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When the Holy Spirit speaks like one of the beatitudes, I open wide my ears and take heed. Here is what I heard, “You have heard that it is said people want to be seen, heard and loved, but I say people need to be healed, sealed and revealed.” Since being in Tennessee this phrase seen, heard and loved is pervasive, I had never heard it before, but here I hear it all the time, so when the Holy Spirit said this to me, I knew what He was talking about.

Friends, can I be honest with you…humanistic Christianity does not transform a life, only the power of God can do that. What my husband says is, “One touch from heaven changes everything!” We go for years of counseling so we can feel seen, heard and loved, but many people have no transformation that is lasting from counseling. If we could experience once touch from God’s power, our lives would never be the same again. I have experienced the power of God. I remember feeling like I was lying on an operating table as I laid on a prayer floor and God did surgery on my soul. I did not just fall down, I got back up a new person. I can’t explain it with words, but I know my life has changed forever because of the power of God.

Humanistic Christianity sounds good, feels good, for a moment but it has no lasting effects. We must experience the power of God. God can heal you with a word, seal every breach in you with a touch, and reveal to you who He is in ways that are indescribable. Life coaching sermons, seen, heard and love declarations, do not transform you. They may comfort you for the moment, but only power can eradicate anxiety, fear, depression. Only the finger of God can cast out generational spirits, demons and tormenting voices. Church, we need the power of God to heal us, seal us and reveal to us who He is. We do not need to be seen, heard and loved, yet again by another person, what we need is to die to ourselves and live for Him who sees us, hears us and loves us. We need to repent of humanistic Christianity and return to biblical Christianity.

I was out walking Hunter, our dog, this morning and the breeze was blowing at a perfect speed, the clouds were moving at the pace of the wind, the sun was beginning to rise and the temperature was cool enough to enjoy a morning walk. The birds were singing, the squirrels were playing, the other walkers were talking with their friends and I was talking to God. Many days I start my prayers with praise and thanksgiving, but today I started it with “How are you doing, Lord?” My mind struggled with this question, for He is God there is never a bad day with Him, but still the honor in the question felt right, so I waited in silence in case He wanted to answer. No answer came, but still the question felt right as the way to start the day.

After navigating in and out of neighborhoods; up and down hills; and meandering through parking lots, I came upon a grassy field with what looked like an altar in the distance. I said in my heart, Lord, is that an altar? The closer I got, on this church property, the more it looked like an altar, not a man mad altar, a God designed altar for those who had eyes to see it as such. For some it was just a stack of rocks, but to me it was an altar. As I knelt down in the grass by that altar this morning, I gave my life to the Lord afresh and anew just like I did in 1991 as I knelt down in that Lutheran Church in MN facing that old wooden cross. No fireworks then, no signs in the heaven then, and none today, just a sense of saying, after all these years, I am still yours and You are still mine.

While kneeling there, looking up at the sky, in wide open spaces, I gave my life to Him again. Not to be sen by men, not to be heard by neighbors, not to be loved by people, but just because I wanted Him to know I see the altar you set before me; I know the words that say, we are to be a living sacrifice; and I want you to know I love You, I see You, I hear You. No worship team led me to this place, no prophet gave me a word, nope it was just a spontaneous moment with me and my God. I pray you find moments of intimacy with God, in places you would not expect, for He is not in a building made by the hands of man, He is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is the mystery that is rooted in history and is going to change our trajectory forever.

Ever since the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost on those 120 men and women in Jerusalem, Peter declared this was the fulfillment of Joel 2 that God would pour out His spirit upon all flesh. This meant sons and daughters, men and women could and would prophesy from that point on. To prophesy has many meanings, it can be a future prediction, but it is also proclaming good news or according to 1 Corinthians 14 it is for comfort, exhortation and encouragement. Everyone can prophesy, for it is the speaking forth of words to other people.

