We're Being Weighed

I don’t know about you but I’ve been feeling the heaviness of being weighed and measured. I’ve spoken before about our words creating empty altars that we haven’t placed anything on. Or, we’ve placed things we’re willing to on those altars but they’re not what God was telling you to lay down.
There’s a real intensity to Elohim’s measuring right now within His remnant.
I sense many of us have been raising and enjoying our “Isaacs” but now is the time to take the faithful walk to the mountain of sacrifice. No argument, only faith. Only then will we experience and see what no eye has seen and no ear has heard (1 Cor. 2:9). We also need to remember in our obedience and surrender we not try to have it all figured out or all details be seen. His ways are higher than ours (Is. 55:9). Trust and surrender.

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Gen.‬ ‭22:1-2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—”
‭‭1 Cor.‬ ‭2:9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Is. 55:8-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Some of you may have seen me sharing some words from the tail-end of 2020 and beginning of 2021. 

As I have read over these words, I have been flooded with confirmation, conviction and questions. I won’t go through all of that at this moment, but did feel led to share the question that has stuck on me as I have been praying into this next year. The question was: “Did you co-labor over that word or did you sit and shelf it?”

There are many conversations that can come from that question, but I simply want to approach it from this angle today to encourage you. 

It is a good thing to desire to hear from the Lord about the current season we are in, the seasons to come, the new year, situations in our lives, etc. He will give us fresh words and speak to us, but if we are still holding onto and contending for words in past seasons and they have not yet come, there should be two questions that you’re having in your conversation with the Lord. That first question being, “Lord, will You help me understand Your timing on this word?” He will. The second question, “Lord, is there something that I need(ed) to do so I can better co-labor with You over this word?“ 

More times than not, there will be instruction for us with those prophetic words. Sometimes that instruction is to wait, but most of the time there’s something that is going to be required of us. This is not a works-based thing but a coming into agreement with the promise spoken. 

For example: Noah was given a blueprint to build something unknown to bring safety for a coming season. He had to agree with the promise of him and his family to be saved and then he had to build in that agreement. 

So, as we close out this calendar year, I felt to encourage all of us to revisit these words, ask the questions and move forward with those instructions!

Many blessings over you, your families and every place you set your feet.

You can do this! You may have gotten the wind knocked out of you, the chaos may be clanging loudly around you and you may have fallen to your knees or you face. It’s ok, but it’s time to get back up. You have more fight left in you and I’m here today to life you up and pull it out!! You CAN do this, you ARE victorious and you are NOT alone!!!

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 1 Cor. 4:8 (NIV)

“So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun;
when the enemy comes in like a flood,The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” Is. 59:19 (NKJV)

Just some thoughts that have been soaking on me for a couple of days:

The display of evil in this world is simply a result (a consequence) of a sleeping and lazy church. Now the awakening has happened, it’s time to pick up your sword and open your mouth! Although we all desire for Jesus’ return, our desire for the lost to be found needs to be greater! We were commissioned to go out into the world, not to become a part of it; called to shift it and take back all the enemy has stolen! We have a Hope many do not. It’s past time to share that. 

A side note: when cooking and baking, salt goes into everything and sugar only goes into limited things. The truth is salty, so speak it gently in love...too much all at once will ruin the dish.

“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” ‭Mark‬ ‭16:15, 20‬ ‭NKJV

““You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” ‭‭Matt. 5:13-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I came across this post from last year and was encouraged by it! I pray you are as well!

““Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

‭‭Is. 60:1-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

March 16, 2020

I don't know about you, but I felt massive shifts over this past weekend. I felt a big move happen during the prayer broadcast I was a part of on Friday night and yesterday's National Day of Prayer hit me like a ton of bricks! 

It's like I could see the weight of our Unity in the Spirit; it was so tangible! I saw its weight being so heavy that it was weighing down the heavy fog the enemy has blown in over our lives and all over the earth; so much so that the fog was struggling to remain. 

As I was sharing this with someone this morning, I heard the Lord say, "The Unity of My church crying out has come up into the atmospheres and the F.O.G. is blowing back out as quickly as it blew in! The Unity and My Glory together has collided and is dissipating this F.O.G. like the sun does in the natural; except this time, it will NOT return and My plans and purpose in ALL things WILL BE REVEALED!"

I asked the Lord what He meant when He said F.O.G.

He responded, "The Fear, the Over-reacting, and the Governmental corruption will be seen for all it has been and because of My church arising, allowing My Glory and all I desire for this earth to be known and seen; everything that has been clouding and blocking is being removed quickly!"

Keep pressing in, church! Keep calling forth "Your Will be done, Lord, here on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!!"

The other side of this F.O.G is God's F.O.G.

     The Fear of God brings in the Favor of God and rests in the Family of God!

Photo credit: coasttomountain . com

With Purim having just passed, I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading through the book of Esther once again. 

I couldn’t help but see the parallels between what I was reading and what many of us are walking through in this very moment; in our personal lives and in the nations.

