Revival isn't a one man show

This morning as I was dwelling with the Lord I heard the word "Revival."

I sat and pressed into the Lord to see what He wanted to speak to me about.

He said, "Are you ready for revival?"

I tried to imagine what it would look like if we had revival. 

It would be incredible, people coming to the Lord and falling recklessly in love with Him.

I can totally see that.

It always is great to see the first image of God's glory falling down and love arresting the hearts of the lost. 

I have imagined this over and over again. 

I felt the Lord telling me to look beyond that image this morning and it scared me.

I started to feel fear well up in my heart.

I saw hundreds and hundreds of people having this amazing experience and then they can't keep it going.
They get hurt, grow cold, bitter, and everyone is getting frustrated at church leaders, the neighbor, etc.
Slowly people start to trickle out, thinking "I can just worship at my own house", marriages start to fall apart, and we are back to the beginning.
Why--because we tried to do it on our own. 

I reminded myself of the many things the Lord tells us.

His love never fails.

His strength is made perfect in weakness.

He is faithful to the end.

The list goes on.

But those weren't what I saw.

Am I ready for revival?
Honestly, NO.

I started to question the Lord, " What are you saying? You won't be here? I don't understand Lord."

His reply was,

  "Sarah, I am teaching you how to sustain relationships. You can bring revival and I will pour my glory out and fall in love with my children but in order to sustain it you have to be able to sustain a relationship and that starts with Me."

When we become intimate with the Lord He teaches us how to sustain relathionships.

He sees with different eyes and hears with different ears. 

He is The Sustainer.
If we can't see through eyes of the Lord and hear with His ears we cannot sustain a relationship.
We can fake it until, we get offended or hurt.
We can go to an unfulfilling point with each other where there is no depth.
But until we have intimacy with the Lord, intimacy with people won't happen.
We leave unsatisfied.
To have intimacy with people we must walk in forgiveness and continually asking the Lord to reign over our hearts and relationships.
We are created to need each others strengths.

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 
And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7

We are all different but there is ONE GOD.
"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all."
FOR THE PROFIT OF ALL.
We need each other, we profit each other and the only way we can sustain relationships is intimacy with the Lord first.
The deeper we go with the Lord the more we will desire intimacy with His children.
We will become aware of each others gifts and will fall unity together with the Lord.

God didn't design revival to be a one man show.

It's about intimacy with each other sustaining relationships in unity.

Revival is a community of lovers falling into unity with the Lord.

Nawapenda

Beloved, let us love one another,

for love is of God; 

and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God, 

for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8 (NKJV)

Sometimes you just gotta love.

When I was in Africa we did a crusade.

We set up a stage in the middle of a market and spoke about the Lord.

The were choirs that sang and danced and then there was a message.

Following the message we had an altar call.

We prayed for the sick, broken, and the captives.
There was a deliverance tent for the demon-posessed.

When demons started to be afraid they tried to shame people.

We brought them into the tent and prayed through deliverance.

There was a particular girl who was in the tent every day.

She was 18.

One day I was feeling overwhelmed by so many people and I didn't have a translator so I went to the deliverance tent.

I looked in and saw this precious girl.

She looked up at me and shame flooded her entire face.

She was embarrassed and had no control over herself.

She was rolling on the ground slithering like a snake. 

When I looked into her eyes I saw a child. 

She was so afraid.

I felt the Lord say "love her."

I went to her and helped her off the ground and sat her in a chair.

I found a translator and tried to build a relationship with her, but it wasn't really working because of the language barrier.

Words were not working.

I let it go and I remembered how to say I love you in Swahili.

"Nawapenda"

 I gave her a hug and just kept saying it over and over.

She hugged me like a child who had never felt love before.

I saw she had lost her shoes at some point during the day.
I wanted to buy her shoes to show her love.

I grabbed a translator and Kadin to go buy her shoes, but it was dark and
time for us to leave the market.

This precious girl had to walk home with no shoes.

God only knows how far.

I climbed into the van with a broken heart.

I was bawling my eyes out.

I just wanted to buy her shoes.

Kadin started to pray over me and I finally calmed down a little.

I started to pray and give the burden to God and begged Him to be with her.

I begged the Lord to set her free and draw her in His arms.

