Tag Archives: yes

Dec6

Washed Clean. Made New.

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💭I had this thought going through my spirit today.
🫠Sometimes, when we’re serving in our purpose, it gets messy.
🤔When it gets messy, sometimes we understand that as we missed God.
🧐But what if, getting messy was part of your process?
🫤What if the mess was to help you realize how deeply you need God?

🍽️Consider a dinner plate.
🧆It’s purpose is to serve us for our meals.
🧼But man, everytime it serves its purpose, it’s messy and needs to be washed clean.

🚮Can you imagine the waste if we threw them away every time they got messy doing what they were made to do?

🫧Instead we wash them in preparation for them to serve again.
🎉It’s like they become brand new once more.

🤷‍♀️I wonder if we took the mess to the Lord and asked Him to wash us, make us new, and prepare us to serve in our purpose again- each time it got messy- How could we encounter Him and allow our mess be turned into a message?

✝️The mess won’t be the message- but how He tenderly met us, washed us, and made us new- that becomes the message we carry.

📣One of His faithfulness! One of His kindness! One of His marvelous love!

❤️‍🔥Today, let’s ask Him to reframe any mess we interpreted at a missed mark- and help us to bring Him that mess and make us new.

🙏🏻Lord Jesus, there is nothing too dirty, too messy, that Your love can’t wash white and make new! I invite You to reveal anything I’ve misunderstood and tried to throw away that really just needs Your healing touch. I invite you into my mess and ask You to give me a new message of Your faithfulness to bring to the world! I love You Jesus! It’s by Your blood, spirit, and power, in Your holy name I pray! Amen.

📖Revelation 21:5

“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”

📖Lamentations 3:22-23

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

📖Romans 6:4

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Mar30

Fearlessly

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along the shore,

toes in the sand,

tickled by the tide,

Heart opened wide

And suddenly,

His gaze meets mine,

Hand extends,

“My beloved, come with Me,

And let our dance begin.

I want to show you how,

To move within the depths of Me,

Lean into the motion of my Sea,

All you have to do-

Is Look up and believe.

His rhythms, like waves, becoming mine,

His leadership, steady and constant, keep the time,

Overwhelmed by Majesty,

Connected and loved, completely

Piercing eyes, gazes locked,

Hearts and hands too,

Deeper we dance,Into the blue

When will fear come for me?

When will I sink?

When will I fail?

Questions bombard me

Fingers under chin,

Tilting my gaze back to Him,

Smiling He reassures,

“You are mine, and I’m yours”

New hope blossoms,

Confidence soars,

Going deeper still,

Away from the shore

And suddenly,

The lightning strikes,

The waves toss me to and fro,

How did I get here?

What do I think I know?

I’m stupid, ridiculous,

This wasn’t His way,

Or else I wouldn’t be drowning,

Alone and afraid.

Once more,

His eyes meet mine,

“Don’t quit now, you’re doing just fine.”

New depths reveal deeper truths

New depths require deeper roots.

This can never change,

Nothing can separate,

You are in Me, and I am in You,

No matter how shallow or deep is the blue.

So we dance.

We dance in the storm,

We dance in calm,

The steps change, as does the pace,

As do I, as I look upon His face.

He is really everything,

Everything else fades away,

He is mine! I am His!

He’s making it all new, everyday.

We dance, He leads, perfectly.

Keeping time, making space, abundantly.

Fear comes and goes, as the dance deepens,

But I keep gaining more and more of Him.

I know now, that no matter what,

Wherever He calls I will go.

He is in Me, I am in Him,

Nothing can stop us, now that I know.

“But I’m tired Lord, and overwhelmed

Just let me sink, I’m gonna let you down,”

Oh Daughter, I’ll carry you,

You can rest, we’ll make it through.

True to His word, He makes a way,

I get to dance another day.

This time with His strength,

Having none of my own,

I’m learning deep requires,

The letting go.

I let go of pride, of making my own way,

I let go of the fear of failing Him each day,

I let go of the lie that I’m all alone,

And I pick up love, true love,

Running red love, the victory,

And it is done.

I’m loved-

I’m loved and free-

I’m loved and free and clean-

I’m loved and free and clean and called.