In Nehemiah 6 we read of Nehemiah completing the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem so there were no breaches any longer. This angered the enemies of Nehemiah, so they falsely accused him of many things, but none of it stuck, so they tried a new tactic…intimidation/fear. But they did not come to him directly, for they tried that and it did not work, so they hired “prophets” in order to speak things that would put fear in Nehemiah and fear then would stop him from restoring the walls around Jerusalem. The enemy hired prophets to speak to Nehemiah. They did not hire people who Nehemiah did not know as prophets, they hired prophets in Jerusalem, ones Nehemiah knew to be prophets.

Nehemiah says in 6:12-14 “I perceived that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He was hired for this reason, that I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me.” Prophets of fear are hired prophets, seeking to stop what God is building.

Friends, God does not use fear to get us to do what He wants us to do. Fear paralyzes us. God uses faith to motivate us, encourage us, empower us to succeed in what He is inviting us to do. We must perceive what a “prophet” is saying, for if it causing fear, anger, frustration, in you that is not a prophet sent from God. We need to perceive clearly what the “prophets” are saying for more are hired than we realize. Nehemiah was not moved and neither should we be.

Hmmmmmmmm…..deception is deceiving; it blinds our eyes to the truth that can set us free; it is subtle; it is sneaky; it is stealthy; no wonder we don’t recognize it upon arrival. One of the tactics of the enemy is to get us to parrot what we hear because we are so busy we don’t slow down when we read; think before we repeat what we hear; and consider what we are being told. It is as though auto-pilot is the desire of the enemy for us, because then we live in deception and don’t even realize it; we fight those who speak the truth to us because it does not align with our preprogrammed thoughts; and then we remain in bondage and don’t even see it, nor do we want to hear it. Things that make me go hmmmmmmmmm!

Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.” The question we don’t ask because we have been told the thief is the enemy, but who is the enemy, who was Jesus actually speaking to in John 10 when He said “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy?” The thief Jesus was speaking about was the Pharisees. They are the people He is speaking to and about. John 10:1 “Jesus said to the Pharisees…” John 10:6 “Jesus told the Pharisees this parable even though they didn’t understand a word of what He meant.” John 10:7, “So Jesus went over it again…” The people He was speaking to were the teachers, the religious leaders, of the people of God. The thief Jesus was referring to were the teachers of God’s word. What were they robbing the people of God of?

John 10:9 says, ‘I AM the Gateway. To enter through Me is to experience life, freedom, and satisfaction.” They came to steal the people’s freedom, Jesus came to set the people of God free from the religious system that had them bound, but they could not see for they had been programmed to believe they were free. Oh friends, there is a mass exodus coming and people are going to flee the religious system in droves, not to go back into a newly packaged but same spirit system, no they are going to hear the truth that sets them free and they are going to hear the truth that keeps them free. Babylon is falling!!!!!

The Lord spoke to me as clear as day moments ago and said, “I give the money to the apostles, so they can distribute to all who have need. I am looking for apostles that will be distributors or wealth not builders of buildings.” Immediately I knew it was in reference to Acts 2 and Acts 4 which says, “With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.”

The Lord is not going to be giving money for building projects, but for the building of people. Everyone is speaking about a new wine skin; a new blueprint; a new model; the next revival; another great awakening. The reason none of that language is landing, none of that is going to be reality is because it is not going to be something we have already seen before, heard before, or done before. If what has been done worked, then why is it not in operation right now? Revival is not some short term pick me up. Awakening is not some alarm that startles us into action. God is wanting to transform us into His likeness. The problem is we are in the way, we love us too much, we want our way, our preferences, our desires, our goals, our dreams. We love us, we don’t want to die to us in order to follow Him.

The days of building projects are over, we have enough “church” buildings, stadiums, barns, event centers, to house a move of God, what we need is a brand new breed of people. Ones that love God, that love people, that are distributors of all the resources of heaven for the building up of people not another brick and mortar structure to host people once in a while. Friends, the new wine skin is an ancient idea and the money is going to be given to the apostles who will distribute it to those who have need not to those who want to make a name for themselves, build a building for themselves, or start another ministry for themselves. The Lord is looking for those who have died to themselves, those are the ones who will be the distributors of heavens resources. And it is so much more than money. Apostles are distributors not church planters.