Kadin said we could buy her shoes tomorrow.

So, the next day I looked everywhere for her.

I couldn't find her but she found me.

I grabbed her, got Kadin and took her to buy shoes.

Two white folks who don't know Swahili took her with no translator to buy shoes.

I got the point across as well as I could and we went from store to store letting her try shoes on.

We ran into one of Kadin's translators and he helped us out.
We had him tell her to pick out whatever shoes she wanted.

After running from store to store we went back to the first place and picked these
 simple black flip flops.

I asked her if those were the ones she wanted and she said yes.

We bought them and I handed her the bag.

I gave her a hug and I felt the demon flee.

It left at the act of love.

Why? Because God is love.

She was completely set free because of love.

I didn't pray a special prayer with the right words.

 I didn't read a certain scripture to her.

I didn't even yell and command the demon to leave.

I just loved her.

The devil knows scripture, the devil can say special words, and the devil can yell.

Without love all of these things are meaningless.

Even the devil can do them.

GOD IS LOVE.

It's the most simple complex thing of all.

Love is so simple, yet it is so powerful that it makes demons flee.

It's easy to become caught up in a certain way of doing something.

I don't know about you, but I like to have a plan or a guideline of how to fix something.

There is no plan or guideline to follow with love.

God is love.

You love by knowing Who love is.

When you seek the Father you find love and how it is shown.

Greater love has no one than this,

than to lay down one's life for His friends

John 15:13 (NKJV)

Stop worrying about following rules.

Stop trying to plan out love.

JUST LOVE.

Yet I will rejoice.

Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls--

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer's feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

I can't tell you how many times I have gotten overwhelmed, stressed, upset, etc.

It's so easy to get caught up in affliction.

It's easy to allow it to control who you are.

When I read the Old Testament and imagine all that the Israelites went through it amazes me.

Honestly, who am I to sit and have a pity party?

They faced so much affliction and yet they look at it with eyes of hope.

Habakkuk was watching all these evil things happen to righteous people.

He was experiencing these things.

He approaches the Lord and asks "How much longer? Why?"

He cries out the the Lord begging for help.

Then the Lord comes and sweeps Habakkuk up and into the Lord's arms.

He draws Habakkuk into the secret place and speaks.

He reveals to Habakkuk Who He is.

He then sums up the entire book in just a few words--

"Behold the proud,

His soul is not upright in him;

But, the just shall live by his faith."

Habakkuk 2:4

The just shall live by his faith.

He paints a picture to Habakkuk of what it will look like.

And Habakkuk is swept off of his feet.

He heard the power of the Lord's voice.

He felt the glory and he saw that mountains scattered and the hills bowed for the Lord.

 Habakkuk saw:

"That I might rest in the day of trouble."

Habakkuk 3:16b

What an encounter he had.

What faith it built in Habakkuk that he proclaimed his faith.

Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls--

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer's feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD.

He chose to live by faith.

To rejoice in the hardest times of his life. Why?  Because the Lord is good.

Seek FIRST.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,

the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets,

and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals,

to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David King of Israel.

And they sang responsively praising and giving thanks to the Lord:

"For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel."

Then all the people shouted with a great shout,

when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

Ezra 3:10-11

The people of Israel always touch a place in my heart.

The more I read about them the more I see how similar we are.

They are so extreme. 

They are either head over heels in love with God or running the other direction.

Now, I can't say that specific extreme is what I relate to but the symbol of it-- yes.

I love how much joy filled them when they only had the foundation.

The foundation is extremely important but it's only the beginning.

Yet, here the Israelites are, rejoicing.

I can see them now, wearing their best clothing, playing their best song and singing as loud as they possible could.

I imagine that all of this doesn't feel like enough to them.

They want to shout louder, but can't so they give it everything they have.

I love how much God loves these people.

He continues to have so much mercy on them.

I can see the Lord now, feeling so much joy and love for them.

He never gives up on them. 

He sees them as these people, not the ones who reject Him.

This beautiful moment in history is recorded for us to just dwell on.

The love God must feel and the praise the isrealites bring are incredible.

Oh to be a fly on the wall in that time.

All for a foundation, the VERY beginning of their temple.

As I was going through this image it reminded me of how quickly we forget the importance of the beginning.

