Month: May 2023

I recently was brought to a large house on a high hill. The gates to the house had scripture versus on the pillars, but the iron gates had been removed, the driveway was bumpy and the landscaping had not been done in years. Yet we get to the top of the hill and here sits a three story house with a rooftop terrace. The view is unobstructed in 360 degrees. Oh if these walls could talk. I was invited all the way up to the roof of this house and I thought this would be an ideal place to pray for our city. I can only imagine the sunbathing that was done up here or the parties that were had for the view was truly breathtaking. But neglect got the best of this property and place. I may never know the why behind what I saw, but what I do know is I love houses and even if they are neglected I can see the former glory they had.

Houses are a lot like people. We are created in the image of God, beautiful upon birth, placed with in us is passion, purpose, destiny, calling, dreams, desires. God made us in His glory and for His glory. I can almost see Him smiling in sheer delight as He was forming us in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139). We used to be alive with laughter, smiles and even some tears, but they were only temporary for we had things to learn, people to see and places to go. The view of our life was breathtaking, but somewhere, somehow the enemy who is a thief and a robber, shut down our dreamer, closed up our heart and wounded our soul. In this we began to neglect our hearts, our passions, our dreams, our desires. Somewhere along the way we stopped tending to the garden of our heart. Then before we realized it, the signs of neglect began to show. We did not like what we saw, but the fire on the altar of our heart grew dim and we lost our childlike wonder.

My friends, the greatest gift God gives us is the ability to change. We are not stuck, we feel stuck, but we are not stuck. We were created for transformation, we were made for mobility, we have the Creator of everything living inside of us. Even if it is a tear that falls as you read this, that is the sign of life in you. No matter how neglected your life feels, God sees the glory He created you for and in. Whisper a prayer that says, help. You’re still breathing, you’re still alive and there is still hope that God can turn it all around, whatever it is. Don’t give up, rather open up your mouth and pray, its the first step to seeing everything change. Trust me, 2.0 is a great version of you.

The mantra of the church is we are of grace not the law, yet many people live under the law and do not even realize it. The law is a works covenant, meaning how much I work is how much I should be rewarded. We are a people who love to be rewarded or waged according to our work, but that is a law mentality. One of the best ways to see what mentality you are really of, the law or grace, can be seen in how you respond to Jesus parable in Matthew 20. Now, I realize none of us think we would respond the way the “workers” in the parable responded, but if we were honest I think we would respond the same way. Because we have a “work ethic” which we highly value and is striking similar to Israel’s highly valued law ethic.

Listen to Jesus in Matthew 20 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.” The first ones hired were promised a denarius for a day’s work, no other worker was promised anything. When it came time for rewards/wages for work all got paid the same in the kingdom of this generous king. The first hired were furious not because they didn’t get what they were promised but because others who didn’t work as long got the same pay. They cried unjust and Jesus called it generous.

Church as I read this I sensed a yellow warning light flashing in the spirit. We must be aware of calling something unjust that God calls generous. People are going to receive things similar to us, who have been working longer than them, but we must trust the heart of our King, for even when others get what we do not think they deserve, we actually don’t get what we deserve either. It will be a time of rejoicing when our King starts rewarding us all on earth for things we didn’t earn or deserve.

The Word of God is one meal with many courses. If we try and pull out one verse and make a theology out of it, we do a disservice to the Word of God and to the people who hear the words we are preaching. Many people have heard a lot and seen a little. One of the reasons for this is because we have not heard the Word of God spoken as the truth in which it was sent, rather we have a mixture of many things with the Word of God that sound good but don’t produce anything of substance.

I was reading Matthew 18 this morning and verse 18 says, “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” We have been taught to bind and loose many things, this verse is popular in many settings, but especially in prayer meetings. The challenge is, the enemy is still running rampant in our culture, country and personal lives, because this verse is not about what we have been taught. If this verse is read in the context of the one dish (sermon/discourse) Jesus was speaking it in, we would profit from it, but since it has been extracted out as a one verse theology about binding and loosing, we do not even know what Jesus was telling us to bind and what to loose.

In context, Matthew 18:15-35 is one discourse and the subject is forgiveness of someone who has sinned against you. Now put binding and loosing in that context, if we loose people (forgive them) for the sin they have committed against us, heaven looses them, if we bind them (don’t forgive them) from the sin they committed against us, heaven does not loose them from it either. This is powerful and puts great responsibility on us to be people who are forgiving not with lips but from our heart. It is even a greater call when you hear Jesus’ final words on this subject “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

My friends, one of the greatest weaknesses of the body of Christ is that we expect to be forgiven but we do not want to forgive. This is an injustice the kingdom of God does not tolerate. If you don’t forgive, you can’t be forgiven, it is a sowing and reaping principle. We must forgive others, no matter the sin they have committed against us. Jesus calls people wicked who are forgiven but don’t forgive. We as the body of Christ talk a lot about repenting for the seen sins of our nation, but the hidden sin of believers is unforgiveness and this is the real point of repentance we need to realize if we want to see as much as we are hearing. Selah!