Walking by the Spirit is hard not because God is hard to walk with, but because we don’t like to follow blindly. Our insatiable need to know before we go, hinders so many of us of walking by faith. In Genesis 12 it says, Abraham set out to a land he did not know, all because God said go. He had no idea where he was going, he did not have a GPS, he did not have a clever marking plan, he did not have a 401K, he did not have anything other than his faith in the voice of God that said, go to a land I will show you.

We have become so calculated in our walk with God that if we do not know where we are going, what He is calling us to do, how much we are going to make, where we are going to live, we don’t step out by faith and just start walking. And we say we are on “fire” for God. Friends, I was reading Proverbs 20 this morning and it says, “Man’s steps are ordained by the LORD, How then can man understand his way?” We don’t know as much as we think we know. But we are so afraid of not knowing, we sit in comfort, rather than walk in the spirit and call it faith, call ourselves believers.

Can I tell you a secret? Walking by faith is hard work, really hard work, because you don’t get to know as much as you want. The security is in the invisible not the visible, the unpredictable not the predictable, the unknown not the known. There are no goals, five year plans, clever marketing strategy when you are walking by faith. It is hard because most people, 90% or more are not walking by faith, so when you are it is literally going against the grain of Christianity as we know it today.

I am proud of you who are walking by faith, I know how hard it is, I know the attacks you are going through, I know the grains you are going against. But can I remind you, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek HIm and the reward is Him. We know this, so keep walking friend, keep trusting, keep believing, don’t shrink back, many will follow, more than you can see right now. God is honored to call you friend, for you not just say you trust Him you show Him you do. Thank you for walking by faith, it encourages me to keep walking too.

Sitting at the glass round table in a cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains, in a little place called the Meadows of Dan, VA after a historic day in my life while visiting with my mentor, who is a 90 year old prophet. The Holy Spirit prompted me to research where I am sitting. Yesterday I went to the Dan River and salted it according to 2 Kings 2, not realizing this was the headwaters of the Dan River in VA. This alone made me smile as the Lord told me to declare “Let justice roll down like the rivers.” How appropriate since the tribe of Dan is a tribe of judges and are known for justice. What I didn’t know was the history of the very location I was standing on when I salted this river.

Cockram Mill was built in 1885 and is the very place I was standing when I salted the headwaters of the Dan River. I had no idea. As I continued to research I learned this is the same location where an English Colonist named William Byrd stood and I learned, “Byrd was so taken with the beauty of the land, that he prophesied a future settlement in the vicinity, where people would live ‘with much comfort and gaiety of Heart.’ He named the river along which they camped as the ‘Dan’, for Byrd felt he had wandered ‘From Dan to Beersheba.”’ When I read this my heart smiled, for I knew by the spirit this river was connected to justice and the tribe of Dan, but now it is confirmed in the natural. Our forefathers, had an intimate understanding of America’s connection to Israel and I believe God is restoring that in our day.

The Lord told me the Meadows of Dan, the location where I am is the Garden of Justice, then sends me to salt the Dan river and declare, “Let justice roll down like the rivers.” But there is one more piece to this puzzle. This location is on the “Crooked Road” which celebrates the musical heritage of Virginia. This peaked my interest as I live in Nashville, TN which is famously called Music City. I see this coming together but it is not clear until I read Amos 5:23-24 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Standing at the headwaters of the Dan river in the Meadows of Dan, with salt and a shofar declaring “Let justice roll down like the rivers”, and not knowing all the history of where my feet are standing, but God did.

Friends, God is releasing justice and righteousness upon us for our liberty from so many bondages we did not even realize we were in. He is sending us to places with history in order to speak again the prophetic words that were released there long before we got there. No man can boast, for we are carrying the words, the decrees, the sounds that those who went before us sent forth to heaven. Listen carefully where you find your feet, for others walked that land before you and if you can hear it, the Lord will have you pick up their sound and carry it along into your generation. From Israel to America, the sound of justice is rolling down like waters again!!!!

Confession of faith or actually a conversion to the faith? What a huge question for a Sunday morning. Today is St. Patrick’s Day. We in the United States celebrate it with parades, shamrocks and wearing green. The reason being is because St. Patrick is said to be the apostle of Ireland who brought Christianity to the country. What a powerful statement to be remembered for and what a joy to live in a country that still celebrates the spreading of the gospel, albeit with drinking green beer today as another way of celebrating.

