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Unhindered Encounter – February 12, 2011

/ Lyschel

‘…it feels like Jesus has washed my face. He has carefully but intently scrubbed off the lies, heartache and rejection caked on my face then rinsed it with his living water. And with my face cupped gently in his hands, he smiles and whispers, ‘Oh there you are’.” – from Unhindered, by Jana Spicka

Go Deeper.
Real Life. Real God. Real Freedom.

Radical definitions of beauty, intimacy, life. Experience a true love story.

Join us for a one day woman’s event hosted by Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church and Women Getting Real Ministries.

Lead by Author/Speaker Jana Spicka and the Women Getting Real Team.

Ticket prices includes: 4 teaching session, live worship, lunch, the Unhindered Worship CD, and more.

Register Early for Discounts!!!

To find out more about the Unhindered Encounter event and hear personal testimonies click here

Reality Check: Sessions include candid conversations and mature themes in media

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Battle Cry

/ Jana / 2 Comments

I was going to take out segments of this article as fodder for the conversation about who are we battling and why. But as I re-read it, it is simply too rich to condense. Mull on the phrase, from victory not towards it. Intimidation is answered through intimacy. May the Lord grant you revelation of your authority as co-heir and may you walk in His power for His glory today.

Jana

THE BATTLE IS NOT OURS TO WIN…
IT IS OURS TO LOSE

by Graham Cooke

Jesus has disarmed both rulers and authorities, making a mockery of their power in the process and celebrating His own triumph over them by the cross (Colossians 2:15). Now as ever the battle is not ours but the Lord’s (2 Chronicles 20:15).

We serve a powerful King who loves to fight! He laughs at those who oppose him (Psalms 2:4; 37:13). In the Kingdom, we fight from victory; not towards it. Jesus has already won. In Him we partake of His overcoming. We are more than conquerors because we know the outcome before we enter the fray.

In Christ, our posture before the enemy must reflect our status in the Kingdom. We are an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. We have been given power and authority through the Holy Spirit. In warfare, we rejoice before we pray. We give thanks for His majesty and supremacy. We are not overcome by our circumstances, we are overwhelmed by sovereignty. We are too busy being fascinated by Jesus to be intimidated by the enemy. We rejoice so that our praying can be powerful and effective. We praise because we occupy the position of an overcomer.

We stand in this space and we occupy our standing in Jesus through praise of His Majesty. The battle is won already; it is our partnering with victory that guarantees the outcome. We have the capacity to lose this battle only by default.

Lack of true rejoicing and thanksgiving will always embolden the enemy at our expense. The power of wickedness may increase in our perception if our worship is diminished and our focus on sovereignty reduced.

The only viable answer to intimidation is an increase in intimacy with the Lord. David was a “man after God’s own heart;” i.e., a worshipper. His intimacy gave him power over the intimidation of Goliath. He became a giant killer.

We can lose every fight if we have no focus. If our lives display a lack of worship we will never even show up for the fight. We will lose because we do not know how to stand. We will petition God for power when He has already given us authority in Jesus’ name. In rejoicing we receive revelation concerning the particulars of our overcoming.

Decide who you want to be and the Holy Spirit will empower you to become it.
-Graham

What Are You Battling and Why?

/ Jana / 1 Comment

The world, the flesh and the devil.

I have heard three very powerful concepts lately. First: Graham Cooke talks about how “in the Kingdom we fight from victory not towards it.” Second: another devotional talks about how weary we become when we battle the world, the flesh, and the devil. And finally the Lord is giving me a revelation out of Psalm 19 about the meditations of our hearts and the words of our mouths. Stay tuned as we unpack all three of these and how they are related over the next few days.

For today, I want to sit in the reality of the sufficiency of God in our lives and in our moments. If Christ is victorious, then why do we live such defeated, helpless lives? If God is for us, then why do we live as if we are abandoned and alone? If the Holy Spirit leads us into truth and comforts us, then why do we talk more about our world, our flesh and our enemy than the presence of God? 

This morning my soul groans to be swept up into the arms of God to see the greater reality of Him. Either He is, or He isn’t. If He truly IS, then everything about our lives is changed because of it. If He IS NOT, then indeed our lives are as bad we say they are. It is our trying to live between these two statements that is killing us.

