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When I was a child growing up in Minnesota, Christmas was a time of snowsuits, moon boots, mittens, stocking caps with the big ball on top and my plastic sled that I would ride down the little hill in our front yard. We never had much money, but we had great memories. We were a little family of three, me, my brother and my mom. Every Christmas Eve my mom would make cranberry bread and we would eat it warm with “real” butter. I do not remember much about my childhood, but I do remember that little house on 38th and Vincent and those four steps I would climb to go back down that little hill on my sled again.

When I was a teenager, Christmas became about getting gifts. I remember being so mad whenever I would open a new sweater or a pair of jeans, that were much needed but not wanted at all. I wanted an Atari game so I could spend the whole day in front of the television. I remember getting so mad that I did not get what I wanted. Then being from a single parent home, I would go over to my dad’s house and all I cared about was what I was going to get. My step mom would cook the best meal, ham and all the Minnesota fixings, but I did not care that our table was full with my brothers and sisters around it, I just wanted my gift and I wanted to get out of there. Oh the life of a hurting teenager, selfish to the core I was.

Then I moved to Seattle, college life was the best life. I had friends who were closer than family. I was living in the city of my dreams, but Christmas came and everyone would go home to their family and I would stay alone in my dorm room or apartment. No money to fly home and to what home would I go, my mom was in MN and my dad was in MO. Lonely, not married, just me and my little Christmas tree. Oh to have the days of the snowsuit and plastic sled again or the meal my step mom made. Christmas became a hard time of year for me, for many years.

I got married in my late 30’s, I was living in Malaysia and there was no snow on Christmas, so I had to adjust to having Christmas in shorts and a t-shirt. But it still was Christmas because there was the tree, the gifts underneath and my new little family. I was not thinking about what I was getting, I was so excited about what I got for my husband, housemate and son. Oh I could not wait for the look on their faces when they saw what I got them. The delight of Christmas was about giving not receiving now. I remember the look on my husband’s face when he saw the MacBook I bought him. Oh the hugs and kisses I got that morning I will never forget.

Now today it is the morning before Christmas and all through the house my son is not stirring and my dog is asleep in my bed. The tree is lit with gifts underneath that I am so excited for my son to see. We don’t have many gifts, but we are rich because of the people we are going to see. It is Sunday morning the real treasures will greet us as we walk through the doors of Hope UC. The smiles on their faces, the hugs around my neck, remind yet again that I am so blessed. Christmas is hard for many as memories and traditions we want to make, but with the Spirit of God every Christmas is unique. It is the adventure of walking with the Spirit. I have to go get dressed and pictures you will see, not of gifts I received from under a tree but of me with the people who truly love me and my little family. Merry Christmas my friends, and remember love God and love people for these are the gifts that make Christmas truly special for you and me.

In the field of nutritional health, one of the common practices that people employ is called a sugar detox. Detoxing sugar out of your body, removes many of the physical manifestations that come from the consumption of sugar. I am no health expert, but I do know a lot of people that specialize in the area of healthy living, healthy eating, and the benefits that come from it. When people go on a sugar detox, they drink certain what I call concoctions in order to flush the sugar out of their system. The Bible says so goes the natural, so goes the spiritual (1 Cor. 15:46).

We can physically remove ourself from a situation that is toxic to us, emotionally, physically or spiritually. The physical removal is many times a very necessary step, because it is a declaration of moving away from the toxicity of an environment, which is proven to not be healthy for the person that has moved away. However, what most people are not aware of is how much they have been seeded with the toxicity of the words of the situation in which they were immersed. Not only were they seeded many times the children were seeded as well. We as adults understand this more clearly, because we have both been the child and the parent in many occasions.

Proverbs 22:5 says “Twisted and perverse lives are surrounded by demonic influence. If you value your soul, stay far away from them.” As I read this, I realized how much easier it is to physically remove yourself, but if you do not detox, the twisted and perverse things that were seeded in you, you will still be under their influence. Just as people use a liquid drink to detox sugar, we are to use the word of God to detox the words of others that were twisted and perverse and have done great damage to our soul.