In prayer this morning the Lord gave me an open vision of a mountain and coming off of the mountain was a cascading waterfall. I looked at the mountain and the waterfall and the Lord spoke to me and said, “My presence is the apex of the mountain and my oracles are cascading out of my mouth like this waterfall.” The presence of God was so thick in my room, tears fell down my face as I heard in my spirit, “It is like the dew of Hermon

Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing—life forever.” (Psalm 133:3)

The phrase the presence of God is the apex of the mountain is still ringing in my spirit, the tears are still in my eyes, and the Lord begins to speak to me about His presence and how it is directly connected to His oracles. Hermon in the Hebrew means sanctuary or dwelling place of God. When we dwell in the presence of God in worship with our church community or at home in our personal prayer time, when the presence of God comes it is enveloping, consuming, overwhelming. The presence of God is not something you experience and then can jump out of when the song ends or the worship leader says thanks for singing with us. In the presence of God it is timeless, so you cannot quickly transition.

As we dwell in the presence of God, we are located under the cascading words of God and those words wash over us, get inside of us and then deeply penetrate our innermost being. Once we are absorbed by the cascading oracles of God which come from the mountain of th presence of God, we begin to have living waters flowing out of us (John 4). God pours living words in us then we have living words coming out of us. The Lord is inviting us into the presence of God which is the apex of the mountain of the Lord. Once you experience Him, nothing else compares in value and everything changes for you. What we need is the presence of God.

The Lord spoke to me the words this morning, “Generational Gestation.” Being a mom, I realize I should know what gestation means, but the definition escaped me as the Lord spoke these words. Gestation means, “A bearing or carrying; exercise by being carried.” As I read these definitions the Lord spoke to me again and said, “A generation is in gestation.” I realize on Mother’s Day this word can feel like it belongs in the category of pregnancy, but I sensed from the Lord this has more to do with truth that it is Israel’s 75th anniversary as a nation.

The Bible is clear that 70 years is a generation. This means that Israel, the nation that was born in a day, has been living in their own land, again, for a generation. Since Israel has been and continues to be the blueprint for what God does in the earth, the words Generational Gestation makes more sense now. I believe the Lord is carrying a generation through a transition of the likes we do not even fully understand. I see the arms of God carrying the generation, not the gender, on the earth right now in His arms, to safely bring us through this transition period we are in.

In Luke 1 an angel visits Mary, who is not married and has done nothing to become pregnant and she is told she is going to give birth to a son. The story continues to speak about Elizabeth, the aunt of Mary, and says, she is past child bearing age, but she is six months pregnant. Then it says in verse 37, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” A generation that is being carried by the hands of God is coming out of bondage and being brought into freedom. We are living in a time of generational gestation and God is carrying a whole generation again, just like He did for Israel in 1948 and in their being carried through the Red Sea and across the Jordan River. He is the same God, yesterday, today and forever.

It is a warm Saturday morning here in Middle Tennessee. After a whole day of rain yesterday, the breaking up of the clouds, the slight sight of blue skies and the sound of birds singing is a welcome sight this morning. I was coming through the gate back into the community I walk through and the branches on the tree are low, the rain drops still on them, so I bend my head down to get under them without too much water descending on me. As I am about to walk through the branches with my head bowed, the Lord says, “Head down, lead with the crown.” It was so clear, I could not deny what I heard. My first response was to repeat what I just heard, for it came with presence of God. “Head down, lead with the crown.”

Finishing up my walk I am thinking of this phrase the Lord has just spoken to me and it triggers a memory from 2018 when the Lord spoke to me and said, “Head down, keep going.” I knew that word in 2018 was a call to perseverance, but this word, five years later is coming with a different message. As I though literally about the words, “Head down, lead with the crown” brought the realization that when I went through the wet branches with the crown of my head, my face was covered, so I would not get hit by the low hanging branches. As I continued to meditate on the final steps of my walk, I knew I needed to look into this more when I got in the house.

My first stop was Hebrew word lessons, to know what crown means, “There are two distinct Biblical Hebrew words for crown: atarah (part of a royal ensemble, coming from the root meaning circular and surrounding) and nezer (part of a priestly ensemble, associated with nazarite concept of separation and dedication).” Priest and king, of course it does, two crowns, one King, Jesus of the order of Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God. Therefore the crown Has to do with authority. Now back to what God said, “Head down, lead with the crown.” I believe the Lord is telling us, humility is the way to lead with authority. In the kingdom those who lead with humility are those who have kingdom authority. My friends, there is so much in this phrase God spoke moments ago, but for now, let us be those who walk in humility so we can demonstrate authority.

