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If you receive a notice in the mail that says all of your debts are canceled what would you do? Credit card debt canceled! Car loan debt canceled! House mortgage debt canceled! Student loan debt canceled! You name the debt canceled! After getting over the idea that this is a joke, too good to be true, and all the other doubts, what would your response be?

Once it set in that you are now completely debt free, how would you live? What would you do? Could you live a debt free life or would you go back into debt since you had a clean slate? Would you think oh yes, now I can go buy this or do that? Or would you practice self-control and run on the tracks of gratitude for the cancelation of the debts by living debt free?

The momentum we are moving with is usually hard to turn around even when we are free from the taskmaster of debt that has been driving us for so long. Gratitude is not to be a one time response but a recurring revelation that causes us to change direction, change our cadence and change our heart posture from one that only knows how to live in debt to one that knows how to live free.

Colossians 2:13-15 speaks of debts that we have been set free from, “God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” You are not in debt to sin, but the question is now that you are debt free from sin, can you change direction and remain free?

The Lord has set us free and is going to set us free in more ways than we can see, but the question is can we stay free, change direction and remember it is for freedom He has set us free? It takes courage to stay free after you have been set free.

We have a choice to be “one” or to be “one with”. You can’t be both simultaneously, you have to decide which you will be. When individualism is a value in the culture it is hard to be “one with” because the value is placed on “one”. But the kingdom of God is not any culture of the world, it is it’s own culture and the greatest hurdle to coming into the kingdom is laying aside culture you have known to take on kingdom culture which you do not know. You don’t realize how cultural you are until you enter into another culture.

The invitation to be “one with” has been spoken by Jesus since the days He walked the earth. The apostle John penned Jesus’ invitation in John 17:11 “Holy Father, remain with them through your name, the name you have given Me. May they be one even as we are one.” In order to be “one with” Jesus and others who are “one with” Him, we must loose ourselves from our need to be “one” individually. When we think as “one” we think of what is best for us, for our life, our ministry, our money, our job, our family, it is all about me. This is cultural and it is hard to go from being “one” to being “one with” Jesus and others.

When you choose to be “one with” Jesus, your choosing to go where he goes, do what he does, and say what he says. John 12:24-26 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him.” The invitation to become “one with” is an invitation to bear much fruit.

I see Orchards for miles and miles and miles, as people that are seeds choose to lay down their life and follow Jesus wherever He may lead them. We are going to see a harvest of obedience and it is called Orchard.

God is adjusting our baseline view, for we have been out of alignment. When your baseline view is inflated the Lord has to deflate you a bit, when your baseline view is diminished the Lord has to lift up your eyes to see differently. Everyone of us has a baseline view that is out alignment in some way and the Lord is adjusting it to His baseline view, which is the same for all of us. Some of us are inflated and others are diminished, but the Lord is making us all have a baseline view of Trust, for that is His baseline view for every one.

I was walking this morning and on the ground were a bunch of leaves that had fallen from the trees above me. Some leaves were small, but other leaves were really big and the Lord spoke to me and He said, “You declare things big or small based on your baseline view. But if your view changes then what you once saw as a large leave is actually not large if your baseline view is the size of the leave.” He was inviting me, yet again to increase my baseline view so when I see something happen, I can view it accurately, not inflate it or diminish it.

Here is a practical example. If your baseline view is the amount of money in your bank account, then you will see a repair on your car, like the 6 tires I had to buy this weekend for two cars, as a big expense, if your account is unable to support the amount of the repairs. However, if your baseline view of your account can support the repairs then you do not get thrown into fear. Money is a fluctuating baseline view, that is why God wants all of us to have a baseline view of trust not some dollar amount, marital status or title.

Look at the leaves my friends, whether you see them as big or small, they both need sun to change colors, they both need wind to fall from the trees, they both need rain to be wet and they both need God who created them. Didn’t Jesus say, “Look at the birds of the air, they neither toil nor spin, nor gather into barns yet your Heavenly Father knows how to feed them. Are you not more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26) Fear not, God is just adjusting your baseline view to Trust so you can live without fear of anything.

Who we believe God is will be reflected in how we believe He is working in the earth realm. If you see God as a vengeful angry violent destroyer who is out to punish wickedness, destroy people who do evil and whack us when we go astray, then you will preach judgment, gloom and doom, all the while calling it God’s discipline. Much of how we view God is how we treat ourselves. If you are hard on yourself you will be hard on others and your words will be harsh, strong, full of a God who is mad at us because we are such sinners.

The Pharisees were such rule followers, they were angry with anyone who broke one of the rules they followed. Jesus healed on a Sabbath and they were so in love with their Sabbath rules they sought to kill Him for healing a man on a day they said no work was to be done on. We can get so locked into our rules, our beliefs, our culture, our upbringing, we miss Jesus when He is working miracles right in front of us. The man was healed right before their eyes and all they cared about what He healed on the Sabbath so now Jesus was their enemy. This is a sickness that is hard to cure.