My prayer for you as we head in to Christmas week is that you would detox with the Word of God, the twisted and perverse things that you have been seeded with. Your healthy soul, your renewed mind, your ability to tap in to the grace of God will reveal to your friends and family…What a mighty God, we serve. Detox quickly it’ll make you feel better.

We are living in a very strategic season in which wisdom warriors are needed. Anybody can swing a sword and cut off the head of an enemy, but the Lord is calling up those who know how to war with wisdom. The enemy that has been in hiding is being revealed, not to scare us, not to intimidate us, he is being exposed, so that this enemy that we see today we shall never see again.

In the story of Israel exiting Egypt, the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, a prophet and a priest to warn Pharaoh with ten different plagues (Exodus 7-11). Ten is the number of ordinal perfection. It was the perfect grace of God, sent to a king in Egypt, giving him the ability to honor the request to let God’s people go. Unfortunately, like other kings in the word of God, Pharaoh hardened his heart rather than honored what the Lord, told him to do. The day came when God said enough is enough, and He released His people from the oppression of Egypt. Moses and Aaron were wisdom warriors as they walked with God and released the 10 plagues, which were actually 10 acts of grace towards a wicked king.

God is exposing those things that have been hindering the release of His people, and God is inviting His wisdom warriors into action, with very specific instructions. Proverbs 21:22 says, “A warrior filled with wisdom ascends into the high place and releases breakthrough, bringing down the strongholds of the mighty.”

Wisdom warriors this is a call to you. It is time to ascend into the high place the secret place of the Most High. Wisdom warriors, it is time to release breakthrough. The way the Lord spoke to me the other day was “release the reservoir”. Wisdom warriors it is time to bring down the strongholds of the mighty. The giants must come down. The stone must be released from the slingshot. It is time for the people of God to be released from their oppression. This is a call to the wisdom warriors, for the Lord of hosts is at the head of this army, and it is time for the people of God to be set free. Wisdom warriors it’s time to arise.

The new day we have entered is so new it is taking new to a whole new level. The Lord said the new day will be a proximity revolution. The days of platform healings, long distance revivals, and green room superstar ministers is over. Jesus never lived distant from the people He ministered to. Jesus is the proximity revolution and we are being invited into it in a way we do not even realize yet. Jesus is the model, there is no other model; Jesus is the new wine and the new wine skin; Jesus is the tabernacle of David; Jesus is the revelation! Jesus got down and washed the disciples feet; Jesus touched the leper; Jesus healed the blind man by touching his eyes; Jesus touched the coffin and the child was awakened; Jesus is the proximity revolution. We must repent and return to Jesus, not any other man in history, not any other movement in the past, not any other philosophy or idea, we must repent and return to Jesus, only Jesus!!!!

The Lord spoke to me this morning and said, “Leave the 99 and rescue the 1; in the return of the 1 is the restoration of the 100; the blessing is in the cluster; and the rescue of the 1 is the restoration of the 100.” I have been chewing on these words since 4:30am this morning. It is a mashup of scriptures (Matthew 18; Luke 15; Isaiah 65; Mark 4; Matthew 13) with a message we need to hear. We have valued the 99, the crowd, over the 1 because there is no fame, no fortune, no name recognition, no celebration, no selfies that promote our ministry and how successful we are when we are pursing the 1. But the truth is, without the 1 the 99 is not complete, not whole.

100 means complete count; complete blessing; maximum blessing; financial wholeness; full harvest (Divinity Code). We have settled for the 99 thinking close enough but God is going after the 1 who is supposed to be in the cluster and will bring the blessing to completion. God is wanting the 100 restored but for that to happen we must rescue the 1. Oh friends, I don’t have words to explain this any better but the proximity revolution is in full effect and the 1 is being rescued so the 100 can be restored. We are about to see a full harvest in a way we never knew was possible.

Famines have a way of paralyzing us from moving. Famines stop us dead in our tracks and tell us we are stuck with no way out. Financial famine, physical famine, emotional famine, mental famine, nothing about a famine is fun. It makes us feel like we do not have access to the resources we need to do what we are called to do. There has been a famine in the lives of people for many years and most would not tell you they are in a famine. They smile in church, they work a job, they go to school, they are married, they have children, they live in a nice house, drive a decent car, but a famine is happening and has been happening for years. Does anybody know what I am talking about?

