We are God's Workmanship

The Spirit calls today after a retreat to the ocean with women from my fellowship. The time was a much needed break but not like one normally would expect. My much needed break was to get away from comfort zones and safe routines. To venture out into the dark unknown world of other women. To be stimulated by thoughts outside my own head, exposed to opinions not flowing from my own life experiences and dealing with potential rejection always wondering about acceptance if people only knew the "real" me.

I have noticed over the course of my life that there is a fine line between not caring what others might think about me and not allowing what others might think to distort who I am.

The Spirit calls me to sweet fellowship. The retreat was wonderful, the women warm and welcoming, the message was straight from God's lips to my ears. But I sense that in thinking about my own feelings of awkwardness and fear of rejection, there is a bigger message to be gleaned from this experience.

We each have our own unique identity and calling, known since the beginning, not of our life, but since the beginning of time itself.

Psalm 139:13-16 says, "For You created my inmost being and knit me together in my mother's womb....your eyes saw my unformed body, all the days ordained for me were written in your book"

Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do".

There it is laid out before us: The Sovereign God of all creation, the One who saw us before we could even begin to reckon time, has a plan and a calling for us and has infused our being with the gifts, strengths and talents to fulfill that calling as He watched over our development in our mother's womb.

We are no mistake! We are not just a random bunch of cells that collided and stuck together. Our passion and interests are at base, God designed and God ordained.

The Holy One calls us to trust Him to reveal who we were created to be, not just to the world around us, but more importantly, to ourselves. In the long process, we must not listen to outside voices trying to make us into what they want us to be. There is the temptation to live up to "expectations" that have been imposed over all of us for all of our lives, but not by our Maker.

The Holy Spirit is calling to each one of His Chosen to think about our passion, for therein lies our gift; the gift that we were created to develop and share, anointed and empowered by the One who "knit us together while we were in our mother's womb". The Spirit is calling and asking us to allow Him to reveal our unique glory.

We have been taught so much about original sin and how it has distorted our entire existence. But we never have been taught to think even a little bit about the original glory of having been created in God's Glorious image.

Jesus came to restore the broken lineage between us and our Creator. Through Him we can have the legacy of glory restored. By the death and resurrection of our Savior and the subsequent release of the Holy Spirit, we have the potential to live in the Holy, Glorious conforming image of the Son of God.

While we are yet trapped in our decaying flesh, to walk in the Spirit and live out our "calling" under the anointing of the Holy One is our potential on earth. Awkwardness and fear of rejection must be overcome by confidence in the One who has created us and called us and ordained us for good works that flow through our gifts.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

Deep Calls To Deep

This morning the Spirit calls and the message is "listen in the depths of your soul. My voice bypasses the intellect and calls to what I have placed in your core. If you ignore My voice you will be at risk".

This lesson has been given by Holiness to train me year after year. That "Voice" spoke to me long, long, ago when I was young. I have heard His voice, and now I "know" His voice.

His voice has spoken into the darkness of my circumstances and brought comfort when I needed comfort, courage when I needed courage, knowledge when I needed knowledge, discipline when I needed discipline. His voice has spoken of things not yet visible to me, then confirmed those things I heard in the reality of them "happening".

His voice has been my lifeline in dark places when it was so dark I couldn't see the pathway in front of me. As I moved toward the voice I knew to be His, the darkness gave way to the exit sign and I emerged once again into His light. Deep calls to deep. I have learned to listen, straining to hear that "familiar Voice" to my soul.

People ask "how do you hear God's voice and how do you know it's His?" I can only say, "listen" with your soul. In the desperation of your circumstances, stop running. The Good Shepherd finds you. As His voice speaks, the authority becomes undeniable.

While the Good Shepherd has a unique and creative way to train each one of in the recognition of His voice, one thing is always the same and that is the authority of His Voice. When He speaks, things happen. The enemy would have us think on those things as "coincidence" or luck (whether good or bad), but as we listen and follow His Voice, comfirming signs will always be present.

John 10:27, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow Me." The Palestinian shepherd leads his sheep, he doesn't drive them. Voice recognition is, therefore, very important for the individual shepherd's sheep. They will only follow their personal shepherd.

