We talk realities such as sonship and the joy of daughterhood.
I have shared here how just the word, daughter, was hard to choke out at times .. it certainly wasn't a position I would have ever thought had good news attached to it... But to be a daughter of the Lord and to know His tenderness and His kindness as He spends the time to Father me and to bring me out more and more as His own... that to me is beyond precious...
How has He and how is He doing such things... By training and instructing me in the ways in which I should go.. ie by bringing discipline into my life.....
I think I look at the understanding of discipline in a way that comes from knowing the lack of it... to discipline means to train and instruct. To train and instruct one must spend time with the pupil... the child... the one who is being trained and instructed... To prepare.. I love the verse He trains my hands for battle found in Psalm 18:34.. He trains me and equips me so that in the heat of the battle I will not perish.. I will know how to fight ... I will be equipped... He doesn't ever leave me to fend for myself...
Discipline... is equated to the highest act of kindness in my book...
So many places in scripture express to us that He only disciplines those He loves... In Proverbs 13:24 He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
I know that level of hatred.
I know what it is to have had to face life not knowing how to live it... I was not trained and instructed and when I hit life at 17 I hit it and hit it hard and self destructed. I have watched our oldest son become a man and have watched as he is learned step by step how to walk out this season in his life. Is he all that he will become? Of course not! But the child has become a young man and is walking for he has learned and been instructed in some concrete ways of life.
When that doesn't take place what is left is one who is open to perishing... Without understanding the people perish...
I have walked with and talked to and mentored so many revelatory type people who are perishing in one form or facet of their life because they simply were not instructed in the ways that they should go...
Discipline means the world to me... it isn't something I take lightly .. I hold the fact that the Lord instructs me in the ways I should go so that it will be well with me very dear to my heart... He is the most loving of fathers and I cherish our times together and His instruction in ways that I know not how to convey...
It is this that caused it to land on my heart to want to journey this road with others... to help birth a community of people who could be confident of the Lord's affections and solid in their understanding of sonship and daughterhood....
So I brought the idea to a few people.. how I wanted to touch this subject with the perspective of my heart and my passion for the heart of the Father as well as my passion that understanding of how the components of seeing and feeling and knowings could be matured as well through the process...And we came up with an idea to Delight in the Disciplines....
A small group mentoring program with two possible times and with times to meet in larger groups and times to meet in more intimate ones... yes, still across time zones and geography.. still online.. BUT together...
Take a look and come and check us out.... It is a dance and a delight NOT a drudgery and not a performance... a waltz per se into the arms of God.. into the arms and embrace of Father...
http://www.stirthewater.com/beta/content/desiring-disciplines-group-mentoring-year-community-and-spiritual-growth
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Nightmare..
I probably hadn't awoken from such an experience in a very long time. The grips of the images still laid upon my arms with force as my heart rate and mind raced. Quickly acclimating to the truest reality that where I was was in my bedroom, in a house on a street in Blacksburg, VA and not within the images that left me as soon as I could open my eyes.
Heart pounding I rolled over onto my side and pulled the covers up close. Deep breath after deep breath and whispered prayers began to settle all that was racing.
Then before another prayer could be prayed or breath taken a vision opened right up in front of me and I was standing upon a field that had a tree upon it and Him. He was there. I stared at Him and the unclosed distance between us and just stared at the space all around.
"I deliver you from evil." And I stood there. He repeated that which He had spoken, "I deliver you from evil." I looked at Him. And I paused. I paused because I knew that if I walked forward or let Him walk forward, if the gap was closed then there would be something.
There would be something that at some point He would ask me to share. And at some point even for the most disclosing of us... there comes a point where one to many times that which is shared comes around to bite you in the butt. The temptation grows large to not close that distance. The temptation becomes not only to not close that distance but to walk in the opposite direction. The temptation becomes put on the "face," put on the "act," and let everything be, "great," "fine," "ok."
Well... except that isn't at all who I am and that isn't at all what I can do... lived that way far too long to ever step back into that arena. So then again emerging from probably one of the most horrific dreams/nightmares of my life, into a vision where there is far too much space between Jesus and I.. what do I do?
I stood there... frozen.
I stood there, frozen because the toll that living an open and authentic life and not shutting the heart down but living within the reality of the seen and unseen and walking it out is huge. The toll is huge. Come on.. that's why it isn't preached... who really wants to lay ones life down .. who really wants to experience death so that true life can come forward.
No rose colored words here people... death is death and it is awful and hard and painful. Anyone selling you anything else isn't selling you the truth. It is never going to be easy to deny the flesh. It is not within us to lay our lives down for each other. Not in the way that the gospel screams forth.
So ... my dreams lately.... well, terrors.... I keep dying. In all the places that were the most precious to me I keep dying. Scene after scene I die. A mixture of the current life and the childhood I was raised within converge and death arrives one way or the other.
But that's when, standing with too much space between me and the Lord, I hear Him once again say.. .either way you die just not either way do you live. "I deliver you from evil." Tears start streaming down my face as I remember Jesus' take on a friend's teaching. The swivel chair.. choosing life .. choosing spirit.. not choosing the flesh or the world or the enemy... but choosing spirit.. choosing the Father.. choosing Jesus.
I'm standing on a field and on one side of me is a tree and on the other side is my Lord... and then this piece that I have deleted all morning... closed down all morning.. refused to write all morning.. comes further home and my eyes are even open wider... I'm standing closer to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then I am standing to Jesus.
I want to know .. I want to understand.. It is killing me at times to not know because of things of my past. Jesus is bringing me to deeper levels of trust than I have ever walked in and the fear and terror of having to trust amidst so much uncertainty is killing me. But that's not even the truth. What is killing me is I am standing closer to the wrong tree... and with that... with that I eye the space between us but truly before I can.. before I can even look away from the tree and look towards Him.. He has closed the distance. Crumbling into His arms and just sobbing.. once again, He speaks.. but this time in the softest whisper and I can feel His breath upon my cheek and moving my hair... "I deliver you from evil."
There is nothing more terrifying than the truest reality that one must lose ones life.. and we can never know what losing our life looks like.. we must lay all down for Him. There is nothing more terrifying to realize that He could ask anything and is worthy to ask anything... but there is nothing more liberating than His love.. and while there is not bravado in this next statement.. I do truly know that anything He asks for is certainly not worth holding onto in its current state... and when He hands it back or if He hands it back it will be more full of life than one ever thought possible and if He doesn't hand it back then there is always.. always His hand to hold and His eyes to gaze into... My heart is learning trust in ways that I could not bring it to on my own.... It is not an easy journey and the task at hand at times seems impossible...
But bodies of water do part, and the walls of fortified cities come down, and water comes forth from a rock, and the sick do get healed, and the blind do see, and the deaf do hear, and the dead are raised.... so my heart struggling to learn what the depths of trust look like doesn't seem that impossible after all... I might not understand... but He closes the gaps and that I can be most grateful for....
Heart pounding I rolled over onto my side and pulled the covers up close. Deep breath after deep breath and whispered prayers began to settle all that was racing.
