Grace in Firey Trials...

As I write, my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord for how wonderful He is. The past year was a difficult one for me, but I feel a maturing of love for Jesus in my heart. I feel closer to Him than I ever have in my life and I am so grateful for His leadership. He really knows what He is doing.

I am alive and absolutely on fire. God is wanting to take His bride from a place of trusting Him when circumstances are good to a place of absolute trust no matter the circumstances. Since the Onething conference in January, I have felt a shift in season in my personal life--even in circumstances, but also the level of the presence of the Lord resting on me is quite noticeable to me, and I think to other people as well. It is not because of any goodness on my own part, but because of a resolve that has settled in my spirit that I will not quit.

We all go through times in our lives when we are so tired of fighting. We feel like we cannot pick up the sword or swing it one more time. And yet, we do. God gives us grace. Grace is the God-given ability to do something that you do not have the strength to do on your own. Many times, we do not know how to lean on grace, because we are too busy leaning on our own strength. Yet, when our strength is taken from us, then we see the need for God's grace and learn how to walk in it. I am so thankful for the grace of God that empowers us to walk in righteousness, love, and holiness no matter the circumstances.

It is amazing that the teaching of abiding in the love of Christ was actually given the night before Jesus was crucified. It was given to the disciples the night before one of the greatest trials of their lives. It is the firey trials that push us deeper into His love if we respond with trust rather than with offense and bitterness.

I am so grateful for God's nearness no matter the circumstances. I am so grateful that He NEVER LEAVES. He is so faithful.

Resting in Your Daddy's Arms...

It takes the Father's Heart to look past where someone is at the moment and call them into who they are going to be.

When Jesus looks at us, He sees His children. So many times, we are so concerned about getting things perfect, not making mistakes, and doing the right thing that we are not free to be ourselves.

Imagine for a minute that you had a newborn baby in your arms. Imagine the affections and warmth in your heart at looking at that little baby. Is that baby concerned about anything? Is that baby worried about what to do next? No. The baby is in complete and total trust and dependence on the one who is holding it.

This is the way that we should trust the Lord. He wants us in a place of total trust and dependence on Him. Babies are not concerned with where their next meal will come from. Babies are not concerned with how to pay the bills or how to handle relationships or responsibilities. Babies are completely in the hands of their parents, and they are at rest.

Of course, babies grow. They develop responsibilities and learn how to do things, and eventually they become adults. However, God wants us to stay in that same "state of being" even while we are doing. He wants us to have the realization that we are constantly in His arms. He is such a good Father and He only wants the best for us. He is our biggest fan.

The way you feel holding a baby is the same way that the Father looks at you. His heart is overwhelmed when you look at Him. Tears even come to His eyes when He sees your face. He loves you with a love only a Father can have. With the same gentleness of holding a baby, He holds you in His arms and stares into your eyes with love and affection.

It is from this place of locking eyes with our Father, that He calls us into our identity and who he created us to be. He looks past where we are at in the moment and He gives us permission to grow into all the things that He has destined us to become. He doesn't beat us over the head because we are not at a different place in our walk. He loves us where we are. He also doesn't allow us to stay in the same place forever, but the way He moves us is gentle. It is His gentleness that makes us great (Ps. 18).

Plundering the Gates of Hell...

There are times when you start asking the question, “Why?” Times when you start wondering how things are going to play out in the end, why you are doing what you are doing, and how you got there in the first place. There are reasons, but they aren’t clear. There are questions, but no answers. Countless hours of introspection and “what if’s” leave you exhausted until all you can do is cry out to God for mercy.

It is in those times, when the fire is hot and the friction combusts into a flame, that God feels near, yet so far away. It is in those times when we are struggling to get our bearings that even the wisest among us has no answer and the most out-spoken is suddenly speechless. Confidence is shattered and every part of us has to be re-plumblined again.

During times like these, Satan rails an assault against us. He constantly tries to move us from a place of taking the kingdom of heaven by force, to a shut-down, defeated position where we are constantly defending ourselves from demonic assault. Sometimes, we are so shattered that we sit in a corner with our head down and our arms covering us while the enemy beats us and pours out every evil work against us.

It is in that place, that God comes near to the broken-hearted. He will raise the chin of his beloved son or daughter and call them into their identity as Overcomers. God meant us to take the kingdom of heaven by force and if we allow Satan to keep us playing defense, we will never move into being a son of God led by the Spirit of God that brings the kingdom of heaven down to earth.

God gave us a shield of faith to quench every firey dart of the enemy. If we lower our shield through doubt and unbelief, then those firey darts penetrate down to the depths of our soul; but if we raise our defensive armor of faith, salvation, righteousness, truth, and peace, then we stay abiding in the truth of what God says, rather than in the lies that surround us in our experience.