In this book, we read about how Haman has manipulated the king to get his signet ring in order to put forth a decree to do horrible atrocities to a specific people. His plots and plans or then found out, and what he intended for those people he then received the punishment. He hung on the gallows that he had built. The king the takes back his signet ring and puts forth the declaration of protection with the exact wording that the enemy tried to speak. We all know that what The King declares trumps everything! He is The King, He is The Judge, He is the Lord of lords. What He speaks IS truth and every word and every breath overtakes anything and everything in its path. Our position and posture is in surrender, but it is also standing, warring and co-laboring to bring forth that decree. So whatever the enemy has tried to speak over you, The King is declaring protection over that very thing, The King is declaring provision in the place of lack, The King is declaring healing in the place of sickness, The King is declaring reconciliation in the broken places! When He said, “It is finished!”, this is exactly what it means; IT IS ALL FINISHED!! 

“For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king. ””‭‭Esther‬ ‭7:4‬ ‭NIV

“The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies.” ‭‭Esther‬ ‭8:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So many times we read the story about the miracles Israel experienced within and outside of their Egyptian captivity (Exodus). I believe, sometimes, we take this and superimpose it over our own stories or situations and expect the same outcome; we want the wealth of Egypt BEFORE our desert time. 

But, what if the Lord wants to get “the Egypt” out of you BEFORE weighing you down with the provision for the promise? What if God needs to teach you how to walk following His cloud by day and fire by night? What if He needs to show you how to eat daily and not store up for tomorrow? What if He wants to show you how He plans to give you a miraculous path to safety? What if He is showing you how to not build idols in the midst of your waiting and/or frustration? If we can’t embrace, learn and walk in our desert; we will never properly steward the wealth of the Promise. 

We also need to stop boxing God into the ways we believe and give Him free reign; we need to simply believe He will handle all things in His perfection. He promised it, it will be.

Just thinkin’ out loud...

We all like to talk about Saul’s conversion to Paul. Because it was so out-of-the-blue crazy and amazing; but we tend to skip over key verses. In Acts 9:15, the Lord declares to Ananias who he has called Saul to be. Then in verse 16, we breeze over the sentence of the Lord saying, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

So many people want the amazing and miraculous ministry that Paul functioned in, yet they don’t want to walk through the suffering that Paul walked through. Paul rejoiced in every single bit of his persecution, blindness and imprisonment. This is where the verse Philippians 1:21 is birthed! You know, the one we flippantly quote yet don’t want to walk in the fullness of? This verse (and the ones surrounding it) is Paul’s realization that nothing in this earth’s tangibility has more value than to live as Christ lived...sacrificially.

In our current society, our wimpy, wishy-washy “Christian” life; we have been functioning like a dimmer switch deciding how brightly we want to shine or lowering it down because we don’t want to offend. We look for the loopholes and the gray areas that we can comfortably walk in, rest in and live in. But we need to be living like a regular switch; pick one!! You are off or you are on! This life is black and white, vastly contrasting, no mixture; no luke-warmness! There cannot be mixture if you want to live and function in the miraculous, in the calling the Lord has set upon you! We are called to be set apart; going out into the world, not to become it. We have to live like Paul wrote, “to Live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Paul did not become Paul until after the death of Saul. He had to die to his flesh, he had to die to the life that he once knew n order to live the life that he was called into. That old life of his put fear into other people, but his new life brought hope. What life are you living? Is it a fleshly one or a Holy Spirit filled one?

“But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.” Acts‬ ‭9:15-16, 21-22‬ (‭NIV‬‬)

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:21‬ ‭(NIV‬)

February 9, 2021

Church, Are you building Kingdom or your own “livelyhood”? The shaking has not ceased, the purifying fires are being turned up hotter than ever! Are you ready to declare “but if not” to leave everything you know behind you to step forward into the unknown?  

#prioritycheck #upsidedownkingdom #audienceofone

“So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.”
‭‭Daniel‬ ‭3:3, 5-6, 16-19‬ ‭(NKJV‬‬)

I heard someone sharing some historical details the other day that left me in awe and I really wanted to share it with you.

In our Bibles, we read of the night Jesus was born. These scriptures are read year after year and yet, this year, after hearing this new bit of knowledge; I'm undone.

"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:4-12 (NIV)

Back in that day, in the Jewish culture, the manger was made of stone and chiseled in it was the well where they would put the hay for the feeding trough. However, when the lambs were born, the most pristine, unblemished lamb would be taken, wrapped and placed in that manger to keep it safe from predators. This protected, pristine, unblemished lamb was to be for the annual sacrifice; the atonement for the household's sins. 
So, when the Angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and told them their long-awaited Messiah was born, wrapped and lying in a manger; they knew exactly what that meant. 
The Messiah born was the pristine, unblemished lamb that would be the atonement for the sins of the world. The King of Kings, not wearing a crown but born in a barn and laid in a feeding trough; protected from those that would hunt Him down. 

Not one detail of the Scriptures we read is without God's multi-faceted purpose woven and breathed into them. The only thing missing from these living words is our revelation of them.
What a gift!

I pray as we close out this year and move into the next one; we walk humbly, we speak boldly, we remain surrendered to God's Voice and open to all the revelation, wisdom and discernment needed to take each step forward. 
May our Lord continue to bless you, keep you, HIs Beautiful Face shine brightly upon you and wrap you in His Peace.

Merry Christmas to you all.