It's in you...

Sometimes when I get ready to write Rhema, I hear a scripture. Sometimes I hear a phrase or see a vision. Today, I just heard God say, SPEAK LIFE. He told me to edify and build you up for your next assignment, your next hard conversation, your next challenge. He told me to remind you that what He has put inside of you is enough to accomplish that which He has told you to do. He told me to remind you that He has not forgotten what He told you and He has not forgotten when He told you. He told me to tell you to stand on the promise that He gave you. He said so many times people have disappointed you and told you that they would do this and do that but they fell off or never finished. He said to remind you that He is a finisher and His work is already done.

He wanted me to speak life over you. He said, “Daughters and sons, life is in you. “ Then He took me back to the beginning…to the creation…to the moment when He gave man life. “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. “ (Gen. 2:7 ESV) He told me that when He gave Adam breath, He was thinking of you. He knew of the failure that would come. He know of the bad decision that would come. He knew of the shift that would come. Nevertheless, in all of that He knew of the life that He had put inside of you. He said that it was to sustain and encourage you. He said to hold on to it! No matter what death may try to come against you, He put life in you. No matter what criticism may come against you, He put life in you. No matter what sickness comes upon you, He put life in you. No matter what opposition comes against you, He put life in you. Remember the life. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

Woman of God, rise up! Man of God, stand strong. You “shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” (Psalm 118:17)

I speak to the tired and to the weary! I speak to the struggling and to the lonely. I speak to the pushing and to the pressing. I speak to the leaders and to the followers. The Lord is speaking life into you today. He is blowing strength back into you and lifting you up. He is reminding you that you are not in this fight alone. He is reminding you that though circumstances are hard, they are not the end of the story for that has already been written and YOU WIN.

May you hear the voice of the Lord and receive your fresh wind. May you feel the peace of His embrace and move in His grace. May you remember His promises and walk out your purpose. May you LIVE.

Amen

The time is now!

One of the great things about doing Rhema on Thursdays is that I get to celebrate Thanksgiving with my readers every year! It has been 6.5 years and it still absolutely amazes me to  think about the people all over the country that God allows me to encourage each week. It made me really go back to the beginning of what God said about Rhema and how my yes to write a blog has led to a retreat and books. What about you?  Have you taken time recently to think about what God placed you here to do? Have you re-visited the instruction that He gave you or reviewed the vision He showed you? Have you made sure that you are doing what He said? Well, as you ponder all of the things that you are grateful for today, I want to challenge you to remember what He said. I want to challenge you to follow up and follow through. There is no time to waste.

God is a planner. It may seem crazy to simplify God down to that one phrase but it really sums everything up. From the very beginning, God has worked a well thought and strategic plan that will culminate in an eternity with Him for those that accept His invitation. In the midst of His planning, He thought about you. Yes…YOU! He thought about how everything you would go through would come together to bring Him glory. He thought about your ministry and your purpose. He thought about your business and your destiny. He even thought about your family and your legacy. So if He told you to start a daycare, He not only saw the parents and children that would be impacted on a daily basis. He also saw all of the people that each child would touch because of the seeds you planted. Make sense? You have got to be about His business. You have got to finish what He told you to do! You don’t have a choice because it is bigger than you. There’s no time to waste.

For those of you that are waiting for your money to be right and your schedule to line up before you make your move, stop. When God gave you the vision, He meant for you to do it. He meant for you to start praying, start saving, and start moving. He meant for you to act like you heard Him. He meant for you to obey. The Bible says,  “He who watches the wind [waiting for all conditions to be perfect] will not sow [seed], and he who looks at the clouds will not reap [a harvest].” (Ecc.‬ ‭11:4‬ ‭AMP)‬‬ In other words, if you are waiting on perfection, you will not ever move. If you are looking for “a sign”, you will not get what God has in store for you on the other side. There is no time to waste because the wheels are already in motion and the clock is already ticking. Whether you choose to move or not, God’s plan and purpose will be fulfilled. The question is whether you want to be a part of it or watch someone else do what He told you to do. There is no time to waste, saints! Why? Because the time is now…

Amen

It's time...

The Lord gave me a question early this morning to ask you and it hits hard and straight. What is it really about? He then began to show me all of these examples. What are the random angry outbursts really about? What are the defense mechanisms that you put up for everyone really about? What is the sadness that exudes from you really about? What is the depression at the same time every year really about? What is the need to stay when you know you should be gone really about? What are the repeated cycles and patterns in your relationships really about?

