Freedom from Guilt and Shame

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When Temptation Comes

James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials (temptations), knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance (steadfastness). And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking in nothing.

How many of us consider it all joy when we are slammed with temptations?  Because we have grown up in this world not knowing the love of the Father, we walk as orphans.  Within this orphan mindset is the belief that “It’s up to me; It’s my fault; I must be doing something wrong; me, me, me, me…  Therefore, when temptations come, we don’t count it all joy.  We go into worry and fear and begin to wonder: “What’s wrong with me; what did I do wrong; God must be mad at me because all of this stuff is happening; I need to fast, pray, read, more… it’s all about me, me, me!”

Yet, James, the half-brother of Jesus is telling us that it’s this testing of our faith that produces endurance (steadfastness) and as we allow it to have its perfect work we will grow into maturity and recognize that we really are complete, LACKING IN NOTHING.  Not because we have become better orphans, but because it’s in the seasons of testing that we discover we have a Daddy God who never leaves us or forsakes us.

Jesus demonstrated this life of sonship.  Remember, He was tempted in ALL things, yet without sin!!!  He didn’t wake up and face the day with the thought, “How am I going to avoid sin today; I need to work really hard to be a good son?”  No!  He awoke full of the Spirit and fully connected to His Daddy!  And from this position of sonship, while being tempted in ALL things, He loved and gave; doing all He saw His Daddy doing and saying all He heard His Daddy saying! (John 14)

So, sons and daughters of God count it all joy.  Don’t look at yourself when temptation comes and try to figure out what’s wrong with you.  Look up.  Look into those fiery eyes of Love and ask, “Who do You say that I am?” and let the testing produce maturity in you as you move into the knowledge that you really are complete, lacking in nothing.  You and God against every demon in hell are still a majority!

Conviction of the Holy Spirit; What is It?

Conviction.  The word appears 8 times in the New Testament.  Without going into each verse and its meaning, let me just share a few thoughts.

For years we have believed traditionally that the Holy Spirit is there to convict us (Christians) of our sins.  With that belief, the enemy has found the opportunity to sneak in under the guise of “conviction” and heap false guilt and condemnation on the heads of believers; God’s holy ones, the saints, His righteous ones, His sons and daughters.

Let’s look at this.  The word for convict(ion) is elegchos or elegchō: “not merely a charge on the basis of the conviction, but the manifestation of the truth of that charge.  The results will be reaped from that charge, and the acknowledgement, if not outwardly, yet inwardly, of its truth on the part of the accused. This doesn’t just imply the charge, but the truth of the charge.” Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D., Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible

Romans 8:33-34 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

When Jesus became the Propitiation for our sin, He satisfied God!  When Jesus died on the cross for all of the sins committed from the beginning of time to the end of time (Rom. 5), He said “It is finished!”  When we receive His forgiveness and His life, we are given His righteousness.  It’s not your righteousness.  If it is, then you will be convicted of sin every time you miss the mark.  But if it’s His righteousness, you will be convicted of your righteousness every time the Holy Spirit comes to you to remind you who you are when you are walking in opposition to your true nature. (2 Cor. 5:17)

If you are being convicted of your sins, you might be bound in the cycle of sin, try hard, defeat, sin, try harder and ultimate defeat!  Not to mention your eyes would be on yourself!  But, if when you sin, the Holy Spirit is convicting you of your righteousness and wooing you to look again to the cross of Christ, then your eyes are on Him and the joy before you would cause you to run into His arms. 

We’ve been duped.  The enemy has come in for thousands of years and convinced the church that we are sinners and ultimately failures.  He is there tempting us and when we don’t know who we are and what we were created for, we say “yes” to sin.  Then he stands as accuser and pretends that he is God accusing us.  We walk away feeling like God is mad at us or maybe that He is simply disappointed.  How has this helped the church?  Does this bring us into sonship?  Does it release us into our destiny?  How has it worked for you?  …Or does this lead us to run from God, hide from Him and ultimately give up?

