When I have a positive attitude about life, when I’m reading Scripture with a now mindset, and doing tasks — even the mundane — with a focus on God and love, I’m in the now. The now moment is described as a loss of time or being outside of time. The now moment is that white moment when everything in the world falls away except the one thing I’m doing. That moment is the place of peace that surpasses all understanding, of transcendent knowing and perfect healing.
Love is pure, honest and unconditional in the now moment.
For example, I feel agape love when I behold my children in awe; that is the
now. My words are more caring and I’m more loving to myself and others in the
here and now.
When I’m not used to staying in the present moment it can be
a challenge to get there. If I’m really distracted and unable to center myself
at my foundation, I repeat the name Jesus over-and-over again. I can meditate
to seek the now and allow myself to unplug from the world. I quiet my spirit,
mind and body to plug into God in my core. The key is focusing on His love and
my heartbeat or breathing.
I become increasingly aware of everything around me and in me once I connect. This is the place where Holy Spirit teaches me, where Jesus tells me He loves me, and where I can revere God’s handiwork more authentically. Just saying, being in the now is a wonderful present.
Excerpt from my Book: Hardwired for Purpose: Blazing Trails to Follow God’s Lead (Book 2 of 3)
Hardwired for Life Replay for Season 1, Episode 31
The conversation we had for this Podcast Replay was one of our first episodes. It’s always fun to see how far you have come, knowing you’ll also grow in the future. Be blessed, spread the Word and remember to be you and share you.
Discovering and walking out our Purpose can be difficult, especially if we take our eyes off Jesus. One way to ensure we stay focused is to find and celebrate the first fruits of our efforts. God is faithful to give us strategies for success, but we must engage with Him and receive.
Celebrate every time something happens that is a victory for God’s Kingdom. Let God know how you recognize His hand in your life and that you are eternally grateful. Give God the first ten minutes of your good news before calling your friends and family. He wants to tell you how proud and excited He is that you are seeing positive activity in your life.
And above all God wants you to know and understand how much He loves you. Here are some verses to get started:
Proverbs 3:9-10 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Honor the Lord with your wealth. And with the first fruits of all your crops (income); Then your barns will be abundantly filled, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Exodus 34:22 Amplified Bible (AMP)
You shall observe and celebrate the Feast of Weeks (Harvest, First Fruits, or Pentecost), the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering (Booths or Tabernacles) at the year’s end.
Exodus 34:26 Amplified Bible (AMP)
“You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of the Lord your God….
Leviticus 2:12 Amplified Bible (AMP)
As an offering of first fruits you may offer them [leaven and honey] to the Lord, but they shall not go up [in smoke] on the altar as a sweet and soothing aroma.
Leviticus 23:10 Amplified Bible (AMP)
“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am giving you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the [a]sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.
Nehemiah 12:44 Amplified Bible (AMP)
On that day men were appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and the Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served.
James 1:18 Amplified Bible (AMP)
It was of His own will that He gave us birth [as His children] by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of His creatures [a prime example of what He created to be set apart to Himself—sanctified, made holy for His divine purposes].
1 Corinthians 15:20 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The Order of Resurrection: But now [as things really are] Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, [and He became] the first fruits [that is, the first to be resurrected with an incorruptible, immortal body, foreshadowing the resurrection] of those who have fallen asleep [in death].
Romans 11:16 Amplified Bible (AMP)
If the first portion [of dough offered as the first fruits] is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root (Abraham, the patriarchs) is holy, so are the branches (the Israelites).
Romans 8:23 Amplified Bible (AMP)
And not only this, but we too, who have the first fruits of the Spirit [a joyful indication of the blessings to come], even we groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for [the sign of] our adoption as sons—the redemption and transformation of our body [at the resurrection]. ♥
You’ll need to know your target audience and have a solid concept before you start your creative work if it’s for commercial purposes. The concept will drive the design, so trust your research. If you still aren’t sure of the design, go back to research and concept.
If your creative work is for yourself, God or others on-commercially, the concept can be loose—though research should still be a serious driving force for creativity. Loose concepts for non-commercial work allows the viewer to participate in the interpretation of the work.
First Break All the Rules
I’ve always told students that you must know the rules before you can break them. You can break them from a position of intelligence or ignorance and professionals can tell the difference.
Get Out of the Box
Research, research and more research can help you to get out of the box you may be in or may want to break through. Research and let it go to allow your subconscious mind to most of the work. When you get back to it, you’ll be surprised at how things begin to fall into place.