Called to be loved.

Called to love.

His big plan and purpose for me,

To love and be loved, fearlessly.

Dec9

Which invitation will you say yes to?

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Lately, the Lord has been revealing to me how each interaction and set of circumstances is simply an invitation. I get invited to be offended. I get invited to love in the midst of adversity. I get invited to be afraid. I get invited to trust God. I get invited to join in celebrated. I get invited to feel alone. I get invited to love. I get invited to hate. I get invited to life. I get invited to death.

So, as a result of this sort of simplistic yet powerful revelation, I have found myself more often than not, evaluating what I am being invited to. When I see that the invitation is to engage in a hate filled, death breeding word battle- I am starting to be empowered to simply RSVP not attending.   When I recognize I am being invited to be stretched beyond my self-imposed limits and all my senses are screaming YOU ARE GOING TO FAIL- I, timidly, RSVP that yes I choose to attend. When I recognize I have two invitations in the same set of circumstances, I am trying to be intentional on choosing the one which leads to life.

Let’s dig deeper into  this life and death talk. Life-giving thoughts are thoughts that agree with the heart of God towards you and/or others. Our thoughts eventually become our words, and our words usually become our actions. Death breeding thoughts are any thoughts that are less than or against what God says about you or others. What we come into agreement with eventually we bring into our reality.

Matthew 12:34-35New International Version (NIV)

34 …….. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

Ephesians 4:29New King James Version (NKJV)

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

Proverbs 18:21New King James Version (NKJV)

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Agreeing with God- through believing He is who He says He is- and can do what He says He can do, brings life. Anything less than that- truly brings a slow, miserable death. Kind of harsh- or just kind of simple? Perhaps both- you get to decide.

So when I am invited to justify my emotional decisions- and stay stuck in that destructive cycle- I know now that I am empowered to simply state that I will not come to that party. I can choose instead to RSVP yes to take responsibility for my decisions and seek out the Lord’s best for my life, find out his constructive cycle and then begin intentionally living that out. When I am invited to have an opinion about an organization or another individual based on my limited understanding or personal perspective, I can choose to say no to that invitation and instead choose to seek the Lord and ask for His thoughts on that person or organization and choose to agree with His heart.

Most recently, both of my children have been very ill. I have had MANY invitations to feel overwhelmed, stressed out, and completely unfit for the tasks before me. Sure, maybe the first few days I had a great attitude and a can-do spirit, but by day five and six, when the symptoms had reached their height and I was exhausted and felt like I was somehow failing them-I recognized that those thoughts were an invitation to be distracted from doing the task I was entrusted with and I RSVP’d NO! I chose instead to reach out and ask others to encourage me and pray for me so I could be enabled, by His strength and power and Spirit, to continue on.

I feel this message is for more than just me- and in my totally exhausted state I fear I may not have articulated it as well as I would have liked- I pray that somehow the Lord uses these words to challenge you, and to continue challenging me, to consider where we are allowing ourselves to go, and on the flip side- where are we inviting others?

Aug31

Misplaced Keys

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Lately, the Lord has been reminding me of “keys” to life He has specifically given me over the course of my life. Some things I carry with me always- and use almost involuntarily- like breathing. Others, I utilized for a season, and once that storm passed, I sort of misplaced or forgot about.

I have been sensing the notion for where we are headed as a whole, this whole entire world, I am going to need ALL of the keys He has placed in my hands. It has been so sweet and beautiful how He is taking me to find each misplaced key I have set down along the way.

Some keys that are life to me include:

– Holding each thought captive and making it obedient to the Lord.

      – To do what I have been created to do, the bring forth my unique reelection of Jesus on the earth, I cannot afford to think whatever thought agrees with my emotion. I can only afford to agree with the TRUTH found in God’s Word. Every other thought cycle causes me to spiral down- but when I think on what is TRUE- I lift my eyes up to see TRUTH Himself- and get lost (or found if you will) again in what He says is possible and who He says I am. 