Romans 16:7-11 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.  And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin.  The world needs to be convicted of sin because they need to receive the sacrifice for those sins; because they need Jesus.  We do not need a Savior until we are convinced of our need for a Savior. The Holy Spirit convicts the believer of righteousness.  Jesus, talking to His 11 closest friends, hours before His betrayal said, “concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me.” 

Remember, we are in the world, but not of the world.  We are the “you” in John 16 because we are His followers.  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  If I am righteous; if I have been justified; if I am redeemed and sanctified… why would the Holy Spirit come and convict me of sin.  He knows that my sin is upon the cross.  He knows that I will walk in it if I believe that it’s still alive in me.  He knows that I will be free of it if I know I have been crucified. (Rom. 6) If God casts our sin as far as the east is from the west and remembers it no more, why do you think the Holy Spirit still remembers?  Hmmmm.  Maybe that voice that is pointing at your sin and causing guilt and condemnation to rise up within you is not the voice of God at all.  Maybe it is the voice of the accuser who accuses us day and night!

Romans 8:1 Therefore there is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  When will we believe this?  When will we receive this?  If we continue to hold onto our sin and condemnation, then we continue to walk in pride.  It might be masked as false humility, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace”; but don’t be fooled.  Jesus was enough!  Jesus did it!  He went to the cross.  He took the sin of the world and He said, “It is finished.”  He defeated death and hell and is now seated at the right hand of God and we are in Him. (Eph. 1 & 2)  Do not be deceived any longer.  Agree with God. Say yes to the finished work of Jesus and enter into the rest that God has for you. (Heb. 4)  May you be convicted of the truth of that charge: that you are righteous, redeemed, hidden with Christ in God, sanctified sons and daughters; that you have peace with God because of His great love and His great sacrifice.  Amen

What if God Really Does Just Love You!

What if God really does just love you?  It is difficult to believe and difficult to receive.  This world has clouded our minds and left us thinking everything must be earned.  What if God's love is much bigger than that?  What if grace truly is amazing and the good news is really good?
Four years ago God led me into a wilderness.  In that wilderness I discovered that I was not a servant with a master, but a bride with a Husband (Hosea 2) and a daughter with a Father.  Then 2 years ago I realized He was calling me away to Himself.  He just wanted us to "hang out".  It was difficult to grasp at first, but then I began to understand.  In that 2 years He has loved me.  Every day that I hang out with Him, He just simply loves on me; no agenda.
One day (after hearing a sermon about God giving us strategies in our quiet times with Him) I was talking to Him: "Lord, what are we doing?  Every time I hang out with You, You are just loving on me.  Aren't we going to move into strategies; you know, for ministry, life, etc.?"  His response, "Intimacy is the strategy."
So, I have continued to hang out with the Lord and today I have realized, He simply wants to love me; no agenda.  Isn't it what Jesus told His Father when He was with His disciples in His very last prayer: "that the love You have for Me may be in them." (John 17)  Doesn't all of life begin and end there, in the love of God that will forever unfold.
The good news really is the good news.  Jesus came, and for the joy set before Him (being reunited to you) He endured the cross.  He doesn't need servants.  If He created the world to have servants, He would've left out the free will part (and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil).  He has always wanted lovers and children and friends.  It has always been about relationship and it has no agenda.
What if God really does just love you?  Wouldn't that change everything?  You might fall so in love with Him that you begin to do relationship without agenda?  Wow.  Maybe it really is simply love God, love others.
I pray that Christ may live in your hearts by faith. I pray that you will be filled with love.   I pray that you will be able to understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep His love is.  I pray that you will know the love of Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can understand. I pray that you will be filled with God Himself. (Eph. 3:17-19)

He’s your Man, Not your Manna

When I married my husband, Scott, almost 28 years ago, I thought he was supposed to make me complete.  Because you see, I was very incomplete; I was, like most women, wounded.