Then before another prayer could be prayed or breath taken a vision opened right up in front of me and I was standing upon a field that had a tree upon it and Him. He was there. I stared at Him and the unclosed distance between us and just stared at the space all around.
"I deliver you from evil." And I stood there. He repeated that which He had spoken, "I deliver you from evil." I looked at Him. And I paused. I paused because I knew that if I walked forward or let Him walk forward, if the gap was closed then there would be something.
There would be something that at some point He would ask me to share. And at some point even for the most disclosing of us... there comes a point where one to many times that which is shared comes around to bite you in the butt. The temptation grows large to not close that distance. The temptation becomes not only to not close that distance but to walk in the opposite direction. The temptation becomes put on the "face," put on the "act," and let everything be, "great," "fine," "ok."
Well... except that isn't at all who I am and that isn't at all what I can do... lived that way far too long to ever step back into that arena. So then again emerging from probably one of the most horrific dreams/nightmares of my life, into a vision where there is far too much space between Jesus and I.. what do I do?
I stood there... frozen.
I stood there, frozen because the toll that living an open and authentic life and not shutting the heart down but living within the reality of the seen and unseen and walking it out is huge. The toll is huge. Come on.. that's why it isn't preached... who really wants to lay ones life down .. who really wants to experience death so that true life can come forward.
No rose colored words here people... death is death and it is awful and hard and painful. Anyone selling you anything else isn't selling you the truth. It is never going to be easy to deny the flesh. It is not within us to lay our lives down for each other. Not in the way that the gospel screams forth.
So ... my dreams lately.... well, terrors.... I keep dying. In all the places that were the most precious to me I keep dying. Scene after scene I die. A mixture of the current life and the childhood I was raised within converge and death arrives one way or the other.
But that's when, standing with too much space between me and the Lord, I hear Him once again say.. .either way you die just not either way do you live. "I deliver you from evil." Tears start streaming down my face as I remember Jesus' take on a friend's teaching. The swivel chair.. choosing life .. choosing spirit.. not choosing the flesh or the world or the enemy... but choosing spirit.. choosing the Father.. choosing Jesus.
I'm standing on a field and on one side of me is a tree and on the other side is my Lord... and then this piece that I have deleted all morning... closed down all morning.. refused to write all morning.. comes further home and my eyes are even open wider... I'm standing closer to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then I am standing to Jesus.
I want to know .. I want to understand.. It is killing me at times to not know because of things of my past. Jesus is bringing me to deeper levels of trust than I have ever walked in and the fear and terror of having to trust amidst so much uncertainty is killing me. But that's not even the truth. What is killing me is I am standing closer to the wrong tree... and with that... with that I eye the space between us but truly before I can.. before I can even look away from the tree and look towards Him.. He has closed the distance. Crumbling into His arms and just sobbing.. once again, He speaks.. but this time in the softest whisper and I can feel His breath upon my cheek and moving my hair... "I deliver you from evil."
There is nothing more terrifying than the truest reality that one must lose ones life.. and we can never know what losing our life looks like.. we must lay all down for Him. There is nothing more terrifying to realize that He could ask anything and is worthy to ask anything... but there is nothing more liberating than His love.. and while there is not bravado in this next statement.. I do truly know that anything He asks for is certainly not worth holding onto in its current state... and when He hands it back or if He hands it back it will be more full of life than one ever thought possible and if He doesn't hand it back then there is always.. always His hand to hold and His eyes to gaze into... My heart is learning trust in ways that I could not bring it to on my own.... It is not an easy journey and the task at hand at times seems impossible...
But bodies of water do part, and the walls of fortified cities come down, and water comes forth from a rock, and the sick do get healed, and the blind do see, and the deaf do hear, and the dead are raised.... so my heart struggling to learn what the depths of trust look like doesn't seem that impossible after all... I might not understand... but He closes the gaps and that I can be most grateful for....
Saturday, July 27, 2013
They are called by name and so am I....
There are things I don't comprehend and questions I don't try to answer...
Tonight sitting within quiet time with the Lord and waiting upon Him, lingering and sitting... reflecting...
Recognizing that the amount of change that has come upon my life has left me at times wondering about who it is that I am and what it is that I believe.... I'm not talking faith here.. Jesus is absolutely the orientation point of my life .. but what is it really supposed to look like.. I can not ever be the person I once was in ministry. I can't ever care about position or favor of man the way I once did.... I will, by the grace of God, never treat people the way I saw people treated just so they could get up the next rung in the ministry ladder... It was ugly.. it was awful... it was not the Lord... It killed people's faith, marriages and lives.
I watch and look and think upon so much cultural Christianity and so many places that cause me to wonder all the more... What in my life would Jesus come in and topple as He did the tables in the temple that day? What in the world of ministries and churches would He? What about the people who are just starving to see authentic and powerful Christianity? What about having the authority of Christ and not the pizzazz of modern day ministry?
Thinking upon times when I was once so confident of so many things and now I am confident of this that He began a good work and His word explains to me that He will complete it... So that is what I was resting upon and that is what I am resting upon ....
As nothing much seems to land these days and my feet and heart feel more afloat then that which I know what to do with...
Then.. then... came the familiar tones and eyes were with tears... "Remember the stars..."
My heart feels so faint and my capacity so lacking... received the rebuke not to long ago to not worry about my own competency and how it is so desperately lacking these days... for me easier said then done.. but I hear it.. lack of competency doesn't leave one feeling all that great about oneself except... yes, 2 Corinthians 3:5 says: Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Truth.. right.. truth...
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves.... hhhhmmmm, still trying to get that one down... Acknowledging that my adequacy is from God and that that is enough.. well, getting there... realizing that that is true whatever the physical reality would want to scream into my ears... His capacity to complete and His capacity to be adequate .. beyond adequate is beyond enough.
So tonight as my heart felt the confrontation of transition and all that it holds... continues to hold and doesn't seem to relent... as I tune into David's songs and lyrics in the Psalms... the sweet, familiar, beautiful tone of a whisper began to settle into the room... "I call them by name.. I've called you by name..You've heard them sing... remember."
I just sat in the reality of His voice... I tried to let it land and land well... Psalm 147:4 .. He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. But the more poignant verse.. the one that speaks forth the reality that renewed my mind and healed me so dramatically so many years ago... Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together
Tonight sitting within quiet time with the Lord and waiting upon Him, lingering and sitting... reflecting...
Recognizing that the amount of change that has come upon my life has left me at times wondering about who it is that I am and what it is that I believe.... I'm not talking faith here.. Jesus is absolutely the orientation point of my life .. but what is it really supposed to look like.. I can not ever be the person I once was in ministry. I can't ever care about position or favor of man the way I once did.... I will, by the grace of God, never treat people the way I saw people treated just so they could get up the next rung in the ministry ladder... It was ugly.. it was awful... it was not the Lord... It killed people's faith, marriages and lives.
