I felt the Lord say to me, My love comes from the deep. All your fountains are in Me. Psalm 87:7
From the depths of Your love comes the source of my joy, my love, my perseverance in the face of great opposition.
How wide. How long. How high. How deep. I want to grasp all of this about the love of Christ. Ephesians 3:18
There is no end, no limit, no boundary for Your love. Your fountains are the source of my music that I play or sing. The source is Your boundless deep love. It is a fountain and a spring that is only found in the deep places.
In the depths of the earth we are buried. A life planted in the ground in death will spring forth with Your life; and so I die. And deep in the bowels of the earth, the place of death I find life in You, the fountain.
The boundaries of my dwelling and the appointed times are in You. Acts 17:27 You have set them in place. You don't leave me alone to navigate them. Even here in the depths, You are HERE.
Go DEEP my soul and find the Spring of Life that never runs dry.
When you die, when you die
You tap into the river
When you go lower
You find the fountain of Me
Living Waters from the depths
of sorrow and despair
from suffering and sacrifice
You discover the Spring of Life
All my fountains are in You.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Thursday, September 7, 2017
It is all about the Sacrifice
The Lord has been speaking to me this: It is all about the Sacrifice.
The Royal Law says love your brother as yourself. This is sacrificial love. It is the kind of love that says yes when a person has a need. The kind of love that says yes even when it seems impossible to meet the need. It is taking it one step at a time and in faith just walking forward..not knowing how it will ever work out. It is the kind of love that when you are so tired you are pretty sure you are going to collapse, but you keep on going and He strengthens you as you continue. It is the kind of love that says, I will waste my life, I will use myself up..no holding back. I will lay down my life for my brothers and sisters.
Here is what it is not: It is not just helping those we consider to be deserving of our help. Even though I didn't deserve anything, he sacrificed Himself for me. It is not expecting anything in return..no strings attached at all.
There is a baby in my house, a little 8 month old. I got a text message, will you take him? Yes, I said simply. She could no longer take care of him. Yes. So we made bottles, changed diapers and rocked. Precious little one. It had been a very long time since mine were small. Then a few days later, another text: can I come too? Would that be too much? Of course you can. Please come we will work it out. There was no electricity any more, the bill had not been paid..The baby's father had stolen her car with her purse. She had nothing. She had been very ill....yes. come.
I did not know how this would work. I have a full time job. We have little extra. I already am caring for my sister's dogs. But little by little He is meeting the need..giving me just enough strength so I can love, like He loves..he is gently showing me that it IS possible. Walking by faith. Showing mercy rather than judgment. Love is all about the Sacrifice.
The Royal Law says love your brother as yourself. This is sacrificial love. It is the kind of love that says yes when a person has a need. The kind of love that says yes even when it seems impossible to meet the need. It is taking it one step at a time and in faith just walking forward..not knowing how it will ever work out. It is the kind of love that when you are so tired you are pretty sure you are going to collapse, but you keep on going and He strengthens you as you continue. It is the kind of love that says, I will waste my life, I will use myself up..no holding back. I will lay down my life for my brothers and sisters.
Here is what it is not: It is not just helping those we consider to be deserving of our help. Even though I didn't deserve anything, he sacrificed Himself for me. It is not expecting anything in return..no strings attached at all.
There is a baby in my house, a little 8 month old. I got a text message, will you take him? Yes, I said simply. She could no longer take care of him. Yes. So we made bottles, changed diapers and rocked. Precious little one. It had been a very long time since mine were small. Then a few days later, another text: can I come too? Would that be too much? Of course you can. Please come we will work it out. There was no electricity any more, the bill had not been paid..The baby's father had stolen her car with her purse. She had nothing. She had been very ill....yes. come.
I did not know how this would work. I have a full time job. We have little extra. I already am caring for my sister's dogs. But little by little He is meeting the need..giving me just enough strength so I can love, like He loves..he is gently showing me that it IS possible. Walking by faith. Showing mercy rather than judgment. Love is all about the Sacrifice.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
You are a Son to Me, Not a Daughter
Isaiah 49:16-18 NASB
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Your builders hurry; Your destroyers and devastators will depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around; All of them gather together, they come to you. As I live," declares the Lord, "You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride.