Can we ignore the voice of our shepherd? Yes, and over the years I have and wound up up on cliffs of peril. The great news is that He always came looking for me and found me before I fell off the cliff. I have had a few "broken legs"; some due to personal clumsiness and some due to a rebellious heart (The Good Shepherd will sometimes break the leg of the wandering sheep, Himself, to prevent further risky adventures).

With the chaos and confusion of the enemy all around us in this fallen world we inhabit, we desperately need to hear and respond to the Voice of our Good Shepherd.

Deep is calling to deep and I must listen deep within my soul to what He is saying, then follow His voice.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

A Brick of Truth

I am so thankful to have the Holy One on board to point out the ways I "blow it", yet in a gentle manner that is gracious and forgiving. Yesterday, as I was trying to share Truth from God's Word, I was met with a less than receptive ear. In fact, I guess if posturing could be described, I was actually speaking to the south end of someone going north. The backside, and not the side we normally like to see if we are engaging someone in conversation.

The Holy Spirit called me this morning to discuss the incident further.

He told me that the Word of Truth is like a brick, necessary for each person's faith wall. The He told me that in yesterday's conversation, I was throwing the bricks at their head rather than laying them down gently for the other person to pick up and use in their faith wall. I got the picture.

Then, He took me to 2 Timothy 2:15. "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of Truth." A brick of truth hurled at another person can hurt..big time, whereas a brick of truth gently laid before them can be picked up and added to their faith wall.

The Word of Truth, "correctly handled" is powerful and must not be thrown carelessly into the face of those who oppose us. 2 Timothy 2:24 goes further into this instruction, "and the Lord's servant must not quarrel, instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him, he must gently instruct in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the Truth."

The fruit and manifestation of the Holy Spirit is patience and long suffering not just in the arena of our personal hardships and difficulties but also patience in waiting for others to come to the knowledge that we now have. How patient the Lord is with me when I am so hard-headed and cannot seem to "get" what He is showing me.

When I act out fleshly impatience with the "ignorant" and hurl the bricks of truth at their head, (or backs) the Holy One is quenched from within and His flow of grace outward is interrupted. Point well taken and prayerfully "lesson" learned.

Holy One, please forgive me for past failures and may I always handle the "brick of truth" correctly so as not to dis-grace the One who calls me to lay it down for someone else to accept and use.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

The Amalekite King

Today the nation is is such a state of distress and the Holy Spirit has some things to say to me. The buzz is all about the administration's push for the passing of a bill that will impact our nation and our people for generations to come.

Politics aside, the Spirit warns as only the Holy Spirit can. But the warning has to do with me and my heart not the world outside. Today's call is a more urgent warning because it is the second one on the same issue lately.

The Holy One has been talking to me through the account of King Saul in I Samuel 15:18 and his treatment of the Amalekite King, Agag. To summarize; God told King Saul through the Prophet, Samuel, that he was to attack the Amalekites for what they had done to waylay Israel as they came out of Egypt. This was a Divine Decree that the enemies of God and His people were to be completely destroyed, wiped out, obliterated. Saul was told to spare no one, not even their livestock.

Saul undertook the assignment but made the decision to spare the life of the King of the Amalekites to take him captive and keep the best of the livestock, in direct violation of the Lord's command.

So how does this become a warning to me? The "Amalekite King" is a symbol of things within me that have waylayed my spiritual journey. I.E. sins that have stalled or hindered my forward progress. The Spirit is saying that the things he has been revealing to me as sin in my life must be completely destroyed, annihilated once and for all. Show no mercy...take no prisoners. Saul made the mistake of allowing the King to live under his "control" and in "captivity". In doing so, Saul lost his Godly anointing as King. The same is true of us. If we allow or tolerate personal sin, we too will lose our Godly anointing.

I must guard myself against a similar mistake. The Holy Spirit will provide me with the wisdom to know those things that "King Agag" symbolizes in my life, and then He will give me the power to destroy those things.

