Awaken to Purpose

I once saw a picture of an elected official that was being circulated on social media. People were saying that they couldn’t believe that the person in this office could be doing this and that it was shameful. The problem was that the photo was not real, it was photo-shopped. I pointed out to the person posting the picture that it wasn’t a real photo. They asked how I knew that. My daughter is a photographer and she had given me tips on how to know if a photo was real or not so I pointed out the edited parts that showed it was a lie. The Holy Spirit brought this picture to my mind one day and said to me, “the enemy of Christ has done the same thing to My children’s lives.” See he has photo-shopped our lives and our situations to look like something that is not true, yet we have believed the lie and believed the counterfeit picture. God is wanting to show His people the things in the pictures of our lives that the enemy is showing us that are not true. He wants to show us where our identity has been photo-shopped.

It is time to put our beliefs under the scrutiny of God’s truth. The real, true parts of our identity have been edited out and have had illusions edited in. We don’t have a true picture of who we really are. We don’t have a true understanding of who God created us to be. It’s time for us to come out of the illusion that has been created around us and to walk into truth and see clearly.

Religion, culture, upbringing, and our situations build structures or beliefs around our lives and tell us things or make us believe things about ourselves that are not true. God is saying to His sons and daughters “Your life can change! Your situation can change! It’s not that I haven’t been listening to your prayers or not hearing them, but I desire for you to come up to a higher place to see your situations the way that I see them and to see that I have created you to change them. I have given you the ability to overcome them! All the power that you need is already resident inside of you and all that you need to do is unlock it. Take the keys, receive the keys to unlock the treasure of power in you. I placed it in you from the beginning and what has been laying dormant in you will now come alive. I am raising up hope reformers in this hour. In order to be a hope reformer you must have hope reformed within you.” (The word reform means to improve by removing or correcting faults, problems, etc.) God is going to begin removing the faulty beliefs and problems with our thinking that block and stop our hope.

It is not enough in this hour to be only a Christian, one who just goes to church and believes. There is too much going on in our world and too much chaos rising. Evil has ramped up its agenda and God needs a people to step up and become Sons and Daughters, not just followers.

Romans 8:19 says that “Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show His children’s glory completely.” Another version says that “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

God is looking for a people that are willing to allow Him to reveal His glory to the world and to all creation. He is looking for a people. He is looking for women who are willing to say “God, I lay down my agenda and I choose yours. Lord I lay down my opinions and I choose yours. Lord I lay down my fears, my doubts, my insecurities and I choose to believe. Lord I am willing to change my mind where it doesn’t line up with your mind. I am willing to believe Your Word, no matter what my picture says.”

If you are sick and tired of your current situations and your heart is crying out ‘Yes God!”, then this is your awakening. You are being called out of mediocre living that sabotages your identity and keeps you living at a lower place than you were called to live.

So, let’s attack these beliefs with a vengeance. Let’s get our Magic Erasers of the Holy Spirit and go after the lies in the picture of who we are and begin letting God reveal our Kingdom Identity. You are a Daughter of God and also a Son of God. You were created to subdue kingdoms, right wrongs, expose the lies of the enemy, and establish the Kingdom of God in this earth. We were created for such a time as this. 

Pre-eminence to Position

The body of Christ has focused so much on our positions, our titles, our “what” we do for God that we’ve neglected the “who” we are supposed to be. In keeping our eyes on ourselves we are ignoring what Jesus told us to do.

Love one another. Consider others more important. Don’t think too highly of oneself.

It takes a very mature Christian to lay his life down, to lay down an ego, a desire to be noticed, the desire to fit in, or to be needed.

We are needed; by the down-trodden, the unloved, the unsaved, and the poor. We are needed to lay our lives down for Him and for others.

God never called us to positions. He never called us to have titles. He never called us to pre-eminence over anything other than sin and darkness. If being in a certain position or job is filling a need in your soul or feeding your ego, then it’s not God. It is your soulish nature or your flesh and while you may do a good job, you will not produce fruit keeping with the nature of Christ.

Why are we threatened by others’ positions? Because in the world there is only so much room at the top. Only one CEO, only one President, only one lead singer or whatever. God’s Kingdom doesn’t work this way. He works the opposite. He says the least in the Kingdom is the greatest. This means that he that looks the least in the eyes of man has the potential to be the greatest in the Kingdom. And the Kingdom does not measure your greatness by your position in a ministry or behind a podium. It measures your greatness by your heart to serve, not your heart that wants or needs to be noticed and applauded by man.

