Month: January 2024

Did any of you grow up in a location where they had Neighborhood Watch signs? These signs were to tell “intruders” we are a community that watches each others back, property and family, so don’t try and come and do anything in this neighborhood. Now a days we are more familiar with the idea of “see something say something” which is another way of being a neighborhood watch. I love how people who may not know each other look out for each other because they live in the same neighborhood as each other.

I walk through the same neighborhood where I live, every morning. Same route different day. I know the nuisances of the neighborhood because for two years now I have been walking there. Last month, I found that little girl in the pink onesies that belonged to that exact neighborhood, for you who remember that story. Well a couple times I have noticed some circles of rocks that were strategically placed there and other hints of a witchcraft situation happening. I would kick the rocks so the circle was disrupted. I then noticed another time a new circle of rocks with some pine needles and cones in the circle and I knew it was strategically placed there for a witchcraft situation. Once again I disrupted the situation I saw.

Today, I am walking the same neighborhood but I noticed a line of these same rocks that I have seen in the past in a circle, but they are in a line in front of an electrical box in this neighborhood. I then notice a path is marked to the rock line. I look at it for some time then notice some strategically placed tree branches, so I grab the branches and break them, grab the rocks and scatter them and to my left is a circle of old nuts, bolts, a lock and a silver bracket, strategically placed and I grab them all and scatter them. Someone in this same area is doing witchcraft and I am on neighborhood watch so I am having none of it. I am going over there today to blow the shofar for this neighbor must go from this neighborhood because I am on watch.

Psalm 66:7 “In his great and mighty power he rules forever, watching over every movement of every nation. So beware, rebel lands; he knows how to humble you!”

Have you ever been to a butterfly garden? If you have you know that you have to go through one set of doors, stand in this little waiting area, while the door behind you closes until they will open the door into the butterfly garden. The reason for the waiting area between doors is because they do not want any butterflies to escape the garden as they like to attach themselves to you while you are in the garden then they come out with you as you leave the garden. If you have ever been in one of these locations you know exactly what I am talking about.

I was praying Psalm 65 this morning and the Lord spoke to me and said, “Shake off the residue of the wilderness, so your feet can be free to dance in the day of celebration and manifestation.” Immediately after hearing these words I saw that inbetween the doors image of the butterfly garden. We are standing with one door that has let us out, but another door that has not opened just yet, to let us in, because God is removing the residue of the wilderness from us before we enter. Shake it off my friends, shake it off.

The wilderness season was long, it was hard, it tough, but we made it through. In Joshua 5 once they crossed the Jordan and their feet were on the promised land, they stopped at Gilgal to be circumcised again, so they could all go into the promised land together. It was the final removal of the wilderness in order to fully embrace the new land into which they were entering. We are in the inbetween section and the Lord is inviting us to shake off the wilderness so we can celebrate all the manifestations the new season is bringing.

“Your visitations of glory bless the earth; the rivers of God overflow and enrich it. You paint the wheat fields golden as you provide rich harvests. Every field is watered with the abundance of rain— showers soaking the earth and softening its clods, causing seeds to sprout throughout the land. You crown the earth with the fruits of your goodness. Wherever you go, the tracks of your chariot wheels drip with oil. Luxuriant green pastures boast of your bounty as you make every hillside blossom with joy. The grazing meadows are covered with flocks, and the fertile valleys are clothed with grain, each one dancing and shouting for joy, creation’s celebration! They’re all singing their songs of praise to you!” (Psalm 65:8-13). They wilderness days are over, shake them off we have celebrations to join in. Let’s go!!!!

One of the tricks of the enemy is to use patterns in your life to establish a false narrative. If something happens over and over again to you, it is not just the something, it is the narrative attached to it. I sat in a meeting with a leader, I highly respect, yesterday and I shared a narrative I have and he immediately said, that is not the truth. He quickly challenged my narrative and it instantly shifted my perspective on the conversation we were having. We need people in our lives that can challenge our narratives.

Another tactic of the enemy is to shame you so the narrative you are believing is one that is only in your head, where no one can hear it or see it. We live tormented lives in our thinking, not because we are evil, but because we have been lied to. We need people up close and personal to challenge and help us change our narrative, for what we have been believing is not serving us well, it is actually shaming us consistently. The narrative must be changed. Romans 12 says, “Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind.” The devil is the god of this world, his narrative is never for you, it is always against you. He tells us our allies are our enemies and it is a lie, but he is the father of lies so we should not be surprised by this.

This new year is demanding we repent of faulty thought processes, negative narratives, familiar patterns that have not served us well. We are being invited to come up out of lies and into the truth that sets us free. I am thankful for a leader who calls me up, doesn’t put me down. May we do this for each other all day every day, and may we receive people as our ally not treat them as though they are our enemy.

