Month: June 2024

The more I read my Bible the more I am adjusting and readjusting the way I think, the way I process, the way I speak, the way I believe. The reason being is because I don’t think the Hebrews thought, I don’t believe like they believed and I do not see what they saw, but I want to. Therefore, I have to adjust the lense of my life to match the Bible, I am not altering the Bible to match my experiences, culture or expectations.

Yahweh walked with the nation of Israel as a people and whether they were worshipping idols, marrying the wrong people, or grumbling and complaining, the Bible does not leave out the sins they committed or the challenges they faced in the telling of their story. This alone doesn’t make me want to sin, it makes me want to know the God of the Bible who made a covenant with a people who though were far from perfect, He kept walking with them, teaching them, correcting them, forgiving them and conforming them into His image.

One way they thought that we struggle to think like is in the area of God wanting us to be favored, successful, excellent, producers. I was reading Psalm 90 this morning and it said, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” They weren’t looking to escape they wanted to be established. They did not want to be raptured, they wanted to rule and reign on earth. If we don’t have an establish and reign mindset, we will not ask for these things to happen for us. They thought long term, generational, but we think about only us and our short life span, oh how our mindsets need to adjust to the Bible’s way of thinking. The world is not ending, we are not going anywhere, so it is time we start speaking and praying Lord, favor us and establish the work of our hands!!!!

When I first got saved, I did not know much about my Bible, so when I was asked to preach and was given a subject, I would research the word in the conference title, like one I spoke at was, Hearts on Fire, so I researched fire. I found verses to fit the theme and preached my face off, not realizing I was just splashing around in the kiddy pool of the spirit. The more mature I get, the more I read my Bible not for a sermon to preach, a blog to write or a word to give, but I do it because I love learning about God. The word of God is a network of truth that zigs and zags, crosses over generations and book titles. Whether I am in the New or Old Testament, Genesis or 1 John, the truth overlaps everywhere and the Bible confirms the Bible. My opinion is not needed and actually it just muddies the water of truth when I try to insert it into what the word is saying on any given day.

I love the word of God. I love my Bible. As I was praying this morning, the Lord led me from Psalm 89 where it talks about righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne, to Genesis 14 where Abram defeats four kings and then gives a tenth of everything to Melchizedek, king of righteousness and in Genesis 15 is given a covenantal promise of generations and possession of lands. I then I am reading in Nehemiah 9 and it speaks about the exact same thing Genesis 15 was talking about. I didn’t go looking for this, but it is telling one story, that many voice past and present are speaking. The Lord Most High is pouring out abundance in measures we have never seen or heard of before. The wealth transfer train has left the station and I can hear the sound of this training barreling down the tracks even right now.

Nehemiah 9:23-25 says, “You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.”

Friends, the train of His robe is filling the temple and all inside are crying glory (Isaiah 6) and the train of the wealth transfer is carrying cargo of people, possessions and land that has been taken back from the enemy and will be given back to you. I can hear the sound of the goodness of God running towards us at break neck speed. I am not the only one hearing this, but I too am hearing it, for I did not go looking for it, it found me today and I cannot deny what I hear.

I was at a stop sign near my house this morning and there was an older woman standing out in the heat with a sign in her hand asking for help. I was in the far lane, but the man in the Jeep in the near lane, had his window down and he was praying for her as I pulled up along side of him. As we sat at the red light, he finished his prayer and then opened his wallet and handed her a business card first and then some cash second. I was glued to everything this man was doing for this woman, because it was the kingdom of God at work on Mack Hatcher in Franklin, TN.

For so many years we have kept the kingdom in the pews of our denominational churches; on the prayer floors of our charasmatic churches; or in the stained glassed windows of our cathedrals. But the kingdom of God is not built with the hands of men, it is built inside of us by the power of God. I will never know the name of the man that I watched intently this morning, but in the same breath I will never forget that I saw the kingdom of God at hand in his actions.

He first prayed for the woman, next he gave her a business card, and finally he handed her cash. That is how the kingdom looks in everyday life. He gave her a spiritual hand up with his prayer; he gave her a support of some kind hand up with his business card; and he gave her a financial hand up with his cash. I have seen people pray for others, I have seen people give cash to others, but to see all three coming out of that man today, did something to my heart for that woman. I saw the kingdom of God at work.

I am so thankful we are done with in the building we call church, only, ministry. I am so thankful we can meet in homes and discuss a book with fellow believers; we can float down a river with friends and family; we can buy the person behind us a coffee in the Starbucks drive thru; and we can pray for healing over the lady at Food Lion. The kingdom of God is at hand and it is such a great time to be alive!

