Month: February 2023

Happy Valentines Day my friends!

Facebook is going to be filled with people sharing their love for one another and if you do not have a significant other this day can be a challenge. I remember when I was in bible school and I would wear all black on Valentine’s Day, but I also remember the day the Lord told me, am I not the first lover of your soul, can’t you celebrate with Me? From that day on I have loved Valentine’s Day. Jesus is the lover of my soul, so I celebrate this day every year with Him first and with others as well, both my husband, family and friends. So let’s say it again for those in the back, Happy Valentines Day my friends, family and husband.

I was praying Psalm 44 this morning and while praying verse 3 the Lord began to speak me about the importance of dependence and the deception of independence. Listen to what the Psalmist says, “For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them.”

We in the west and even in other cultures as well now, have so highly valued independence that we have forgot how to be dependent on each other and on the Lord. Faith is dependence on God, trust is dependence on others, is it any wonder the deepest wounds of all humans is that someone of significance broke their trust? This should not surprise us, because the enemy knows if he can get us to not trust, we will value independence and miss the gift of dependence. Doing life alone is lonely, doing life with God and others is abundance.

On this Valentine’s Day, I pray you renew your dependence on God and others. We need each other, we were not created to do life alone and we need to depend on God, because His favor takes us places and allows us to do things we would have never done on our own. Wherever you are, you are not alone, lean on the Lord, He is there and lean on people, this is what the kingdom looks like. It’s a place of dependence.

Being born into a Babylonian system of darkness, corruption, deceit, and thievery it can be challenging to imagine any other kind of life here on earth. This is why culture is so powerful, you do not realize how much you are apart of your environment (culture) until you go into another one. When I moved to Malaysia, the first three months I was there as a visitor. I was so excited about all the things I was seeing, eating and hearing, it was fun for me for it was new, but when I decided to move there that is when I realized I was American and they were Malaysian. We were all humans, both male and female but our cultures were so different.

When we go into a different culture, we can try and buck that culture, but it will only frustrate us, because that culture will not budge, so we have to conform to it in order to operate in it. We were born into Babylonian culture, that is why when we get saved many people do not conform to the kingdom culture of which Jesus is the only King, they try to buck it and then it doesn’t conform to them, they get frustrated and remain in the Babylonian culture. The kingdom of God is its own culture and it will not conform to our Babylonian ways, we must conform to the kingdom and when we do it will be the greatest choice we ever make.

God is releasing His presence, His power, His glory, so we come into the kingdom and conform to His culture. Psalm 43 says, “Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy;” The Lord is sending Light and Truth to lead us out of Babylon into the kingdom where the culture is exceeding joy. We are in the greatest transfer of kingdoms since Israel left Egypt. I hope you choose to conform to the kingdom culture because it is righteousness, peace and joy and you are going to love it.

One of the tactics of the enemy is boredom. People can be busy but they’re bored. Boredom is the result of not being on adventure with God. We live in a culture that hails independence, self-sufficiency, survival and self-help. It all sounds so good, but the fruit of it is boredom. People are bored, they are not living a great adventure, because they have chose to trust self and not God. Trusting God is the greatest adventure you will ever be on, there is literally no time to be bored when you are truly walking with God.

Living on adventure with God has so many benefits to it, one it causes you to be and feel fully alive even when you are not doing some activity; it produces in you a sense of purpose for your existence on this earth; it gives you hope for what is possible; and it produces a joy in you that circumstances cannot alter. But the most important benefit is it pleases God. Trust is faith and Hebrews 11:6 says “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (God) and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” When you trust God that pleases God and His pleasure is what keeps the adventure active every day.

Most people don’t walk by faith, because they are self something in so many ways, but self is not fun, God is fun. We were created for God’s pleasure, the Lord loves doing life with us. It is any wonder Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes, shall He indeed find faith on earth?” Did you know Jesus is coming to earth looking for faith? Faith is what attracts Christ to us! Faith is the great adventure, because when we live by faith we do life with God and then He brings others around and it is so much fun and full of adventure.

There is nothing boring about the kingdom of God. What is boring is living for ourselves. Making it all about me and me time. You can do that stuff, but I promise you, it is boring. Living by faith, putting yourself in a place when you are not sure how things are going to workout, is not thrill seeking, it is faith walking and it is the greatest adventure you will ever embark on. Try it, I think you will like it, for God is a lot of fun to do life with!

The veil is thin between heaven and earth right now. These are not two distinct locations above us or beneath us, they are inside of us. People are sensing the thin veil inside of them. There is a supernatural desire for God that is pulsating in us, we don’t fully understand it, but we know it is there. Spiritually sensitive people are reaching out spontaneously to others saying, do you want to pray, they are speaking words of life over people and their words are piercing the darkness in the hearer. Souls are being healed from lifelong wounds, minds are being renewed from lifelong faulty wiring and hearts are being healed from word curses. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Can you sense it? It is happening spontaneously and in a variety of places.