As I was reading about this man today, I learned he went to Ireland originally at the age of 16 as a captive/slave and stayed there for 6 years being a herdman. Once he was released he returned to his home, became a cleric in the Catholic Church and then went as a missionary back to Ireland after a vision he had in which he heard “the voice of Ireland” calling for him to come and walk among them. He went to Ireland and it is said about him, “Patrick was the first bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, converting a pagan society in the process.”

When I read about the conversion of a nation, I began to ask the question of us as believers, missionaries, people of God. Have we truly be converted to a faith or did we just make a confession of a faith? To be converted is to Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Or did we just Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Many people have said a prayer, that is a confession, but of those who have made a confession, how many have truly had a conversion? On this St. Patricks Day, we are reminded that confession and conversion are not synonymous. Nations were converted at the preaching of the gospel, and we are in need of those who will be converted, so nations can go from death to life again and it starts with me being converted not just confessing. This is what St. Patrick’s message was, conversion that changes culture.

The Word of God has ironies that if you slow down long enough to consider them, speak great amounts of wisdom to us. What is ironic to me is how the “richest man to ever live; Solomon” is the one who writes proverbs like this…

Proverbs 15:17 “Better is a dish of vegetables where love is; Than a fattened ox served with hatred.”

Proverbs 16:8 “Better is a little with righteousness; Than great income with injustice.”

The irony for me is that this man had what most people are pursuing, wealth, abudance, a title, children, women, he had it all and yet he writes Proverbs that speak to us from the apex of what we are pursuing. Here is the man who has more than enough of everything and he says, having less is better than having more, because with more money comes more problems.

Before my husband and I got engaged, we were sitting on my patio on the 14th floor in Malaysia and he said to me, “If it is you and me and a bowl of rice, is that enough for you?” Without hesitatation I said, “If it is me and you, that is enough for me.” I feel like the Lord is asking us the same question, “If it is Me (Yahweh) and you (fill in your name), is that enough for you?” Only you know the answer of your heart to this question, but the apostle Paul said he was content in every situation, whether in plenty or in lack, because he had met the Lord on the road to Damascus and once you have seen Him, nothing else matters.

I pray we have a great awakening of seeing Lord high and lifted up and the train of His robe filling the temple (Isaiah 6), because we have seen and heard enough of all the other things. It is no wonder we are pursuing the seen, because we have not seen the unseen. But there is a great awakening coming upon us and our eyes are going to see the King of Glory and when we do, we will say, “If it is You and me, that is more than enough for me.”

“Before honor comes humility.” (Proverbs 15:33)

How often do we read our bible and assume we know what something means or is saying? I would propose very often. We have presets inside of us that make more assumptions than we care to admit about the word of God, about people, about books we are reading, you name it, we think we know more than we really do. We are all guilty of this assumption issue when it comes to words we read or hear.

I was reading Proverbs 15 this morning and when I read “Before honor come humility”, I read it as a before someone is honored they must be humbled. I heard myself say it as I was reading it, then the Holy Spirit said, “what does humility mean?” I knew if God was asking the question I did not know the answer, so I looked up humility in the Hebrew and what I found was not what I was thinking it meant. Humility in Hebrew is gentleness, meekness, mildness. I was stunned, I thought it meant to be teachable, to be second, to put yourself last, to not think you know it all. Nope, not here, humility is about being gentle, kind, mild. Wow.

Most of us are battle worn, weather torn, emotionally and physically exhausted as life, relationships, finances, are just plain hard work. So we hear “Before honor (abundance, riches, dignity, reputation) comes humility (gentleness, mildness, meekness)” and we can wonder how will we ever measure up. But today, the Lord showed me the reason humility precedes honor is because when we are honored by God and others we must treat people with kindness, we must be gentle with them, for they are already battle worn and weather torn. I love how the word of God is so practical and life speaking. God is softening us so He can honor us. Don’t resist the softening, it is so you can access honor.