Hope Deferred

Hope Realized

There’s nothing more hopeful than knowing the true love of God. But to understand God’s love we must love others as we love ourselves, yes, ourselves. It’s not easy to love that reflection in the mirror. We remember the past or the fear of the unknown future as we gaze into our own pain-filled eyes. Our eyes may lie, so we must also know the Word of God which is Jesus.

God’s Word can and will change any attitude we may harbor. We can read the Word. We can be persistent in our search for healing and wholeness. We can believe God loves us because His Word says so, and we can have faith that He wants the best for us no matter how we suffer.

I can say without a doubt that through my suffering I’ve discovered joy, and I hang onto hope every day; every time I take medication, every time I faint in public, or fall in the kitchen and break bones. The Lord sees how we persevere and rejoice in our sufferings. And somewhere, somehow, in the middle of it all, we mature. Reality, true reality, finds our hearts and minds. We come to know we can count on God’s promises in His Word.

God, Jesus, loves us more than the drops in the ocean or sands of the sea. He forgives us as far as the East is from the West. We are God’s children, and He wants the very best for us.

Within all the lessons we learn the Lord takes us to higher and higher levels of glory. So, we can hope for a future that is good and an eternity that is better.

January 11, 2023 0

WORSHIP HIM

Photo by NATHAN MULLET on Unsplash

Psalm 29:2

Be in awe before his majesty. Be in awe before such power and might! Come worship wonderful Yahweh, arrayed in all his splendor, bowing in worship as he appears in the beauty of holiness. Give him the honor due his name. Worship him wearing the glory-garments of your holy, priestly calling!

Let’s define worship as follows:

1. reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.

We have an Almighty God who is worthy to be worshiped. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the Lion of Judah, He is the Bright Morning Star, He is our King, He is The Banner Of Love over us, He is our Provider, He is our Refuge, He is our ever present Help, He is our Protector, He is our Refuge, He is the Lover of our Soul, He is our Waymaker, He is our Councilor, He is our Comforter, and much , much more. He is worthy .

We can’t say enough about our God who sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins and imperfections , so we can spend eternity with Him. He has amazing plans for us and is always for us and not against us. As the old saying goes” He paid a debt we could not pay and a debt He did not owe.” His ways are better than ours and His wisdom far outweighs that of the world.

I am stating these things because we gain the intimacy we need with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit , when we worship. Worship brings His presence so it can be an atmosphere to learn and know these things, It is tangible and peaceful. Everything happens in worship. When we put Him first in our day, the day goes easier and puts us on a path of Life. There is nothing more awesome than hearing God speak to us and know He has everything worked out for our benefit. We have that peace that surpasses our own understanding in the face of circumstances that are breathing down our back.

You can worship anywhere. When you whisper His name or think about the conversation you had with Him this morning you are still in worship. When you acknowledge Him about the thing He solved for you or took care of, you are still worshiping Him. Worship contains being grateful and having a transparent heart. He knows your thoughts and all that you are made up from and of

In our hearts, on a daily basis we are barraged with information, good and bad. These things can keep us out of sync with our communication and worship. The negative is designed to crowd out or connection with God. It is good to keep our thoughts centered on Him. Worship helps us greatly in keeping the connection. It doesn’t mean we don’t have our own thoughts. It just means when we worship His presence enters in so we can have life running through us and not negativity.

Let’s define Honor. It is the same root word as Glory in Hebrew. The Hebrew word is kaw-bad. It means weighty, heavy, glorify, glorious and honorable. So when we honor Him, we are freely giving Him our respect and love to our God. We are making room for Him and receiving what He has to give us. We are glorifying Him by being obedient to His requests and ways. We are reflecting His character back to Him. We are created in His Image.

This next verse speaks of kaw-bad (glory) as wealth. The word is the picture of God’s character.

Genesis 13:2 NKJV – 2 Abram [was] very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. The word rich is the word kaw-bad.

I will leave it at this picture. Worship shows you who He is and who we are in Him. You can look up these verses and gain more understanding of worship.

Plug in the word worship in your bible application and the verses are endless. Or I have put a link here.

https://www.bible.com/search/bible?query=worship

November 15, 2022 0

Declare Your Restoration

October 17, 2022 0

Imitate What Is Good

“Delightfully loved ones, don’t imitate what is evil, but imitate that which is good. Whoever does good is of God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”

3 John 1:11 The Passion Translation

October 13, 2022 0

Demonstrate My Love

“For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.”

