Walking It Out

  When I sit and reflect on where we are the strongest, and conversely where we are attacked the most, relationships come to mind. When sin entered via Adam and Eve, their relationship with God was hurt, as well as their own relationship (Adam blaming Eve). There are numerous passages of scripture teaching us the importance of fellowship, fighting for unity and not forsaking meeting together. We aren't meant to be alone. Just like the powerful impact His Holy Spirit has on us when we are in His presence, there's importance in our presence and all of us coming together. When we follow Christ we have His Spirit within us and His spirit touches others in our presence. We are designed by God to edify, encourage, and remind one another of who our Father is, what He is capable of and who we are in Him! Sometimes we are giving and sometimes we are receiving.  I'm continually in awe of His intricate and beautiful design. We are hurt through relationships but we are also healed thro...

  It's okay to want more and more of the Lord. More of His presence, His healing, His wisdom, His leading, His love, His everything! In our natural life it's commonly seen as being greedy or a negative attribute to be craving and wanting more; being insatiable. However, those are just misdirected cravings. We are designed by God to want more and more of Him.  I've been in the book of Acts a lot this week and this morning I'm reading chapters 7 and 8. I'm struck by so many things in these passages but what stayed with me this morning is how we need to receive the Holy Spirit. I have been filled with the Holy Spirit for about 6 years now and I find myself trying to explain this importance to other believers. As I read in Acts 8, I'm noticing more that we need the boldness and the 'in your face' power of the Holy Spirit to reach the lost. It is with His miraculous signs, deliverance, and healings that even those deep into the occult were saved.  Peter and J...

For the last few months I've been really walking out the simplicity in God's call for our life. I really try to boil down all of the complexities and find the direct path. I don't always succeed, I'm all too often distracted and easily excited by another shiny object but in the end I'm able to go back to the simple callings of the Lord.  I have a lot on my mind and heart but I'll try my best to simmer this down into a clear message. The more time I spend with the Lord over these years, the more discernment He gives me.  In with this discernment and looking for the simplicity in His calling, I'm noticing our need to be delivering people, including believers, from demonic torment. Jesus taught, delivered and healed everywhere He went. Why is deliverance and healing such a controversial topic even within the church in the US? The gifts of the Spirit are often hot topics too which keep many believers from the fullness of the Lord that they are granted but that...

For the past week I’ve been in quiet reflection. I’ve been walking through and processing some things that are more personal. I considered writing about them in a way that doesn’t disclose too much but I felt like God kept telling me it was just a time for me and Him. I think it’s important for us to always be reassessing and listening for His guidance in all things. Not just the big stuff. I didn’t go through anything tremendously difficult this past week or anything I would consider too personal, but the Lord made it abundantly clear that I was to rest, and just lean in.  I’m sharing this because all too often I feel like we hear or know that we need to rest and lean in closer to the Lord but we find reasons not too; responsibilities, distractions, etc. Rest and quiet reflection time with the Lord is so abundantly important for our growth, healing, centering and ability to overflow to others. Psalm 46:10  “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. ...

  I have just been reflecting on God's goodness these past few days and how well He takes care of His children. Even when we aren't in a place where we can fully see it, He's working. I keep thinking about a commonly referenced verse: Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” This morning I started to see this verse differently than I have in the past. In the past I saw it as a promise for good works. More of a tenet for life about judging others and forgiving others.  During this period of my life I'm finding myself just following one step at a time. Literally, this is what He's having me do. I'm just constantly seeking His will and His plans and He's only revealing one step at a time and I'm doing my best to hear what I need to do and obey. To be honest, I'm a planner and it can be pr...

I'm going to get a little more personal today, a bit vulnerable because I know God uses our pain, growth and healing in the Kingdom.  I genuinely believe this is my life verse: Genesis 50:20  You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.  God has walked me through so many things in my life and is continuing to do so. These past few months I've been struggling on and off with physical attacks. Or should I say, it's become more obvious to me that the pain I'm feeling and experiencing is not just a natural issue. It started becoming apparent to me while in worship at church. There would be times I walk into church or the presence of another believer and my pain would vanish. Then there would be times that during the heat of worship, when I was completely immersed in His presence, my body would start completely aching with pain and typically my throat would feel blocked which would make it...