I watch and look and think upon so much cultural Christianity and so many places that cause me to wonder all the more... What in my life would Jesus come in and topple as He did the tables in the temple that day? What in the world of ministries and churches would He? What about the people who are just starving to see authentic and powerful Christianity? What about having the authority of Christ and not the pizzazz of modern day ministry?
Thinking upon times when I was once so confident of so many things and now I am confident of this that He began a good work and His word explains to me that He will complete it... So that is what I was resting upon and that is what I am resting upon ....
As nothing much seems to land these days and my feet and heart feel more afloat then that which I know what to do with...
Then.. then... came the familiar tones and eyes were with tears... "Remember the stars..."
My heart feels so faint and my capacity so lacking... received the rebuke not to long ago to not worry about my own competency and how it is so desperately lacking these days... for me easier said then done.. but I hear it.. lack of competency doesn't leave one feeling all that great about oneself except... yes, 2 Corinthians 3:5 says: Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Truth.. right.. truth...
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves.... hhhhmmmm, still trying to get that one down... Acknowledging that my adequacy is from God and that that is enough.. well, getting there... realizing that that is true whatever the physical reality would want to scream into my ears... His capacity to complete and His capacity to be adequate .. beyond adequate is beyond enough.
So tonight as my heart felt the confrontation of transition and all that it holds... continues to hold and doesn't seem to relent... as I tune into David's songs and lyrics in the Psalms... the sweet, familiar, beautiful tone of a whisper began to settle into the room... "I call them by name.. I've called you by name..You've heard them sing... remember."
I just sat in the reality of His voice... I tried to let it land and land well... Psalm 147:4 .. He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. But the more poignant verse.. the one that speaks forth the reality that renewed my mind and healed me so dramatically so many years ago... Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy
There was a night, over a decade ago, where Jesus brought me into the heavens and we stood looking at the stars. As He pointed them out to me and called them by name, they began to sing and in listening to their songs my mind was healed. People who knew me before that event and knew me after did shout for joy as they.. as we all, watched with joy and lived out the reality of a mind that had been healed. Not much different then the Gerasene demoniac's tale.
Now renewal of the mind is different than a dramatic healing, and life and living it out after having been placed in ones right mind is a process... But tonight amidst all that this transition has held, and it has held and packed many the punches.. I just sat with Jesus.. once again hand in hand.. gaze locked .. heart sore.. letting the truth of His words and affections soak and saturate my weary soul...
The truth is He named the stars.. and He knows their names.. He calls them by their names and they sing their songs into creation .. the truth is that He knows my name and He comes and sits with me and lingers and calls to mind the reality of who He is and the love He has... The truth is that is that which is needed beyond all else... I need to know Him... All need to know Him and His love.
The truth is He named the stars.. and He knows their names.. He calls them by their names and they sing their songs into creation .. the truth is that He knows my name and He comes and sits with me and lingers and calls to mind the reality of who He is and the love He has... The truth is that is that which is needed beyond all else... I need to know Him... All need to know Him and His love.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Songs of Deliverance
I pause more often now...
I ponder the reality of the words I read.. the reality of the heartbeat of God.. that which is true even if it is unseen...
Today looking at Psalm 32 impacted my heart as I read in verse 7,
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Songs of Deliverance
Can I even write any more than just those precious words?
Who needs God to be a hiding place?
Who needs to be preserved from trouble?
Who needs to be surrounded with songs of deliverance?
Who believes that that is the reality?
What lies more true in our hearts that we will be exposed or that we will be hidden? That we will be preserved or laid bare? That songs of deliverance and lovingkindness will surround us or we will be left to fend for ourselves? What do we believe? Earnestly? Sincerely? What is it that resides within our hearts? Is it an acknowledgement of the deliverance that sings and swirls around us or is it fear that deliverance will not ever be found ?
I stood in line and waited for an opportunity to ride a roller coaster the other week. I stood and I waited with the guarantee, that if I didn't cut in line or act up in some way that I would not be escorted out of the park, but having waited my turn I would be placed into a seat and get to ride the ride. How much more is the reality of our God?
How much more?
I must grow in faith but not as you suppose. I'm not off to the Christian book store or the faith section at my local Barnes and Noble. Nope, I'm not going on Amazon to order the next great 5 step how to grow in faith book... I'm sitting down with my kids.. with my babies.. and I'm realizing that when I tell them that an "A" is indeed an "A" and it says aaaaaahhhhhhhh or "A" that they believe me! They believe me! Go figure.. they don't ask are you sure it doesn't say "E" or are you sure about that... how can we be sure about that.. They take me at my word...
I might not have the faith of the centurion but maybe.. maybe I can have the faith of one Elizabeth Samantha Lucy Driscoll and if I could do that.. have the faith of a child.. then I know this.. mountains will most certainly be moved!
Listening and relishing in the songs of deliverance and the lovingkindness that surround me.... Hear the music.. let your hearts play the song....
I ponder the reality of the words I read.. the reality of the heartbeat of God.. that which is true even if it is unseen...
Today looking at Psalm 32 impacted my heart as I read in verse 7,
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Songs of Deliverance
Can I even write any more than just those precious words?
Who needs God to be a hiding place?
Who needs to be preserved from trouble?
Who needs to be surrounded with songs of deliverance?
Who believes that that is the reality?
What lies more true in our hearts that we will be exposed or that we will be hidden? That we will be preserved or laid bare? That songs of deliverance and lovingkindness will surround us or we will be left to fend for ourselves? What do we believe? Earnestly? Sincerely? What is it that resides within our hearts? Is it an acknowledgement of the deliverance that sings and swirls around us or is it fear that deliverance will not ever be found ?
I stood in line and waited for an opportunity to ride a roller coaster the other week. I stood and I waited with the guarantee, that if I didn't cut in line or act up in some way that I would not be escorted out of the park, but having waited my turn I would be placed into a seat and get to ride the ride. How much more is the reality of our God?
How much more?
I must grow in faith but not as you suppose. I'm not off to the Christian book store or the faith section at my local Barnes and Noble. Nope, I'm not going on Amazon to order the next great 5 step how to grow in faith book... I'm sitting down with my kids.. with my babies.. and I'm realizing that when I tell them that an "A" is indeed an "A" and it says aaaaaahhhhhhhh or "A" that they believe me! They believe me! Go figure.. they don't ask are you sure it doesn't say "E" or are you sure about that... how can we be sure about that.. They take me at my word...
I might not have the faith of the centurion but maybe.. maybe I can have the faith of one Elizabeth Samantha Lucy Driscoll and if I could do that.. have the faith of a child.. then I know this.. mountains will most certainly be moved!
Listening and relishing in the songs of deliverance and the lovingkindness that surround me.... Hear the music.. let your hearts play the song....
Thursday, July 25, 2013
The Only Invitation I want to give.......
I was reading an article this morning on social media trends and the more I read my mind spun, until... that is, I came across this one comment. This one comment grabbed my heart amidst all the noise and spoke louder than anything. Interestingly enough it was about the noise.