In a world that fights over opinions, doctrines, money, microphones, and any other thing you can think of, I am so thankful that the presence of God is a safe place. The presence of God is truly a strong tower, a refuge place, a selah for the soul, body and spirit. The best thing about the presence of God is that is accessible anywhere you are at anytime you want it, but you must lean it, let your guard down, absorb the atmosphere and let the tears fall. The presence of God is like a rest stop on the highway we call life. My husband says, One touch from heaven changes everything. I would like to add to that, one deep breath in the presence of God recalibrates everything.

I was praying Psalm 87 this morning and it says, “On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah And of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one were born in her; for the Most High himself will establish her.” As I leaned into these verses the presence of God wafted into my room, I shut my eyes and tears began to fall not out of sadness, but out of sheer delight that God dwells with humanity and His presence is knowable, feelable.

We are the city of God, the dwelling place of His presence. In His presence all arguments, all defenses, all striving stops. We rest when we He is near, we see clearer when He is near, we love deeper when He is near. As I inhaled His presence this song came out of my mouth…”Your presence is heaven to me!” We have access to heaven on earth, for His presence is dwelling here with us, just lean in, let your guard down, share your heart with Him, there is nothing more satisfying than the presence of God.

Who Do You Follow?

Have you ever stopped to think about who you follow? I know you have heard the phrase, “Follow the money”; or you have heard people say, “I followed my kids”; or maybe you have even been told you are to “Follow your husband”; and some churches even quote the Apostle Paul and say “Follow me as I follow Christ”. So many choices of who to follow, but the question the Holy Spirit spoke to me this morning was, “Who do people follow?”

As I pondered this question, I realized people follow celebrities, sports teams, the stock market, the news, but how many people are answering the call Jesus gave the disciples when He said, “Come Follow Me”. We have the desire and ability inside of us to “follow” someone, but the challenge is when we follow anyone but the Lord, we will end up hurt, disappointed and mad if the person we followed does not lead us to where we were created to go.

Jesus said of the disciples in Luke 5 “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him (Jesus).” It goes on to say in the same chapter, “After that He (Jesus) went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, Follow Me! And Levi left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.”

People leave everything behind for a job, for grandkids, for a spouse, but who is willing to leave everything behind to follow Jesus? No where in the word of God are we called to follow a spouse, a pastor, a celebrity, money, a job, there is only one person we are called to leave everything behind and follow and that is Jesus Christ. We get into so many challenges in life all because we are trying to follow someone or something other than Jesus. Friends, He is the One who created you, called you and knows exactly what will satisfy you. You know how to follow, the challenge is you have never left everything behind to follow Him. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose if only you would follow Him. I hear His voice calling out, “Follow Me!”

Two of my favorite things are the word of God and the people of God. They are also the two things I value the highest. I was listening to Johnny Enlow on Elijah Streams yesterday and he was speaking into the current pulpit cleansing we are seeing happening in the body of Christ right now. I loved how he shared truth with grace about the situation currently happening in this historic hour.

For you that know me, you know I am always listening for an echo in order to hear the establishment of what God is saying or doing through prophetic voices. This morning, I was praying Psalm 82 and the echo was so loud it was undeniable. Here is the words of God establishing what the man of God, Johnny Enlow was saying. Psalm 82:1-4 “God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers. How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”

I don’t look for scriptures to support an idea, thought or argument, I believe the Holy Spirit is the perfect point guard (basketball term) and He passes the word right in front of us as we are walking with Him. As I prayed this psalm today, I knew the Lord was revealing for the sake of healing; eradicating wickedness and establishing righteousness; and pulpit cleansing for the sake of pasture healing.

We will see more summer cleansing as the months go by. Psalm 82:5 says, “All the foundations of the earth are shaken.” If you know anything about foundation repair, it is needed for the building to be secure. God is repairing the foundations of the church and its leaders, for we have had cracks for many years. It may get messy, but the mess is for the making of a church without spot or wrinkle for that is what the Lord is worthy of. This is the Lord’s doing and He is a master builder, we can trust He knows what He is doing.

Money….everyone worldwide wants more money. I lived in Malaysia for nine years and whenever I would encounter a Malaysian and they heard I was an American, they would say, America, I want to go to America. I asked them why do you want to go to America? The answer consistently was because Americans are rich. I smiled every time, because I realized rich is a perspective and if you are a taxi driver in Malaysia who rides a motorbike to work, Americans are rich. But if you are an American living in Malaysia as a missionary living on $500 a month, you are not considered rich by your home country, America.

Snatch thieves, robbers, even watch any court show on television and you realize people are in pursuit of money at any cost. It is heartbreaking to me on these court shows when you see family members in court over money. People, lie, steal, cheat all for money. People apply for disability when they are not disabled all for money. People stay on food stamps long after they need them all for money. People have credit card debt over their heads all because of money. Can you imagine life apart from money’s noose around your neck? Can you even begin to dream of the freedom of a life not worried about money? Most can’t. My husband says, people spend their health to get wealth and then they have to spend their wealth to take care of their health. Oh friends, it was never God’s intent for us to live in pusuit of money.

