General

How much of God’s love do you want?

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How much of God’s love are you willing to receive? Uhhh. Is this a trick question? Some? Enough? All?  We humans play lots of mental games with God’s love. It often circles around our sense of worth or lack thereof. Perhaps it’s an unspoken belief that He likes other kids more than us, so we should be grateful and don’t bug God by asking for too much. Perhaps we have been extensively taught about suffering and sacrifice, which is good and true, but we have not been given permission to experience His lavish love.

Lavish is His word. Not mine.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1 NIV)

Believe it or not, this very difficult question was the second question in my wild conversation with the Lord last night.  It came on the heels of a memory with my friend Crystal. She and I (and many others) had just prayed her into a miracle house. She kept saying over and over, “Why me, Lord, why do I get this house?”

And His answer was so simple. “I picked it for you. I  know what I planted in you. And, I really like you.” 

“The thought that He would do something so big, so extra just because He loved me so much, really stretched my faith,” Crystal said. 

It was a love gift.

Boom. There it was. 

I had heard those words before. A love gift. God had given me and Chuck a love gift. An outrageous gift purely as an expression of His love. The Overflow House, a beautiful place in Pensacola Beach. This is part of much bigger story, but the words pierced my spirit like a needle full of medicine. Did I remember how to receive a Love Gift from God?

God is lavish in His gifts to express His love for His children. Me and you, we be da children. If we know how to do it, He does it so much better. 

If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?” Matthew 7:11 TPT

As uncomfortable as this thought is, now try to imagine the gut punch of the first question. 

Am I your Lover or your business partner?

I mean, what a way to start a conversation.

Lovers do things for each other. We share and sacrifice for the other’s good without a second thought. We enjoy each other. We call each other silly names and giggle and smile for no apparent reason. No task seems too big or small, because well, it’s just an excuse to be together.  Rain or shine, all we need is love. Perfect Love, that is.

But business partners? That’s a little more clinical, don’t you think? You have your role and duties. I have mine. And please, stay in your lane. Don’t tell me what to do, I will return the favor. And then there is the pressure. I sure hope this proposition works out because we have poured a lot of time and money into it. We have to produce results after all.

Gut. Punched.

You know what I love MOST about Jesus, God, and Spirit? The Holy Three-in-One so completely adores, enjoys, loves, roots for, and is 1000% committed to my heart and soul, and yours, that They would zing me in quiet hours just to correct my course.

God is unwilling to just be our business partner. Don’t nit-pick me here. When Perfect Love is on the scene He does bring wisdom, insight, and guidance. He is the best Person to have involved in any field, home, or country. BUT. BUT. BUT.

He does it all for love, for us. To be with us. He is lavish. He gives good outrageous gifts to express His Love.

So why am I doing it? Why are you?

Let me give you the two questions again: Am I your Lover or your business partner? How much of My Love are you willing to receive?

I am just going to let that sit there for you and our Beautiful God to sort through. It has broken some serious wayward thinking as He and I approach this outrageous Love Gift that is on the horizon. I hope it gets you a little more free too. 

Faith to Faith

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How do we get more faith?  It might be easier than you think and yet much more costly. Before you check this box, listen to my story.

 

 

I sat across the table from a prophet the other day. We came to celebrate a mutual friend who had told me about her crazy friend who was really prophetic.  However,  once he opened his mouth and began sharing God stories, I saw the stark difference between having a gift and having a mantle.

The prophetic gifting is the ability, granted by the Holy Spirit, to know or see a thing, and to declare a thing that will happen in the future. Think of God sending people postcards from far-off places. Only instead of saying, “I wish you were here,”  He sends them pictures, words, insights of places or things and says “You will be here.” 

Whew. That’s wild. It’s a lot to take in. And it is 100% biblical.

We all have the ability to be prophetic if we have the Holy Spirit. Even our kids! They have 100% of the Holy Spirit. Not some kind of  Junior Holy Spirit,  like a Whopper Jr. 

But, this guy at dinner, instead of just being prophetic, was a prophet. Meaning God would tell him things to tell other people. Good and seemingly bad things.  Even the bad things turned out to be blessings because God was always working for the hearts and the success of the people targeted by the messages. 

I noticed a couple of things as I soaked in every story he told.

1) God is alive and well and moving mightily all the time for those who will a) stop and ask Him and b) do what He says.

2) God doesn’t blink an eye at making humans uncomfortable in order to lead them to wholeness and outrageous faith. Whether it is the prophet speaking or the receiver of God’s message, God happily shatters our comfort zones.