If we didn't have the beginning finished we couldn't continue.

I get so frustrated and discouraged at the beginning. 

I am always thinking of the next step. 

I am focusing on the end result.

I just want to see the end result.

It's really easy to do.

But, this beautiful scene reminds me that it's not about the end.

The Lord loves the foundation. 

The moment of rejoice and praise we offer to Him at the beginning.

He loves where we are right now.

If everyday is a new day isn't it the beginning everyday?

If the Lord wipes our slate clean everyday isn't it the beginning?

Shouldn't we choice to praise Him for the foundation being laid right now? 

The people He continually saved, restored and loved did.

They knew what the Father desired.

He wants the be the foundation. 

He wants to be praised at the beginning.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness

and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

When we seek Him first the rest will be added.

When all we desire is the Lords heart, His kingdom; the foundation.

The walls will be added to us.

The finished product will come.

As the israelites continue on to finish the temple they face hindrance.

They got shut down and had to cease finishing the temple.

But, God is so faithful.

They praised Him at the beginning and He came later and granted favor.

Years later they tried to build the temple again and once again were reported to a king.

This time the king blessed them.

He paid all the expenses and gave them offerings to sacrifice.

Whatever they needed the king gave to them.

They sought the kingdom at the foundation and the walls were given.

Righteous love loves without conditions.

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, 

even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 

Galatians 5:14

Most of us know this famous commandment.

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

I know I learned it when I was a kid in Sunday school.

Yesterday while I was in church God spoke to me about it.

He said "Sarah, you can't truly love your neighbor until you love yourself."

I started to meditate on the famous commandment this morning "Love your neighbor as yourself."

When the Lord says to love your neighbor as yourself He doesn't mean arrogant love.

He doesn't say to love our neighbor because we love ourself.

It goes deeper.

He says to love our neighbor as ourselves because He knows we desire Him.

We need Him, our hearts long for Him.

More specifically we long for His value of us.

Until we have our value in Him we can't truly love our neighbor unconditionally. 

True love loves without conditions.

Without the eyes of the Father we love with conditions.
When we feel hurt, get offended or think of ourselves as worthless, we stop loving.

Then we walk in our hurt.

When we seek our worth and value in our Father we love ourselves the way He sees us.

Finding our worth in Him brings us to love ourselves with righteous love.

That righteous love brings us to love our neighbor, fulfilling the law.

This love is found in the eyes of our Father.

 Righteous love loves without conditions.

STOP STRIVING

I wait for the Lord,

my soul waits,

And in His word I do hope.

Psalm 130:5

STOP STRIVING.

That's the Lord's word to me.

I am His precious daughter.

A daughter isn't called to strive to hear her father.

A daughter isn't called to strive for anything.

Her Father carries the burden.

He carries the weight.

He only wants her to rest in His words.

He wants her to put hope in His promises.

He wants her to wait for Him and let Him do the work.

"Rest, my daughter, and hold onto the hope in my words.

I am a good Father. I love you. Stop striving for everything."

Stop striving to push into the next place.

Stop striving to get this season over with.

Stop striving to get to the next level of God's glory.

Just stop striving.

Every season, every place, every part of God's glory serves a purpose.

Our Father doesn't want us to push and push and push.

Let Him push.

I always have wondered why it's so hard to reach the next point.

Why is it so hard to crush the wall down and reach the next point?

I'll tell you why: We are trying to rush God's timing.

God has a purpose for every time, every level, and every place.

When we want to push onto the next place we are just trying to move a giant brick wall by ourselves.

When we rest and wait for the Lord the walls crumble so easily.

When we just hope in His words that barrier is crushed in God's perfect timing.

There is an extravagant place it takes us when we just wait and let God carry us through the barriers.

STOP STRIVING.

Rebuilt

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, 

O virgin of Israel!

You shall again be adorned with your tambourines,

And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice."

Jeremiah 31:3-4

What a love story.

What a beautiful beautiful love story.

The Lord loves with an everlasting love.

It draws me.

It draws you.

It draws us.

When we see ourselves ruined, broken, crushed, and past the point of no return,

His love comes and draws us to Him. 

He puts every broken piece back together and it's the most beautiful thing He has ever seen.