Most would not consider themselves Pharisees, whether they believe in Jesus in name only or believe they are following Him, however, more people than we realize are Pharisees. They have a set of beliefs about who God is, what God does, how God speaks and what God wants that they get mad when anyone celebrates a healing on the Sabbath, because the man was crippled from birth, but now can walk. When our rules trump the healing we just saw we are acting like a Pharisee.

Friends, God is a healer, deliverer, restorer, redeemer, rebuilder, reviver, gap stander, miracle worker, nation saver, world savior, idol crusher, and Psalm 69 says, “You heavens, praise him; praise him, earth; Also ocean and all things that swim in it. For God is out to help Zion, Rebuilding the wrecked towns of Judah.” God is building people, families, cities, nations, and He is not destroying right now, He is building and rebuilding everything, this is the good news of the gospel. He is a builder of lives and the building project is taking shape daily in ways we all will see very soon.

Celebrations are the seeds that get sown for the next victory while celebrating the current victory. When we cease to stop and celebrate a victory, a breakthrough, a gift, an answered prayer, we just live in a continual cycle of labor that never satisfies.

The Lord commanded Israel to celebrate three feasts a year. These three feasts were at the time of various harvests. The Passover feast was at the time of the Barley or Wheat harvest; The feast of Pentecost was at the time of the Grape or Fruit harvest; and The Feast of Tabernacles was at the Olive harvest. They were commanded to celebrate for seven days. They did not work, they celebrated, they feasted, they sang songs, they enjoyed one another’s company and every male 25 and older was required to be at these feasts in Jerusalem.

Friends, we don’t celebrate well as the American culture. We don’t know how to enjoy the blessings of God that is why we are never satisfied when a victory happens, but rather we so quickly move onto the next prayer assignment, the next thing that needs to be done. Our inability to stop and celebrate people, answered prayers, victories, breakthroughs is an epidemic in our culture that must be broken.

Praise is a weapon, celebration is an act of gratitude, rejoicing is power, and we must learn to stop working and start celebrating. Other cultures do this so well. My husband said in Nigeria they were dancing in the streets yesterday when they got the news of the US Election. We, on the other hand, were told the war is not won and we have to keep praying. Are you kidding me, we must rejoice when God answers our prayers, when we see a breakthrough, when a battle is won.

Celebration is part of the cycle of blessing God gives us and we must learn to celebrate for God is the one who lifts one up and brings one down. He is the decider of who rules nations and when He makes a decision, we must rejoice in His choice for He knows what we need. Our job is to celebrate, not call for another prayer meeting. Come on and celebrate!!!!! Celebration does wonders for your soul, try it you may like it.

No one person is the whole puzzle but each of us is a piece of the puzzle that paints the picture of what God is doing in our nation. A piece of the puzzle was put in place with the election of the 47th President of the United States. It is a time to rejoice, for another piece of the puzzle is in place for a macro move of God that is being revealed daily. Kings and priests are coming together for a Melchizedek move of God. This will be like nothing we have ever seen before. Oh the joy, the vision, the direction and the manifestation is going to truly be beyond. 

Psalm 66 is my prayer partner this morning and it calls us to the right response to what God is doing with all these puzzle pieces He is revealing. Listen to the first few verses, “Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah. Our first response is praise to God for what He is doing, His deeds are manifesting marvelously and it is causing the enemy to cringe. 

The psalmist continues to speak into our moment by saying, “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” Friends we have been through some stuff, it was hard, it was painful, it was crushing, but God did not leave us there, He was bringing us somewhere. He was bringing us to a place of abundance. We have been brought through, we have crossed over, abundance is our next stop. 

Prayer has been a key in our nation and the psalmist agrees, “Truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” God is not done with us, He is just beginning again with us. Let the church arise and all of us shout Hallelujah! For the Lord reigns. Righteousness is exalting our nation again and it will end in praise for our God!!!! Thank you Jesus for placing puzzle pieces in position so we can see the bigger picture. 

Words are powerful, the Bible says the power of life and death is in our tongue. We speak about the power of words a lot, as we should, but there is another subject we need to address today. It is the trust we place in names. Names, names and more names that invite us to trust them, support them, believe them, names are vying for our attention all day everyday. Oh the names that we have put our trust in.

The names Apple or Tesla; Trump or Harris; Bank of America or Truist; Wall Street or Bourbon Street; family names or familiar names; names want us to put our trust in them for when we do we buy into their narrative. But the Bible says there is a name above all names and at that name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Yeshua Hamasheach, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, this is the name of the Lord that is a strong tower and the righteous are invited to run into it and then they will be safe.

I was thinking about this Election Day in the USA and I was praying Psalm 65 which says, “O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.” There is going to be a lot of prayer going up today all around the world. There are going to be a lot of names vying for our attention, for us to trust them that what they say they will do. But today we are being reminded by Psalm 20 “Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.”