The veil inside of us has always been thin, but people are casting off weights and sin that so easily has entangled them (Hebrews 12:1). They can sense the day we are living in is significant. There is a restoration of righteousness that is happening in the hearts of people. We are seeing the manifestation of the enemy being kicked out, not him taking over. Remember when demons left that had to put on a “show” before they would go. I hear in the spirit the words “bye, bye, bye!” The enemy is being evicted not established in our nation and the nations.

What is the Lord inviting us into right now, I believe it is a James 4 invitation, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” If you will just draw near, you will find Him right there. He is so close right now, He is so present and active in the world right now, He is inviting you to draw near, for He wants to remove the weight of fear so you can carry the joy of the Lord. He is so close, draw near, it will remove your fear and then you will see what He sees and hear what He is saying. It is really good news He is speaking! Draw near.

Being a person that hears the Lord, I have to share what He is saying, now just what I think everyone wants to hear. With that said, I was awakened this morning between 4am and 6am to the sound of a whipping wind blowing so strongly it rattled the house. This is the sound that woke me up, but when I was waking up, I heard “A violent storm is coming, brace for impact.” Immediately the sense came to me, we are going to have to speak life to people when this storm passes for they are going to be shaken.

I went back to sleep and the phrase kept rolling around in my spirit, “A violent storm is coming, brace for impact.” I got up and came to my desk opened my bible and found the place where a violent storm is in scripture. It is in Mark 4:35-41. This is where Jesus said, Let us cross over to the other side, but a violent windstorm arose and waves broke into the boat, but Jesus was a sleep in the stern, so they woke Him us and said, don’t you care that we are perishing? The context of Mark 4 is interesting as well. Four things are mentioned before this storm in Mark 4. One, is the four soils on which the word falls; two is the verse that says “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.” Third it speaks about the four stages of grain and the immediate harvest and fourth it is a parable about the kingdom of God starting small but becoming huge.

With the context mattering because it says in Mark 4:35, “On that day, when evening came, He said to them, Let us go over to the other side”, the storm happened on the same day Jesus spoke of the four things in Mark 4. So what is the violent storm that is coming of which we need to brace for impact? I am not 100% sure, but it could be an information storm of the like that is going to shock the world; it could be a financial storm; it could be a combination of storms, I am not privy to what the storm will be, but I know I heard, “A violent storm is coming, brace for impact.”

In Mark 4:37 the word violent means, natural events powerfully affecting the senses and storm means throwing everything topsy turvy. I am just sharing what I heard, I cannot add to it or take away from it and honestly I have no more information on it, but wanted to share it with you all. “A violent storm is coming, brace for impact.”

It’s now time! No other narrative. We are in sync and in time right now. This genation, this moment, this is the time for the kingdom of God is manifesting right now in ways we cannot even comprehend. If you try to figure out what God is doing, you are going to get caught in the whirlwind of truth that is happening now. Amos 9:13 (MSG) says, “Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills.” Now time!

Where does this confidence come from that this is true, one, I sense it so strong in the spirit. I know what waiting feels like and things have accelerated significantly. I observe a lot of things, it is my gift, and I see patterns, puzzle pieces and moving parts, it is fun for me, it is how God made me, and it is now time! One other thing that convinced me is when the Lord spoke to me about the Super Bowl and said 1 Chronicles 12:32 “of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command.” Can you see the two teams in this passage, Chiefs (Kansas City) and brethren (Philadelphia)?

The Lord had me dig into this passage by looking up what the name Issachar means, this really spoke to me about the message God is giving us. Issachar means there is recompense. What? I was shocked, that means it is now time for recompense. They, there is recompense, understands the times and know what Israel ought to do. You can’t make this up, the two teams in the super bowl with the same record 16-3 (John 3:16), scored the same amount of points this year, 546 each, and 546 in Strongs means, Truly, Truly or Verily, Verily and they are in this verse. Here is the summary, TRULY, TRULY, I SAY TO YOU, IT IS NOW TIME FOR RECOMPENSE! Thank you Jesus!!!!

Do you trust the Lord or trust the news? I know that is a big question for such an early morning. When we trust a lie we manifest the fruit of the lie. When we trust the One who cannot lie, will not lie, does not lie, we manifest the fruit of truth and trust. Manifestation can be what we say, how we think, what we feel, what we do, what we post, what we repeat, how we respond. Lies will never manifest life, truth will always manifest in life, joy and peace. So let me ask you again, do you trust the Lord and His word or do you trust what you are seeing and hearing on the news?