3) God is supremely patient with stubborn and disobedient children who don’t listen, until He isn’t. He offers counsel and wisdom and then He practices holy tough love as we temporarily suffer from our self-made consequences.

4) We have permission to grab hold of every God story we hear for ourselves. I literally kept praying as the prophet spoke, “Lord I would like that too please.”  It’s part of the prophet’s reward.

5) God stories (or faith stories) beget other God stories. As the prophet shared stories, my mind filled with my own stories. I shared a couple of my own, and you could see both of us reveling in the power and mystery of this Beautiful God. 

There is a right standing with God. The bedrock of that right standing is faith. 

Do you need an extra dose of faith? Recall what He has done for you. Act forward on what He has said is coming. And. And. Share your God stories and listen to others. That will fill up your tank in no time.

For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written, “But the one who is righteous by faith will live.” Romans 1:17 

Open the Flow

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I may be late to the party but I have lived my whole life without an irrigation system for my yard. I have lived in lots of places in lots of houses, but none of them required a dedicated irrigation system. A move to sunny Florida changed all that. 

You can imagine my surprise when I was sitting outside one pre-dawn morning drinking coffee and water started spraying in all directions in my yard. I quickly transitioned back inside to keep from getting watered myself. 

Turns out, in Florida, either I water all the time or an irrigation system does. Fortunately, the house we purchased came with one installed. 

Fast forward a couple of months, and our irrigation pump died due to a three-day Florida freeze over. We had it replaced, however, over time we noticed plants beginning to wither and trees losing their color. Some areas of the yard were greening up well with new spring life, others were not. We all attributed the decline to the winter hit. 

Then one morning, the pump woke me up whining. The few sprinkler heads that were still working only gurgled out water instead of reaching out the typical 6-foot spray. Chuck turned the pump off. We promptly went on the hunt for an irrigation doctor and readied ourselves for another new pump purchase, or worse a whole new system.

But the surprise of surprises, the irrigation doctor showed up, looked everything over, and told us our pump was fine. The problem was instead an 8-inch section of above-ground piping leading from the well to the pump. 

Say what?? Eight inches of plastic pipe had shut down my whole irrigation system? Yes. 

The well water was fine, clean, and ready to be dispersed.
The pump was new and had the appropriate size and strength for the task. 

But somewhere, someone had installed a half-inch smaller pipe between the two. That simple constriction of water flow forced a leak and stole the pressure needed to activate the pump and shoot the water out all over my thirsty yard.

I was standing there in my yard watching all of this play out and I just said out loud, “ I am listening Lord. I am listening. You have my full attention.”

The Well: Jesus said that we would have rivers of living water spring up within us. Just like the unseen well somewhere deep under my yard, we have all the water we need for all the living God has called us to. Some water is for creating beauty, some for giving to others, some just for Him, and some for our own sustenance.  He has enough water for it all. Do we trust that? 

The Pump: It pays to check the condition of our hearts. Like the pump, our heart has the power to distribute all the love to all the places God calls us to.  Proverbs make it clear that we are to “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).  

Here is a bonus about that pump and our hearts. It works best under pressure. 

In fact, the right kind of pressure produces life far beyond ourselves. So don’t wish for a problem-free, pain-free life. Don’t try to create a life with no stress or strain, or you might find yourself whining in the wee hours from the lack of adequate water flow. You see,  the pressure is what draws the water from the well, through the pump and outward. 

Selah. 

Finally. That damn pipe. 

Before we bought this house, somebody tried to Make Do. Tried to ignore the facts.  As Brene Brown points out, perhaps they did the best they could, but fundamentally they did not understand the potential damage of closing off the flow of water. 

I hate to admit it, but this God lesson hit me right in the middle of a constricted flow moment in my own life. 

Jesus was quick to let me know I have a good heart. I have living water deep inside.  But I had allowed fear and doubt to make me small and constricted the flow of His living water. So then my heart could not function well under the right kind of pressure and areas in my life began gasping for a drink. 

The solution was a new right-sized pipe, or in my case, right-sized faith. 

So pay attention. How’s your water flow? How is the condition of those living within range of your water? How’s your heart? Is it fully functioning under pressure, or whining in the wee hours? 

Just in case you need a referral, Jesus is a great irrigation doctor too.

Strong Water

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There is an essence of a Woman —God-ordained actually. Even if you don’t believe in God, there is an unmistakable quality of a woman that goes far beyond body parts and hormones. 

A woman is a life-giver.  Hear me. Not just a baby maker. But a Life-Giver. 