I was reading the above verses one morning, and I noticed that the word "builders" is translated "sons" in many other versions. So I looked up the word and it means: a son as a builder of the family. The Hebrew word from which son and builder both come is ben. This is in contrast to the destroyers and devastators..those will depart as the builders come. A son is a builder. A son is a builder. I said that twice..it is important!
Awhile back the Lord told me that I am a SON to Him, not a DAUGHTER, even though I am a woman. He told me that a SON receives the inheritance and a DAUGHTER, though the apple of her Father's eye, she inherits through her husband. So a DAUGHTER is less in importance as far as a family builder and the family is ALWAYS built through the SONS.
I felt the Spirit of the Lord helping me to make the connection that the sons are the builders.
This verse immediately came to mind: Romans 8:19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
I had always wondered why "creation" would long for "sons". I felt the Lord telling me that creation is what He built. So what He built (creation) is longing for the revealing of the builders (sons) of God. Creation is under the curse too! Creation longs for the day the BUILDERS are revealed...the ones that will build with the Master Builder. The builders not only BUILD, but they also REBUILD. The same word is for both. No wonder creation groans with longing for the sons of God to be revealed..for when they are revealed, the building and rebuilding are about to begin!
For this building is not of wood stone and brick, but living stones! It is the Kingdom, the very House of the Lord.. We are being built together on Jesus the Cornerstone. God is a Master Builder..to prove it, just look at the amazing creation all around that He built!
Hebrews 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
And Hebrews 11:10 says of Abraham: for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
I Peter 2:4-5: And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:9-17 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. (It's okay, no reason to be jealous!) But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Isaiah 54:11-13 O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay in sapphire. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones. All your sons (builders) will be taught of the Lord; and the well-being of your sons (builders) will be great.
That word above antimony means setting, or like cosmetics that set off the beauty of a woman's eyes. Foundations of sapphire (or lapis lazuli) is the gorgeous place the feet of the Lord stood upon when He appeared to Moses in Exodus 24 and is what His throne looked like to Ezekiel in chapters 1 and 10.
I can see a vision of the settings of the wall He, the Master Builder is working on. I see places to set each living stone; places where they are going to fit to perfection, set off in the most attractive way. The settings that I see are empty for the most part, but a few stones are set in their places here and there. But of those stones that are set, I see flames of passion darting out of one, then another. Each stone sparkles and shines in the most beautiful manner. When flames dart out of one of them, the others remain in their place, allowing that one with the passion flames to eclipse all the others. There is no jealousy, but a yielding each to another to shine and burn more, to be more prominent as it is led by the Spirit. Each stone rests, knowing that his own setting is the perfect one for him. That the Lord Himself has set him in his beautiful setting and that moving to another place is not an option because he would not fit there.
The Lord is preparing your setting, the one that will set you in your most perfectly beautiful place. He is also working on you, the living stone. There may be cutting involved. There may be some sanding off of imperfections, which may cause you some pain. Your soul will be afflicted as you walk through this place. But know this: Jesus, the Cornerstone, which we are all being built upon, went through more than we will ever be subjected to and with Him, always at our side, we will participate in the suffering, the affliction of soul, always keeping the vision of our perfect setting before us, ever pressing on. His goal is to set us as living stones yielded to Him and one another in perfect rest, in our resting place.
It is here we walk with God. It is where we dwell with God, delighting in His fellowship with us and his extravagant love for us, forever burning from our perfect setting that He has designed.
Lord, send builders (sons) to fill their place in Your wall. And let us build as one man as You show us how. Master Builder, may You help us to identify the stones You have chosen to refine and set. May we be willing to listen to Your voice, not making judgments on the aptness of the stones you have chosen. Because you see the end from the beginning, how could we ever see what You see in each rough stone unless you show us. Please allow us to partner with You in the building even as we are ourselves set there in the wall.