As we put our defense into place by believing what God says in faith, then we are able to go into an offensive striker position and plunder the gates of hell with our offensive weapon—the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It is not meant to be used as a shield to block the blows of the enemy. It is meant to be used to advance into the kingdom of darkness and plunder it for the Kingdom of God. As sons of God, we are to bring His kingdom down to earth with violence (Matt. 11). This is not a violence against humans, but a violence against the principalities and powers of darkness in heavenly places (Eph. 6).

When Jesus used the Word of God in the desert, Satan shook when He spoke and I’m sure his life flashed before his eyes as Jesus was declaring the kingdom of God and the victory that was about to be accomplished. He was the Living Word made manifest and everywhere He went, He declared, “The Kingdom of God has come near to you,” and it was proven by the signs and wonders that followed.

Every time we release the Word of God, we are releasing the Kingdom of God. The Word of God is powerful. It brings healing, deliverance, salvation, and freedom. Every time it is declared, we are releasing the justice of God against the powers of darkness. We are releasing the justice of God through the blood of Jesus on the Cross.

Ultimately, Jesus will complete the work of justice at His return when He slays the wicked and throws Satan in the pit of hell. At His first coming, Jesus disarmed every principality and power, and nailed every handwritten requirement against us to the cross (Col. 2:14-15). He brought justice through His blood to those who choose to come under His leadership.

But now, we as sons and daughters can work with the Holy Spirit and the plan of God to bring as much of this world under the justice of the blood of Jesus as we possibly can. God allows us to join in the fight and kick Satan in the teeth!

In the end, we win. But I don’t want to be a soldier who sat back in the comfort of his home and cowered in the corner while my brothers and sisters are out in the trenches fighting to take back the land that is rightfully ours. God meant us to have dominion over the earth, and although sin and unrighteousness has led us to do that wrongfully, I want to have a part in bringing Jesus His
inheritance.

So, let us stand up in the confidence of faith in God and begin to take ground and plunder the enemy’s camp. Let’s use that Sword of the Word and begin to see God’s justice break-in and the kingdom of heaven touch earth!

Discovering Desires of the Heart

God has a way of opening our hearts to things at different seasons of life, that we would have never thought of or dreamed about at different points. He has a way of leading that takes us around bends and turns to places we never imagined.

So many times, we set up walls to guard our hearts for fear of the unknown. Not knowing what the future holds, we make internal promises in our hearts like, "I will never do this, or I will do that, I will not be this, or I will not be that..." These promises are usually reactions to wounds, hurts, or injustices that we have seen in the past.

Looking ahead to the plans for our lives, we can make decisions based on avoiding possible outcomes, or try to control situations into developing a certain outcome. All human beings do these types of things at certain points in their lives (except Jesus of course). However, this is not how God intended us to be. This is not a heart-response of love and freedom.

God wants to open our hearts to trusting in His love and affection for us. When we truly open to Him without fears and "what if's," we may find internal desires that we never knew were there. Things that made us afraid, now become wonderful adventures. Things that we always held in derision, now become joys. Things that we thought would be a drudgery to us, now are vivid passions.

As we stare at God and learn who He is, He will open our hearts to become who He made us to be--and it may be a huge surprise to us.

There is no number to how many times I did something I thought I would hate, and found out that I loved it and was designed for that very thing. The only reason I stepped into those things in the first place is because I was walking with the Lord and He gently led me there.

Psalm 37:3-6 says, "Trust in the Lord, & do good. Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday."

If we trust in the Lord, and commit our way to Him, He may bring forth desires that we never even knew were there, and He will take us into an amazing adventure where are hearts are free to love and enjoy the journey unhindered by fear, worry, or walls.

Righteousness & the Oil of Joy

You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions...

Psalm 45:7

I love how God connects righteousness with the oil of gladness in this passage. The psalmist speaks of Jesus and says that because of His righteousness, the Lord anoints Him with gladness.

Psalm 16 says that in the presence of God is the fullness of joy. Jesus never left His Father's presence, so I am sure He was the most joyful man that ever walked the face of the earth. Jesus had that constant communion with God going so that He lived in His presence day and night.

It's not that Jesus was absent of human emotion. Of course, He experienced sadness and anger; there are examples of these in the gospels, but Jesus had a "living water" that never ran dry. He had a constant flow of life running through Him at every moment.

I've seen so many movies and audio versions of the Bible where Jesus looks, sounds, and acts depressed. Let me tell you, He was anything but that. Jesus was and is the most joyful person alive.

Jesus was not only joyful because He was in constant communion with the Father, but also because He lived and walked in righteousness. He was in a constant state of agreement with God. Never was He out of line with the Holy Spirit--not once.

For me, when I am walking in line with God, I am one of the happiest people I have ever met, but when I am out of line with the Holy Spirit, I am one of the most miserable.

Now, I am not saying that I am not affected by outside circumstances which make me happy or sad; Jesus encouraged responsiveness (dancing with the flute, lamenting with the dirge), but I am speaking of a deep immovable joy that surpasses human emotions. I want something deep inside that is unshakable.

Many times, the reason outside circumstances rob me of deep joy is because I am uncertain of the truth of God's love and affection for me. So many lies and questions flood in, and I let them in my shaken state.