The Passion Translation John 13:35

October 12, 2022 0

Jesus Is Closer Than You Know

Photo by Sergio Rodriguez – Portugues del Olmo on Unsplash

Jesus’ death on the cross was so we can have relationship with Him. He is not unreachable or too far away. In the book of John, chapter 3 verse 16, we see the intention of His death on the cross. John 3:16 ESV – 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Next in verse 17, John 3:17 ESV – 17″ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him,” God’s will is for us to have life. Life with the Godhead, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is real and tangible. He wants us to participate in the affairs of the Kingdom of Heaven through relationship.

In the book of John, chapter 17, in the following verses we see the conversation from Jesus to his Father. It is tender-hearted and insightful to Jesus’ intention about our life with God the Father and Jesus. I am bringing this up because in the next paragraphs we will look at what man thinks is important for relationship with Jesus. Not what the God head had planned before the foundations of the world. Here are some verses out of chapter 17 from the book of John.

John 17:22-26 ESV – 22 “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

These verses are stating the very essence of the heart of God and what Jesus expressed to his Father about us. It states boldly, that he gave us his glory! The glory of God is His manifested goodness for us. He is a good God. I would recommend that you read that entire chapter. In this verse, we learn that, the word of God, (Jesus is the word) sanctifies us. The Truth (the word) are/is factual. It is the real thing. The more we read and take in His word, the more we become like Him and know and understand Him. We also become closer to Him. As we eat the word, just like food to our soul and spirit, it strengthens us and changes us into His very nature. We have a need to shed and have the old man changed. We have the ability to become like our Father.

In the following passage, the verses state how Jesus was calling out the religious men of the day, that they thought that there ways were above and beyond God’s ways. They were clearly only interested tradition of men and not a relationship with Jesus. This exchange is in the following passage in the book of Mark chapter 7 verses 1-9.

Mark 7:1-9 ESV – 1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

The Pharisees had made their own religious rules of how people should act or behave instead of relying on the power of the scripture (the word of God) to walk with Jesus. In the next verses, Jesus points out what defiles a person is what comes out of their own hearts. Jesus is all about our hearts. He is not about trying to keep ridiculous rules. Rules that are just performance based behavior. Jesus is more interested in us talking with him and knowing we want to be a part of his family. The Family of God.

I promise you all the religious traditions of the world will only frustrate you and your heart will not be at peace. Jesus is as close as inside of you when you ask him to come into your heart and life. Ask Him, He will make himself real and tangible. He created you. He knows everything about you! There is nothing too big or too small that he doesn’t care about in your life.

October 11, 2022 0

The Coming Freedom

Received May 10th, 2022

In the days to come, the Greater Glory will be blinding; dead men being raised from out of their graves to the restoration of all things.

In My Mighty power, I will take down My enemies, make them My footstool, raise up Heaven on earth and proclaim Victory! Victory!

Oh death where is your sting! I will make the path brighter and illuminate in the darkness.

Follow Me and come sit with Me!

Sit with ME!!

Come out of her My people! Learn My ways. Learn of ME. Know Me and know My heart.

Let Me show you the way. Let Me bring you higher. Come up higher. Come closer. Incline your ear. Do not despair in these dark times.

It will not last forever.

Wake up oh sleeper!

Arise!

Psalm 110:1, Revelation 18:4, Psalm 119:105, Isaiah 60:1, Malachi 4:2, Romans 13:11, Ephesians 5;14

September 27, 2022 0

Removing Blocks of Healing

Identify Your Blocks

Knowing what blocks to healing we have in our lives is important. We must know what we need before we can begin healing. It takes introspection and a strong sense of self to discover our fractured parts. Introspection takes courage. We must be brave and honest with ourselves about our character behaviors, shortcomings, and flaws. Knowing ourselves honestly and intimately will lead us into understanding our fractured parts.

We can identify our fractured parts by journaling, talking to a professional therapist, and asking a trusted friend. But our first path is always Jesus. Jesus and Holy Spirit should be our first “go-to” Helpers when it comes to removing blocks to healing that we have in our lives. They know exactly what we are going through and what we need to be healed.

We must be able to hear the Lord and be sensitive and discerning of the Spirit to understand how to move forward. Below are several ways to get started on the process of healing.

Practice Self-Care

Preparing for healing takes self-care. When we care for ourselves, we are honoring the temple that God gave us to steward in this life. Self-care is for the mind, spirit, and soul as much as for the body. We must care for our whole person, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When we are out of balance with our self-care we are out of balance with God. One of the best ways we can practice self-care is with love.