With regard to our nation and how this warning ties in; we, the people, God's chosen, must begin to deal with the rebellion in our own hearts so that the Holy One will come and heal our land. The ills that plague our nation are the ills of our individual hearts. The cure, for those who are called by His name, is to repent and turn (completely) and pray:

I Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land." I truly believe that the "land" God promises to heal is not just the nation but also marriages, families, ministries, businesses.

While we often quote this part of I Chronicles 7 we must not stop at VS 14 but we really need to go on to read and listen to VS 19 because herein lies a warning: "BUT, if you turn away from the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them....THEN I will uproot....."

The unheeded warning and the promise of healing ignored, will result in a very dire consequence to our life. In this passage we love to quote, there is a "but" and a consequence should we choose to refuse God's merciful promise of intervention. I can only assume that this is so important in the eyes of the Lord that there is no neutral ground possible as He always acts in my ultimate best "interests".

Oh Holy One, I am all ears. Show me any "Amalekite King" that remains alive in my life ever before You. Give me the courage to slay without mercy any sin that remains and poses a threat to the Godly anointing You have over my life.

May we all seek what the Spirit seeks to reveal in us.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

Losing an Hour?

The Spirit calls. The time change has wrecked havoc on the body. My wake up call didn't advance like the clock....I lost an hour.

Time is a precious commodity in my relationship with the Holy One, yet even now He speaks comfort, "I am always here with you, not just in the early morning or late at night but all throughout the day, even as you sleep, I am with you". (Deut 31:8)
"The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

As the sun rises and the day of "duty" encroaches, it's good to be reminded that He inhabits the whole of my life not just a few hours just before dawn. Lately, life has been crazy for all of us. I don't need to know the details of your personal story to understand that life has been crazy for you too.

Losing an hour seems to have accelerated the pace of this life. Winter is drawing down. The time change heralds the beginning of spring and springtime brings the delight of new life; the Celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord. The winter of the last year brought many hours of darkness over my heart and now I can anticipate and look forward to the springtime and a renewal.

The Spirit of the Risen, Living Savior has been my constant companion in the dark days of the winter and now He gives the hope that He is bringing renewal, resolution, and revival to things that have appeared to be "dead".

While I fight the loss of this "hour", I begin to realize all that I gain, and it becomes a very easy transition to make. The lost hour is symbolic to me like lost opportunities. But with the promise of resurrected life, I know the Holy One will make up for any time lost on my clock........ for His Will for me and His will for all of us is TIME-LESS.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

Life After Death

Just as the Holy Spirit is calling to each one of us, we have the great privilege to call out to Him and know He will answer. Darkness fills the family as we keep a vigil over a life about to translate into eternity. I cry out to the Holy One. He is here and speaks truth.

When death comes knocking and it is time for the "tent" to fold in preparation for wonders beyond our imagination, it's easy to get lost in the sorrow of the final good-byes here on earth.

Born again believers in Jesus Christ have an edge over others for we know the One who holds our eternity and we love Him. We do not mourn like those who have no hope yet the "death" experience is no respecter of persons and externally, physically we all must proceed through that corridor to life beyond our limited view.

Death is where the rubber meets the road in a person's belief system. The rich die, the poor die, the wise die, the foolish die, the young die, the old die. Up to this day, no one is exempt from the death of our flesh bodies except 2 men spoken of in God's Holy Word, and even those accounts leave so much to our imagination, we can only ponder what that was like.

Since all things inevitably come to an end, you would seem to think that people would be more inclined to prepare for the next destination point beyond this life. The Bible says, Ecc 3:11, "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end".

In the whole spectrum of history, there is only One who claimed to be the Eternal Holy One, with evidence to back it up. Many voices have been heard promoting philosophies, even codes for good moral behavior but only One voice speaks with Eternal authority, and that is the Only Begotten Son of God, Christ Jesus.

Why do men follow the pathways of dead "gods"? Could it be that dead "gods" and their prophets are easier to follow as they place no "enforceable" requirements on the living?
Christians are the only ones who follow a living Savior. Our God lives!. Jesus is the only resurrected Savior.

When confronted with the super-natural fact of the Resurrection, everything else we might believe in falls away. Good men, and their moral codes live for a while in our memories but then they are placed in a casket of dead things. Certain men or women who live reputable lives may be wonderful to follow for a season but then we all have to admit that not one hero of any other "religion" or belief system ever conquered death.