Revelation 21: 9-12, 14, 19 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel....And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb....The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire,; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
This is the wall we are being built together upon. This lovely wall that the Lord has laid already with the true foundation. How lovely the picture of this wall is in Revelation 21! How utterly amazing that there is a beautiful setting in this wall just waiting for the Master Builder to set me into. Oh His inheritance in His bride! Oh our inheritance in Him! I am breathless with anticipation!
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Your builders hurry; Your destroyers and devastators will depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around; All of them gather together, they come to you. As I live," declares the Lord, "You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride.
I was reading the above verses one morning, and I noticed that the word "builders" is translated "sons" in many other versions. So I looked up the word and it means: a son as a builder of the family. The Hebrew word from which son and builder both come is ben. This is in contrast to the destroyers and devastators..those will depart as the builders come. A son is a builder. A son is a builder. I said that twice..it is important!
Awhile back the Lord told me that I am a SON to Him, not a DAUGHTER, even though I am a woman. He told me that a SON receives the inheritance and a DAUGHTER, though the apple of her Father's eye, she inherits through her husband. So a DAUGHTER is less in importance as far as a family builder and the family is ALWAYS built through the SONS.
I felt the Spirit of the Lord helping me to make the connection that the sons are the builders.
This verse immediately came to mind: Romans 8:19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
I had always wondered why "creation" would long for "sons". I felt the Lord telling me that creation is what He built. So what He built (creation) is longing for the revealing of the builders (sons) of God. Creation is under the curse too! Creation longs for the day the BUILDERS are revealed...the ones that will build with the Master Builder. The builders not only BUILD, but they also REBUILD. The same word is for both. No wonder creation groans with longing for the sons of God to be revealed..for when they are revealed, the building and rebuilding are about to begin!
For this building is not of wood stone and brick, but living stones! It is the Kingdom, the very House of the Lord.. We are being built together on Jesus the Cornerstone. God is a Master Builder..to prove it, just look at the amazing creation all around that He built!
Hebrews 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
And Hebrews 11:10 says of Abraham: for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
I Peter 2:4-5: And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:9-17 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. (It's okay, no reason to be jealous!) But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Isaiah 54:11-13 O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay in sapphire. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones. All your sons (builders) will be taught of the Lord; and the well-being of your sons (builders) will be great.
That word above antimony means setting, or like cosmetics that set off the beauty of a woman's eyes. Foundations of sapphire (or lapis lazuli) is the gorgeous place the feet of the Lord stood upon when He appeared to Moses in Exodus 24 and is what His throne looked like to Ezekiel in chapters 1 and 10.
I can see a vision of the settings of the wall He, the Master Builder is working on. I see places to set each living stone; places where they are going to fit to perfection, set off in the most attractive way. The settings that I see are empty for the most part, but a few stones are set in their places here and there. But of those stones that are set, I see flames of passion darting out of one, then another. Each stone sparkles and shines in the most beautiful manner. When flames dart out of one of them, the others remain in their place, allowing that one with the passion flames to eclipse all the others. There is no jealousy, but a yielding each to another to shine and burn more, to be more prominent as it is led by the Spirit. Each stone rests, knowing that his own setting is the perfect one for him. That the Lord Himself has set him in his beautiful setting and that moving to another place is not an option because he would not fit there.
The Lord is preparing your setting, the one that will set you in your most perfectly beautiful place. He is also working on you, the living stone. There may be cutting involved. There may be some sanding off of imperfections, which may cause you some pain. Your soul will be afflicted as you walk through this place. But know this: Jesus, the Cornerstone, which we are all being built upon, went through more than we will ever be subjected to and with Him, always at our side, we will participate in the suffering, the affliction of soul, always keeping the vision of our perfect setting before us, ever pressing on. His goal is to set us as living stones yielded to Him and one another in perfect rest, in our resting place.
It is here we walk with God. It is where we dwell with God, delighting in His fellowship with us and his extravagant love for us, forever burning from our perfect setting that He has designed.
Lord, send builders (sons) to fill their place in Your wall. And let us build as one man as You show us how. Master Builder, may You help us to identify the stones You have chosen to refine and set. May we be willing to listen to Your voice, not making judgments on the aptness of the stones you have chosen. Because you see the end from the beginning, how could we ever see what You see in each rough stone unless you show us. Please allow us to partner with You in the building even as we are ourselves set there in the wall.