When hell asks you “who do you think you are?”, what will you answer?

If you think you are what you do, what your position is, what your name is, or what title you have, then you have just lost that encounter. Your title or position does not cause the power of hell to back down. Your title doesn’t cause sickness to flee or death to be defeated. The only thing that wins in an encounter like that is Jesus in you. If your security is in your place, title, or position then game over. Thanks for playing. Hell will rip you to shreds.

We must know WHO we are in Christ. Jesus Christ is within me. Can hell perceive that you have been with Jesus? Or will it perceive that you are enamored with your title? Will it perceive that you get your confidence and security from your money? Or do you carry the anointing and scent of heaven?

I want hell to detect the aroma of heaven on me. I want to look like my Father. The world can keep it’s titles and accolades. My desire is to radiantly display His divine nature so that the world can see Him.

Come in My Courts….

Tags

bride, court of heaven, endtimes, God, Jesus, sons of God

For days I’ve been hearing the words “Come in My courts, come in My courts, come in My courts.” The cry of the Father is beginning to grow louder and more insistent for those that have an ear to hear. The days that are quickly coming on the earth are not for the faint of heart. It is for those who have been anchored in Christ and who know who they are in Him. There has been a pressing in my heart to come closer, go deeper, and to get lost in Him.

Religion of the past will not take us through the days of the future. A lukewarm relationship will not keep you shored up for the shaking that is coming. Now is the time He is calling His sons and daughters to know Him intimately and become intimately acquainted with who He is and to know His ways. He is calling His own to Him. He is calling us to come into the throne room and find Him there.

In the days we are stepping into it will not be enough to just know about Jesus. Relegating your time with God to Sunday morning and an occasional “help me Jesus” will be insufficient to carry you through the whirlwinds that are being unleashed in this hour. But the sons and daughters of God that have heard the call, have heeded the call, and that are pursuing the call with all that they are, will overcome. We will be triumphant. We are stepping into not only the hardest days this world has ever seen, we are stepping into our finest hour. This is the hour of the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God.

Romans 8:19 says “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”  God is getting ready to step onto the stage of the world and His creation and present His sons and daughters. We have to be ready for our unveiling. This process begins in the inner courts with Him. In the place of intimacy with Him where He reveals to us Who He is and what His plans are.

Learning about God from others is great, yet there is a time when you must step into Him yourself and get to know Him for yourself. I could tell you all day about a person that I wanted to set you up with for a date. But until you actually went out with the person, all you would know is what I told you. You wouldn’t know the real them. Only my understanding of them. But when you met them and fellowshipped with them, then you would know the color of their eyes, know how long their hair was, the tone of their voice, their favorite color or song, the sound of their laughter. It is time to find out what His voice sounds like for ourselves. Time to press in and hear His secrets. Time to ask Him what is on His heart.

He is calling you. He is pursuing you. He is longing for true fellowship with you. Lay down the distractions. The tv, the computer, whatever the thing is that keeps you from sitting down with your Father. He loves you. He delights in you. He misses you. And He needs you. He has many plans yet for this world and He needs His sons and daughters to execute those plans. We must go into the inner sanctuary to find those blueprints and plans and to understand how to execute them for the Kingdom.

Do you want to be part of the greatest move of God to ever hit this planet? Then run into the courts today. Lay it all down and say Father, I just want to know you more. He is waiting there with arms wide open.

Seeds of Greatness

Tags

Arise, God, hope, Jesus, life circumstances

Within the DNA of every child of God lies the seed of a revolutionary. One that is called to change the world. One called to change his own world. Change will come and revolution will break forth when we understand who we are and what we have been called to do. In Genesis 1, God created man in His image and according to His likeness. He gave man dominion over the earth. We were created to have dominion over the natural things of this world. We were created to to look like our Father and our Father is a world changer. He brought forth life where there was none. He brought forth light into darkness. He brought forth order and form out of chaos. He brought forth purpose out of nothing. We have been created to do these very same things.

Jesus was a revolutionary and the greatest world changer that ever walked this planet. He changed everything and the world has not been the same since He showed up. Revolutionaries are being called forth in this hour. God is calling us to rise above mediocrity. He is calling His body to a new level of living. Webster’s definition of revolution is a motion which brings every point of the surface of a body back to the place at which it began to move or a sudden and radical change. We are being called back to our original position of dominion that we have not been walking in.