He heals us with His lovingkindness and we feel joy again.

God doesn't see the mistakes we have made and the brokenness we have and define us by them.

He sees us for what He made us to be: His beautiful children.

We dance with our Father because He has rebuilt our hearts.

He has adorned us with tambourines.

He has put a joy in our hearts that only He could place there.

It brings a smile that is contagious.

A love that is contagious.

What a love story.

Resting

To everything there is a season,

a time for every purpose under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

I recently felt called to quit my job, so I did.

I was really excited. 

I thought I'd be able to get so much more done at home and see more people.

Well, I have gotten stuff done, and seen people. 

But I have realized something: I get restless.

After the first week I felt restless.

Especially since it's summer time.

I usually have millions of things going during summer.

Camps, World Changers, community events etc..

I love that type of thing, but now I am doing nothing.

Everything I have done in the past I felt the Lord telling me not to do.

So, here I am restless.

Ecclesiastes says that there is a purpose for everything. 

That means every season we are brought into there is a purpose.

It could be a crazy season of busy schedules and little sleep, or it could be similar to mine-- a season of not being involved in much.

If you are anything like I am you feel restless after the newness wears off.

I keep praying asking the Lord "What am I supposed to do?"

No response.

"Lord, Where should I be involved?"

No response.

"Lord, What do you want for me?"

"Rest in me Sarah."

Sometimes we ask the wrong questions.

He doesn't always want us to ask for what we see.

He wants us to ask what He sees for us.

His plan is a lot better than our own.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him

Psalm 37:7a

When we learn to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, He will lead us into our calling.

It's not an easy task.

But, once we learn to rest it becomes as easy as breathing.

We will find ourselves continually resting in Him.

Patience comes and before we know it the Lord is moving through the path opening and closing doors leading us to where He wants us without the detours that we find.

I am still learning this.

But, I am getting a lot better.

I've realized that it's a continual prayer asking the Lord to come rest with me.

I have to continually ask Him to teach me how to rest.

He continues to prepare me for the next season before I know what it is.

The more I practice the easier it becomes.

Sometimes He just wants us to take a step back and rest.

Let him do the labor. 

Rest in the Lord.

Adoption

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear,

but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,

"Abba, Father."

Romans 8:15

This morning my mind was drawn to my friends in Texas who are adopting.

They have a lot of paperwork to go through, and have funds to raise.

There is so much to go through in this process but it's for their precious little girl in Congo.

They love her already and can't wait until they get to meet her and love her as one of their family.

Their little girl doesn't have to pay for the adoption and doesn't have to do all of the paperwork that they do.

She just is waiting while they are working hard to get her.

The special day will come when the process is finished and then all the little girl has to do is meet them.

She just has to go into their arms and be loved.

She doesn't have to be an orphan any longer. 

Sound familiar? 

Let me explain.

Our adoption process is already done.

Our Father paid the greatest price of all, His Son. 

He paid in full, went through the paperwork, and 

now He is just waiting there. 

His arms are wide open and He is waiting for us to run into His arms and let Him love us.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the process we forget that it's done.

We are the orphans. 

We are not the ones who have the price to pay or paperwork to fill out.

There is no process about it.

It's just pure love.

We don't have to pray the right things or be good enough.

He is waiting there for us.

My friends' little girl probably isn't going to brush her hair, change her clothes, brush her teeth etc. 

before she runs to meet her family.

They don't expect that, they already love her.

They just want her to run to them, meet them and be loved.

That's our Father.

He wants us to just run into His arms.

Recklessly and unhindered.

We aren't being held by bondage.

We are free. 

The price is paid.

Let's stop trying to pay our adoption fees, and fill all the paperwork out.

Let's stop trying so hard to appear okay, and get better before we run to our Father.

Let's just run. 

Run recklessly and unhindered to our Father. 

Let's allow Him to love us now not later.

The price is paid.

Religion vs. Relationship?

"I am not religious, I have a relationship with God."

I don't know about you but I have said this over and over.

I have told people this very thing many times.

This is true right? 

Religion is everywhere.

Mormonism, Hinduism, Sikh, etc..

The list could go on. 

A while ago I did a Bible study by Beth Moore on James and I learned something.

Pure undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

James 1:27

Pure undefiled religion isn't bad.