For decades,  I have been on a deep dive into the heavenly Who of a woman. The world’s Who of a woman reduces us to breasts and bottoms. And frankly, the church’s answer of Who relegates us to the high (and only allowed) calling of motherhood. Both left cavernous gaps in my heart. 

Don’t get me wrong. I am undone by my children. Still love-wrecked by them today, though they are grown and flown. I prayed desperately to have them and have been completely overhauled as a human by being a parent. Nothing brings me to my knees faster than the threat of danger or harm to my babies. Likewise, when they laugh and soar, whether they are 20 months or 20 years, my heart sings a song that is worthy of angels. 

And yet. My own children gave me clues to this bigger Who of a woman. But they did not satisfy the God-sized holes and hunger in my soul. 

As I sought the Lord and tried to make sense of the tension, God began to reveal some beautiful secrets of His feminine masterpiece. 

It starts with the names. In Genesis alone, we see the names: female, help meet, woman, and mother. Goodness, we could have fun unpacking all of these. But for today, let’s look at Mother.

In ancient Hebrew, the letters are pictures. So each word is a collection of images that creates vast meaning. The two letters/pictures depicting the word “mother” is an ox and water. Ox signifies strength and water signifies life. Translated mother means strong water. 

 

Scholars say the expression strong water is attributed to the process of boiling the skin of an animal down until it makes a glue that is used for making tents. Lovely, yes? But hold on. Like its image, it is rife with meaning. 

A woman is uniquely equipped to connect people, hold relationships together, create strong emotional and spiritual attachments so that the family, tribe, or camp can weather the seasons of life. A woman is the glue of her home. Whether single or married, with child or without, she has been heavenly wired to carry this life-building and life-sustaining essence into her world. 

She carries this Holy Glue that brings hearts together, cements ideas or dreams, and provides foundational strength in various expressions.

When Adam named Eve, which happened after the fall, and before children, he called out the original Who that God created. Not just for the first woman, but for all of us, since she would be named the mother of all the living. 

We, women, are her daughters, all women are called Strong Water. We carry the life-giving glue of Heaven. 

Thank you, Lord, for revealing your beautiful heart through us. 

When Truth Turns Into a Tripwire

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We are living in tricksy days. People use phrases about “my truth,” or “what feels true to you.” And while I freely acknowledge that it comes from a heart of compassion, I still want to either vomit or hit a loud, warning buzzer. My truth? Your truth? What even…

Truth is to be discovered and revealed and sometimes even translated. But when we slap little words in front of it, like my or your, we immediately reduce truth down to a very small point of authority.

Psalm 8 speaks very highly of us as human beings. “A little lower than the angels,” worth the cost of the cross. But. And, this is a big But—we are truth-bearers. Not truth creators.

We follow a plumb line. Or we don’t.

Either way, that does not designate us as The Plumb Line.

We could reduce this conversation to political labels and insults. Which are futile.

We could scrutinize the motives and money behind our lack of resolve around the truth. Which are tiresome.

I would rather offer a perspective from heaven. Truth sets us free.

The Greek word for truth is reality. Jesus is calling us to His Reality. His Truth. He is the Holy Plumb Line. And it requires a shifting of our will, a surrendering of our lesser reality of bondage to step into the freedom of His Truth.

As a social structure, we humans are constantly looking for answers. But rarely looking for truth. We want answers that feed our fears or our appetites. We crave answers that rationalize our bat-shit-crazy choices. We want permission to do whatever we want. But this is not freedom.

We need a plumb line. Look at the chaos of our world. It is the “reality” of everyone doing what they want, what is right in their own eyes. And it’s killing us.

I love this from Pastor Laura Piraino about Zechariah 4:10.

“The purpose of the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hands was to keep the walls lined up correctly, to keep the work true. It was such a small thing, but without it, the walls of the temple would not have stood the test of time. Zerubbabel needed this small tool to correctly finish the work God had called him to do.”

As you and I embrace the work that God has called us to do in our homes, work, and the Kingdom, let us hold fast to His Plumb Line. He is the Truth. We need His Reality to keep our lives true and to build something that stands the test of time.

“When you continue to embrace all that I teach, you prove that you are my true followers. For if you embrace the truth, it will release true freedom into your lives.” 

John 8 TPT

How Much Love Is Enough?

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I seem to have a hard time loving. Even after all this time, some conflict or some person slams up against a brick wall inside my heart.  On this wall is a big neon sign that flashes “THAT’S IT! I’m done with you.”

To add insult to injury after the said collision, I then somehow conveniently build a case about why I am justified in my unlovingness.  I will even tiptoe into very dangerous territory about whether someone else is “worthy” of love.