2 Kings 7 tells us about four leperous men who were sitting at the gate of Samaria because the Arameans had besieged them and the whole city was in a famine. The king of Israel blamed Elisha for the famine and sent to have him decapitated, but the word of Lord came to Elisha and he said, “Tomorrow everything is changing!” This word cut through the famine that was so severe women were eating their children. The four leperous men did not hear the word of the Lord through Elisha, but they did have a thought that came to them as they sat at the gate. “Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die.”

I know there has been a famine, but the word of the Lord has gone forth through the mouths of His prophets, “Tomorrow….Everything is about to change”. The four leperous men entered the camp of their enemy and thought they would die but found plunder instead. It is time for people to get up from the gate and go into the camp of the enemy for there is spoil, plunder, booty waiting for you, but you must get up and go in. This is the time of good news, the famine has been declared over, now you must get up and go in. Stop sitting at the gate, get up and go in to the enemies camp and take back what he stole from you. It is time to plunder, for the famine is over!!!!!

During my morning walk with the dog, I saw a sticker on a truck I had not seen before and it said, “Mayweather Boxing Club”. Immediately the Holy Spirit said, “Name recognition.” The rest of the walk was a discussion with the Lord about name recognition and how much we are willing to pay to have a name attached to us in some way. Nike is name recognition, Sony is name recognition, Lexus is name recognition, Apple is name recognition, Jesus is name recognition, Hillsong is name recognition, Bethel is name recognition, America is name recognition. You get the point. When you hear a name is evokes a recognition of something inside of you.

Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth; Favor is better than silver and gold.” We live in a world that values money as the highest value or so they say. This messaging pushes people to purse silver and gold at any cost. What we don’t realize is silver and gold only buy things that have name recognition. Name recognition can’t be bought, it is given. Jesus has the name above all names because He won the battle over sin and death; the apostle Paul had name recognition because he preached the mystery of Christ in us the hope of glory; Apple has name recognition because of a superior quality product; Bethel has name recognition because of the signs, wonders and miracles God has done in that place. Name recognition comes from character, quality, and victory. Mayweather has name recognition because he has won so many fights.

Friends, the challenge we have faced as a church is we have the name with the greatest recognition worldwide, but we do not represent His name well. We do not manifest His power. We do not display His glory. Not because HIs name does not have recognition but because ours doesn’t. We have bought into the lie that we need to pursue silver/gold while forgetting what we are to desire is a good name. To have name recognition as people who love God, who serve people, who release signs, wonders and miracles, who are generous. It is time for the body of Christ to realize we are recognizable because of His name but we must manifest as HIs body, who He is as the head. People understand name recognition and God is making HIs name desirable to the nations again.

History of our sin is hidden in our DNA and reminds us of all we have done wrong. It is like a credit card balance that says, you owe me this much and to add insult to your injury I am going to charge you 24.99% interest on all you bought. If you have ever been in credit card debt you realize how easy it is to spend the money and how hard it is to pay it off. Sin is no different. The enemy makes sinning seem so fun, so needed in the moment, but when it comes to paying the debt of sin, the enemy adds interest by rubbing our nose in it and making us feel like dirt.

Most people in the church are more sin conscious, meaning they can tell you what sins they have committed, but sin steals our confidence in the truth of who lives inside of us and who not only cancelled the debt we could not pay, He also made a public display of our enemy not us. I love how Paul says this in Colossians 2 “He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation. Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!”

We are invited to live in the reality of having every debt cancelled. No interest has been incurred, no outstanding balance is on your account. However, now that we are debt free, it is our job to stay out of debt by not sinning. When gratitude for debt cancellation rises in us it keeps us from wanting to ever be in debt again. It takes discipline. It means saying no to what you used to say yes to. However the freedom of being debt free is the best feeling ever so stay free, say no, and let’s go we have a kingdom to advance.

One of my favorite things that our senior leader Dustin Smith says is we do not create a theology out of what has not happened. We do not create a theology that healing is not for today, just because we have not seen as many healings as we want. We do not create a theology around poverty as we wait for our financial breakthrough. The list goes on and on. Our theology is Jesus the Christ and the revelation of Him, we do not dumb down what we believe just because have heard more than we have seen.