Yes, you heard me right.

Pure undefiled religion isn't bad.

I was completely thrown off when I heard that religion isn't bad.

Something I have said for years was a saying based off of a skewed view of pure undefiled religion.

When I look at other religions I see a lot of what other people see in me.

As a Christian I see that they witness, obey the law, treat people with kindness, spend time reading their  equivalent to the Bible, and pray.

I do all of these things too.

That's religion.

Religion serves a purpose. 

It is an action out of devotion.

1 Corinthians 12 talks about spiritual gifts and moves into chapter 13 to talk about how without love these are useless.

Religion is the same way.

We can be good, obey the laws, treat people kindly, read our Bible and pray but without love these do nothing.

That is what separates religion from pure undefiled religion.

It is so easy to get distracted and think that we have to tell people they are wrong in what they believe.

That religion is evil and condemns them.

James called us to be religious though.

He speaks about how important it is. 

But love is the key.

The Lord loves for us to be kind, read His word, pray, obey His commandments and share His heart with people.

He desires it out of love.

But above all these things put on love, 

which is the bond of perfection.

Colossians 3:14

When you take religion and the heart of the Father,

love is what bonds them together in perfection.

The Father is love. 

Love perfects religion.

It brings religion back to its pure undefiled purpose.

When I love something I want to express it somehow.

Worship, prayer, obedience, etc.

Pure undefiled religion is a display of love for our Father.

I have a relationship with my God that brings love into religion.

Walking in Freedom is Walking in Forgiveness

Walking in Freedom is Walking in Forgiveness.

I don't know whether you knew this or not but people aren't perfect.

I'm not perfect, you aren't perfect, even my wonderful husband is not perfect.

I've had a rude awakening of the reality of this concept.

For some people it's easy to find their flaws and others not so much.

When we see the people with "no flaws" we put them on an emotional pedestal.

They do no wrong, they will never hurt you, and they are better than every one else.

But, then something happens, the person that we put on the pedestal messes up.

They hurt us and we crucify them.

We get hurt and take matters into our own hands.

They will never be allowed close to us again and we change our list and put them at the bottom.

I have been there.

I have done all of this.

I hated every moment of it.

We build this wall up inside of us and swear we will never let anyone close to us again.

Our hearts become hard and unsatisfied.

We feel a distance from God and wonder why we can't connect.

So, when all of these emotions come there is only one logical option.

RUN.

When my brother Jeff died I felt numb.

It was a Sunday morning and I went to shower after I was told.

I stood in the shower for what felt like forever.

I felt something inside of me say "If you don't go to church today, you will never go back."

I knew with all my heart right there I had a choice.

A choice to walk in freedom or bondage.

I knew that my heart would never soften if I let it get hard right at that moment.

I got ready went to church and did the only thing I could.

I prayed the same thing over and over again.

"I'm not mad God. I'm not mad God. I'm not mad God."

I didn't know anything else to say. 

I felt nothing for a long time.

Months. 

Eventually, I started to feel what I prayed. 

Freedom.

Enter by the narrow gate;

for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction,

and there are many who go by it.

Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

Forgiveness is the narrow gate and difficult way but it leads to freedom, life.

When we get hurt by people, whether it is their fault, ours, or a misunderstanding, it doesn't matter.

We have to learn about ourselves.

Our job isn't to change how others act. 

Our job is to figure out where we are at with our Father.

Where is your value?

It could be that we took too much value from that person's opinion and allowed it to define who we are.

That pedestal is a dangerous place to place someone other than God.

There is always a lesson for our own hearts when we get hurt.

That lesson isn't to harden your heart.

We have to learn to press into the Lord,

To crush the bridge of their values of you in our heart.

We have to learn to walk in forgiveness, 

to walk in freedom.

Forgiveness leads to freedom.

You might not feel anything but hurt for months, but sooner or later you will see how

choosing the narrow gate is hard but it leads to life.  

You will find yourself closer to God, finding more and more about His heart for you.

Learn to walk in forgiveness.  It is walking in freedom.

Don't be Timid

A while ago I had someone pray for me and he said something that stuck out to me:

"Don't be timid."

I hadn't thought of it in a while but the Lord brought it up yesterday and again today.