Then as I grew through the years and allowed the Lord to teach me and, most of all, to heal my heart, I began to realize that true marriage and relationship came in releasing the ones you love.

I explain it best with this illustration: my friend Marie and I went to Steak and Shake to hang out and talk one night.  Well, since it’s always freezing in there, we ordered hot chocolate.  When our server brought it to the table, it was about the prettiest cup of hot chocolate I had seen: a beautiful mound of whipped cream, decorated with miniature chocolate chips and a cherry on top!

You know, at the beginning of my marriage I was a woman with an empty cup.  I thought Scott was supposed to fill it to the top.  Then through much pain and frustration, I realized: it’s not his job!  I have learned that as I go to God with my wounds, my empty places, my anger, the lies I’ve believed, that He meets me and He fills my cup.  He not only fills it to the top, but to overflowing.  You know, that point where you have to get the person beside you to bring their cup close so that you can let the excess pour into theirs!

I am blessed to have a husband who loves me well.  So, when he comes home to his wife who is living from the place of fullness and he brings flowers, or just a word of encouragement or even just a hug… whipped cream, sprinkles, etc.  Of-course there are bad days too (especially in almost 28 years)… but if I am choosing to look up, my cup is full.  Since he is not the one that fills it, he is not the one that syphon’s it out.  Actually, it cannot even be syphoned out if my eyes are on Him and His finished work!

So, how do I release? I look up.  I take my cup to God instead of Scott.  So... instead of him holding the job of filling it, which was never his job, he gets splashed on, often!

So women of God, remember this: he may be your man, but he’s not your manna.  Actually, if you live your life waiting for him to complete you, you will never be satisfied.  There is only One who can satisfy you and He is the One who gave it all to restore you back to intimacy and dependency.  It’s time to look up.  Tell Him what you want, what you need, where you hurt and look to His response because I can guarantee you one thing: He will always be enough.  Lord, give us hearts to release and eyes to look up.

In the Father’s Embrace

John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life and the life was the light of men.

We are  familiar with this passage.  We realize that Jesus was God and He was with God and He created all things.  We realize He is the light of all men and we are fortunate when we realize our need for Him.  Yet, we don’t realize what has been given to us.  Our minds cannot comprehend the vastness of the goodness of God.

John 1:18 says, “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”  I looked up the original word translated “the only begotten”; the word is monogenes.  The editor of the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, Spiros Zodhiates, admits that this word is “unfortunately translated as the only begotten”.  He states that the word monogenes is used to show a very special relationship between the Father and the Son.  When we read the word (begotten) we get the idea that Jesus was generated by the Father.  A better description is “the unique Son who being in the bosom of the Father, He Himself brought Him out.”  In verse 1 when it says that the Word became flesh – the word for became is a word that means “to become something you have never been before”.

So, here is what the Lord has been speaking to me this morning: Jesus, for the first time in all eternity, was brought out of the Father and chose to be placed, from that unique and glorious position of unity and oneness, into flesh.  He became like one of us because He wanted us to be united with Him as He is united with the Father.  Jesus, in the last few hours of His life, while with His closest 11 friends prayed, “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” (Jn. 17:11) Then in the last breath of His prayer He said, “I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known; that the love with which You loved Me may be in them.” (John 17:26)

So, Jesus allowed Himself to be brought out of the Father so that we could be brought into the Father!  Do you see that all of creation is groaning for the sons of God to be revealed? Rom. 8:19

Jesus said, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me and I in you.”  The truth is that if we are in Christ, we cannot distance ourselves from God.  The deceiver whispers "you are far away from God and you must hide", but Jesus stepped out of the Father, so that He could bring us into that most intimate of places: into the embrace of God (into the bosom of the Father).  Sons and daughters will discover their identity in the embrace of the Father.