It doesn't take long during a session on the internet to feel like one is in Times Square during rush hour and people, and cars, and lights, and billboards, and this and that are all clamoring for attention and for you to notice them. I, just yesterday, posted this article on Facebook that ended up being one of those hoaxes. As I thought about the comments that were made, the lack of research on my part, and how I handled it I realized a lot about myself....
I don't want noise. I want relationship. I don't want 10,000 teachers or teleprompters or podcasts or webinars or whatever.. I want authenticity and a genuine sense that there is a community out there.. somewhere.. that truly cares about me.... I don't need the masses .. I don't need the crowd... I need as Jesus to did to get away with the Father... with the few...
Jim, my husband, and I had a conversation last night about his certainty that we will figure things out in life.We have been through a lot of transition. We still are going through a lot of transition. It is what life is right now... It isn't going to change. He said something at one point as I stood on our front steps choking back tears.. He said, "Let's look at the big picture. Let's look at where we want to end up." He wasn't talking tomorrow... or in a month.. He was asking that BIG picture question.
What do I want?
Well.. after 20 years plus in ministry I know what I don't want... I don't want to as put on a show, I don't want to put on an image, I don't want to put on a good face.... I know a ton of what I don't want... I don't EVER want to be like the guy who so excitedly told me that the post I posted yesterday wasn't true. I could feel that persons heart and their comment ripped the inside of me.. What preacher of a mega church would risk his position to do such a thing... It was that urban legand of a new pastor dressing up as a homeless man and entering his soon to be congregation and watching their reactions.
You see I know such a man... maybe it wasn't dressing up as a homeless person.. but I know a man who had intense favor, was growing in favor... was in a great place and then made a decision to not throw another person he cherished under the proverbial bus. I know such a man and the price that he paid for such a decision BUT regardless of the effects of the decision I would rather have lost all then to have gained through the horrific expense of another... TOO many times I have seen such things done in the hallways and green rooms and hospitality suites of ministry.
So what do I want? What are those who research things that are trending finding out?
People are tired of the noise and the spin... People are exhausted by it...
People are tired of the noise and the spin... People are exhausted by it...
I wasn't sad that I posted a fake story.. yes, do I need to do better research on these things .. probably... But in my heart the reaction was not that no one would do that... it was that is what we really need... We need to be confronted by the fact that we are blinded by the glitz and the noise and we no longer see and hear...
I want to be a Simeon or an Anna who in the midst of a crowd at a very busy temple KNEW that they were beholding the baby who was the King of kings. I don't want to partake in a flash mob of 10,000 but I want to stand quietly and mother.... develop true and strong and deep sons and daughters to my Father.. to our God.... I don't want to be liken unto those scribes whose words held no weight... I don't want to be like those pharisees who could not see the treasure in the man before them...
I want to believe that I am the kind of person .. leader .. who would watch a homeless person come into my church ... greet them.. assist them to sit wherever they would desire and love them as much as I would love and assist one who was richly dressed...
At the end of the day.. beyond any ministry.. beyond any occupation... beyond anything I ever do or say or walk in.. at the end of the day... through whatever it is that we must walk through... at the end .. the big picture is... I want to look like my Father... I want to bare the image that He breathed into me to bare... I want to be His daughter and have Him be my Father.. nothing more.. nothing less.... That is what I want....
Media trends come and go... noise hangs around always.... but real growth... real sons and daughters.. real mothers and fathers emerge from the crowds onto the battlefields and slay giants... There are many giants to be slain .. but there always have been... Quieting the noise of the crowds and stepping forward even when there is no armor that fits and all think you are crazy... is truly the only place I really know how to walk.. maybe not well... maybe not perfectly... But growing as His daughter and whispering the reality of motherhood and fatherhood into the oncoming screaming masses of noise is truly the only invitation I want to give.....
Friday, July 19, 2013
Detroit IS NOT Bankrupt ...The world does not get to dictate your circumstances... What is the fate for Detroit? And other questions and other answers
I am not ever one to jump on political commentary or even current affairs. I am not one to put out a daily prophetic word or place opinion out there haphazardly....
But this morning as I read about Detroit something hit my gut...
This is not a statement that Detroit won't be financially bankrupt... This is not a statement that some miracle will prevent the government from doing what it sees needs to be done... This is a statement that calls to reject the verdict however that Detroit is bankrupt. IT is that IS that fell upon my heart this morning...
I thought of the individuals not the city and then I thought of the city and I began to pray... I began to weep... I began to think of the retired individuals who now don't have the assurance of food.. I began to think of the fear that is sweeping the homes.. the anger.. the unrest... and then again I began to pray...
There were major declarations over my life that had facts in place but were faulty... why? because they didn't consider that fact that there is a God who has numbered every hair on my head and cares about my heart... There is a God who heals the sick, restores the wounded, feeds the hunger and loves ... LOVES!
SO this morning something hit my gut and utterly rejected the notion that the people of Detroit's fate rest in the hands of the government... that whether I have ever seen it before or will ever see it in my life time I believe in a God that turns water into wine, feeds 5000 from a few fish and some bread, heals the sick, restores the needy and sweeps down upon a people and brings hope and life and joy and faith and peace...
So Detroit while all that are smarter than I and more educated then I and more powerful in the world than I say that you are bankrupt.. I say this.. SILVER AND GOLD HAVE I NONE BUT WHAT I GIVE TO YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST RISE UP AND WALK!!!!!!!!
But this morning as I read about Detroit something hit my gut...
This is not a statement that Detroit won't be financially bankrupt... This is not a statement that some miracle will prevent the government from doing what it sees needs to be done... This is a statement that calls to reject the verdict however that Detroit is bankrupt. IT is that IS that fell upon my heart this morning...
I thought of the individuals not the city and then I thought of the city and I began to pray... I began to weep... I began to think of the retired individuals who now don't have the assurance of food.. I began to think of the fear that is sweeping the homes.. the anger.. the unrest... and then again I began to pray...
There were major declarations over my life that had facts in place but were faulty... why? because they didn't consider that fact that there is a God who has numbered every hair on my head and cares about my heart... There is a God who heals the sick, restores the wounded, feeds the hunger and loves ... LOVES!
SO this morning something hit my gut and utterly rejected the notion that the people of Detroit's fate rest in the hands of the government... that whether I have ever seen it before or will ever see it in my life time I believe in a God that turns water into wine, feeds 5000 from a few fish and some bread, heals the sick, restores the needy and sweeps down upon a people and brings hope and life and joy and faith and peace...
So Detroit while all that are smarter than I and more educated then I and more powerful in the world than I say that you are bankrupt.. I say this.. SILVER AND GOLD HAVE I NONE BUT WHAT I GIVE TO YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST RISE UP AND WALK!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
How does one walk in spirit and truth... hungering after Him and His ways using Psalm 25
I taught this morning using the 25th Psalm as the place of jumping off... expressing my heart of how to be a people of spirit and truth... How to be a people that do not speak on our own initiative and who do not act but seeing the Father move! But to see Him... and to know that which He does... we MUST know Him! We MUST be intimately aware of His ways....