Do you ever have an idea or a concept you're trying to communicate but just fumble it up? It seems like that only happens to me when I'm either trying to connect by showing I care, or expressing something genuine in a form of a complement or encouragement. I'm not even talking about the 'insert foot in mouth' moments that happen when we're in an argument; yikes, that's a different post for another day! I've been observing a lot of the "stepping in it" phenomenon lately and recently went through it myself too.  Why does it hurt so deeply to be misunderstood when we're trying to express love, compassion, connection, and or admiration? When I was praying about this last night I felt like the Lord was showing how it brings up rejection. We are designed to be connected, love and care for one another but not find our value and place from these relationships. Nothing good comes for us or others when we have the spirit of rejection sitting upon us....

  Your tears aren't lost on me child. I see and feel you. You are seen and felt. All good things come from me and if the world acknowledges empathy as good, how perfect is mine? I sit in your pain with you, feel the agony, grief, loneliness and misery with you; wrapping my arms of perfect peace around you. Let me sooth you, let me love you, let me wipe away your tears and help hold your pain with you. In your brokenness I can show you all the more who you are to me; you can trust my complete and perfect love. Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 56:8 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. John 14:...

  I don't know about you but I struggle keeping a consistent exercise routine up without having a goal to be focused on. I walk to keep my cortisol levels down and move my body as it was designed for. For other exercises I typically need to have a goal of working on improving myself in a sport. The first time I went snowboarding I could only hang in there half a day before my back was done and that motivated me to do workouts specifically geared at improving snowboarding. Four weeks later when I hit the slopes again, I performed so much better and it didn't wear me out at all. This morning I was pondering this and how it's similar with the spiritual. Our daily exercises of praying, being in the word and worshiping become more focused, intentional and amplified when we have direction, a purpose and a place to outpour what we have been given.  Just like sports and physical exercise, our bodies are meant to move. We are designed to share our gifts, share what God's doing i...

  As I read through Judges 7:1-8:21 I'm pondering why the Israelites say, "Oh God of Jacob, Abraham and Issac"? Is it to remind God's people that what God does for one follower, he can and will do for all? He shows up for believers and wants to display His unimaginable love. In Gideon's (Jerub-baal) story in this part of Judges, his army was reduced by the Lord from 22,000 to 10,000 to 300! That's a HUGE difference. For perspective, most basketball arenas hold around 20,000-22, 000 people and that's what he started with. Then the Lord reduced that by half. Which is already a significant cut. Then he reduced it down to 300. 300! My daughter's graduating high school class had more in it than that in Las Vegas. The Lord did this because he wanted His people to know without a shadow of doubt that it was His doing, not their own.  Then, he made provision for Gideon's unsteady feeling from reducing his troops by drastic measures by giving him a specific ...

  I'm a body person, meaning I've always enjoyed playing sports, thrived in PE class and just can feel my body's need to be active. As I get older my body gets stiff a lot easier, it's not quite as flexible and discomfort seems to be a regular thing. I was playing beach volleyball yesterday for a few hours and I don't know how to be all or nothing with sports, so today I'm quite stiff!  I look at my son and remember what it's like to be so flexible that it is actually difficult to stretch muscles out. In the spiritual it's the same for him, his boldness makes him not even notice or appreciate where God is stretching him at times. He just walks through it with an open posture. Me on the other hand...wow I feel every stretch God puts on me lately. I have a specific look, an attitude on my face that says, "yeah I'll do it but God it would be nice if you could just let me chill a while".  In the natural I think about all of the benefits of stre...

As I sit this morning reflecting on the past week I'm thinking about how important it is to be grounded in God's word. Our enemy is so cunning and the stronger we get and further we get on our Christian walk the more covert the attacks can become. Or possibly we missed a lot of the smaller nuances and are just more attuned to what he's throwing our way.  My mind keeps going to this notion that the most well intentioned Christian brother and sister (and us towards others too) could be unintentionally planting seeds within us that harvest weeds and not fruit bearing trees. Well, because none of us are perfect and areas of our heart still need mending and healing. These areas of hurt within us can muddle up our advice. Without being aware we can plant seeds of fear, division, carnality, and pride. Once again, this doesn't mean we should avoid community. We need to grow, live, grieve and celebrate together. Our power is in sharing of our continual testimony with one another...