He showed me a vision of a Victorian library with very old books on the shelves. It looked like it got a lot of use but I noticed with closer inspection that it had cobwebs. It seemed to me like a huge contradiction. Why would a room that gets a lot of use still have dust and cobwebs?  I didn’t really understand what He was showing me. However, as I continued to look around, He told me to pay closer attention to the whole scene.  He told me that some of you are like this library in the spirit. The books are the experiences and situations of your life. There are a lot of them, some of them very old and you go back to them on a regular basis and look at them, flip through them, and read them. The issue is that you don’t take the time to deal with them. You don’t invest in cleaning your space out and taking out what no longer fits there. You don’t take the books that no longer fit or tell the story that fits this season your life. You skip over the hard books that document the hardest struggles and the most painful chapters. You just let them sit on your shelves, taking up space and aging you.

I am uncomfortable in this type of writing and sharing but the Lord is saying that today is about truth. He reminded me of how Moses spoke to the Israelites at the end of his life about the Covenant. He wanted to make sure that they were ready to receive Joshua, their next leader. He gave them a lot of important instruction to prepare them. One of those was to not allow things or people to stay in their midst that would ruin the whole group. “Don’t let down your guard lest even now, today, someone—man or woman, clan or tribe—gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, “I’ll live just the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody.” (Deut. 29:18 MSG)

Today, God is calling you to your next level but you cannot leave anything that can eventually poison you or your purpose. Today, you have to go into your library and deal with the hard stuff. Today, you have to face your secret hurts and struggles. Today, you have to acknowledge that there are some places, some things, and some people that you need to be delivered from. Today, you have to speak to that spirit of grief and tell it that it can no longer cause you to live in depression years after your loss. Today you have to speak to that spirit of manipulation and tell it that it can no longer cause you to stay where you are not valued or loved. Today, you have to speak to that spirit of rejection and tell it that it can no longer cause you to miss the authority that you possess. Today, you have to speak to that spirit of religion and tell it that it can no longer keep you from experiencing the fullness of God. Today, you have to speak to that spirit of guilt and tell it that it can no longer keep you from living in your present. It is time.

The Lord desires to take you to your next level. He desires to see you living out your purpose with joy and zeal. He desires to see you loving your family and your life without the conditions of past hurts and struggles. In order to do that, you have to deal with the hard things. It is time to face what people may have done to you and even what you have allowed. It is time to take a hard look in the mirror and ask the Lord to show you what you need to be set free from and then do the work. I am tired of hearing people say that they are good when they clearly are not. I am tired of people saying that it doesn’t take all that when they clearly need more. I am tired of people thinking they are judge and jury when their crime is just as big. You see, everyone has to look at himself or herself and tell the truth. EVERYONE! I have to do it all the time. I wrote a whole book about getting to freedom because I had to do it. It’s time. Get in that library! Take those books down that don’t tell your story anymore. Throw away what doesn’t belong and update them with the books that speak of freedom, restoration, and truth.  It is time.

Amen

Expect God!

Last Sunday morning, my pastor walked into our morning meeting with an excitement! She encouraged us to expect God to show up in our service in a mighty way and He did. Ever since she spoke those words, an excitement has been stirring in my spirit. I have been declaring my expectation to God and He has been answering. So, I don’t have a deep word for you today. All I have is a simple challenge and it is this: expect God and He will do it! Whatever your hardship, whatever your struggle, I don’t care! Expect God to show up in that situation and watch Him do what you have requested.

The Lord led me to a familiar passage of scripture but one I wouldn’t have connected with this. Acts 3:1-8 in the Message says this,

“One day at three o’clock in the afternoon, Peter and John were on their way into the Temple for prayer meeting. At the same time there was a man crippled from birth being carried up. Every day he was set down at the Temple gate, the one named Beautiful, to beg from those going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the Temple, he asked for a handout. Peter, with John at his side, looked him straight in the eye and said, “Look here.” He looked up, expecting to get something from them.

Peter said, “I don’t have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” He grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up. In an instant his feet and ankles became firm. He jumped to his feet and walked.