It is time for a revolution and overthrow of the government of bondage in your life. This is the time for the body of Christ to be separate from the world and to begin moving forward from the place of authority that God ordained for us. We are being called to begin creating and changing the course of our lives the way God began creating. God used the spoken word. The church has abdicated its throne to the god and kingdoms of this world. We have given them our voice and in turn they have told us to be silent. It is time to take it back.

Revolutionaries come forth! God is calling His sons and daughters to rise up and take their rightful place. Revolutions 4:10 tells us that He has made us “kings and priests.” Kings make decrees. Their word is law. Job 22:28 says “you will decree a thing and it will be established for you.” We are called to decree the mandates of heaven and see the Kingdom of God move forward in a powerful way. When we declare a word, it will become law.

It is time for the church to outshine the world. It is time for the sons of God to take their place. Are you ready for a paradigm shift? Allow the Spirit of God to birth purpose in your spirit. Your destiny is not just what you do. It is who you are.

What story are you writing for your life?

Tags

faith, God, hope, life story

At the end of your life, when you look back on all of the moments of your life, what story do you want it to tell? I am not talking about a story of perfection, riches, or adventures. I am talking about the real story. How you lived day by day. How you reached into the lives of others and made a difference. Joshua 24:15 says “Choose you this day who you will serve.” Every day. Each and every day you must choose. Your daily choices are writing the entries in your life story.

This generation has more choices that any generation before of what or who they will serve. This generation has more options than ever about how to spend every waking moment. This generation has, more than those before, every excuse not to follow God.

How do you choose to live your life? What do you want to be remembered by? What or who are you choosing every day to serve? Are you seeking God above all else? Is your hope placed fully and securely in Christ and Him alone? Or is your hope in yourself, your money, your career, or some other person?

At the end of your life, will you look back and see a life that was completely entwined with God and days that were spent fulfilling your purpose? Or will you look back at a story of a life that was spent fulfilling its own lusts, be they anger, frustrations, bitterness, unforgiveness, strife, loneliness, addiction, sex, pleasures, etc….? As I said, there are more options than ever on how to write your story.

I pray that my story will be one of a woman that loved God fully and allowed Him to take her life and fulfill His purpose and plan for it. In yielding to His plan, I pray the story will show the adventure of life with God and a life full of hope. I pray that there will be a theme of His love running through it that touched many others. I pray, also, that His grace and redemption will so cover the rough spots that the pain will not show or hurt others.

There will be rough patches in every story, no matter how they are written. The difference maker will be whether the rough patches were covered with the rain of the Holy Spirit that brings forth faith and hope for victory or not.

What words are you writing today?

Dead Man’s Tales

Tags

die to self, God, grace, mercy, peace

“Why do I want to ‘do’ something for God. This is the question Holy Spirit asked me today.

We have all heard that we need to let dreams die and give them to God. We say we do but we really don’t. Inside we’re like “I know that I gave that to God, but He’s gonna resurrect it and give it back to be even better!” That thought in itself tells you that maybe it didn’t really die. Once something is dead, it’s dead. It doesn’t speak to you anymore. If something is still speaking, then what in it is speaking? Could it be pride? Selfish ambition? Is it the desire for fame? Or fortune? Fulfillment from something other than God Himself? Then perhaps the sacrifice that you laid on the alter wasn’t sufficiently or successfully killed.

Then I found something out about myself. That perhaps my desire to serve God, that insistence that I be called and that I have a purpose, was actually more of a desire to just not be left out. Or not be the only one without a great call on my life. That maybe for all our lofty words of “the greatest of all is the servant of all” or that “nursery workers and toilet scrubbers get the same reward as the worship leaders” were just words and not heartfelt beliefs.  Not that it’s not true, but that maybe deep down inside, I didn’t really believe that. And even if it is true, well that’s not what I wanted my call to be. But remember, “every member of the body is equally important!”. The little toe is just as important as a right arm or left leg!” Yeah right. Who wants to be a little toe? Toes have fungus and toe cheese. I KNOW that God didn’t call me to work with toe cheese and fungus. Kings and Priests don’t deal with those things! They have servants that do the dirty work.

Well, maybe not the Kings and Priests in this upside down Kingdom. Ugh……

So back to the question. “Why do you want to do something for me?” When you are in intimate conversation with the King of Kings, you can’t just flippantly answer Him. After all, He already knows the real reason and the question wasn’t really meant for Him anyway. It was meant for me. Because I needed to know what was really fueling my desire to be “doing” something in the Kingdom.