Let yourself see and know this truth: If you are in Christ… all things, all things are new.  You are someone who you have never been before.  If you are in Him  all things work together for your good; i.e. every circumstance and situation does not have its’ origin in Him, but He will use all things, good or bad, of your doing or of someone else’s doing, for your good.  As Don Finto says, “God wastes nothing!”  If you are in Him, you are in the Father and you cannot be separated from the Father or His love or His adoration or His constant delight.  All things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. (1 Cor. 3:23)  Know this truth and this truth will set you free!!!

Sons and daughters of God, know who you are and know Whose you are.  Sons and daughters of God, the earth is groaning for you to lay down your orphan way of thinking, your striving and your fear, and be revealed in truth and identity and love.  Sons and daughters, there is no greater place in all of eternity than in the Father’s embrace.

Will you say "yes"?

God is looking for laid down lovers; a people who are willing to go anywhere, do anything, lay down their very lives if necessary to follow Him.  His heart has been waiting for a group of people completely sold out; people who look more into His eternal face than at the temporary fixes this world has to offer.  His heart yearns for a people who say “yes” whatever the cost.  He laid down everything: His rights, His godly attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence to be with us.  He emptied Himself and became obedient to the point of death… a most gruesome death, hanging on a cross after being betrayed and abandoned and beaten and mocked and scourged and for the first and last time in history, separated from His Father, the very essence of Himself.  
 

He calls out: Who will go for Us?  Who is willing to lay down whatever it takes to pierce and expose the darkness of this world for what it is?

His heart yearns for you to know Him.  His heart yearns to give you every bit of your inheritance.  He waits.  Who will go?  Who will say “yes” to Him?  This generation has a call like none before it.  Sin has increased and become so easily accessible.  The truth has become twisted and His heart aches as He watches those He gave everything for, give everything to idols and sin and relationships whose ends lead to destruction; maybe not eternal destruction, but a destruction of the soul because sin will take its toll.

He paid so great a price; He gave it all and He is asking you to do the same.  Not because He has some longing to control you, but because He knows the greatest life that exists for you is the one where you are so woven into His heart you don’t even need to question the next step, you naturally move in unison with Him.

Let Him love you.  Let Him have His way.  Listen to His heart and how it is calling you; wooing you.  Recognize the deceptions that lay all around you that lead to nothingness.  Their reward is temporary and ultimately meaningless.  But when you delight in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart because when you delight in Him… He becomes the desire of your heart for He is the desire of the nations. 

He calls you by name.  He knows you more than anyone on this earth will ever know you.  He knows the plans that He has for you and they are to prosper you and give you a hope and a future. His thoughts of you are more than all the sands on all the seashores.  The very hairs of your head are numbered.  Why does He even tell us that?  Because He wants us to know His nearness; He wants us to realize His intimacy and His unfailing love.

The enemy also has a plan for your life… it is to kill, steal and destroy and he will use every scheme and plan to keep you from realizing your calling.  He will distract you with good things and good people.  He will offer you water from so many sources, but none of them will quench your thirst.  You will need to go again and again and all the while He waits.  Jesus waits to give you living water so you will never thirst again.

His longing is for you and whether you know it or not and whether you choose to submit to it or not, your longing is for Him.  He is looking for laid down lovers… those who will follow Him anywhere, through anything.  Will you say “yes” to the call He has on your life.  Will you say “yes” to lay down everything for the Pearl of great price?  He is the Treasure.  Nothing else will satisfy.  Nothing else will quench your soul.

He did not come and give His life a ransom for many so that we could go to church on Sunday.  He came to seek and save those who were lost; those who were perishing.  He came to restore you back to your original purpose.  Then as He died and we were crucified with Him and He was buried and we were buried with Him and He was raised and we were raised with Him and seated with Him in heavenly places, He said “Go into all the world and tell them the good news of what I have done”.