In prayer this morning the Holy Spirit highlighted the mannequin in the spare bedroom of our house to me. It has been in this same room for over two years, I pray in the same place every day, but today the Holy Spirit had me take notice of this mannequin and said to me, “Either the head is neglecting the body so it is breaking down or the body is rejecting the head, which is why it is breaking down.” Immediately I knew this was a nod to Ephesians 5.

Ephesians 5:25-30 says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.”

If a husband neglects his wife she will break down and not operate by design. He as the head sends messages to her that either cause her to be built up, cherished, nourished or the neglect causes a breakdown in her and the marriage. The same is true with the church, Christ is the perfect head sending messages of life, hope, joy, peace, grace, mercy, all the things to us as His body, but if we reject the messages He is sending to us, we as the body of Christ will break down.

Neglect causes a breakdown in the marriage and reject causes a breakdown in the church. Both neglect and reject breakdown what the Lord intended to be built up. It is fun to be called the head of something, but it is a whole other thing to actually take the responsibility of being the head. And we as the church are the body of Christ, we must stop rejecting the messages our head, Christ is sending to us, for He is trying to build us up, make us inside strong, establish us in truth, so we can operate by design, but we must receive not reject what He is saying to us. #morningmusings

The holidays are officially over but the effects of them will linger into the first quarter of this year. Credit card bills will arrive, sugar will need to be detoxed, those ten pounds of carbs you picked up this past season will need to be shed. I am thinking by late March early April we will be ready to really run this race that is set before us. The gym is filled with people today, the stores are having long lines at the return desk and the restaurants are doing their deep cleaning because no one is coming in. The after effect of over indulgence is real and many people are feeling it as they head back to work today. Yet for others, the holidays being over is a welcome relief, for they are ready to get back to work.

Natural things have always been ways of sharing spiritual realities. Jesus spoke in parables to people all the time, using natural things like sheep, goats, coins, sons, oil and bread to describe spiritual truths. It helps the message stick when the natural is tied to the spiritual. Naturally we just came off a season of indulgence and now we are wanting to return to being fit. I believe the same is true in the spirit, we have been in a long winter season of lethargy, grief, loss, loneliness, and all the symptoms that come with a desert time, but we have entered a new day, a new year, a new way of doing life. To fully embrace the new we must leave behind the old. The days are behind us but it is the memories of the old we bring with us and it hinders our ability to see the new. We must repent of brining old memories into new realities, if those memories hinder what God is doing now.

Proverbs 2 says “When wisdom wins your heart and revelation breaks in, true pleasure enters your soul.” The new we are entering into is a time of wisdom and revelation that is going to bring such pleasure to us without negative after effects like sugar leaves behind. Wisdom and revelation are going to infect us in a way that causes our faces to shine, our spirits to soar, our hearts to love again. Wisdom is the new we need as a body. Wisdom is superior even to gold and silver, precious jewels and stones. Here is the call coming from wisdom at the door of this new year “Follow those who follow wisdom and stay on the right path. For all my godly lovers will enjoy life to the fullest and will inherit their destinies.” (Proverbs 2:20-21) I pray this year is a year of wisdom and revelation for the benefits of these two are beautiful.

2024/5784 The year of the open door! The sound of the shofar has been released, the prophetic words are pouring in, the fireworks have been going off, and here we are on earth in a new kairos time in history. Yahweh is so personal and present in our life on earth, He actually works in our time to help us understand what He is doing on earth as it is in heaven. One of the greatest challenges we as believers face is the truth that God shows us the end from the beginning.

In 2013 I began a journey with the Lord of the likes I did not see coming. It began with prophetic words, commissioning declarations, visions, dreams and thoughts that I was going to take off that moment into this major life changing time, now 10 years have passed and the journey though the wilderness was hard, but we made it and here we are. What I didn’t realize in 2013, but I do now, is that God showed me things in 2013 which were a new beginning, for what He is about to do now in 2024. It is hard to hear promises but not see them manifest, but the promise is not for that moment, it is for the journey. When I wanted to quit, the Lord reminded me of the promises. The gift of promises are for the sake of perseverance.

Yesterday as I was reading my bible, the Holy Spirit spoke two words to me, “JUBILEE JAMBOREE”. I am a city girl, I have never used the word jamboree before in my life. I did not even know what a jamboree is, but I do live in Nashville, so it is fitting. Jamboree means, a large organized event that many people go to, or a busy, noisy occasion; a noisy celebration; a large assembly often international; a mass gathering. Now it makes sense. We are about to enter into a “JUBILEE JAMBOREE” and we will see debt cancellation, land restoration and family reconciliation (Lev. 25). This jubilee will be an international jamboree in which it is going to get really busy and very loud. The days of silence, seclusion, and suffering are over, we are now entering into a “JUBILEE JAMBOREE!”