-Gratitude

   -We enter into His presence with Thanksgiving. When I am not being intentional about gratitude- I often find my natural mind leads me to disappointment. When I fix my eyes on what is right and declare it- it seems that I gain momentum in finding right things. The opposite is also true. Long story short- someone always has it better, and someone always has it worse- when I could be praying or blessing others- why would I waste my time thinking about myself and all that I WISH was different? NO GOOD FRUIT COMES FROM ANY THOUGHTS THAT ARE NOT ROOTED IN GRATITUDE!

-Praise before the answer

  -David would lament before God in the psalms from verses 1-7 (just for example), and then in verse 8, he would be greatly praising the name of God! I asked the Lord once, where the transition was, because I had yet to be able to experience such a dramatic shift. The Lord revealed to me, that David knew God was faithful, and so after he poured His burdens out, before he saw the miracle, he would praise the One who now held the power to do the seemingly impossible. Now, I praise before I see God show off- because I know Him, and  I know He is faithful and trustworthy and will bring about something even better than I am hoping for!

-Saying Yes Lord.

  -This is by far the hardest key of life for me- because it causes me to die to my flesh constantly. But I have resolved that the kind of life I want to live, and legacy I want to leave, is simply being a woman who says yes to God. This hurts, but the fruit from every time I have surrendered my will to His, has been enormous- so much bigger than just me. His ways are always higher- and I long to walk in step with His spirit.

-Being Passionately Patient

  -From our perspective it seems as though God always has us waiting. But what I’ve noticed about all this waiting- is that in the waiting is the preparation. Interestingly, when I await a promise of God to be fulfilled the stuff that is buried deep in my heart when things are going my way, suddenly erupts when I have to wait. I come face to face with the yuck in there, and as it surfaces, I have a decision to make: will I allow Him to cause it to come out and refine me, or will I stuff it back down because I will decide it will be too arduous of a process and now is not the time? Well, if I am in the waiting- I guess now is the time! I am so thankful for the seasons of preparation that have come from the waiting- for if not for these times, I would  constantly be in over my head and set up to fail- oh but He loves me too much to do that to me. He loves me through the refining process, and I seem to reflect Him a little more each time! THAT IS GOOD!

-Not trying to figure out what it will look, feel, or be like.

  -I have wasted SOOOOOOO much time trying to predict the future. When something happens, I begin to project what may happen next and how that will affect this, and then this should be next and blah blah blah. However, NOTHING EVER GOES THAT WAY! Life has a myriad of variables that can be unleashed in any given moment. Who am I to think I could know what is going to happen? I have resolved ( and especially again recently) to take each moment as it comes. Living life in the moment IS SO MUCH LESS STRESSFUL! I find peace and I find Jesus easier as I do not trip over my own idea of what SHOULD BE happening by what time table. I am not talking about not making goals, having dreams, and accomplishments- but surrendering those to Him, with an open hand and being flexible if He has a different way to get there. I am simply saying, I choose not to add my own agenda to what He has asked me to do or said He is going to do with, in, and through me. 

These are just a few keys to life for me- that He has specifically given me to be able to become who He has created me to be and do what He created me to do. He gives us keys to be able to unlock, open, or lock and shut doors. We need every single key He has given us to be able to stay the road He has specifically called each of us to journey. Do you have any keys to life? Any misplaced keys? I’d love to glean from what He has shown you too!

 

Matthew 16:19Living Bible (TLB)

19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever doors you lock on earth shall be locked in heaven; and whatever doors you open on earth shall be open in heaven!”

2 Corinthians 10:5The Voice (VOICE)

5 We are demolishing arguments and ideas, every high-and-mighty philosophy that pits itself against the knowledge of the one trueGod. We are taking prisoners of every thought, every emotion, and subduing them into obedience to the Anointed One.

Psalm 100:4The Message (MSG)

4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship him.

 

 

Aug14

Secure/Rescue

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A while ago I was reading something and on the page was the word ‘secure,’ but my eyes saw the word RESCUE- however it didn’t fit within the context of the sentence, so I re-read it and comprehended that I saw a different word than was actually printed on the page. I asked the Lord if that was Him- and indeed, He had a message for me- that I now have been working through and working out and living- and just now- a moment ago- He nudged me to share this with you.