The Resurrected One deserves all our attention, all our honor, all our respect, all our loyalty, all our worship. None can compare to our "Champion". No other theology, philosophy, or belief system can truly claim a life beyond death except the One who came back physically to prove it. To such a One we must pay close attention and if we desire to live eternally, we must follow Him as He has led the way. Jesus is the only true Messiah. His life, death and resurrection is a historic fact.

And this is the reason for our hope.

When death happens here on earth, we are ushered into a new place with different dynamics, but our soul lives on. For the followers of Christ, this is a wondrous welcoming place where we will be face to face with our Savior. But for those who never cared to prepare for eternity through the Truth of God's Word, there is the foreboding finality spoken in Revelation 20:11.

Jesus talked about the "narrow road that leads to life. "Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad the road that leads to destruction and many enter it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it." Matt 7:13-14.

This broad vs narrow road is not the "law" or rules upon us that are hard to live by. The way is not narrow because of legalistic requirements or regulations. The way is narrow simply because Jesus Christ is the ONLY way provided by the Father to have relationship with and access to Heaven's Throne, where all judgement is executed against sin.

God's ultimate judgment over sin was already poured out onto the Savior on the Cross. We either accept it or not. We either receive and believe that Jesus Christ died in our place having paid the price for sin that must be judged and condemned or not.

But for those who believe they can get to the Throne of Heaven any other way, whether by good works, sweet disposition, or following the tenets of Buddha, Mohammad, Joseph
Smith or others, however "good" they may sound, are entering through the wrong gate and unto their ultimate destruction.

In the face of the ultimate equalizer of all men who ever lived, which is the death of our earthly existence, we can rejoice in faith that the One who was crucified in our place is alive and well. His tomb is empty and He lives. Because He lives, all of us who follow Him will live on as well.

Followers of Christ can celebrate...even in the face of death. How about you?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

Peace

4:00 A.M. comes early these days but when the Holy One speaks who can roll over and refuse to get up?

Today the dialog begins with a question. "If you could reflect any characteristic of Jesus, to the world around you, what would it be?" I am challenged by the question and excited by it at the same time because I have learned that the Holy Spirit's primary goal is to bring Glory to Jesus Christ, the Only begotten Son of God in and through His people. The Holy Spirit is "Christ" in me, the hope of glory. (Col 1:27). This question brings an expectant hope of things to come.

Knowing that the fullness of Christ is present within, by the life of the Holy Spirit, I sense that this is a starting point for a much deeper dive into His manifestation through my life and a greater personal accountability for what happens next. In order for the life of Christ to manifest, the death of self must take place. Knowing this is one thing, surrendering to it is something else. Passion must overrule fear of dying.

I can't help but wonder if this is why the Holy One asks the question and gives me a choice of where we will begin this next critical step toward living the resurrected life of Christ within. His life within arouses our passion. In the same way that Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning it's shame, so can I. (Heb 12:2) This passion to see the Life of my Jesus glorified though me is scheduled to keep me going against any pain of the dying to self.

As I ponder the original question, I come to my answer. If I could reflect any characteristic of my Lord to the world around me, it would be His Peace. With the world in such chaos and people facing all the uncertainties of life upon the earth, everyone is in desperate need of "Peace". Jesus said, "My peace I leave with you, My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid".

I want to reflect THAT peace, regardless of what we are going through. The peace that can say, "all is well with my soul". I just envision the Holy Spirit walking into every person's dire circumstances with His penetrating peace.

His Peace that brings a sense of coming resolution:

For the fearful, a sense of courage
For the sick, a sense of healing
For the aged, a sense of youthful vitality restored
For the doubters, a sense of confident hope
For the mentally confused, a sense of clarity of mind
For the victims, a sense of coming rescue

I desire for myself the peace that transcends all understanding and prevails against any threat known to man and so this is the quality in the Life of Jesus I would most desire to reflect to the world around me.

Only by the power of the Holy One can this peace ever effervesce out of my life.