We live in a world that is dying.  Look around at the faces of the people.  What do you see?  Despair, darkness, distrust, disorder, loneliness, hurt, selfishness, protection, people rushing around and going nowhere.  There is such a deception among men.    Don Finto recently spoke of God’s people allowing life to take them along instead of them taking up their lives with direction and purpose.  Are you being driven along by the world and busyness and by what you think you need… or are you truly loving God and loving others? 

I see a picture of someone standing in the surf of the sea and being tossed about.  Their knees are getting bloodied by the sand and shells beneath the surface of the water.  This is what happens when life takes us.  But Jesus walked on water; He commanded the sea to be still and it became perfectly calm.  We can let the sea take authority over us and over our lives and we can live with it drawing us in and out, sweeping us under with the current, or we can walk on the water in Him.  Laid down lovers live in the authority that walks on water.  We may not do it perfectly, but we press on to take hold of That which took hold of us.

His desire burns for you.  This generation has been set apart for such a time as this.  He will not take away your choice.  He will not force your hand… if that was His will from the beginning there would be no Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden.  From eternity, He has wanted your love which cannot be love without choice.   He who is Love is wooing you and calling you.  Will you say “yes”?

God, make us a people who will follow you anywhere.  We long to live in the place where we know You as Savior, Lord and Life.   Lord, we want more of You at any cost, we’ll pay any price.

The Father's Love

(From John 1) And the Word that created everything became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled; camped out] among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten [the unique One, the only One of His kind] from the Father full [completely filled to the top] of grace and truth.

This fullness [completely filled to the top] we have all received, and grace upon grace.  For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth [that fullness from the Father] were realized through Jesus Christ [the Messiah].

No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God [the unique One, the only One of His kind, Jesus the Messiah] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him [brought Him out; the unfolding of the Father; helped us understand who Father is].

(From John 14 - Jesus talking to His friends) If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him.  He who has seen Me has seen the Father.  I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.  The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His work.  You shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me and I in you.

(And in John 17 at the end of Jesus’ prayer) Oh Father, I have made Your name known to them and will make it known, that the love that You have loved Me with will be in them and I in them.

May you recognize the grace and truth which you have received from the Father through the Son; that fullness of grace and truth to know the love that the Father has for you is the same love which He has for His Only Begotten, His unique One, His Son [Huios].  May you realize that the Father, your Papa in Heaven cannot love you less than He loves His own Son.  May you know this love and that nothing can ever or will ever separate you from this love.

If Love Crafted Me

If Love crafted me, then my destiny is to love and to be loved.

If Love crafted me, then I am wanted…

I am secure…

I am loved…

and I am valuable.

If Love hand-crafted me in my mother’s womb, then that Love and only that Love defines me.

If Love crafted me, then I belong to Love.

If Love crafted and created me, then I am His and I am known by Him .

I am made in His image and I love the way He loves.

I seek to know Him and be known by Him.

I am captivated by His gaze and my heart beats in unison with His.

If Love crafted me, then I can rest…

I can be still…

I can draw life from the arms of Love.

Peace in the Storm

These last few years have been difficult years.  The circumstances in our lives have shaken the very foundation of what we believe and why.  Tough circumstances stir lies deep within our souls and bring them raging to the surface.  We begin to question ourselves.  Sometimes we question the commitment and love of those around us, and sometimes we even question God.

God has given me a picture in this season.  The picture originates from a story:  One evening, Jesus and His closest friends (disciples) decided to get into a boat and cross the sea.  Well, Jesus fell asleep while they were making their crossing.  While He was sleeping a violent storm arose.  A majority of His closest companions were fisherman and very familiar with the sea.  So, this storm had to be fierce because these men believed they were all going to die that evening.  As the waves crashed over their boat and it began to fill with water, they woke their Friend; their Savior, Jesus.  Now at this point in the story, many of us want to get frustrated at the disciples:  “Guys, really, don’t you get it!  How many times does He have to prove Himself to you before you finally realize that He is love personified and He will never leave or forsake you!”