Listen as I open up my heart... my hunger... my passion to walk with the Lord in a way that demonstrates spirit and truth!
http://stirthewater.com/beta/content/daily-devotional-psalm-25
Listen as I open up my heart... my hunger... my passion to walk with the Lord in a way that demonstrates spirit and truth!
http://stirthewater.com/beta/content/daily-devotional-psalm-25
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Desiring the Disciplines Registration Now Available
For months now I have taken step after step into the heart beat of what it means to search out the disciplines of the Christian faith. The benefits and the dangers of putting them into practice. Yes, my friends... dangers as well as benefits. They certainly aren't something to perform nor are they ever to become a litmus test to prove faithfulness. But searched after and put into practice, within the spirit in which they are intended, what emerges is a depth of life and inner strength that is liken to the building upon a wise foundation, and the wise virgins filling their lamps with oil.
Thinking of it as a dance, to watch professionals waltz or do an intricate dance one stands in awe of the beauty. What we don't see is the secret hours of disciplined practice day after day after day. The work that happens in the studio, the discipline that happens within the dancers home... diet, exercise, focus.... The depth of understanding of what it is going to take to live the life they desire.
A beautiful balance between freedom and grace and order and structure and discipline.
Hebrews 12:6 The Lord disciplines those He loves.. discipline... equals to train and instruct. To be trained in the ways of the Lord... to be instructed into the pathway of life. There are ruts on each side of the road but the journey is incredible! The wealth of spiritual strength immeasurable!
The ministry my husband and I lead, Stir The Water, is launching a year long study on the disciplines of the faith. The details of this emerging time together is going to be released this week.
The months together will include stepping into the practices of prayer, solitude, worship, study, fasting, meditation and many more. The times together will include weekly online meetings with a group of no more than 20 and monthly meetings with a group no more than 5. We will organize the weekly meetings around two different times, one group will meet Saturday mornings at 7am(est) and the other group will meet Wednesday nights at 11pm (est).
As one who grew in the faith through Charismatic circles I have so appreciated the wealth that has been added to me through my most recent church experience in Charlotte. Renovatus church came into my life July 11, 2010 and began to transform and strengthen my heart, adding a component that had been long missing and much needed.
I look forward to the anticipated growth and desired strengthening of my being by seeking out the very practices that are foundational to our faith.
What does it mean to build upon the right foundation so that when the storms of this life come we aren't shaken? Yes! It is Christ... but what does that mean practically and on a daily basis! What does it mean to be one liken to the wise virgins, who keep the lamps filled with oil? What brings about the filling? How do we do those things?
I haven't been as full of the reality of the spirit as I am when I contemplate the reality of the disciplines that undergird the Faith, and as I apply them more and more to my daily living. I truly look forward to walking alongside a community of people as we search out these matters together.
Public Registration Information is Now Available!!!
Follow the Link:
http://stirthewater.com/beta/content/desiring-disciplines-group-mentoring-year-community-and-spiritual-growth
If you run into an issue with registration you can email Julie at support@stirthewater.com and she will personally get you registered...
It's sink or swim or walk on water type time
In all honesty I don't remember the
specifics of the story. It's been a long time since I have clearly
looked back over the life of the denomination that I stepped into as
a new Christian. But I remember the stories of how there was a
period of time that John Wimber prayed for healing for people and
didn't see a thing. But yet continued time after time walking
towards what it was the Lord had laid upon his heart to believe.
In this season I find myself walking
through a time where I pause a lot. I mean a lot. At times I find
myself having less and less to say. It's interesting still trying to
teach or walk through a daily devotional but none the less so it
is....
What is thoroughly upon my heart is
born forth from the passage in Exodus 33: If
Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
And you see while I am not experiencing
it as I know in my heart to be... I have all these convictions of
what it means to be led of the Lord and what it looks like to have
His presence with us and upon us. There are pictures of what in my
heart it means to be His daughter and how we as His people are called
to walk and how He walks with us.
This isn't naming and claiming
anything... I truly think this is taking Him at His word....
I've been spending a lot of time in the
gospel of John these days... Chapters 5 and 14. Time after time
Jesus acknowledges that He does nothing (not even speaking) on His
own initiative (John 14:10) and He speaks of how He can do nothing of
Himself. (John 5:19). I'm not giving excuses for laziness but
empowerment towards diligence.
But this isn't about Wimber and his
journey into healing... and this isn't about seeking power nor
authority in the spirit... This is about a journey into the heart of
God.... It is about pursuit.
I am His daughter, period. I am His.
He is my God. That is His heart's desire and passion... To be with
us....
I realize that I can put together an
hour long devotional through the psalms. I can do the historical
back ground study, I can look into the meaning of words and look at
contextual issues, I can come up with devotional topics but time
after time, IF the Lord doesn't meet with His people then we are
toast. Then you are left with 10,000 teachers and not mothers and
fathers, then you are left with the scribes and not with Jesus (as
the people of His time declared that He was not like their scribes
but walked as one who had authority.), then you are left with more
meetings, and webinars, and seminars and conferences and what? What
about us ever gets changed?
So these days I pause and I linger and
I leave awkwardly long silences at time... don't I know that that
isn't good etiquette especially for a recording? I don't care.....
I really don't care about much of these things any longer.... Social
protocol and etiquette can't be where I walk... I don't know how to
do much but I figure that that served Peter and John pretty well at
the gate of beautiful...
So I'm going to pursue that which He is
doing... I'm going to think about the times liken unto Obed Edom, I'm
going to think about the times of Jesus walking upon the earth... I'm
going to think about hungry people being fed, sick people being
healed, wounded people being made whole.... I'm going to think about
the Kingdom... BUT more than anything I am going to think about the
Father and what it is that He is doing... It's sink or swim or walk
on water type time.....
Monday, July 8, 2013
When bewilderment is actually complaint.....
I'm not sure at the point of writing this if my friend knew that which the Lord was doing through him as he spoke and shared his heart. It was a casual car ride and conversation between friends, but in an instant, all of a sudden, there was great weight upon the words coming forth from his mouth.
He was just speaking about the concept of complaint. He was sharing concerning the environment it spreads and the hazards to such things. I could feel the weight but could not exactly pin point what it was that the Lord was speaking.
Who, now a days, is willing to receive revelation or a prophetic word that speaks truth and clarity and even correction and not just some obscure fluff and promise of world wide fame and prosperity. I think of the time of the prophets when Jeremiah addresses the issues of those that were saying what the people wanted to hear versus that which the Lord was actually speaking.
So last night there was weight and authority that filled the air but understanding wasn't fully upon me as to exactly what the Lord was touching. But this morning arrived and with it the daily devotional that I teach for stirthewater.com
A journey began earlier in June where we step into the Psalms and while we look at them within the context of their history and that which they speak, we also take a devotional journey through the truths that are put forth.
Today as I read the very first verses of Psalm 19 I knew.. It was like connect the dots and the words spoken last night and the reality of the scriptures were being laid bare. Psalm 19 opens with the words, The Heavens are telling of the glory of God. And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
I felt the question to put out there to the participants but to also listen to for myself was what is my life telling and what is my life declaring.