Quick question for you to ponder today. When God brought the nations of Israel out of Egypt, what was the one requirement to come out? Yes there was only one requirement to make it out of Egypt, and that requirement was to have blood on the doorpost of your house. When the angel of death saw the blood, the angel passed over that house and did not kill the firstborn inside that house. Therefore, the demarcation for the nation of Israel was the blood on the doorpost. Do you believe the blood of Jesus is over the doorpost of this nation? Your nation? I can’t speak for any other nation but my own, and I know the blood is over my nation because when this nation was born, the founders made a covenant with God.

Why is this important, because American culture thinks so individualistically that we preach to individuals rather than to nations. Jesus said in Matthew 28, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel (of the kingdom) to all nations.” Israel came out of Egypt as a nation. Listen to Exodus 12:47, 51 “The whole community of Israel must celebrate this Passover festival. … On that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt like an army.” God looks at nations when He is planning a deliverance. Yes we need to repent individually, yes we need to confess individually, I get that, but we are not in an individual deliverance situation right now, we are in a national one, an international one. God is delivering nations again.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it really is, because some don’t believe cities can be saved, states can be saved, let alone a nation be saved unless we have some kind of a Ninevah experience, but what I sense is happening is God looked for the blood and when He saw it He passed over and now we are in the timeframe of a national deliverance. I see nations being delivered from their oppressors. I see nations being saved from their puppet masters. I see righteousness exalting nations!

Assumptions are thinking you know the answer to a question you did not ask. The accuser of the brethren puts thoughts in our minds and convinces us with a narrative that is most likely false, but the accuser has convinced us is true. The devil does this with what he tells us about God and what he tells us about other people. The way to know the truth is not to make assumptions, but to ask questions. Questions are a powerful weapon against the accuser of the brethren, because the person you ask the question to, whether God or someone else, will be able to answer the question, which will either confirm or deny your assumption. Once it is confirmed or denied now it is the truth and you can be confident in what you know.

Learning the art of asking questions is critical to all our relationships. Yes 75% of communication is non-verbal, so body language says a lot, but the 25% of communication that is verbal is very powerful. I have found the Holy Spirit loves to answer questions. When I am reading my Bible and I am not sure what it means, I ask the Holy Spirit and He answers me in another place in the word of God. When it comes to my son, who is 15 years old, I ask questions and it opens up powerful conversations about what is in in heart. When I ask my husband questions it gives me great clarity into what he is thinking and when I ask my friends questions, it brings order to any chaos the enemy is seeking to create.

When we ask questions rather than make assumptions, we actually seal the breach in the wall of protection in our family, community, city and even nation. We don’t know as much as we think we know, so asking questions is an act of humility and it honors the one you are asking, and silences or confirms the thoughts you are having. May we give each other the gift of asking questions rather than living with assumptions. I think we will find out things we did not know and we will learn the the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:32), from the enemies attacks and our assumptions.

How many of us are more like the Jews in the Bible than we realize? The New Testament Jews were looking for the Messiah, they wanted Him to come, just like we do in our day and age. I hear more and more people speak about the return of Christ, the rapture of the Church, the desire to go and be with the Lord. It is different language but it is the same hope. Both Jews of old and Christians of now, seek the same thing, but they also missed or are missing the same thing.

Jesus said in Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The Greek word for peace in this passage is eirene and it means undisturbed, quietness, national tranquility, exemption from war. Jesus said He did not come to bring peace as defined here, meaning many were and are seeking a quiet kingdom, but Jesus is coming with a loud, disturbing, kingdom. Jesus said, I do not come with peace, but with a sword. Sword in the Greek here is machaira and it means conflict, disputes, quarrels, a flight. Jesus came to earth with His kingdom to pick a fight with the ruling forces on earth. He did not come to be friends with His enemies.

Many people want to be raptured out of here, because they don’t want to fight, yet we say we are the warrior bride, Jesus is the captain of angel armies, the Father is the Lord of Hosts, Elijah prayed his servants eyes would be open to see more are for us than against us. My friends, we were nor born to retreat, we were born to advance the kingdom of God on earth. We do not do this with violence, we do this with resisting evil, standing in the battle, praying without ceasing, taking every thought captive. The kingdom of God is at hand, that is why the earth is shaking, the wars are raging, for the enemy is panicking. Can’t you see the kingdom at hand? We must repent of wanting to retreat, to be raptured, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Healing is our weapon, worship is our warfare, and we have captives to rescue and prisoners to release. No retreat! Stand! Advance! You are an overcomer!