You see His friends were looking at the color of the sky, the wind, the waves, the water in the boat… they were looking at every circumstance and making determinations based on those circumstances.  How often do we do the same?  When things get rough and the waves rise, and sometimes the storm gets so bad that water begins to fill the boat… what do we do?  We may question ourselves: “I must be doing something wrong?  Do I have some hidden sin in my life?  Is God mad at me (and it’s my job to figure out why)?  Or sometimes our focus is on others: “If you would just do this or that, everything would be ok (as if our “okayness” is based on someone else)?  And then there’s always option number three: i.e. blame God. “If God really loved me…; If He really cared…; He is in control of everything, right?” How different are we than His closest friends who could not connect to Him because they were too focused on the wind and the waves? Did you ever stop to think that  Jesus would not have rebuked a storm that His Father had caused.

I think all of life comes from one place… Him.  “Apart from Christ I can do nothing.” John 15:5.  Jesus did nothing of His own initiative; He did what He saw the Father do and even the words He spoke originated from the Father!  He showed us the perfect Christian life; the only one that has ever existed.  That life is one of perfect dependence.  So here is my picture:  The storm is raging with such intensity that it looks as if death is imminent.  Jesus is in the boat.  I can look at the wind and the waves.  I can even look at the other disciples and connect to their fear or anger or disappointment… or I can connect to the One who is perfect peace in the storm.  I can connect to the One who says “Peace”.  I connect to the One who is Peace.  Let us choose to take our eyes off of the wind and the waves and the others around us and their words and actions and discover Him and His truth in this storm.  He is the answer.  I want to lay down next to Him in the boat and put my head on His chest and listen to His heartbeat.  I want to look up into His eyes and know what He is saying in this storm.  He will either speak peace to the storm or He will speak peace to me while the storm rages, but whatever He chooses, I know He is always enough.

Let Us be Reminded of Our Treasures

I married young... 19 years old. Since Scott had more college under his belt, we decided "I'll work and Scott can finish college first, then we'll switch places."  Needless to say, he graduated and we found out we were going to have our first child.  I instantly became a stay-at-home mom and went to college for the next 7 years... one class a semester at night.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

I always had this feeling that I was putting my career on hold.  In the beginning of our marriage it was, "I'll sacrifice and you can get your education." Then it became: "I'll sacrifice so that we can give our children the best." Then we took it a step further... I won't just sacrifice for 5 or 6 years, but for 18 or 19 so that we can home-school and offer our kids an education designed for them by someone who delights in them and understands how God designed them.

Now I'm an empty nester.  As I ended that season of raising my children for the next, I realized... it was not a sacrifice at all; it was always a gift.  My career awaits... but my children have grown. Yesterday I could swaddle them in my arms; today they're adults, moving into their careers and into their lives.

So, you see... it was not a sacrifice.  It was never a sacrifice, but an opportunity.  An opportunity to be with some of the greatest treasures in my life.  I realize now that God knew that one day I would not look back and think of what I'd lost, but I would look at what I've gained... treasures that are stored up in my heart that can never be taken away.

Daniel and Erika have been and are some of the greatest blessings of my life. I am blessed that the last 20 years of my life have been spent with them first. I am blessed for every sleepless night and every day of spit up and later, wrestling over school work... because they were days... Some were hard, some were glorious... but all were days. 

Seize these days with your children while they are young, for tomorrow they will be adults.

Things Unimaginable

1 Corinthians 2:9-10  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— these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Ephesians 3:20 ‘Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

So… God is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or even imagine!  And… He has prepared things that eye has not seen and ear has not heard and (and not for my favorite…) things that have not even entered into the heart of man!

I don’t know about you, but this blows my mind.  This gives me permission to dream big with God and however big my dream; however big my request, He longs to do immeasurably more!

The orphan heart says, “You should be thankful for what you have.”  The heart of a son/daughter says, “More, Papa, more!”