Revelation 21: 9-12, 14, 19 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel....And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb....The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire,; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
This is the wall we are being built together upon. This lovely wall that the Lord has laid already with the true foundation. How lovely the picture of this wall is in Revelation 21! How utterly amazing that there is a beautiful setting in this wall just waiting for the Master Builder to set me into. Oh His inheritance in His bride! Oh our inheritance in Him! I am breathless with anticipation!
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Surrounded by the Glory
This morning as I sought the Lord's presence, the song Show Me Your Glory began to play in my spirit. Kim Walker Smith sings this with passion, listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeV6EEItzB4 As I listened, I felt in my spirit that I stepped into the song..that i was living inside of it..how can I describe this experience? I am going to try..
Kim Walker Smith's words became the cry of my heart. I felt the presence of the God of Israel surround me as I stepped into the Cloud and I saw the Glory of my God as a column that surrounded me. As I looked up, I saw the Throne of God high above me and the Cloud and Light of His Glory was radiating from Him who is on the Throne. The wings of the cherubim covered the throne...and me! I was under His wings!
I was trembling with His Glory but so filled with love for Him that I did not feel afraid..but an awesome fear (respect and awe for who He is) came upon me. "I long to look upon the Face of the One that I Love.." the song goes.
I am walking in the cloud today, surrounded by Your Love, Power and Glory. I am so amazed at how you care for me.
Then I saw this verse: Isaiah 4:4-6 NKJV
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.
There is coming His Cloud and Fire of His Glory to surround His people who will dwell TOGETHER IN UNITY (TABERNACLES) For shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain. Have you wondered how He will preserve us in the days ahead..those days of trouble? Well, this is it! Cloud by day, Fire by night and a covering for us who are His True Church, His Bride! Show me Your Glory, Lord, for we must see Your beautiful face! "Oh how We Love You"
Kim Walker Smith's words became the cry of my heart. I felt the presence of the God of Israel surround me as I stepped into the Cloud and I saw the Glory of my God as a column that surrounded me. As I looked up, I saw the Throne of God high above me and the Cloud and Light of His Glory was radiating from Him who is on the Throne. The wings of the cherubim covered the throne...and me! I was under His wings!
I was trembling with His Glory but so filled with love for Him that I did not feel afraid..but an awesome fear (respect and awe for who He is) came upon me. "I long to look upon the Face of the One that I Love.." the song goes.
I am walking in the cloud today, surrounded by Your Love, Power and Glory. I am so amazed at how you care for me.
Then I saw this verse: Isaiah 4:4-6 NKJV
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.
There is coming His Cloud and Fire of His Glory to surround His people who will dwell TOGETHER IN UNITY (TABERNACLES) For shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain. Have you wondered how He will preserve us in the days ahead..those days of trouble? Well, this is it! Cloud by day, Fire by night and a covering for us who are His True Church, His Bride! Show me Your Glory, Lord, for we must see Your beautiful face! "Oh how We Love You"
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Why is the Land important?
I have been reading the Old Testament and repeatedly, I've come across references to the LAND. I have been asking the Lord, what does this mean? He even says in Isaiah that He will be married to the land! So..what is the meaning of this?
I felt that He answered me some time ago, saying that the LAND is a picture of your LIFE. So..in other words we were brought out of "Egypt", the land of bondage (to sin and death) to the Promised Land, the land of surrender. (the Exodus is where this happened in the natural)
Let's go back to the beginning, to Genesis, where Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden, unashamed, untouched by sin. They had fellowship with the Lord and both they and the Lord enjoyed their companionship together. This is what He desired for our relationship with Him to be..unashamed and free to walk with Him and He with us. Of course, the Fall took us into the bondage of sin and death.
The promised LAND is our life in surrender to the Lord, made possible by the sacrifice of the Cross by our Lord. It is where we dwell in fellowship with God and other people who have also entered the LAND. There are boundaries on the outside of the LAND..blessings for obeying Him (inside the boundaries) and curses for disobeying Him (outside the boundaries) just like the Promised Land in the Old Testament.