I was in prayer the other day and out of my mouth came the words, “I have experienced the trickle, now I want the tsunami, release the reservoir!” I kept saying it in prayer over and over again, RELEASE THE RESERVOIR! RELEASE THE RESERVOIR! Even as I said it I was not sure what I was saying, but I have been to Shasta Dam in Redding, CA and on that trip we walked across the dam and there was a reservoir of water on our right and the wall of the dam that went straight down on our left. We went into a building that took us down into the dam, which allowed us to see the inner workings of the dam, the hydroplant and other fascinating aspects of the dam. We saw the smallest hairline cracks in which water was seeping through the dam walls. This is what I saw in the spirit as I was praying RELEASE THE RESERVOIR!

The Holy Spirit is the best point guard (basketball term) and He always passes me the ball (word of God) right in front of me as I am walking along. Reading Colossians 1 in the Passion Translation it says, “Receive the perfect knowledge of God’s pleasure over your lives, making you reservoirs of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Immediately I declared RELEASE THE RESERVOIR! There is a reservoir of wisdom and understanding; of wealth and health; of restoration and reconciliation; and I am declaring RELEASE THE RESERVOIR! He said this is a December to Remember, we have expereinced the trickle now we want to know the tsunami, RELEASE THE RESERVOIR!!!!

Comparison and competition are the enemies of oneness with God and with each other. The kingdom of God is not a place to compete or compare, for we are all children of the same King and we are all living in the same kingdom. Jesus never competed with the Pharisees; He never compared Himself to the disciples; He manifested who He was and it called people up, it was never to put them down. Our need to be the first, the best, the one is a sign of insecurity in us that can only be met in knowing who Jesus is and what He says about us. Other people cannot make you feel secure, only God can establish firmly your identity which is your security.

I was thinking about Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit this morning and Isaiah 40:25 dropped into my spirit, “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.” The reason God has no equal is not because of heirarchy but because of manifestation. He sets the bar for what it means to be God because of who He is. When you know the living God no idol can compare, no person comes close, there is nothing that holds water to our living God. There really is no other name you want to follow because the name of Jesus is Savior; the name of the Father is Light; and the name of the Holy Spirit is Breath; once you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, nothing else tastes as good as Him; nothing else satisfies like He does.

Friends manifestion is trumping competition and comparison. Once you manifest who God has created you to be there is no need to compete with anyone else for anything else. People will see your value, will want your gift, and will desire your time. When you know who you are in Christ you manifest Him and others want to be around you. Others may compete with you and compare themselves with you but you just manifest by loving God and loving people. This is what real contentment looks like and feels like. It is time to manifest.

Living in a world that displays the illusion of image it can be challenging to feel like you are loved, you are prosperous, you are enough. The illusion of image makes people look so pretty and you can feel so ugly. In the illusion of image others can look so prosperous as they drive their car that is not paid for, live in their house that is mortgaged to the max, or wear those clothes they bought on credit. The image of illusion can make us feel like we do not measure up which then triggers impulse buying, keeping up with the Jones’ attitude and I am less than because look what they have or do. It is all an illusion.

The Holy Spirit whispered to me the words, “I still look at the heart!” I immediately was taken out of the illusion of what everyone else has or gets to do into the reality that anyone can look good on the outside, but what is on the inside is what God is looking at. He is still the God who looks past the illusion to the see the reality of the heart. Many illusion images are covering up broken marriages, high piles of debt, insecurity, loneliness and so many other issues. The packaging looks great but the truth is there are so many broken people on the inside even though they look good on the outside.

The Lord still looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:6-7 says, “When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is before Him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” My friends in this season of illusion of image remember God still looks at the heart and He is looking for hearts that are completely His. He does not care if you have a Christmas tree in your house or gifts under the tree, He is not concerned about the car you drive or the neighborhood you live in. He is looking at hearts right now. He is looking to see who has integrity, authenticity, authority, He is looking for faithful ones, devoted ones, loving ones. Anyone can buy on credit an illusion of image, but only those who love God and love people have hearts that seek Him. He is still looking at hearts my friends.