Even after all this time, more than 30 years of being loved unconditionally and extravagantly by Jesus. I am still learning how to love.

I got in a tussle the other night and I was so mad. I was spouting off prayers left and right about how I had been offended and betrayed and how much I wanted God to defend me…

Holy Spirit’s answer stung like alcohol on an open wound.

“My blood is enough for you both.”

This is why I am so desperately aware of my need to celebrate the Resurrection every year.  I need the blood of Jesus to wash me clean.  I need the cross to remind me that it was Love that held Him there. He loved me more than my sin. More than your sin. The blood, the water, and the piercing of His side were not to fulfill some morbid code of punishment.

Instead, the cross demonstrates just how much love is enough to save the world.
To save my world and yours.
To save me.
From me.

Likewise, I need the empty tomb to strengthen my weak love muscles. His love in me is stronger than mine alone will ever be.  And just as the song declares, “If You walked out of the grave, I’m walking too.”

I was crucified with Him, therefore, I am raised to a whole new life with Him.  More is always possible with Him.

When Jesus said for us to love our enemies, (which at any moment might be our spouse, our family, our boss, or our neighbor) He wasn’t being cruel. He was telling us that He opened a door to a whole new level of Love that casts out fear. Love that cancels sin. Love that raises the dead. Love that takes down the brick walls inside our hearts.

So I will keep learning and practicing. I will keep going to His love tank instead of my own. He promised He will have His way in me and one day I will love as He does.

Until then, I will fall on His grace as He demolishes every brick wall that still exists in my heart.

Thank you, Jesus.

We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within,

so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.

Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed.

At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.

We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us.

We may be knocked down, but not out.

We continually share in the death of Jesus

in our own bodies so that the resurrection life

of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.

We consider living to mean that we are constantly being

handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus

will be revealed through our humanity.

So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you.

2 Corinthians 4

Hot to Cold

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God is always leading us forward into freedom. Past the sin, the stuck places, the disappointment, and the heartache of living.

Forward.

Always forward into hope, into more of Him, into deep change. He does transformative work with this double-edged sword called Spirit and Truth.

With this sword, two things are happening at the same time. On one side, the truth of God sets us free from lesser lovers and worldly appetites. He reveals truth and lies lose their power. We are cut free from bondage.  On the other side, Holy Spirit comforts our spirit as we mourn our weakness and look for the courage to be changed. The Spirit cuts the cords of our complacency and apathy and we receive strength to be truly loved.

But to be clear, it is a deep cut into our current way of thinking. Spirit and Truth do not show up without us being painfully aware that Someone greater is on the scene. We are compelled forward.

It’s a complex thought I know, but so necessary for the days we live in. A friend and I were talking about  Matthew  24: 12 which warns the “love of others will grow cold.”  Look at the CEV version.

“Evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving others.”

Listen. If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks, I don’t know what will. Evil, from the enemy, will increase so much that people will stop acting like they know God.

How can this be? Remember Jesus’s command: Love God, others, and ourselves.  Romans says we OVERCOME evil with good.

We overcome the evil that comes against our own hearts, our families, our tribe, our city, and our nations.  I must press you today. Are you allowing the double-edged sword of spirit and truth to do its work in your life so that we can overcome the evil we all face?

Two verses come to mind that combat growing cold.

“Fan into flame the gift of God” from 2 Timothy 1:6.
“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10: 24

Jesus is calling us to a deeper more vibrant way of life. We are invited to be so alive with His love that it heals us as we go and impact others.  And. It pushes back the evil of our day.

I recall the words of a Jenny Owens song. “I don’t want to be a flame, I want to be a raging fire.”

Push forward. Blaze bright. Overcome darkness.

Why Believe?

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If you remember, my word for the year is Unleashing Miracles. Audacious, I know. But isn’t He? Audacious, awe-inspiring, surprising, outrageous. That’s our God.

And today as we head into Roar: Freedom in the Kingdom, as we head into another run around the sun, as we head into more living, I encourage you to not lose hope.

This week alone, I have personally experienced the fruition of prayers that were against all odds. I have personally rejoiced with my friends who kept on believing, who were surprised by the goodness of God. Together we agreed that our faith was strengthened.

He is always working for good. He is always setting people free. He is always healing. He is always comforting the broken hearted. So I say again, do not lose hope.

Our belief in the miraculous God is a superpower that the world needs.