Today we vote, today we watch, today we listen, but today like everyday we remind ourselves that there is only one Savior of the world; One God of all creation; One name that is above all other names; and One mediator between God and man, Jesus the Christ. Trust God my friends, pray, vote, watch, listen, but do not deviate from the only name you can trust in both storms and stillness.

Everyday we make choices. Most of our choices are simple choices, like where to buy gas, where to eat lunch, which route to take to our destination, what outfit we are going to wear. Other days our decisions are more important, like who am I going to marry, where am I going to work, what church am I going to attend, what friendships will I invest in. Whether significant or less impactful, we are continually making choices.

Hearing the voice of God is not to be only for big choices we make, but it is also not for little choices like do I want to drink out of this coffee cup or that one this morning. Hearing the voice of God is a relational issue, for hearing His voice reveals His love for us and His character. If we do not know the character of God we will miss the voice of God. Our belief about who God is determines what we hear and many hear voices but they are from valuable voices not from God.

Valuable voices are locked in our memory and speak to us more than most realize. We also hear intimidating voices like fear, worry, gloom and doom, but those are not God either, for He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all so there is nothing to be afraid of. The character of God reveals the voice of God and makes us feel loved by God when we hear it. So, how do we know if it is the voice of God.

Isaiah 30 says, “Your ears will hear a word behind you, This is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” The voice of God can be heard, He wants to share with you where to walk, but what is the way the voice of God is leading you into? Psalm 23 answers this for us, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The voice behind you is showing you the way of goodness and mercy. God is not angry, no mad at you, not disappointed in you, He is for you and not against you.

Listen for the voice behind you speaking goodness and mercy, when you hear that voice then you will know the way to walk, whether to the right or to the left. His voice is there, He wants to lead you in the way of goodness and mercy, can you hear the voice of God speaking to you? He loves you that’s why He talks to you.

This week will be filled with predictions; prophesies; I told you so’s; I can’t believe it; commentators; political pundits; opinions; fear; anxiety; joy; excitement; all the things will be happening this week as there is an election in the United States on Tuesday. The atmosphere is charged, people are on edge, you can sense it, you can feel it, you can hear it in the things people say and see it in the things people are doing.

I am so thankful the word of God has something to say about everything. Today is the 3rd of November and I am reading Proverbs 3 in the Message Bible and it says exactly what we need to hear…

“Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life;
don’t for a minute lose sight of them.
They’ll keep your soul alive and well,
they’ll keep you fit and attractive.
You’ll travel safely,
you’ll neither tire nor trip.
You’ll take afternoon naps without a worry,
you’ll enjoy a good night’s sleep.
No need to panic over alarms or surprises,
or predictions that doomsday’s just around the corner,
Because GOD will be right there with you;
he’ll keep you safe and sound.”

I pray as you enter into this week that you remember the wisdom of Solomon spoken in Proverbs 3. Never forget, a nap is spiritual warfare; everyone has an opinion but God is the Truth; there is a peace that passes all understanding; and when Light shines in the darkness, the darkness cannot understand it (the Light); finally, don’t forget you are the light of the world, a city on a hill, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God and Christ in you is the hope of glory, for you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Have a great week!!!!

The temperature was a brisk high 40’s this morning, the breeze was gentle, the stars were out and the noise was minimal. What a perfect morning to walk the dog and listen to the Holy Spirit teach things I did not realize I needed to know. I love how Solomon says in Proverbs 2 that wisdom calls out and wants to tell us more than we even think we need to know. It was a walk with wisdom this morning as the voice of God spoke many things. I pray you take walks with God. Leave the AirPods at home, rise before the sun, go to a place where it is silent externally so you can hear internally. The voice of God is a priceless gift that is not earned, but is given to us from a very generous God.

One of the messages the Holy Spirit spoke this morning was “Preperation is a private matter and work is a public one.” I had never thought of it this way, but how true it is. We prepare in private and our works are seen in public. I have a son who is a worship leader and he sings at home all the time. Whether while making lunch or in the shower, his voice can be heard throughout the house. He is watching worship leaders in his bedroom, he is practicing his piano in his room, he sings and plays during the day and during the night. All while no one is looking, no one is listening, and the Holy Spirit calls that preparation.

Jesus said in John 10 “By all means, do not believe in Me, if I am not doing the things of the Father. But examine My actions, and you will see that My work is the work of the Father. Regardless of whether you believe in Me—believe the miracles. Then you will know that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.” Jesus did works in pubic that revealed His oneness with His Father that was prepared in private. Works confirm preperation.

I sense the preperation that has been done in private is giving way to works we are about to see in public. These public works are going to reveal people’s oneness with God that has been established in private preperation. Businesses are about to manifest, bible studies are about to be revealed, books are about to be published, relationships are about to be seen, there will be such a variety of works that reveal what has been done in private preperation and it is all going to reveal God’s glory on earth. Private preperation is giving way to public works for those who have been preparing while no one was looking.