God lives in us when we love, 1 John 4:12–13, TPT reads:

“…But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us. And he has given us his Spirit within us so that we can have the assurance that he lives in us and that we live in him.”

With God in us, we are able to heal. We must love ourselves in order to fully love God and others. Loving ourselves takes some work when we’ve been unloved as a child, rejected, abandoned, or otherwise traumatized. Any form of child abuse will leave us unloving as adults. We become unloving because we feel unacceptable and unworthy of love. The truth is that we are worthy of love. God can show us how to love again through trust and patience. We must be willing to leave pain and suffering behind to love again.

While in pain and/or suffering, we are vulnerable to new traumatic events as well as re-experiencing past events. It’s a catch-22 that being ready to heal makes us vulnerable to more traumatic events and to re-experiencing traumatic memories or flashbacks of trauma. The very same vulnerability can work for us to heal but can also leave us open to new pain. Being vulnerable takes courage and hope that in the process of healing, even when we feel more pain, the hope can bring us through to the other end of it all.

Courage and hope lead us in the process of self-care and healing. The more we love ourselves, the more prepared we will be for our healing. We must find hope in our circumstances. There’s a lot of hope in the Bible. There’s hope in Jesus as the Lord of our lives. Jesus gets started on healing us from the second we believe in Him. And Jesus always finishes what He started. Jesus is the Finisher of our faith.

Use Love & Kindness

Satan and his minions hate to love, so love is what we must do. When we are down, depressed, anxious, or in any other bad place, we must love God, ourselves, and others. When we are not doing well and we are kind to others, love increases and the darkness leaves. There’s instant freedom for us as we practice love for ourselves and one another.

Practicing love for ourselves and others sows love into our whole being. Remember, according to Scripture, we reap what we sow (See Galatians 6:7). If we want more love and kindness in our lives, we must love and be kind. Being loving and positive will prepare us for healing. When we are positive, we are more open to processing painful events and memories. No matter what we sow, we must keep our eyes on the Lord.

Focus on The Lord

We must keep our eyes on Jesus and everything He is teaching us as we prepare to heal. Peter learned above all the apostles to keep his attention on Jesus. Once, Peter courageously walked on water with Jesus. Here’s what happened: Peter took his eyes off the Lord, began thinking on his own, and feeling frightened he sank. In Matthew 14:28–31, TPT, we read:

“Peter shouted out, ‘Lord, if it’s really you, then have me join you on the water!’ ‘Come and join me,’ Jesus replied. So, Peter stepped out onto the water and began to walk toward Jesus. But when he realized how high the waves were, he became frightened and started to sink. ‘Save me, Lord!’ he cried out. Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and lifted him up and said, ‘What little faith you have! Why would you let doubt win?’”

Peter doubted what he was doing and sank. We learn here that doubt is one of the biggest ways we can turn away from the Lord. When we aren’t focusing on Jesus, it focuses us on the world and our flesh. Yet, Jesus is never far away from us. Listen to what Mark 1:15, New King James Version (NKJV) says:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus and the Kingdom of God are never farther away from us than our own hand at arm’s length. We are the ones that keep Jesus away, but He’s always near to us. Jesus is always ready for our repentance and reconciliation. Jesus wants to heal us, but we have to let Him into our lives in order to do so.

Pray & Prepare for Healing

Pray for healing. We can prepare for our healing by continually praying for ourselves. Praying for ourselves readies us for healing by opening up our will to align with God’s will for us to be healed. When we pray for ourselves, we are asking the Lord in intervene on our behalf for healing. It’s advisable to pray as much as possible until the healing has happened, or we’ve been set free. Praying in the Spirit, in our angelic tongues, helps heal us even more.

When we pray in tongues, we are praying in a language unknown to us, unless we are given the interpretation. According to Galatians 5:16, we are to walk in the Spirit, rather than the flesh. In order to walk in Spirit, we must be set free from the enemy of God. Praying in tongues can free us from what we don’t know we need freedom from. Praying in tongues is a proactive approach to healing. Tongues give us a direct connection to God. If you don’t have tongues, just ask Holy Spirit to give them to you and/or get help from a Spirit-filled friend.