Yes, in these times of transition my heart has faltered along the way. As I look at other words of David's I see in passages where he cries out and pleads to the Lord more of the condition of my heart than in any expression of courage or bravery. But today the opportunity to have the Lord search me and know me came about, and the reality of where complaint and fear has seeped in and stolen whatever faith was there, was exposed.
Yes, the years and the moments and the circumstances and situations I have found myself in have led at times to bewilderment, but in not being disciplined in my heart I defaulted to complaint instead of courage. I defaulted to fear instead of faith, and my life both declared and told of allowing the circumstances and situations of my life to steal my joy and my hope. Where instead of arising and overcoming I shrunk back, where instead of believing and trusting I gave way to fear and panic and sorrow. Instead of standing firm in the reality of who I am as His daughter and that I bare forth His image, I forgot and exchanged that which would be said of me and my God for a lie. I did that...
Usually we just keep the Daily Devotionals for the members of Stirthewater.com but I truly felt in this one a call for remembrance. A call to awaken to the reality of what God says and to attach ourselves to the reality of our God. Here is the link: http://stirthewater.com/beta/content/daily-devotional-psalm-19
I refer to a sermon that was just preached yesterday, July 8th, at Dwelling Place by a dear friend, Mitch Semones. You will be able to find that podcast when it is posted at the DPNRV.ORG website. He steps into talking about image and a call to remembrance. And it is truly moving.
The atmosphere, in the morning was full of hopelessness and fear, and yet, as Mitch shared the word of God the truth that faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God filled the room. A call to remember in whose image we are made after and what it is that is said about us, a call to remember the faithfulness of God and an opportunity to give thanks... He really has given the garments of praise to deal with the spirit of heaviness. He really has given us the perfect law of the Lord for the restoration of our souls. (Psalm 19:7) His ways are perfect and right and sure and enduring... they are the path of life... of true life...
Sometimes we need the comfort and consolations of the Lord that He knows us and has walked the way of humanity and understands and sometimes we need to simply repent for complaint and turn our hearts towards His ways.... It is a beautiful waltz, the redemption of God! He is slow to anger and abounding in compassion and it is through His kindness that we are always led into repentance... What a mighty and beautiful God that we serve!!
He was just speaking about the concept of complaint. He was sharing concerning the environment it spreads and the hazards to such things. I could feel the weight but could not exactly pin point what it was that the Lord was speaking.
Who, now a days, is willing to receive revelation or a prophetic word that speaks truth and clarity and even correction and not just some obscure fluff and promise of world wide fame and prosperity. I think of the time of the prophets when Jeremiah addresses the issues of those that were saying what the people wanted to hear versus that which the Lord was actually speaking.
So last night there was weight and authority that filled the air but understanding wasn't fully upon me as to exactly what the Lord was touching. But this morning arrived and with it the daily devotional that I teach for stirthewater.com
A journey began earlier in June where we step into the Psalms and while we look at them within the context of their history and that which they speak, we also take a devotional journey through the truths that are put forth.
Today as I read the very first verses of Psalm 19 I knew.. It was like connect the dots and the words spoken last night and the reality of the scriptures were being laid bare. Psalm 19 opens with the words, The Heavens are telling of the glory of God. And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
I felt the question to put out there to the participants but to also listen to for myself was what is my life telling and what is my life declaring.
Yes, in these times of transition my heart has faltered along the way. As I look at other words of David's I see in passages where he cries out and pleads to the Lord more of the condition of my heart than in any expression of courage or bravery. But today the opportunity to have the Lord search me and know me came about, and the reality of where complaint and fear has seeped in and stolen whatever faith was there, was exposed.
Yes, the years and the moments and the circumstances and situations I have found myself in have led at times to bewilderment, but in not being disciplined in my heart I defaulted to complaint instead of courage. I defaulted to fear instead of faith, and my life both declared and told of allowing the circumstances and situations of my life to steal my joy and my hope. Where instead of arising and overcoming I shrunk back, where instead of believing and trusting I gave way to fear and panic and sorrow. Instead of standing firm in the reality of who I am as His daughter and that I bare forth His image, I forgot and exchanged that which would be said of me and my God for a lie. I did that...
Usually we just keep the Daily Devotionals for the members of Stirthewater.com but I truly felt in this one a call for remembrance. A call to awaken to the reality of what God says and to attach ourselves to the reality of our God. Here is the link: http://stirthewater.com/beta/content/daily-devotional-psalm-19
I refer to a sermon that was just preached yesterday, July 8th, at Dwelling Place by a dear friend, Mitch Semones. You will be able to find that podcast when it is posted at the DPNRV.ORG website. He steps into talking about image and a call to remembrance. And it is truly moving.
The atmosphere, in the morning was full of hopelessness and fear, and yet, as Mitch shared the word of God the truth that faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God filled the room. A call to remember in whose image we are made after and what it is that is said about us, a call to remember the faithfulness of God and an opportunity to give thanks... He really has given the garments of praise to deal with the spirit of heaviness. He really has given us the perfect law of the Lord for the restoration of our souls. (Psalm 19:7) His ways are perfect and right and sure and enduring... they are the path of life... of true life...
Sometimes we need the comfort and consolations of the Lord that He knows us and has walked the way of humanity and understands and sometimes we need to simply repent for complaint and turn our hearts towards His ways.... It is a beautiful waltz, the redemption of God! He is slow to anger and abounding in compassion and it is through His kindness that we are always led into repentance... What a mighty and beautiful God that we serve!!
Sunday, July 7, 2013
How dare I throw scraps at people when what the Lord has is a feast? When I open my eyes both in the natural and in the spirit how can my next step not be full of compassion...
Passion
Compassion
A Plea
and
A Roar.....
There is no greater roar within me then that which arises at the thought of God's heart towards His people. I hold fast to the scriptures that speak upon the idea of to the degree one is forgiven is to the degree that they understand that depth of forgiveness. Standing in such a place of somewhat understanding the depths to which I had made my bed in sheol, how could my gratitude not be immense?
There is at times a deep ache that wells up within my being, it is coupled with the understanding that comes forth from sight. When I open my eyes both in the natural and in the spirit how can my next step not be full of compassion... It is what I would want for myself. The hunger in the spirit for people to be known and to know is so very palpable. Wiser men and women than I have done the sociological studies regarding technology and how, with its vast resources and rewards, it has also produced a very lonely and isolated culture of people.
I love seeing people. I love actually seeing them in all facets of that which the phrase entails. I am a people person so I do truly enjoy being around people. I am however not your light conversationalist. When I hear someone sharing a story and when I see them before me how could I not receive them and see them.
To place my heart into the hands of my God and to know that as He hears that which is really being said and He sees that which there is to be seen, how can I not step into that place with Him? The hunger in people is immense at times and the result, for the human heart, that can be born forth from one simple question or statement at times is immense.