What characteristic of our Savior would you live to reflect?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

"Come, Follow Me"

The Spirit calls me this morning. I hear Him say, "Come, follow Me". It's not that I haven't read those words before or even heard them in my ear, but in this season of "death", dying to my self and personal "expectations", those words have even deeper meaning than ever before.

When each disciple heard those words there was a decision required. For Peter, James and John, the call to follow Jesus took them out of their fishing boats and away from their "occupation". They were career fishermen, leaving everything they knew how to do.

Months ago, the Lord took me to Joshua 3:3-4. When the Children of Israel were about to cross over the Jordan into the "Promised Land", the Lord gave Joshua the order to tell the people, "when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God"...move out and follow..."then you will know which way to go since you have never been this way before."

The operative word is "follow". The Lord calls us to follow Him, not "write your own script, blaze your own trail, dictate your own part in the play".

When Jesus first called the Disciples, He was visible. He lived with them, and modelled Holiness in human form. He led them and they chose to follow Him. Now, and ever since He returned to His original Glory Seat, we have had His indwelling Presence in the form of the Holy Spirit to lead us.

Jesus said to His Disciples, "Come, follow Me". Now, the Holy Spirit of Christ says to us, "Come, follow Me. Leave your old ways, your old aspirations, your old goals for yourself. Let Me lead you and come, follow Me".

Christ in the flesh was rejected and ignored and Christ in the Holy Spirit can also be rejected and ignored. It's hard to imagine how "Majesty" can be ignored but we do it every day.

"Come, follow Me" brings a decision requirement and for each one of us. It will be a unique and individual act of obedience. We must leave the past, leave the familiar and walk into a whole new idea of "purpose".

For me, "Come, follow Me" means I am being asked to leave the familiar and venture off with my Lord into an unknown future here on earth. It is exciting and fearsome all at the same time. The one thing I do know, is that I am not equipped nor expected to lead. I am at last finally learning how to follow.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

Get Ready for the "Rain"

The Spirit is calling me this morning to give me yet more of a picture of Himself. I Kings 18 has been the study for weeks. I ponder, I mull, I go back to it over and over to glean what the Spirit is trying to speak through the verses of this chapter about Elijah and the Lord's mighty answer by fire from Heaven.

 I have been focusing on that small cloud in the distance (I Kings 18:44) that represents an end to the drought and famine in the land. It was God's will and His privilege to stop the drought that was a Divine discipline over His people for their idolatry and apostasy. God's mercy is so amazing. He doesn't leave us in that place of penalty forever. But what does that cloud mean in my life? What does it represent as a symbol?

 I have been seeking the Spirit's answer and today I can see, in part, what it represents. In keeping with the over arching lessons from the Lord in my life; the call to ministry and the preparation for the next season, the cloud is significant. In that cloud is the personal promise for life sustaining rain. Not the rain for an end to the physical drought I have been experiencing in my circumstances (although that will be affected as well) but a much greater "rain" that is coming. It is the "rain" of the Holy Spirit Himself. 

 I believe the Holy Spirit is about to "rain" down onto and through His people with power and authority. (For those who are already experiencing the "rain", I say, Hallelujah, that I am finally poised to know what you know). I believe with all my heart, that those of us who are seeking the Lord are being called to empty ourselves and to allow Him to empty us. Those things we have not been able to release, He is taking out of our hands. The reason for the "clean out" is not just for the purpose and sake of our own purity, but to be emptied of self, so we can be filled up with and by the Holy One. 

 I saw in my Spirit the coming "rain", the coming deluge, the coming drenching of our lives with "Holy Rain". But only the empty vessels will be filled with His powerful anointing. Like the huge "blue barrels" only the empty ones can be filled. For those who are not emptied, (those filled with dirt, mud, brown water, etc.), the new rain cannot be captured and will instead be as runoff, not able to be collected or used. 

 The Lord, through our circumstances, is trying to get our attention and to break our will so we can experience even greater things that He has in store for His people. We have been exposed to and affected by corrupting things, the kind of things that prevent our usefulness as servants of the Most High. 

 These are the times of great challenges in our world and in our lives. The Holy Spirit is the only One equal to the challenges we face. The "rain" is coming! Are you being emptied right now? Better get ready for the "rain". 

 The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?