Can I just direct your attention to the section where the man saw Peter and John about to enter the temple? He saw them and immediately decided to ask for a handout. Peter and John looked at him in preparation to do something for him. Why? Because that was what they were called to do. But I digress. Peter and John responded by telling the man to look at them and here’s the key. “He looked up, expecting to get something from them.” God highlighted this one line for me. This man looked at Peter and John like we should be looking at God. He had asked for a handout and he was expecting them to give him something. He sat at that temple everyday so he most likely had seen them before. He probably had an inkling of what they had inside of them. If you know God’s track record and you know you belong to Him, shouldn’t you be waiting for Him to show up with something you need? Shouldn’t you position yourself at the temple aka in your prayer posture and wait for God? Peter and John responded to the man with exactly what the man needed. Some of us get it wrong because we want the response to be what we want but God is giving what you need.

That man had an expectation for something to happen on his behalf. Whether it was a little food or a little change, he expected Peter and John to answer his request. He had been lame since birth but he wasn’t even asking for healing that day. But guess what? His need and his expectation collided and he got his breakthrough. Can I suggest to you that God is waiting to do some things for you? Your job is just to believe and expect Him to do it.  Can I just encourage you that the Great I Am, El Shaddai is big enough to take care of your needs and meet your expectation?

I want to stir up such an excitement in your spirit that you begin to look at that sickness, that barrier, that trauma, that bill, and you put your expectation on it. Just begin to declare, “I expect God to do it!” over every hard place in your life. It will change your focus, your perspective, and your outcome. It will challenge the enemy to be greater than God and he can’t do that. Come on, saints of God!! It’s time for a language upgrade! It’s time to show God that your expectation lies in His ability to come through. Declare with me! Hallelujah! Glory to God! Thank You for the good report! Thank You for the answer! Thank You for another promise kept! I expect You, God and I know You will do it!

Amen
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Do Not Disturb

There is something special about being able to sleep in. I don’t mean when you oversleep but rather when you wake up on your own without the alarm or a phone call. When you have intentionally given yourself the opportunity to really rest and your body naturally wakes up. Think about it. What is the first thing you do when you go to a hotel? If you are like me, you hang up that “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. You want to go ahead and have it in place so there are no early morning knocks or disruptions from the housekeepers. As I was in prayer this morning, I heard the Lord say it is time to put up your “Do Not Disturb” sign and stop the disruptions. He showed me that some of you have been in battle so long that you have missed some crucial opportunities to hear from Him. You have been rushing to get here and there. You have been fighting off attacks. You have been sick in your body. You have been busy being everything to everyone.  You have been off your game. Well today, God says, it’s time to take back your time and your peace.

He then led me to what I thought was an odd place in the word - John 14. It is one of those classic funeral scriptures. It’s probably in the top 5 of New Testament scriptures that we go to when we think about death.  It makes us feel better to hear Jesus say that He has gone away to prepare a place for us. However, God highlighted the very first verse to me in the Jewish bible translation. It reads, “Don’t let yourselves be disturbed. Trust in God and trust in me.” (John 14:1 CJB) Did you see that? Wow! Jesus led with those words before He gave the disciples key information about who He was. He essentially said there are some important things coming and you need to be in a place where you can hear it. You need to be on guard. You cannot let yourselves be bothered. You can’t let your heart be troubled as the New King James says. What you need to do is trust God and trust Me! This is so important, folks! God wants to tell you your next assignment. He wants to give clarity to an instruction. He wants to walk you through the steps to your next level. But guess what? He needs you paying attention. He needs you undisturbed and trusting. It’s time to take back your time and your peace. Where is your “Do Not Disturb” sign?

The Lord then instructed me to go to the dictionary for those that need a little more. To disturb means to interrupt the quiet, rest, peace, or order of; to interfere with, interrupt or hinder; to interfere with the arrangement, order or harmony of; to disarrange; to perplex or to trouble. Did you find yourself in any of those words? You see, when God has a purpose for your life, the enemy gets his plan in order to disturb you. He wants you to be so caught up in the logistics or the people that you miss the lesson and the instruction. The Lord said that it is time to get back to the place where you are intentionally hearing Him. He is tired of playing second fiddle to your friends, your family, and your “stuff”. He has heard your complaints of “I’m tired”, “Where did the time go?”, and “These people are getting on my nerves.”  Do you know what His response to me was? He said, “Make a choice.” He told me that some of you have made “ministry” your excuse. He is not impressed. He said ministry without Him is not ministry. It’s being busy.   Get in His face and stop letting circumstances, distractions, and people keep you from getting what you need. He said you have divine deadlines to meet and you do not have time to entertain distractions. Put up your “Do Not Disturb” sign. It’s time to get to work.

Amen.