Let us live as sons and daughters and continue to dream the dreams that God has placed in our hearts.  Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  I have learned that when I delight in the Lord, He is the desire of my heart.  Isn’t it great that He sets us up in that way!!! 

So when we ask Him for more… the answer every time will be “yes!”  Yet, the answer will always be greater than the request.  Let us dream big and then let us know with certainty that however big we dreamed, God will top that because that is His character; because it is His pleasure to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

It's Jesus.... period.

Sometimes God gives me revelation too deep for words.  I say that to let you know that this note will be insufficient as I try to explain what is in my heart.



I am in a season of seeking the Lord's will for my life in ministry.  For the past 19 years my first job (or shall I call it an opportunity) has been that of stay-at-home mom and then homeschool mom.  My second opportunity for the past 13 years has been in the area of ministry (this has been part-time because of my first opportunity); i.e. Christ-centered discipleship counseling and now inner healing ministry.  The latter included discipleship and inner healing for individuals, teenagers and couples, teaching classes and conferences, training interns and periodically public speaking. My first opportunity has just drawn to a close as my son and daughter have begun the adventure of life as adults.  I am now seeking the Lord about the next step in following Him.


In my mind I had it mapped out this way: Point A - intimacy with Jesus.  From that place I discover Point B - ministry, speaking, teaching, training, etc.  You know!  Go into all the world and preach the gospel.  Right?   Point A - Love God and Point B - Love others.

So, I was talking the the Lord yesterday morning and asking Him what this is supposed to look like.  I said, "Lord, I know that all things are rooted and established in You and I know that all things flow from a knowledge of You... I just don't know how to get from Point A to Point B.  I feel stuck in this place of knowing the things you have placed in my heart and not knowing how to put feet to those visions and dreams.  As I sat before the Lord, I heard His still small voice, "There is no point B."

You see, unfortunately most of us have not discovered Point A.  Most of us are too busy to posture ourselves before the Lord.  We want a formula, a plan, a principle that will help us get to the next place, but when we get there we will need a new plan or principle once again.  Jesus told us to seek first His Kingdom and all of the other things would follow.  But we don't know how to do that.  We don't know what it's like to seek God.  We are spending so much time doing life that we don't have time to spend with the Life Giver, Creator and Sustainer.

Remember the story of Martha and Mary.  We must remember that Martha was doing a good thing.  She was feeding the Son of God!  But she wasn't choosing the "one thing" (Luke 10:38-42)... really the only thing that mattered: sitting at the feet of Jesus; i.e. point A!

You see, Jesus is Point A and Plan A.  There is no Point B.  He is it!  He is everything and dicovering that truth is like a man discovering a pearl of great price in a field.  He sold all that he had just to buy the field... because he knew that he had discovered the treasure that was worth everything.

So where do we go from here.  We must find a way, a place, a time to posture ourselves before the Lord and discover the "one thing" as Mary of Bethany discovered.  As we discover the one thing, we will discover a rest and a peace and a joy and a love that will follow us into all of the other things of life.

To Know Him is to Love Him and to Love Others

A short time ago I had the privilege of hearing Wes Hall speak.  He said something that I wondered about and something that has inspired me to write once again.  He said, “John 17:26 is one of the greatest prayers in the Bible.”  Well, I recognize John 17 as being the prayer that Jesus prayed for the eleven who were with Him before He went to the cross.  I also think that John 14 through 17 are some of the most important words that Jesus spoke, since they were His last teaching/prayer before the cross.  He didn’t have an audience of 5000 that night; He had an audience of eleven.

John 17:26 is the end of His prayer to His Father.  Jesus said, I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”  Jesus told them that if they have seen Him, they have seen the Father.  Everything He did was revealing the Father.  Notice that as the Father is made known, the love that He has is made known!