Help My Unbelief

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The word stopped me dead in my tracks.  A friend was coaching us about decisions that needed to be made and he remarked, “it was presumptive of me to think God would take care of” the situation the way I had planned. He went on to give us much-needed wisdom and insight. But that word nagged me.

Presumptive.

What does presumptive mean?  It describes something that is expected to happen or become true.

I went back to the Lord and vented: “I am only doing what I think You said. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. And if that makes me presumptive, then FINE! But I would rather be presumptive and believe YOU, than never attempt anything because I couldn’t even get out of the gate.”

Whew. Snort. Okay then.

Once I calmed down, I realized my wise friend was trying to broaden our scope and options. However, years after the conversation, the word still comes up in my mind like a full-blown assault.

It goes like this. I will hear a faint whisper from the Lord about some action to take, or an invitation to some dream He wants me to pursue. As I rally up my faith to hit the first Domino, I hear a sneer from the enemy, “you are so presumptive.”  Translation: You really expect God to come through? You really think He WILL do that for you? This is a stupid idea. It will never happen. You are crazy for thinking you heard God.

Does this happen to you too? God invites us into more and our own unbelieving thoughts, or the enemy of God, tries to kill the dream before we even take the first step.

Sounds like the garden. Did God really say?

Well. As a matter of fact. YES — GOD DID SAY!

Now, after years of practicing trust and surrender, when I hear that word fire in my mind, it has become a bright flare, like a beacon of evidence.  Ahhh.  It MUST be God if there is this much opposition right off the bat.

I am calling us as believers to rise up in Faith and Boldness.  It’s not God who is weak, but our faith. We must rise up to activate His promises and goodness over our lives and our families and communities.

I want to bless you with one word: Storehouses.  There are storehouses of treasures in heaven. God is waiting for someone earthbound to pull them down. On Earth, as it is in Heaven. I remember Shawn Boltz saying God gave him a vision of a room with body parts with names on them. Creative miracles that God wanted to do on earth through our faith.

Just recently the Lord has been expanding that idea to me that there are storehouses of His goodness that He wants to release on earth and He wants to know who will do the faith journey to be a part of it.

Storehouses of relational healing, financial favor, healing and miracles, generational restoration. I don’t know about you. but I don’t want to miss out on heaven here because I would not believe God to Be God to me.

For the faint of heart (that’s all of us at some point), it’s not about just getting what we think we want. It is our transformation in the process, and being so close with this Beautiful God that we move to what He wants for us.

We bank our whole lives on the belief that God is working for our good. Presumptive. Yes, please.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:23-25

 

Under New Management

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Chuck and I enjoy eating out. We have our favorite go-to spots and a list of got-to-try places. As we left Corner 16 the other night, we recalled this memory of eating there when the girls were little.  Only then it was a Ruby Tuesday.  We watched that Ruby Tuesday slowly die. Declining food quality, bad service. Every time we went in there you could tell the place was gasping for air. No one seemed to care. So no one was surprised it closed down.

It was, after all, a bad location. Nothing could ever really succeed there. Blah, blah, blah.

As we exited the packed parking lot of Corner 16, with a wait at the door to get in, I told Chuck it was amazing to see how new management with a fresh vision and creativity could turn something around.

Turns out it wasn’t such a bad location, after all.

This picture in the natural captures my spiritual attention. What areas of my life, or your life,  are slowly dying, and all we throw at it is neglect, hopelessness, and resignation?

Do we have dreams or incredible ideas God has given us that at the moment are hard, declining, or frustrating? Sometimes, we would rather make excuses instead of asking for radical help.

I find often instead of going to Him for “new management with a fresh vision and creativity,” I am blaming and quitting. How about you?

Here’s the point. Jesus changes everything. Can you even imagine how the lame man felt when Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?” (John 5)

Imagine if I went to the Ruby Tuesday management,  and I said, “Do you want to have a thriving, brand-new concept that will blow your mind? It’s going to cost you more than money. It’s going to cost your very belief system. You will have to rethink, reshape and re-order your whole life. You in?”

The lame man looked at the King Over All Impossibilities and — made excuses. No one to help me…While I am trying…Someone else gets ahead…

The crucial moment followed. Jesus gave the lame man specific instructions.

Get up.
Pick up your mat.
And Walk.

Or. Stay the same.

The last part Jesus didn’t audibly say. But the choice was crystal clear. Get up in faith and take radical action to go forward, or stay where you are in the same mess and hurt and sadness.

Look at your world and THE world. New Management is on the scene. It can’t help but change. Healing of every human wound and heartache and sin is on the scene.

Radical help and radical healing are ours. What can we do today to get up and walk?