This is where we dwell in UNITY with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And where we dwell TOGETHER with our Lord. In the Spirit, we are in the Promised Land here, no matter where we physically dwell. The word DWELL in Psalms 133 means inhabited, MARRIED to, is the opposite of DESOLATE or FORSAKEN, which means uninhabited and a reproach.
So what is the GARDEN and how does it differ from the LAND? It isn't separate from the LAND, it is a part of it! The GARDEN is the secret place where we have intimate relationship with our Lord, just me and Him alone. We each have a GARDEN within the LAND. This GARDEN excludes anyone else besides the two of us. And as in the Song of Solomon, we must each tend our GARDEN to make our Lord welcome. To drive out anything or anyone who would intrude upon this most intimate place.
The Lord wants to be married to our Promised Land, which He gave to us for a place to dwell. Isaiah 62:4 It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," Nor to your land will it any longer be said,"Desolate"; But you will be called, "My Delight is in Her," And your land, "Married"; For the Lord delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.
So do you see why our lives (land) must be undefiled? How can the Holy God marry a defiled life (land)? He isn't just married to us as a single person apart from the life we live, but he will marry our whole life in unity with our brethren. This is why our land (life) must be constantly attended to. We MUST not build fences around areas of our lives where we don't invite Him in. Where He never told us to go. We MUST cultivate unity with our brethren in Him so we can live in the land as He intends. And THIS is where the Church as His Bride is called to dwell.
He is calling us to root Babylon out of us. Babylon mixes devotion with another in the harlotry of idolatry. He cannot marry our land when we give our devotion to another. We are to dwell in that secret place of the Garden, which is in the Promised Land where we dwell in unity in Him with our brethren.
The biggest most horrifying sin for our land is idolatry, which is pictured over and over by prostitution and harlotry. It is giving the precious intimacy of our Garden to another that is not the Lord. It is the thing that is called in the Old Testament an ABOMINATION to the Lord. It is what leaves the land DESOLATE and uninhabited. It leaves our LIFE without the presence of our Lord.
And while I have been looking into these things, I have also come to see that REST is part of the promised land. It means to STOP working. To REST, waiting for His direction is very hard, but the only way. If the land (our life) doesn't receive its sabbath rest, it will be worn out and unfruitful. We must not proceed until the land (our life) has rested and waited upon the Lord. Stop, Rest and listen for His voice this day. Meditate upon His Word and Wisdom today. Rest in the Garden within the Promised Land and learn of His heart..know Him deeply and dearly. Then come out and dwell in the Promised Land in unity with the others He has called.
I felt that He answered me some time ago, saying that the LAND is a picture of your LIFE. So..in other words we were brought out of "Egypt", the land of bondage (to sin and death) to the Promised Land, the land of surrender. (the Exodus is where this happened in the natural)
Let's go back to the beginning, to Genesis, where Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden, unashamed, untouched by sin. They had fellowship with the Lord and both they and the Lord enjoyed their companionship together. This is what He desired for our relationship with Him to be..unashamed and free to walk with Him and He with us. Of course, the Fall took us into the bondage of sin and death.
The promised LAND is our life in surrender to the Lord, made possible by the sacrifice of the Cross by our Lord. It is where we dwell in fellowship with God and other people who have also entered the LAND. There are boundaries on the outside of the LAND..blessings for obeying Him (inside the boundaries) and curses for disobeying Him (outside the boundaries) just like the Promised Land in the Old Testament.
This is where we dwell in UNITY with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And where we dwell TOGETHER with our Lord. In the Spirit, we are in the Promised Land here, no matter where we physically dwell. The word DWELL in Psalms 133 means inhabited, MARRIED to, is the opposite of DESOLATE or FORSAKEN, which means uninhabited and a reproach.
So what is the GARDEN and how does it differ from the LAND? It isn't separate from the LAND, it is a part of it! The GARDEN is the secret place where we have intimate relationship with our Lord, just me and Him alone. We each have a GARDEN within the LAND. This GARDEN excludes anyone else besides the two of us. And as in the Song of Solomon, we must each tend our GARDEN to make our Lord welcome. To drive out anything or anyone who would intrude upon this most intimate place.