Holy Spirit & Angelic Helpers
I’m pretty convinced we have access to creative angels and of course, Holy Spirit is always there to guide us in strategy, wisdom and creativity. I always pray and ask before I start work and during the entire creative process. I don’t have all the answers and two heads are better than one. ♥
This week we were led to share the latest Encounters: Seeing in the Spirit Podcast. The Lord spoke with us about justice, hope and much more. If you are looking for more of Encounters search your Podcast medium for “Hardwired for Worship presents Encounters.” ♥
Light and Love are two of the most powerful weapons we can wield in God’s army as the priests and warriors of the Kingdom age. The enemy has no choice but to flee, so join us in focusing on His gracious Light and be part of the new fight. ♥
Imagination and fantasy have gotten a bad rap, so we are discussing what they really mean, and we can use them for God’s Kingdom. Science even recognizes to importance of imagination as a critical skill for understanding and solving life’s riddles. ♥
We are courageous. There are places in life where we don’t realize we have courage and we can take pride in our overcoming. Courage is closely related to shame and vulnerability. But God’s abundant grace helps us to get through the toughest situations and live in peace, hope and love daily. ♥
Everyone has a Purpose whether they believe it or not. We need to know our purpose in order fully walk in who we are in Christ Jesus. Finding our purpose is hardwired into our DNA—some people ignore the unction to seek out their call and some are filled with an insatiable drive ask the question, “Who am I?”
However, it’s not enough to know our identity, we need to understand our identity in Christ. To know who we are in Him expands our awareness, and our ability to love, from ourselves to others and back.
Remember, Jesus said this:
Matthew 22:36-40 | “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus answered him, “‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’ Contained within these commandments to love you will find all the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.”
To know ourselves means we can know God and others. Then, we can love more deeply, purely, godly and holy. This is our all-encompassing purpose.
Made in His Image
Our identity began in Genesis when God made us in His image. We must know God—His character, His commandments, His names, His love for us, Jesus, and Holy Spirit—in order to know ourselves (If you need help understanding who you are, study the Scriptures by searching the internet for “Who am I in Christ Jesus.” There is a lot of help there.).
God has hundreds of names in the Bible (Another topic of study on Identity.). We are to reflect those names in our character, values and daily life. This is part of His plan for us, this is how He designed us.
Romans 8:28 | “So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.”
Trust in God
God does have a plan for our lives and when we discover that plan, we begin to carry unspeakable joy, peace and happiness. Struggle and drama either fall away or we begin to look at it from the eyes of Jesus. When we see our struggles as blessings our lives are enriched in ways we never fathomed. The pain and suffering become vehicles of joy and gladness.
1 Peter 4:13 | “Instead, continue to rejoice, for you, in a measure, have shared in the sufferings of the Anointed One so that you can share in the revelation of his glory and celebrate with even greater gladness!”
We are to consider ourselves special and worthy of God’s love and plan as we suffer. This is one of the harder realities for people to accept. The truth is our suffering has meaning beyond what we can understand in the Kingdom of God. This is where we must trust God and have faith that what we are suffering for is going to be used for good and that we are fulfilling God’s purpose.
Psalm 92:5 | “… Depths of purpose and layers of meaning saturate everything you do.”
We have our overall calling to love God and others and we are each given a unique purpose. This unique purpose is hardwired into who we are. The people seeking and asking who they are and what their purpose is will find it. Our purpose is already written, and we are already fulfilling it spiritually in heaven.
Matthew 6:10 | “Manifest your kingdom realm, and cause your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is fulfilled in heaven.”
Do Everything in Obedience
We often run amok. We have ministry ideas that are wonderful and helpful in serving and loving others, but we are often not fulfilling our unique call. This is where frustration and unfulfillment comes from as we serve. We end up opening defiled doors and we walk in rebellion and disobedience to who we were designed to be.
We can just look at our fingerprints. We are all different and we all have been made to do something special for God’s Kingdom. And when we engage in that special purpose, we will be successful in walking out our salvation narrative.
Proverbs 19:21 | “A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of his purpose will succeed in the end.”
The great thing about finding and walking in our purpose is that God becomes our boss. He is the most caring and understanding leader and mentor we could ever ask for.
Proverbs 4:25-26 Watch Where You’re Going | “Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions. Watch where you’re going! Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you.” ♥