Someone once said, the great commandment must precede the great commission; i.e. we must love God and love others before we go into all the world and preach the gospel.  God is looking for a generation of lovers.  He is looking for a generation that will be so in love with Him and in love with others that they will lay down everything and anything to know Him more and to carry that knowledge and love into the world.  It is from that place of knowledge and love that we are equipped to go.  If we go into all the world before we know Him; before we know His love and His goodness and His grace, we will carry a message of servitude and we will miss the greatest place of relationship: the position of bride, son/daughter, and friend.

God has taken us into the wilderness (Hosea 2) to shift us out of the position of servant and into the position of Bride!  He is looking for a generation that will love Him.  He is looking for a generation that will say “no” to the distractions of the world and fight to know Him; a generation that wants more of God, whatever the cost; whatever the price.

Does it sound costly and uncomfortable?  It is.  But nothing will ever satisfy the heart more than knowing Him and knowing the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.

I will end with this prayer from Ephesians 3:14-21: For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen

Hanging Out with God

This has been a crazy year and a half.  It began in August 2010: my mother-in-law passed away suddenly of a brain aneurism; my father-in-law was left dependent and destitute and Scott and I became his caretakers; we began to drive to Huntsville once a week to take care of him and remodel his entire house and get it ready to sell; we moved him to Nashville; within 2 weeks time several marriages very close to us fell into turmoil; before we could rest from the traumas around us, my mother became ill and had to move to assisted living; all this time was during my daughter’s senior year and all that comes with that season; my daughter graduated and the day after we got home from moving her to California; my mother went into the hospital and her health began to decline rapidly; I spent 5 to 6 days a week with her for 5 months, then on January 13, 2011, my mother went to heaven.

After her funeral I came home.  All was quiet.  As I met with the Lord I felt Him calling me to a season of rest.  I set apart days and times on my calendar that I would turn of the phones and close myself away from everything but God.  When I began my season of rest, I began to seek the Lord.  “So, God, what are we doing today?”  The answer came back, “We’re just hanging out.”  I wrestled with what this meant… do I read my Bible, do I pray, do I worship, do I intercede for others, do I fast and seek your will in ministry… what do I do?!?”  His answer came gentle and unchanging, “Rest. We’re just hanging out.”

After 2 weeks of this, I began to question God: “Lord, what am I supposed to do?  If I just hang out with You, my mind will wander.”  “That’s ok,” He said, just lay down on the sofa in My presence and let’s hang out.”  “But Lord,” I responded, “If I lay down on the sofa, I might doze off.”  “That’s ok,” He said, smiling, “we’re simply hanging out together.”

Then I began to think about my godson, Garrett; he’s 7 years old.  When I go to his house to visit, he comes and sits in my lap or as close to me as he can possibly get, and just remains… usually for the entirety of my visit.  I realized, he has no agenda!  He’s not thinking, “I am going to learn so much by sitting with Miss Denise.”  He’s not strategizing how his time with me is even developing our relationship or intimacy.  He just longs to be with me and as close to me as he can possibly get and he has no agenda.  His agenda is love.

We, as God’s people, are guilty of taking our time with God and turning it into a time that will produce fruit in our lives or in the lives of others (especially those of us in ministry).  Graham Cooke said, “You can end up with a great working relationship with God, but a lousy friendship.”  So, for the past 9 weeks God and I have been hanging out!  No Agenda!  He wants us to know Him.  He wants His sons and daughters to know His love.  He longs to just hang out with us and reveal His heart to us.  If that never resulted in ministry… is it enough?  We know the truth that as we get to know Him we cannot contain His goodness; but what if He said I just want us to hang out from now to eternity… period.  Are we satisfied?  Let it be so.

At our church we have this phrase about “those who God misses most”.  Typically we are referring to the lost sheep or the prodigals.  But what if it’s us?  What if we have become so consumed with “doing” for God, that we have missed just simply crawling into His lap just to love on Him?  What if we are the ones that God misses most?  May you crawl into His lap today with no agenda.  I pray that as you do His love would be released over you.  I pray blessings of peace and joy and healing and grace and the knowledge of Him over your heart and over your life.