"Don't be timid."

It is so easy for me to be timid.

I continually think, "I am not old enough to say something."

Another famous one I've said over and over, "I'm just a kid."

I started reading Jeremiah this morning and I realized that we are like Jeremiah in so many ways.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you;

I ordained you as a prophet to the nations."

Then said I:

"Ah, Lord God!

Behold, I cannot speak for I am a youth."

"Do not say, 'I am a youth,'

For you shall go to all to whom I send you,

And whatever I command you, 

you shall speak. 

Do not be afraid of their faces,

For I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord.

Jeremiah 1:5-8 

Jeremiah was probably between 13-17 when the Lord told him this.

Jeremiah had a calling on his life. 
Being timid wasn't a part of that.
Jeremiah was told not to be afraid.

In other words he was called to not be timid.

The Lord God was his deliverer.

He still is.

How often do we refuse to listen to what God says quietly because of our timidness?

How often do we mistake Gods voice for our timidness?

I don't know about you but I know I have been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt.

This is something the Lord has been teaching me since I went to Africa in February.

God didn't create us to be timid.

The Lord has had a call on our lives since before we were born. 

While I was in Africa I heard the words "NO REGRETS."
The phrase took a whole new meaning for my life in Africa.

We often associate "NO REGRETS" with "YOLO" (You Only Live Once), typically meaning, party hard.

But, God said something different to me.

He said "Sarah, I want you to have NO REGRETS."

I realized that God wanted me to recognize who He is everyday.

He is the same everyday.

He gives us opportunities to love constantly.
We choose to be timid.
I wait to listen until my heart is beating out of control and His voice is so overpowering that I can't do anything else.
When I was in Africa I decided that I needed to listen to God constantly.

I  started to pray first and think later.
I started to love first and think later.
I started to see how God is ready all the time.
He doesn't always give us flashing lights and big signs.
It is a still small whisper at times and sometimes we have to really press in.
So I did.

When I came back my heart was changed. 
I went on with my life and it was busy.
I had a lot of adjustments to make (marriage), a reception to plan, and of course a job.
In the midst of all this there are tons of hurting people around me.
It broke my heart.
That's when I felt God saying, "NO REGRETS" again. 

I remember thinking, "God, this isn't Africa." 

He said, "I know, Sarah, that wasn't just for Africa."

Refusing to timid is for everywhere. 

God didn't call us to be timid.

He called us to be "A fortified city and an iron pillar,

And bronze walls against the whole land,"

That's what God told Jeremiah.

"For behold, I have made you this day

A fortified city and an Iron pillar,

And bronze walls against the whole land-

Against the kings of Judah,

Against its princes,

Against its priests,

And against the people of the land.

They will fight against you,

But they shall not prevail against you.

For I am with you," says the Lord, "to deliver you."

Jeremiah 1:18-19

He made me to be an iron pillar and the bronze walls against the fight.
I am a pillar of love.
I am a wall of protection.
I am a city of healing and restoration. 
That is who God made me. 
He made me to continually be in communion with Him.

He made me a safe place for hurting people to find Him.
I found myself changing my entire mindset.
I was looking for what the Lord saw,
 listening to what the Lord spoke,
 and 
doing what the Lord did.
Why?
Because that is what we are called to do.
The Lord will deliver us from fear.
He will deliver us from rejection.
He will deliver us from timidness.

He wants us to speak into His people.

He wants us to love His people on a new level.

He wants us to reach them on His level.
Our level is timid and prevents us from loving deeper because we fear rejection.

The Lord is with me.

The Lord is with you.

He is always faithful.
He NEVER fails.

Don't be timid.

We are called to love with no regrets.

Love Edifies

I was watching a sermon/teaching yesterday on fasting for intimacy and the speaker said something that really caught my attention.

"Knowledge has a way of destroying relationships."

I haven't stopped thinking about it since. 

This morning as I was asking the Lord what to write the only thing I heard was this quote.

I couldn't think of what to end it with.

I kept asking God for what He wanted and complaining that I had no clue where to go with this quote [because I didn't like what He picked.]

I mean, honestly it could be so wrong. 

Solomon desired knowledge/wisdom.

If you look up knowledge in the Bible most of the scriptures tell you to seek knowledge.