Today, let’s realign ourselves with the Truth. He is a warrior God, Almighty is His name. He is victorious over the world, our flesh and the devil. We are on the Winning Side. We are not the conquered captives, hanging our heads in shame. We are the valiant ones charging forward in the name of God, in the shadow of His wings. Be still and KNOW that He is GOD over all. Even your world, your flesh and your devil.

Under the Rock

/ Jana / 3 Comments

We all feel the weight and pressure of our lives. It comes in waves. It comes in a crash. Or it comes one proverbial straw at a time until we finally buckle under the weight. But regardless of the reasons “why” we get weighted down — lack of boundaries, not taking care of ourselves, or spiritual attack — there is  a “who” to rescue us.

I texted this to my friend last night, “Please pray for me. Really under a rock.” And as I hit the send button I heard the Spirit say, “I am your Rock.”

Moments later, my sweet friend relayed what the Spirit had told her: “Uh…don’t know if this is a word for u but he keeps telling me HE is the rock. Is he perhaps covering  u and/or trying to make u be still? He tells me he is the only rock that has any power in ur life.”

Who knew that you could pack such a spiritual punch in a text?!  The only Rock with any power.

Our whinings, our to do lists, the people who frustrate us have no power except the stories that you and I create about them. They are illusions. Dare I say it, drama created to keep us stirred up. All this time we run here and there only to find that our feet rest on the steadfast might of God. God’s power is the Rock we stand on forever, regardless of the circumstances.

Now what my friend didn’t know  is that I had just listened to the song, “Hide Me in You.” Think God is trying to tell us something?

Rock of Ages, cleft for me. And you. Forever. Hide in the Rock today.

Hide Me in You (Unmixed)
Hide me inside You
Inside Your great heart
In the cleft of the Rock
In Your side

Brother and Ransom
Your nailed pierced hand
Covers me
As you pass by

All the mountains quake at the sight
When Your glory passes by

Let me hide
In the cleft of Your side
My shelter, my refuge
Let me hide
In the cleft of the Rock
Hide me, hide me in You

Hide me inside You
Your name’s my defense
The Rock that was opened for me

Jesus, My Savior
Your sin broken heart
Has poured out mercy on me

All the mountains quake at the sight
When Your glory passes by

Let me hide
In the cleft of Your side
My shelter, my refuge
Let me hide
In the cleft of the Rock
Hide me, hide me in You

© Jana Spicka
Real. Life.

Our Heart for Unhindered

/ Jana / 1 Comment

This is the Lord’s mission statement. It’s what He’s always doing. And this is our desire for the women who are part of Unhindered 2.0.  Don’t miss an amazing day with the Lord as we press into His freedom, His favor, His comfort, and His beauty for us. You can still register here.

Isaiah 61:1-3

 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim freedom for the captives
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
   and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
   instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
   instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
   instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   a planting of the LORD
   for the display of his splendor.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

/ Jana / 1 Comment

Soak in this amazing prayer today and realize that you are an indispensable part of Christ’s body, working out His love around you.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Pot Full of Promises

/ Jana / 2 Comments

It was a really stunning moment. I was considering lots of decisions that needed to be made. I felt like my back was against the wall and I had to choose: would I react out of fear or faith? Fear would have me grasp at straws, trying to cover my bases. Faith would have me walk in boldness, simply trusting God to provide.

My answer came through a three-way conversation.

Charis asked me, “Is there really a pot at the end of the rainbow?”

“Nope,” I said.

“Why do people say that, then?” Charis questioned.

Instead of focusing on the legend, I had her retell the story of the first rainbow. We talked about Noah and the rain and the bow in the  sky.

“Why did God give Noah the rainbow?” I asked her. 

“Because it showed God’s promise that He would never flood the whole earth again. The rainbow is a sign of promise. So why would people look for gold?” Charis asked.

And my mouth said out loud what only God could have spoken: “Because people would rather have a pot of gold than God’s promises.”

Did you hear that? the Spirit prodded.

“Yes, Lord. I do that. I want a pot of gold instead of Your promises. Forgive me. Instead I choose Your love, Your promises. I choose You.”

What are you working for? Believing in? Depending on?