Why not step into at all times? I will tell you the truth... And this is why we have 10,000s of teachers and not enough fathers.... It is because the cost of touching another persons heart, the cost of not treating the words, thoughts, emotions of another as trite and really sitting there before them and entering into a transformative journey with them is large and it takes time and effort.
There is this trend more and more in the Christian culture that I am a part of.. ie more of the charismatic flow that appreciates and embraces prophetic and revelatory things, to do drive bys.... ie the, what I am calling, Chinese cookie prophecy, or the other one liners that come more from expressions of catchy phrases then the truths and depths of scripture. It isn't for me to sort out what others feel called to do or to post or to speak, but there are moments where my heart is grieved and I am saddened that the summation of the heart and power of God is reduced to sound bites that are caused to tantalize the ears and souls instead of ministry deeply to them.
Jesus is the Lord who stood overlooking Jerusalem and wept over them, hungering and longing to draw them into the depths of the love that exists for them. Time and time again He met people, and saw them and really saw them, and brought healing, affection, wholeness into their lives....
I just want my life to exemplify that heart.... To see... to know... isn't so I see and I know... it is so that others can see and others can know how thoroughly known and seen they are.....
My passion for the women who read my blog and then reach out to me.. I want to pour out words of affection, of courage, of identity.... The reality of the dignity of being a woman, a daughter... a sister is immense... To the men who reach out and express their hearts and their hunger to be seen and known and to understand what it means to be called a son of the Lord... These things are beyond beautiful... The hunger in people is intense...
How dare I throw scraps at people when what the Lord has is a feast?
Compassion
A Plea
and
A Roar.....
There is no greater roar within me then that which arises at the thought of God's heart towards His people. I hold fast to the scriptures that speak upon the idea of to the degree one is forgiven is to the degree that they understand that depth of forgiveness. Standing in such a place of somewhat understanding the depths to which I had made my bed in sheol, how could my gratitude not be immense?
There is at times a deep ache that wells up within my being, it is coupled with the understanding that comes forth from sight. When I open my eyes both in the natural and in the spirit how can my next step not be full of compassion... It is what I would want for myself. The hunger in the spirit for people to be known and to know is so very palpable. Wiser men and women than I have done the sociological studies regarding technology and how, with its vast resources and rewards, it has also produced a very lonely and isolated culture of people.
I love seeing people. I love actually seeing them in all facets of that which the phrase entails. I am a people person so I do truly enjoy being around people. I am however not your light conversationalist. When I hear someone sharing a story and when I see them before me how could I not receive them and see them.
To place my heart into the hands of my God and to know that as He hears that which is really being said and He sees that which there is to be seen, how can I not step into that place with Him? The hunger in people is immense at times and the result, for the human heart, that can be born forth from one simple question or statement at times is immense.
Why not step into at all times? I will tell you the truth... And this is why we have 10,000s of teachers and not enough fathers.... It is because the cost of touching another persons heart, the cost of not treating the words, thoughts, emotions of another as trite and really sitting there before them and entering into a transformative journey with them is large and it takes time and effort.
There is this trend more and more in the Christian culture that I am a part of.. ie more of the charismatic flow that appreciates and embraces prophetic and revelatory things, to do drive bys.... ie the, what I am calling, Chinese cookie prophecy, or the other one liners that come more from expressions of catchy phrases then the truths and depths of scripture. It isn't for me to sort out what others feel called to do or to post or to speak, but there are moments where my heart is grieved and I am saddened that the summation of the heart and power of God is reduced to sound bites that are caused to tantalize the ears and souls instead of ministry deeply to them.
Jesus is the Lord who stood overlooking Jerusalem and wept over them, hungering and longing to draw them into the depths of the love that exists for them. Time and time again He met people, and saw them and really saw them, and brought healing, affection, wholeness into their lives....
I just want my life to exemplify that heart.... To see... to know... isn't so I see and I know... it is so that others can see and others can know how thoroughly known and seen they are.....
My passion for the women who read my blog and then reach out to me.. I want to pour out words of affection, of courage, of identity.... The reality of the dignity of being a woman, a daughter... a sister is immense... To the men who reach out and express their hearts and their hunger to be seen and known and to understand what it means to be called a son of the Lord... These things are beyond beautiful... The hunger in people is intense...
How dare I throw scraps at people when what the Lord has is a feast?
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Dare to Desire the Disciplines
For months now I have taken step after step into the heart beat of what it means to search out the disciplines of the Christian faith. The benefits and the dangers of putting them into practice. Yes, my friends... dangers as well as benefits. They certainly aren't something to perform nor are they ever to become a litmus test to prove faithfulness. But searched after and put into practice, within the spirit in which they are intended, what emerges is a depth of life and inner strength that is liken to the building upon a wise foundation, and the wise virgins filling their lamps with oil.
Thinking of it as a dance, to watch professionals waltz or do an intricate dance one stands in awe of the beauty. What we don't see is the secret hours of disciplined practice day after day after day. The work that happens in the studio, the discipline that happens within the dancers home... diet, exercise, focus.... The depth of understanding of what it is going to take to live the life they desire.
A beautiful balance between freedom and grace and order and structure and discipline.
Hebrews 12:6 The Lord disciplines those He loves.. discipline... equals to train and instruct. To be trained in the ways of the Lord... to be instructed into the pathway of life. There are ruts on each side of the road but the journey is incredible! The wealth of spiritual strength immeasurable!
The ministry my husband and I lead, Stir The Water, is launching a year long study on the disciplines of the faith. The details of this emerging time together is going to be released this week.
The months together will include stepping into the practices of prayer, solitude, worship, study, fasting, meditation and many more. The times together will include weekly online meetings with a group of no more than 20 and monthly meetings with a group no more than 5. We will organize the weekly meetings around two different times, one group will meet Saturday mornings at 7am(est) and the other group will meet Wednesday nights at 11pm (est).
As one who grew in the faith through Charismatic circles I have so appreciated the wealth that has been added to me through my most recent church experience in Charlotte. Renovatus church came into my life July 11, 2010 and began to transform and strengthen my heart, adding a component that had been long missing and much needed.
I look forward to the anticipated growth and desired strengthening of my being by seeking out the very practices that are foundational to our faith.
What does it mean to build upon the right foundation so that when the storms of this life come we aren't shaken? Yes! It is Christ... but what does that mean practically and on a daily basis! What does it mean to be one liken to the wise virgins, who keep the lamps filled with oil? What brings about the filling? How do we do those things?
I haven't been as full of the reality of the spirit as I am when I contemplate the reality of the disciplines that undergird the Faith, and as I apply them more and more to my daily living. I truly look forward to walking alongside a community of people as we search out these matters together.
Public registration http://stirthewater.com/beta/content/desiring-disciplines-group-mentoring-year-community-and-spiritual-growth ... we look forward to you joining us!
If you run into an error in registering email support@stirthewater.com and Julie will help get you registered...
Thinking of it as a dance, to watch professionals waltz or do an intricate dance one stands in awe of the beauty. What we don't see is the secret hours of disciplined practice day after day after day. The work that happens in the studio, the discipline that happens within the dancers home... diet, exercise, focus.... The depth of understanding of what it is going to take to live the life they desire.