I said "God I have all these against me, and it's your word.

I have to be wrong so what do you want me to write."

Again I hear the same quote. 

So, I kept searching for what He wanted to tie it together with.

Now concerning things offered to idols. 

We all have knowledge. 

Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.

But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3

I found this verse and kept studying over it.

I searched through my Bible to see what it connected to.

I found lots of cross references. 

One was 1 Corinthians 13, "The Love Chapter."

So, How does knowledge ruin relationships?

I was brought way back to Genesis. 

Adam and Eve.

The ONE thing they couldn't have in this glorious garden was what?

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

This tree of knowledge wrecked their relationship with God.

 I don't think that this tree only represents knowledge of good and evil.

I believe it represents God's relationship with Adam and Eve.

Eve just had to KNOW what it was, what happened when she ate it, what it meant.

I believe God placed that tree there to give Adam and Eve a choice.

LOVE or KNOWLEDGE.

They chose knowledge and it ruined that relationship based off of love.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 mentions that knowledge puffs up.

knowledge becomes proud. 

We start to base our lives off of what we know or don't know.

That is NOT how God designed us.

If God wanted us to base our lives off of what our knowledge is then He wouldn't have forbidden the tree of KNOWLEDGE.

His heart desires us to choose love; to choose Him.

He knows that knowledge alone ruins relationships.

And though I have the gift of prophecy,

and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,

and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,

but have not love, it profits me nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:2-3

Knowledge without love does nothing.

The devil has knowledge.

The devil knows scripture.

The devil is smart.

He has NO love.

Therefore, there is no profit for him.

He can throw knowledge in Gods face all day long but

Love conquers all.

In the end it doesn't matter who knows what, the devil was defeated through love.

Now, I am not saying that God isn't as smart as the devil.

Obviously He is, He is love.

That is true knowledge and wisdom.

We let knowledge get in the way of so many relationships.

So many insecurities are based off of knowledge.

I am guilty of it.

I cannot tell you how many times in a day I get frustrated and insecure because I don't "KNOW."

"I dont know the rules for softball."

"I don't know how to work this program"

"I don't know what I like."

I could go on and on, but it doesn't matter.

LOVE MATTERS.

I know God.

I know Love.

In the end Love is faithful.

Love edifies.

Be Vulnerable

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another;

love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;

Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling,

but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this,

that you may inherit a blessing.

1 Peter 3:8 (NKJV)

We are called to love.

We are called to be compassionate.

We are called to be tenderhearted.

We are called to bless.

We are called to have one mind.

When I read this I see us in our calling.

I see hearts open and genuine.

I see love pouring out everywhere.

No fear.

This calling is hard.

It's scary.

Having compassion on someone means that we have to feel their heart.

Being tenderhearted means we have to be soft and open. 

Blessing people means that even when we are betrayed we are still called to bless.

Loving means that we put our own selfishness aside for others.

We are called to be vulnerable.

We all want to share our hearts, but that involves being vulnerable.

That means that we have to step out of our box that claims we are doing great and tell someone we aren't doing good.

But fear grips us. 

By being vulnerable we have the risk of getting hurt.

We think "They won't understand."

Or

"They will think I am stupid and weak." 

We are afraid because we fear rejection.

So, we hide it.

We are not made to hide our hearts.

Guard them yes, not hide them.

Above all else,

guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Guarding your heart doesn't mean making it hard to the people around you.

It's guarding it from the evil one.

It's checking your heart for it's motives.

It's making sure your heart is flowing from God not your own hurt, or the devil's offense.

We are made for each other.

When God made Adam He made Eve for him. 

He made it so His children needed each other.

Above all we need Him and He leads us to each other.

We become one mind, bringing glory to Our Father.

 We all have strengths and weaknesses.

Our Father created us to be one mind.

He knows that where I am weak another is strong.

Our hurts, our trials, our just plain awful days are hard by ourselves.

If we come together as a body of Christ and raise each other up then we are in a whole different ballgame. 

Those days get less hard, our hurts start to heal, and our trials become triumphs.

Being vulnerable isn't being weak.

It's defeating fear with love.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear,

because fear involves torment. 

But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18 (NKJV)

Being vulnerable is loving.

Love defeats the enemy.

