony.