As I racked my brain to come up with an answer, and I could have very quickly rattled off a half-dozen very spiritual sounding ones, I finally fell silent. And I asked Him to show me why I wanted “to do” something.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs states that man has five needs that must be met. He says that our striving or motivation to do those things is in order to meet those needs, depending on what we have not had met yet. The first two are physiological, like air, food, and water. Ok, I have those. The next is security. I’m pretty good on this one too. The third is social need or the need for family, friends, love and affection. Check. I was good there too. But I sensed trouble when I got to level four. Self-Esteem.

Humans were created with a need for recognition, a sense of value, personal worth, attention and reputation. Well then God, if you created me with these needs, and I don’t personally know anyone that doesn’t want these things, then what is the problem?

The problem is that I am a new creation. The hierarchy of needs that Maslow proposes may or not be correct, but either way, these are the needs of the carnal flesh or our souls. I’m supposed to be walking in the Spirit. If God were to allow me to go out and do some spectacular thing for His Kingdom and it was fueled by my need for recognition, value or attention, then who gets the glory for what God does? Sure I would probably say with my mouth “What great things God had done!” with a look of humility, but inside my heart I would be racking up self-esteem points left and right. I would be satisfied or dissatisfied with myself based on my level of spiritual success.

Oh woe is me.

God has such a merciful way of humbling us because of His great love for us. His desire is not that we crash and burn on the altar of self-sacrifice, but that we know Him intimately and understand how much He loves us and that we love Him in return.

So, as for me, Maslow can keep his hierarchy. I’ve repented and have decided to let Jesus fill my every need. And guess what, as I laid my fleshly needs of self-esteem on the altar of His love, His beautiful, fiery presence consumed it and I didn’t die. On the contrary, He looked at me with eyes filled with burning love and said “I complete you.” Yes, Jesus quoted Jerry McGuire, sort of. I think Jesus probably said it first though.

We made a great exchange today, though I’m pretty sure I got the better end of the deal. I gave up the soulish need for attention from people and received in its place the full attention of the Godhead. I can tell you that it is waaayyyyy better.

As I surrendered, for real this time, every dream of “doing” that I had or hope for that “great” calling, I felt peace come on me. At this moment I don’t know if God will ever call me to pen a great novel, or call down fire from heaven on some heathen crowd, or even command a dead body to come alive.

But I do know that He loves me. He smiles when he looks at my face. He has compassion when He sees me struggle. And most of all, He holds my future securely in His hands.

I think I can, I think I can…..

Tags

God, grace, Jesus, life circumstances, place of prayer, willpower, yield

It seems that the majority of Christians are trying to live the Christian life by their own willpower. I think that maybe this isn’t working out so well. The Church sometimes is as burned out, stressed out, and grumpy as the rest of the world. We were not meant to live our life the way the world does. The world uses willpower to stop smoking, to stop eating so much, or work harder. The result is a massive pile-up of New Year’s resolutions, life goals, and diets that are never finished. The only thing that our willpower manages to bring to our life is more guilt, shame, and disappointment that we’ve failed one more time.

The remedy for us is in Philippians 2:13 which says  “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” The Greek word used there for “work” means to be operative, be at work, or put forth power. In other words, It is God who operates in you or puts forth His power in you to do the work. It’s His job to effectively display His power! That should come as a great relief to many in this “works” ridden life. We are to walk out our salvation with God providing all the ability and energy.

And how does this happen? By our obeying and yielding to the work of the Cross. Jesus already paid the price for everything included in our salvation. That includes our peace and our victory over life circumstances. This doesn’t mean we will not have tough circumstances, it means that we are to yield these tough circumstances to Him. How? By getting in your place of prayer and bringing them to Him and just saying “Jesus, I yield this ______ (whatever it is) to you. I cannot do this on my own, but you can do it through me. I yield to your power, to your ability, and I thank you for victory over this.”

See how much easier this is than trying to use our willpower to change things? Our human willpower runs out. It gets tired. We can only sustain it for so long. God’s will never runs out. When we yield our stuff to His power, we find peace, joy, and victory. This is what makes the Christian life abundant and joyful rather than a drudgery.

Try it today. Yield your willpower to the Will of God and let Him provide all the ability and power that you need to become an overcomer.

It’s not what you look at that matters, but what you see.” Henry David Thoreau