Rescue- Secure- The same letters make up these two words with very different meanings, and yet, strongly linked!

As I sought the Lord, He began to show me how when I feel insecure- I run to what I think will rescue me- and inversely- when I perceive the need to be rescued- I run to what makes me “feel” secure. As I have been asking Him to highlight this to me- some of these cycles are constructive and pleasing to Him, and some are not.

One day I was feeling really low about some truly hard bumps I was hitting and I found the urge to run to something I normally would turn to to make me “feel” secure- and the Lord highlighted this destructive cycle to me, and I had the thought, ” I could deny my flesh right now and run to Jesus and start to break this cycle.” Unfortunately that day- I chose to continue in my quest to satisfy my desperate need for security- a quick fix, if you will.

Shortly after, as I was spending time in His presence, He showed me this. He also began to show me the negative effects these cycles have had on my life and how far reaching the outcomes are when we choose anything other than Him for our security. How when we buy into false comfort or security in one area of our life- it slowly seeps in undetected to all the other facets of who we are. With this wisdom before me, I repented and asked Him to help me break the cycles that keep me temporarily satisfied and quickly depleted- when I could be filled to overflowing with no lack. I asked Him to come alongside of me and help me in becoming a woman who would settle for nothing less than His best for me- and to be willing to wait upon, yearn for, and rest in Him alone.

Am I still struggling? Sure. Am I making progress? You betchya! Me and Jesus are celebrating this new season of breaking through yuck that I have just been accepting for a long time.

So, I am sharing this with you and I wonder what are you settling for? Is there anything in your life you are leaning on for security that is really sinking sand? Is there anything you expect to rescue you which could leave you stranded? He alone is our source and if we place our trust and faith in anything apart from Him- we will be disappointed. But God- our Almighty God- is faithful and we can trust with Him as our foundation we are firmly placed.

Hebrews 6:13-20The Message (MSG)

God Gave His Word
13-18 When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, “I promise that I’ll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!” Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they’ll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.

18-20 We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.

Mar12

Say YES!

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Something so beautiful emerges out of the hardest storms we are called to weather. The Lord asked me to do one of the hardest things I have ever had to do about a year ago. This was an opportunity for obedience that was beyond my understanding. As I said yes to the Lord and walked forward in obedience, many of the steps were filled with tears, suffering, and much judgement. Even so, I chose to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, and move to where He was calling me.

A little more than a year later, I am in awe of how beautiful the budding fruit from this storm is. He asked me to do something hard for the people I love more than I can put into words, and God is working mightily in their lives as a result of many things, including my obedience. Amazingly though, I am watching God unfold incredible gifts in my own life and household that I would not be aligned with if I had chosen the easy road, the path of least resistance. There is tremendous blessing along the road of being in God’s will for your life.

I am not sharing this to boast about my obedience, because I can assure you I am in included in the scriptures when it says, “For ALL have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.” I am simply sharing this to encourage you. If the thing the Lord is asking you to do will be hard, painful, bigger than you can understand, know this- YOU DO NOT NEED TO UNDERSTAND. You simply need to know the truth of how loved you are, and that the One calling you is always FOR you, not against you, and is always WITH you. Nothing He calls you to is bigger than Himself, and if He is for you, you need not be concerned with whoever is against you.

It is important to know that our choices not only affect ourselves, but everyone we do life with, people we do not even realize are watching, and the generations to come. The only hope for our lives, our legacy, is to be a people, to rise up as The Body, by surrendering our will, and resolving that no matter what the call, the sacrifice, the level of obedience needed, the journey: WE ARE A PEOPLE WHO SAY YES TO GOD!

If we determine to live this way, REVIVAL will come!

Jesus, help us to be fully surrendered to You! Help us to have your heart and be willing to do whatever it takes so that every person will have every opportunity to see You and come to desire You by the example of our lives. Lord ,I so desire to say YES to everything you have created me for.Would you fill me supernaturally with the courage I need to be able to say YES! I want to see revival break out all over the world, teach me how to do my part! Oh Jesus we need more of You, more than ever before, start with me! I love You Jesus! In Your name I pray! Amen!