Proverbs 21 says, “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.”

When we compromise our integrity for the sake of money it is two things: one a fleeting vapor, it is a chasing after the wind; two it is a trap that leads to death. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you life and life abundantly.” (John 10:10) When you know your God is abundance, Your Father in heaven will help you, the snare of death has no power of you. Friends, we are not poor if we know the God of abundance. I am not rich because I am an American, I am rich because I am daughter whose Dad is the King of kings!!!!

Who told you the darkness is getting darker? Who told you the end is going to be death and destruction? Who told you that you want to be raptured out of here? Who said? Doctrines of men distort the word of truth. Doctrines of men must keep you afraid in order to control you. The gospel of the kingdom the word of truth, sets you free and will never seek to control you with fear. Our Father in heaven is not a fear monger who is trying to control you, He is a Father who loves you and wants to set you free. Our God is not insecure, He is Lord of everything. He does not need anything from us, but He receives gifts from us. Oh the wonder and majesty of our God, there is truly no one like Him. It is time to leave the doctrines of men and come into the kingdom of God.

I was reading 1 John this morning and on more than one occasion it says, “The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 3:10) It does not say the earth is passing away, it does not say people are passing away, it does not say truth is passing away. Actually John makes it clear, darkness is diminishing not increasing and the world is passing away not the kingdom. The doctrines of men have taught us the end is going to be disaster, destruction, disease, and demise for people, but we are going to be raptured out of here so it won’t happen to us. What preacher of death and destruction wants to die or live during a tribulation? Not one! But they sure do scare people with their teachings and what is shocking is we sow financially into bad news and then wonder why we have little to no joy of the Lord.

Here is the truth, which is good news. The Hebrews never were waiting for life in the sweet bye and bye, they believed in eternal life on earth as it is in heaven. They believed in the light shining in the darkness and the darkness not being able to overcome it. They believed they were more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. They saw a resurrected Christ and they knew what we don’t, things are getting better because Christ rose from the dead not worst. Break out of the prison of men’s fear based theology and come into the kingdom of God that is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. There is abundant life in the kingdom of God!

Six to seven years ago, the Lord sent me on a prophetic adventure based on a headline dream a friend of mine had which said, “Higginsville Woman Found Dead”. How this headline turned into a prophetic adventure is a story in and of itself. In true God fashion it led to a multi-location declaration destination in which I was to find a certain location and make a Psalm 24 declaration. He told me when all 12 locations were visited and the Psalm 24 declaration was made at each location, it would unlock debt cancellation for the nation.

Jubilee is what the Lord told me to decree. I remember when I was at the final location in Bethesda, MD, making the Psalm 24 decree and when I said, it is finished, I made one more blow on the shofar and decreed Jubilee. This was the year 2019 when I completed this prophetic adventure. Now 5 years later it is 2024 and I am sent an article from a friend this morning that says, US-Saudi Petrodollar Pact Ends After 50 Years. I immediately say out loud, JUBILEE!!!! When you have history with God, when you do by obedience what you don’t understand in the moment, God remembers more than we do, so when an article like this is sent to me in 2024 (Psalm 24 year); the Lord winks at me in order to remind me, the prophetic adventure He sent me on was not in vain.

Friends, church, there is so much that goes on that we do not know. The news is 24 hours a day but the number of stories they share is few, so you hear the same story from different broadcasters all day long. But with God He gives you the news before it becomes news and then circles back and sends an echo to confirm what He told you was Him. Today is a circle back day for me and really good news for our nation as the Lord is decreeing Babylon is falling and Jubilee. I see debt cancellation for a nation and it started with my friend Autumn’s dream. God is moving in a reformation way that is changing everything and I am so excited. Jubilee is what I see.

What we are doing in any season of life flavors our reading of the Bible, that is why you can read the same scipture many times and get a new interpretation of what it means in that moment. I love how the word of God is living! I read a Proverb a day and today I was reading Proverbs 18 when something new jumped out. We know this verse well, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Love what? Love it. What is the it?

These are questions I ask as I read and what the Holy Spirit showed me this morning is the “it” is the fruits of life or the fruits of death. So the question is, what fruits do we love and how do we know? We have to go to Galatians 5 to know the fruits of death and life. Here is what Paul said, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” What fruits are you enjoying, eating, loving? What do you have a taste for?

Life and death are in the power of the tongue we have been taught, is words and that is true, but it is also taste. The tongue is how we taste things and the Holy Spirit is saying, what fruit tastes do you love? The fruits of death or the fruits of life? We know what we do and what we do shows us what we love the taste of. I know this means taking personal responsibility for our choices, but that is what maturity does. If you don’t like what you love, change lovers. It’s not easy, but it is doable and all I can say from experience is, the taste of the fruits of death are temporary and has no nutritional value, but the taste of the fruits of life are everlasting and nourish the soul exponentially. It may be time to change what tastes good.