A beautiful balance between freedom and grace and order and structure and discipline.
Hebrews 12:6 The Lord disciplines those He loves.. discipline... equals to train and instruct. To be trained in the ways of the Lord... to be instructed into the pathway of life. There are ruts on each side of the road but the journey is incredible! The wealth of spiritual strength immeasurable!
The ministry my husband and I lead, Stir The Water, is launching a year long study on the disciplines of the faith. The details of this emerging time together is going to be released this week.
The months together will include stepping into the practices of prayer, solitude, worship, study, fasting, meditation and many more. The times together will include weekly online meetings with a group of no more than 20 and monthly meetings with a group no more than 5. We will organize the weekly meetings around two different times, one group will meet Saturday mornings at 7am(est) and the other group will meet Wednesday nights at 11pm (est).
As one who grew in the faith through Charismatic circles I have so appreciated the wealth that has been added to me through my most recent church experience in Charlotte. Renovatus church came into my life July 11, 2010 and began to transform and strengthen my heart, adding a component that had been long missing and much needed.
I look forward to the anticipated growth and desired strengthening of my being by seeking out the very practices that are foundational to our faith.
What does it mean to build upon the right foundation so that when the storms of this life come we aren't shaken? Yes! It is Christ... but what does that mean practically and on a daily basis! What does it mean to be one liken to the wise virgins, who keep the lamps filled with oil? What brings about the filling? How do we do those things?
I haven't been as full of the reality of the spirit as I am when I contemplate the reality of the disciplines that undergird the Faith, and as I apply them more and more to my daily living. I truly look forward to walking alongside a community of people as we search out these matters together.
Public registration http://stirthewater.com/beta/content/desiring-disciplines-group-mentoring-year-community-and-spiritual-growth ... we look forward to you joining us!
If you run into an error in registering email support@stirthewater.com and Julie will help get you registered...
Friday, July 5, 2013
Pause .. meditation... Not in word only....
In spending over twenty years in ministry in some way or another, I don't know if I have ever fully touched a place as I have in these days. Recently there has been so much upon my heart that the capacity to even begin to process all of it has become almost impossible. What does it mean to wait upon the Lord? What does that look like? What does one "do" then? How long does one wait? What does waiting entail? What does waiting look like? If it isn't inactivity then what is it? What does wait and rest have to do with one another? What does it mean to truly not build something unless the Lord is building it? How can one really know?
I understand that those who know their God will display strength and take action but what if the strongest thing one can do is to wait upon the Lord, what if the way to display strength looks completely other than anything the world would tell you? What if the action that is to be taken is one of meditation and pause and reflection? What about the scriptures in the gospel of John where Jesus speaks of not being able to do anything on His own but only doing that which He sees the Father doing?
So here is the psalm we did today and some notes I wrote afterwards... as soon as the video is fixed and processed we will upload it... BUT today... today make sure you pause and you reflect upon the reality and truth of God and let that reality and truth permeate all that is within you....
I understand that those who know their God will display strength and take action but what if the strongest thing one can do is to wait upon the Lord, what if the way to display strength looks completely other than anything the world would tell you? What if the action that is to be taken is one of meditation and pause and reflection? What about the scriptures in the gospel of John where Jesus speaks of not being able to do anything on His own but only doing that which He sees the Father doing?
John 5:19
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
To pause, to place oneself or allow oneself to be placed into the circumstances that BUT God goes before the one .. the one won't go.... What does that mean? What does that look like? One can easily see the testimony of what it looked like for Israel... But what does that look like today?
In stepping into this place in life during this season, the facet I feel and see and know more and more is the reality of the Kingdom of God is NOT in word only... There are so many words that can be spoken and so many that are and should.. but what words are just being spoken without weight and without authority?
So I do this daily devotional that for those on the East coast of the USA is at 5:30am. Today, when feeling like the video should be posted, wouldn't you know it something happened to the video but we will get it fixed and then will post it.. I still felt it important to write this blog post even without it... In the time together today.. I paused.. not because I didn't know what to say BUT because there needs to be time for pause, for reflection... a time to honestly look at one is doing and what one is putting their hands to and declare that unless the Lord builds the house the labors labor in vain, and one can gain the whole world but lose their soul...
What are we doing? What am I doing? What is it that is ultimately the most important thing... AND THAT IS JESUS! JESUS.....
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
To pause, to place oneself or allow oneself to be placed into the circumstances that BUT God goes before the one .. the one won't go.... What does that mean? What does that look like? One can easily see the testimony of what it looked like for Israel... But what does that look like today?
In stepping into this place in life during this season, the facet I feel and see and know more and more is the reality of the Kingdom of God is NOT in word only... There are so many words that can be spoken and so many that are and should.. but what words are just being spoken without weight and without authority?
So I do this daily devotional that for those on the East coast of the USA is at 5:30am. Today, when feeling like the video should be posted, wouldn't you know it something happened to the video but we will get it fixed and then will post it.. I still felt it important to write this blog post even without it... In the time together today.. I paused.. not because I didn't know what to say BUT because there needs to be time for pause, for reflection... a time to honestly look at one is doing and what one is putting their hands to and declare that unless the Lord builds the house the labors labor in vain, and one can gain the whole world but lose their soul...
What are we doing? What am I doing? What is it that is ultimately the most important thing... AND THAT IS JESUS! JESUS.....
Psalm 16
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
A Mikhtam of David.
16 Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
3 As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
3 As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.
5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
You support my lot.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
7 I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
8 I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
8 I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Today... well.. today, it was probably one of the most honest looks of the struggle in my life right now. (Mims) How does one with awe and reverance step into waiting on the Lord and doing due diligence. What does it look like to wait upon the Lord and to realize that unless the Lord builds the house the labors labor in vain...
In psalm 16 we read about the sorrows of those who have bartered for another god.. but in our culture what is that "other god," is it the belief that we have to help God along with our media shows and the offerings of technology? Or those beautiful tools in which the kingdom of God is spread?
To know that to set the Lord continually before us and to wait upon the Lord and to have our strength renewed and to understand that within that reality then we will never be shaken is a beautiful thing to know BUT do we wait long enough for that truth to penetrate our souls? Or do we leap to the next thing...
Yes... in this hour long devotional do I pause and reflect and allow the personal struggle of walking through what does it mean to wait upon the Lord and what does it mean to wait and to speak that unless the Lord goes before us ... we will not go...
I personally would rather not put my hand to any plow any longer that does not have the Lord actually being the one who plows the field in His great strength and power, and beauty and mercy and kindness... Human effort wanes BUT GOD....
Today stepping into Psalm 16 we paused, we waited, we allowed reflection and struggle to land and not necessarily be fully answered... But today is probably the most honest look into where I am .... as a leader and one who loves the Lord and loves serving Him... I want to serve Him!! Not my own self interests and not the alter of ministry or image or whatever else you can put there...
This is who I am.. this is how I will always lead... waiting upon the Lord and with complete desperation not wanting to go forward unless He goes before.....
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