The Lord wants to be married to our Promised Land, which He gave to us for a place to dwell. Isaiah 62:4 It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," Nor to your land will it any longer be said,"Desolate"; But you will be called, "My Delight is in Her," And your land, "Married"; For the Lord delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.
So do you see why our lives (land) must be undefiled? How can the Holy God marry a defiled life (land)? He isn't just married to us as a single person apart from the life we live, but he will marry our whole life in unity with our brethren. This is why our land (life) must be constantly attended to. We MUST not build fences around areas of our lives where we don't invite Him in. Where He never told us to go. We MUST cultivate unity with our brethren in Him so we can live in the land as He intends. And THIS is where the Church as His Bride is called to dwell.
He is calling us to root Babylon out of us. Babylon mixes devotion with another in the harlotry of idolatry. He cannot marry our land when we give our devotion to another. We are to dwell in that secret place of the Garden, which is in the Promised Land where we dwell in unity in Him with our brethren.
The biggest most horrifying sin for our land is idolatry, which is pictured over and over by prostitution and harlotry. It is giving the precious intimacy of our Garden to another that is not the Lord. It is the thing that is called in the Old Testament an ABOMINATION to the Lord. It is what leaves the land DESOLATE and uninhabited. It leaves our LIFE without the presence of our Lord.
And while I have been looking into these things, I have also come to see that REST is part of the promised land. It means to STOP working. To REST, waiting for His direction is very hard, but the only way. If the land (our life) doesn't receive its sabbath rest, it will be worn out and unfruitful. We must not proceed until the land (our life) has rested and waited upon the Lord. Stop, Rest and listen for His voice this day. Meditate upon His Word and Wisdom today. Rest in the Garden within the Promised Land and learn of His heart..know Him deeply and dearly. Then come out and dwell in the Promised Land in unity with the others He has called.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
No One Came
I saw myself in a dream, laying in a ditch beside a house. It is the desolate house of the Lord, the abandoned house that rests on the Stone. The Desolate Sanctuary of Daniel 9. I see the Stone there and the paint is still peeling, the green roof has holes and the porch still sags. I had been resting there, waiting for the others to come. I had gotten off the stone, discouraged at the seemingly endless wait and at the chaos and confusion all around. Giving up, I laid down in the ditch nearby, covering my head with my arms. I saw billowing beautiful white satin, like the satin of a wedding dress, a most lovely delicate fabric all around me..it was covering me all around. I could see myself like a bride in the ditch covered like a corpse with the lovely satin fabric of the wedding dress. Then I saw the winds began to blow gently and the sands of time began to cover over the satin with the bride underneath. There was no one to rescue me in my discouragement, I died there allowing the sands to cover me, unmoving and unwilling even to rescue myself.
I looked around the ditch as if I were somewhere above the scene. There was a lovely piece of land that the abandoned house sat on. This land was full of tangled weeds and overgrowth all over. But its former beauty was still on display when I looked closely. There were fruit trees in desperate need of pruning and grapevines that had grown wild all over the place. Among the weeds peeked beautiful wildflowers and birds still sang there. I asked the Lord, " what is this land here for..nobody seems to care about it. Is it an important part of the abandoned house? He said the abandoned house is My Bride, the true Church and the land is to be married to Me.
Isaiah 62:4 It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," Nor to your land will it any longer be said,"Desolate"; But you will be called, "My delight is in her," and your land, "Married"; for the Lord delights in you, and to Him your land will be married.
So this is why He is so tender towards the land that never got its rest until he drove out all His people who would not obey Him and give the land its sabbath rest. This is why He had to force the rest for the land to which He is to be married. The promised land was more than just a good place to live.. it was His heart..so much so that He cannot be separated from this promised land. He wants us living in the land He is to be married to because it is the place He prepared for His Bride..to reject or not care for the land is to reject and not care for the Lord, our Bridegroom.