The fear he tries to deceive us with has NO power over love.

 Take over fear and love.

Be vulnerable.

It's okay to be wrong

So this morning I wrote out my entire blog, posted it,

 and then let Kadin review it.

He told me that it didn't sound like me.

I got hurt, fear gripped my heart and I became self conscious.

I ran out of the bathroom in a towel and deleted it as quick as I could.

I began praying and asking The Lord what was wrong. 

Why didn't it sound like me?

I was writing what I heard.

He said, "It's okay to be wrong daughter."

But Lord, I could have damaged someone's heart.

"It's okay to be wrong daughter."

God, I don't understand.

"Daughter, it is okay to be wrong."

  

Sometimes we hear The Lord speak and we assume that it's for everyone.

Sometimes we hear The Lord speak and add our views of people in our lives and forget that The Lord's view is so much greater than that.

It's okay to be wrong.
There is a feeling that comes when you recognize you are wrong.
It almost feels like a pinch in your heart.
It's pride being pushed around.
No one likes that.
But we have a choice.
Either we can take our pride lift it up and try to justify ourselves, hurting people whose intentions were pure.
OR
We can sit back and just let The Lord flow.
Let Him speak and show you what was wrong, and let Him lead you differently.
Let Him teach you.

My first instinct was to be bitter toward Kadin.
I am extreme, I either want all in or all out.
The in between is really hard for me.
My reaction was to jump and delete that blog, shoot, you know I was going to delete the whole thing.
I was irritated that Kadin pointed out my flaw, it hurt my pride and instead of wanting to deal with it I decided to just go extreme.
I couldn't really get the thought in my head that the WHOLE thing isn't wrong just a small portion is.
For someone who is either HOT or COLD that's a hard concept to grasp.
I started to go extreme but there was a tug in my heart to know God's heart.
I deleted my blog post and decided if I am going to go extreme I may as well go extreme toward my Father.
Just a few simple words changed my whole look on my post.
"Daughter, It's okay to be wrong."
I realized God used my mistake and made it good.
It's what my dad always called "a teachable moment"

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to His purpose
Romans 8:28

The Lord is SO good.
I love Him.
My intentions were never to be wrong, or to hurt anyone.
That's when pride is the hardest.
I had such great intentions but, the view of God in my heart changed slightly.
But, guess what, HE LOVES ME.
He works all things for the good of those who love Him.
All I had to do was step back and say, "Lord, what is wrong?"
He just wanted my pride.
I just had to give it to Him.

We can't mess up God's plan.
We can't go beyond redemption.
We can't do anything to make God change His mind about us.
Whether it's a simple wrong like messing up a blog post or murder.
God has a plan for us.
He loves us.
He will work ALL things for the good of those who love Him.
We just have to let Him take our wrongs and let Him teach us.

Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.
Psalm 25:4-5


It is okay to be wrong.

JESUS IS THE LAW

And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind

 and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour.

Matthew 9:20-22

Let me paint you a picture of what I see when I read this.

I see this woman painted with shame, rejection, condemnation, fear, pain, and sickness. 

She is covered with it.

BUT, there is this Hope she sees and is desperate for. 

So desperate and broken that she is crawling BEHIND Jesus.

She sees the hem of His garment, not anything else.

The dirtiest part of all His clothing, and she sees Hope.

This woman sees Hope in this dirty, dragging, nasty hem.

That is all she sees-- HOPE.  

She is clinging to it, crawling just to brush it to be healed.

Then, she does. 

BUT JESUS TURNED AROUND. 

Suddenly, the law becomes reality again. 

Fear is gripping her. 

Shame and condemnation become a rope around her neck once again.

Prepared for rejection again. 

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, 

who do not walk according to the flesh,

but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1

Those seconds had to feel like days. 

When Jesus turned and said, 

"Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."

No condemnation. Just love.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Her Hope which she was clinging to became faith.

Faith became evidence of her Hope and made her well.

Notice Jesus didn't say "Your disorder is healed."

Or

"You are no longer in pain."

He said "made you well."

That means no more shame, rejection, condemnation,

fear, pain OR sickness.

She was made well. 

Complete restoration. 

wow.

Jesus changed the law. 

Jesus IS the law.

NO MORE SHAME.