However, we have to stay constantly plugged into God's truth, raise up the shield of faith against those lies; thus staying in agreement with righteousness and plugged into the living water of joy.

It is easier said than done, but we have a great Example to follow and a Helper who will never leave.

Tell Him How You Really Feel...

Sometimes we just have to tell God how we really feel. So many times, in an effort to be holy, we hide our true feelings from God. We don't want to complain. We don't want to cuss or say things that we know are against truth. We don't want to verbalize the lies going through our heads.

If we did those things to our friends, family, or neighbors, it would be gossip, strife, complaining, murmuring, etc. However, trying to hide our feelings from God is futile. He already knows them anyway. He already knows the thoughts in our hearts. He already knows the questions we have. He is not a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but in all points, He was tempted as we are; He knows how we feel.

In the Psalms, David poured out his heart to God. He told God the truth about what he was thinking and feeling.

The prophet Habakkuk was real with God about the injustice around him. He was honest with God about the skewed injustices happening around him.

Jeremiah did the same thing. So did Moses. These guys did not try to hide from God how they really felt in the name of holiness.

Now, they didn't go around complaining to people. That's a different story. They didn't "vent" to their neighbors. But, they were honest with God about how they really felt. They asked God those tough questions, "Why did you let this happen?" "Where are you?" "Are you going to do anything about it?"

Asking God those questions on a personal level is not blasphemy. It's honest. We all have those questions, and if we are not honest about it, it allows a wall to be built in our hearts against God. We can ignore those questions until we are blue in the face, but they will never go away until we lower the wall, and let God come into that place of confusion, anger, and mistrust.

Once we let Him into that place, He can bring healing and restore our trust. Then, we can go to a deeper level of intimacy with Him. But we have to let Him. We have to be honest with God.

When you find those questions coming up, get out a piece of paper and tell God how you really feel. Be honest with Him. It won't be pretty, but in the long run, it will open your heart to Him in a deeper way and give Him permission to come into those places of distrust and anger. It will allow for Him to show His love to you in an even deeper way. He knows anyway, but He is waiting for you to open your heart to Him.

Thoughts on Divine Appointments & the Gift of Faith

I am constantly amazed at how God orchestrates our life and circumstances in such a detailed, profound way. Many times, we don't even notice it, because we don't take time to reflect on the little things, but when we are wholeheartedly pursuing the Lord, He uses every circumstance to bring about good in our lives--even if it doesn't seem so at the time. If we are not whole-heartedly pursuing Him, He will orchestrate every circumstance to get us to the place of calling out to Him. He never stops pursuing and He never stops loving us. He is worthy of all praise, adoration, and worship!!!!

I can't tell you how many times I have seen seemingly inconvenient circumstances turn out to be divine appointments for God to meet with a person or do something amazing--plane delays, buses breaking down, snowstorms, tornadoes, gutters clogged, bug infestations, fender benders, cars breaking down or getting stuck in snow, gum stuck on someone's pants, meeting with the same people in random cities of the world, vicious dogs coming under the authority of the Holy Spirit, seven guys causing a ruckus parading around in their underwear on a college campus, a guy dying his hair the wrong color, a dog getting hit by a car resulting in the reconciliation of a father and daughter, a speeding ticket resulting in a court visit resulting in a woman getting healed of fibromyalgia...and the list goes on and on...Each one of these statements has a story behind it, and each one of these things seemed like such an inconvenience in the moment. Yet, God used those inconvenient scenarios for His Glory, and for someone to MEET WITH HIM!!!!

What do we do with inconvenient moments? Do we complain and get angry? Do we get frustrated, grit our teeth, and try to get through the situation as quickly as possible? Or, do we pause and say, "God, what are you doing right now? Is this an opportunity for you to do something amazing?"

I believe operating in divine appointments is a part of the "gift of faith" which is talked about in I Corinthians 12:7-11. Faith is when you do not see, yet you believe, step out, and see God do something amazing. I am convinced now, more than ever, that prayer works, and that the more we give overselves to prayer, the more we will see God magnify our little efforts--just like when He took 5 loaves and 2 fish and fed thousands (Jn. 6).

Things that the enemy meant for evil, God can turn to good (Gen. 50:20). He works all things together for good for those who are called according to His purposes (Rom. 8:28). He even allowed a man to be born blind, not because of the man's sin, but so God would be glorified (Jn. 9:3). He allowed Lazarus to die so that God would be glorified in his resurrection (Jn. 11:4)! God' ways are much higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (Is. 55:8-9). No matter how much we try to understand, we just can't--BUT, we can trust Him!!!

I have never wanted sickness in my life, and God did not want it for me, but He has used it for His glory and showed me His love and affection through it in times past. I have been healed of asthma, a kidney problem, and seizures from brain damage with jaundice (as a baby). All were life altering illnesses, and all were healed by God and to Him be all glory and praise!!! No matter what I face in life, I WANT TO TRUST HIM and know that He is GOOD!!!