I see the face of My Lord, My Bridegroom, with tears in His lovely eyes, saying," I asked them to come; I asked them many times, ravishing their hearts with My love, but they swatted my words of love away like a fly. They didn't believe I could ever come to them with love in My eyes especially for them. They did not believe they were worthy..they did not believe that I could be talking to them. They thought they were not working hard enough. They thought they were not organized enough. They thought wrong. They made up a lot of rules and regulations, schedules and pictures of what they thought I wanted their lives to look like..but they were wrong. They thought that simply resting on the Stone was silly, a waste of time, so instead, they fill every spare moment with busyness. I have been, in every quiet moment, in the night in their dreams, in passing thoughts, I have been wooing them. But they disregard Me as just a passing wishful thought. So My Bride, my true Bride is slowly and quietly being buried, discouraged and alone".
Today as His Spirit woos you with His love, pay attention. Know that it really IS Him. Know that He really DOES have His eyes on you. You are made worthy by the cross. The cross WAS enough..you cannot do anything to make Him love you more. Come to Him in your weakness and allow Him to court you. He wants YOU for His Bride. She needs YOU to be a part..She is getting discouraged because YOU are needed to make her complete. She is NOT complete without YOU..yes He wants YOU to make His precious Bride complete.
So help me up..I am His Bride..representing her in all her weakness. I need Him to send more to make me whole. He is looking for a Bride without spot or wrinkle. If we don't have all of us, we are not complete. So come..draw us, Lord..and we will listen for Your voice. We will tune out all the chaos (Babylon) around us, run to the secret place and enjoy you..that is what we didn't realize was ok. that we CAN enjoy you and revel in Your Love. We need each other. We can't be a bride for Him if we are alone. Pick up your brothers and sisters out of the ditch and tell them..tell them He needs every one of us to make us complete. That weakness does not ever disqualify us..we were never qualified in the first place by anything we did or didn't do. Only the sacrifice of the cross qualified us..He alone makes us spotless and wrinkle-free.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Ember from Heaven
During the night, I heard in a dream, Behold I am bringing an ember from heaven to the nation. I saw a huge glowing ember. I asked Him about it this morning, what does it mean? I felt Him say that this ember is from under the throne in heaven.
Ezekiel 10:2 And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, "Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city." And he entered in my sight.
The nation is not America..I thought it must be at first, but I wondered why did He say it that way? Then as I was on my way to work this morning, it came to me that He means US..his Holy Nation.
I Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, A royal priesthood, A holy nation, A people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
Exodus 19:5-6 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
The ember is going to ignite the fires of passion and revive us as a Holy Nation. The ember will bring repentance and purify us..it will bring the unity that we are lacking in His Holy Nation. This revival will be what God brings to prepare us for the Harvest. The ember is to ignite fires all over the body of Christ.
I saw a bellows in the Spirit a couple months ago..and I believe it is the winds of the Spirit that will blow on the ember and create a raging wildfire in the people of God. We are going to be awakened and ON FIRE. His heart is to bring us to a place where we are truly HIS HOLY NATION.
The heavy yokes that have been on the people of God will be removed. The things in the Church that are holding the people back will be dissolved because of the fires. The divisive things that seemed impossible to resolve will just melt away and no longer seem so important.
Ezekiel 10:2 And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, "Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city." And he entered in my sight.
The nation is not America..I thought it must be at first, but I wondered why did He say it that way? Then as I was on my way to work this morning, it came to me that He means US..his Holy Nation.
I Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, A royal priesthood, A holy nation, A people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
Exodus 19:5-6 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
The ember is going to ignite the fires of passion and revive us as a Holy Nation. The ember will bring repentance and purify us..it will bring the unity that we are lacking in His Holy Nation. This revival will be what God brings to prepare us for the Harvest. The ember is to ignite fires all over the body of Christ.
I saw a bellows in the Spirit a couple months ago..and I believe it is the winds of the Spirit that will blow on the ember and create a raging wildfire in the people of God. We are going to be awakened and ON FIRE. His heart is to bring us to a place where we are truly HIS HOLY NATION.
The heavy yokes that have been on the people of God will be removed. The things in the Church that are holding the people back will be dissolved because of the fires. The divisive things that seemed impossible to resolve will just melt away and no longer seem so important.
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