I have been observing believers, prophets, the church echoing the news and being dragged along by their stories for years now. It is surprising to me how many people can repeat something they heard on the news, but have no idea what God is saying about the days we are living in. It is not surprising though, because it was the same way in the days of Jesus. It is no wonder He and John preached, repent, change the way you think, for the kingdom of God is at hand, it is here, not it is coming, it is here right now! I hear the same message echoing throughout heaven declaring it over the earth, church, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, it is here right now, repent, change the way you think.

Trusting the Lord means we believe what He says, no matter what the news says, circumstances say, other people say, the crowd says. Trusting the Lord is hard, because most people who call themselves believers don’t trust the Lord, but we cannot let others lack of trust hinder our ability to trust. Psalm 37:34 tells us what the truth is for right now “Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.” Those who have been waiting on the Lord not for minutes, but for years are going to inherit the earth and the wicked are being cut off right now as we stand here today. If you trust the Lord you can see it, if you trust the news you can’t see it for they only show you what they want you to see. I pray you would read Psalm 37 today, it is filled with the truth about what is happening right now. The wicked are being cut off and the waiters are inheriting the earth. It is really good news if you can hear it.

I had the distinct honor last week of meeting a young man who is a bull rider. He walked into our home church after being invited by one of our members. The two men met at a Waffle House the night before, now he is sitting in a room with people he does not know. Our discussion topic was not bull riding, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask the young man to share with us one thing about bull riding we would not know. He could of said anything, but what he said I will never forget. He said, when I first started bull riding, I was put on a small bull and I learned how to out muscle the bull, but when I got put on a big bull, I could not out muscle the bull so I had to unlearn those bad habits of trying to out muscle it and learn how to ride it if I was going stay on it.

How often do we as believers try to out muscle God? We think we know what we are doing, where we are going, how we should be spending or saving, we try to out muscle God and then wonder why we don’t know how to walk by faith or by the Spirit. The church has been riding a small bull called religion or the world. We have learned how to out muscle religion/the world, but God is not religion or the world, God is the big bull and if we don’t learn how to ride Him, follow Him, obey Him, listen to Him, we are going to find the supernatural lifestyle very challenging. Those who know how to walk by faith, have relearned many things. Just like my friend the bull rider had to do.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We need to relearn somethings, one being we are not in control, God is. We are not as smart as we think we are, and may we never forget to truly walk with God we must remember, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). My new friend said, riding the bigger bull is so much more fun, because I am no longer control. Great wisdom from a young man who is a big bull rider.

Did you know it is possible to live without want? Living without want is a place of contentment, satisfaction, pure delight. It is a place of peace, fearlessness, and true joy. The world is continually putting something in our face to delight the eyes, tempt the taste, or tickle the ears. It is a perpetual call to buy this, look at that, there is no end to it. The consistent reminder of what you don’t have but could have, should have is what drives people crazy. People spend money to get something they think they want only to find out that think, that experience, that whatever did not satisfy the longing inside of them. The want can be for stuff, status or placement. When you see it on people it is like the seals at the zoo, crying out from the pool beneath always wanting you to toss them a fish to eat.

The Bible tells us we can live in a place of not wanting anything. It is not a place of extravagant wealth so you are in need of nothing, it is not a title so you feel like your someone, no it is a place of true contentment, a place where you truly have no want. Psalm 34:9 says, “Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.” Psalm 23:1 says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” The fear of the Lord is obedience to the voice of the Lord and is evidence that you have a shepherd and it produces in you a life that does not want. A wantless life is a peaceful life.

Paul picks up on this themes in Romans 14:7 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” When we really spend time with God, when we really hear His voice and obey, when we are submitted to His will in our life, there is a contentment that comes and want is no longer present. People can feel it when you want something, but they also can sense it when you have no want for you are filled with righteousness, peace and joy. The abundant life is a life where you have no want, for you fear the Lord and He is your shepherd.

A gun is about to go off and a race is about to begin. This race is not a competetion with others in the body of Christ, it is a race of which Jesus is our pace car and we are going to have to follow Him. He will set the pace and we must be able to stay in stride with His pace. To do this, we have to cast off something from our own lives that in the past have slowed us down. Everyone one of the twelve disciples, who became apostles had to cast something off to follow Jesus. Matthew had to cast off tax collecting; Peter, James, John and Andrew had to cast off fishing; Thomas had to cast off doubt; what you have to cast off will be unique to you, but it must be cast off so we can all run this race with Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2 exhorts us by saying, “we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus had to cast things off as well, He had to cast of the shame of the cross. I am not sure what God is calling you to cast off, but you do and it is time to cast it off because the gun is about to go off and we are about to run a race of glory with the King of kings and Lord of lords. We will need stamina, resilience, and flexibility to run this race God is inviting us into. The apostle Paul said, “I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

We are at the starting line of a marathon, the gun is about to go off and we are about to follow the pace of Jesus in this race, I pray you cast off everything that has hindered you so you can join this race, for it is going to be a race for the ages.