Use the prayer model below or pray on your own:

Lord God, I repent for having blocks to healing in my life. In preparation for my healing, I repent for allowing false idols to enter the life that has kept You away from me. I repent for allowing false idols to sit in Your position in my life as the One True God through Christ Jesus. I repent for ____________ (name as many false idols as you feel you have used, such as a person, career, possessions, etc.). God remove these false idols from me. Lord, remove from me all of the ungodly false idol gatekeepers I have put in place. Wash me cleanly in Your blood. Cover me and fill me in the areas I have fallen. My desire is to be healed fully mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

September 10, 2022 0

My Secret Place

Entering Holy Ground

Our Secret Place exists in the innermost depths of our being and the outermost heights of our existence. It’s a place that begins and ends in the battlefield of the mind in our soul, the flesh of our body, and the essence of our spirit. The Secret Place exists in us where we meet Jesus, Father God, and Holy Spirit, and is sacred and holy ground.

Holy ground occurs in the very heart of God’s presence. There are only two places in Scripture that mention holy ground, and both are about Moses. The first verse refers to when Moses was in the presence of God in the form of a burning bush. The second reference was in Acts 7:33 talking about Moses’ experience. Listen to Exodus 3:5, NKJV, “Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’”

If you’ve supernaturally encountered God’s presence in any form, you know that you know that you were with Him. And if you’ve had that experience of being in His holy presence, you’ve touched your Secret Place.

Every Believer in Christ walks with differing abilities to access God and their Secret Place. The Secret Place is easily sensed and accessed by some Believers in Christ Jesus. Other people struggle because their Secret Place lies more dormant and inaccessible. Recognizing and accessing our Secret Place is pivotal to our walks of salvation because we must mature by intimacy and relationship with God.

We are called to mature as Believers in Christ as we walk out our salvation story. Our salvation story is our testimony to living life with the Lord. Our testimonies never go away, always improve by increasing our relationship with God, and are to be celebrated no matter how hard they may have been.

Many of us have had difficult lives and we want the future to be different. We want to change to become the person we know we were meant to be. The beauty is that we can change when we enter our Secret Place with Jesus. We change because we are blessed in God’s presence with healing, wisdom, strategies, knowledge, understanding, and love.

Enter your Secret Place with Jesus to change, heal, grow and find freedom. By entering the Secret Place, we can get rid of many of the negative challenges we face in life because we will mature. In our Secret Place, we can increase positivity and learn about employing constructive actions and activities available to us for living an abundantly full life.

September 5, 2022 0

In Christ One Day at a Time

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

In 12-step programs, there’s a saying, “one day at a time.” To stick with something one day at a time is doable: it’s an attainable goal — though for some it’s one hour at a time or one minute. Looking at an unknown and frightening future can just be too much. In our walk of salvation, we too may only be able to commit to one day at a time — one hour, one minute. Keeping our eyes on the Lord helps us to get through our day when we are overwhelmed, tired, and stressed. Keeping our eyes on Jesus pulls us back into alignment with God. When we are aligned with God our burden is light. The Passion Translation Bible says, “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.”

We cannot bear the weight of our burdens alone. We need the Lord; we need our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to experience God’s presence, His promises, and His glory. God wants to help us battle. If we are overwhelmed and blocked by stress and worry, we have a harder time accepting help. We are required to pick up our cross every day; we are to choose Jesus every single day. We read in Matthew 16:24, Amplified Bible, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].”

The enemy of God only wants us to focus on what we can’t do and who we are not made to be. It’s imperative in this hour to stay focused on God and what He is doing in our lives and in His Kingdom. We have a responsibility to keep God’s Word in our hearts. We must work on our relationship with God daily. We can do that by surrendering all our lives and self to Jesus. We can work on our relationship with the Lord by worshipping Him and praising His holy name. We can align with God by intentionally seeking Him in every area of our lives. Living in this way everything that is not of God or doesn’t align with His will for our lives will fade away. Sometimes it’s challenging to stay connected and present with God, but we must try — one hour, one minute at a time.

Tips for One Day at a Time

Pray and sing in tongues.
Pray and bless your life and the lives of those around you.
Be thankful for your life and all that God has already given you.
Worship with music and the life-giving Words of God.
Read your Bible and press into its meaning for you.
Ask Holy Spirit to fill you and remove everything, not of God.
Find an anointing oil that you enjoy breathing in and focus on your breathing and the sweet fragrance of the Lord.
Call a pastor or positive and uplifting friend.
Journal without holding back.
Be ready to receive God and His presence and Word.
Set your heart on Jesus.

September 2, 2022 0