Take a Deep Drink of God

/ Jana / 1 Comment

No matter what I do to store up my intimacy with God – beach trips, revelations, journalling – my heart gets depleted. It is much like when I stockpile my pantry. Eventually all the food is consumed. It is the same with my “moments” with the Lord. Eventually the demands and needs of the day consume my warm God thoughts, my cups of His love, my bins full of truth.

But neither are futile.

This is why we must come again and again to the Table of God. You see His brilliance in the depletion because it is not the assurance of eating He desires for us, but the assurance of our hunger. He is glad when we hunger and thirst after Him. For then He gets to satisfy us just as He promised.

Take a long,  long drink of this song. It will slake your thirst. At least for today. Smile.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6

Divine Romance
The fullness of Your grace is here with me
The richness of Your beauty’s all I see
The brightness of Your glory has arrived
In Your presence God, I’m completely satisfied

For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love, to show my love

A deep deep flood, an Ocean flows from You
Of deep deep love, yeah it’s filling up the room
Your innocent blood, has washed my guilty life
In Your presence God I’m completely satisfied

by Phil Wickham

Being Still or Doing Nothing?

/ Jana / 2 Comments

“Be still and know that I AM God.” Psalm 46:10

Be. Know. I AM.

These are active verbs, especially when God Almighty is in the equation.  It came fresh to me yesterday when I was watching a scene from the new Karate Kid movie.

The student, Dre, asks Mr. Han, the master, when he would be taught all the moves so “he could control other people.” 

The master aptly replied, “The only person you need to learn to control is yourself.” 

Ouch. Let that one soak in a minute. Think about how much time you try to convince, cajole, manipulate, or arrange others for your benefit. Instead, consider how pressing into control yourself, your attitudes, your actions, and your beliefs could impact others for good.

They continue on in their teaching and Mr. Han attempted to explain the power of being still in your heart and in your mind.

Incredulous, the 12-year-old student balked, “You want me to beat those other guys by Doing NOTHING?!!”

Mr. Han looked at his student intently and said,” Being still and doing nothing are two totally different things.”

Add in the God factor to this statement, and you have a profound truth. Being still and knowing that GOD is at work  is different from you doing nothing but whining, quitting, and coping.  Being still and knowing God is for you generates a superpower hope and confidence while doing nothing only exposes your own weakness and inadequacies.

Being still and knowing, experiencing, believing, embracing, leaning on the Great I AM is a life changing point of origin.

Doing nothing is, well, full of Nothing. No God. No hope. No life.

Get busy being still. It will change everything about your Life.

Does Jesus Matter in Life?

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Does it really make any difference if we are Christians when we are facing real life circumstances?

I wonder if the average Christian truly has any expectation that the presence of God will actually impact the situations he or she is living through. And I also wonder, do we lack expectation because we lack faith?

Right now in my circle of life, there are all kinds of car issues. Our old van is more and more refusing to go into reverse. Laura’s transmission gave up the ghost all together. Shimmi just got hit with huge auto repair bills. On top of these needs I have loved ones facing foreclosure, facing medical debt collectors, and using roofing loans to pay for groceries.

Does an eternal Jesus matter in these concrete issues?

My mind goes to the Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis. Lucy was the first of four children to experience the all together Other Reality of Narnia that was far more real than their everyday England. And over and over people would doubt, malign or question the reality of Aslan, the great Lion who was the True King of Narnia. And over and over, Lucy looked for Aslan. She asked for Aslan. She hoped for Aslan.

And over and over, Aslan showed up in the most surprising ways. Unpredictable yet unchanging. I am learning to believe that if you never have need of a god, you are doomed indeed. It is in those “God I am hopeless unless You show up on my account” moments that we see we need a God, and we are not God. I think this is a good thing. And God is happy to be God for us. I think this is the best thing.

In one Nania scene when all seems lost, Aslan remarkably shows up, to which Lucy remarks, “You came!”

“Of course I came. Did you question that I would, child?” Aslan asks.

Lord give us Lucy hearts. Teach us to look for You in the hardest of moments with hearts of faith. And teach us to wait expectantly for Your appearing in our hard places.

“You surround them with your favor as with a shield.” Psalm 5:12