Heal Our Land

I awoke this morning with this prayer on my lips…

“I’m sorry Lord for this wickedness. Forgive us for our sins. You said You would heal our land.”

That last statement hung in the air and ever so kindly, the Lord helped me to understand that His standard of wholeness is not ours. He does not mask symptoms or put bandaids on wounds.

God never pretends at healing.

We’ve been sick for a very long time. In fact, we’ve been wicked and unrepentant for a very long time. There is a prerequisite to this healing we ask for and He can’t just make us “better”.

Wholeness isn’t about being like we were before. It’s about being as we should be.

All of us want this to get better but better is not God’s best. Things can be good but that doesn’t mean it’s of God.

What if wholeness changes everything? Are you willing to be healed?

What if it means you have to give up how it’s always been? Will you?

When someone is disabled, often times that comes with a disability check and there is no condemnation in that. If you are too sick to work, thankfully there is help. But disability is not from God and one should want to be free of it. One should desire to be healed. Being healed would mean that you are able bodied to again work. Are you willing to give up the check?

Spiritually speaking, what if we’ve been living on a check that is pacifying us and we’ve thought we were healthy all this time? We don’t mind the symptoms because we’re comfortable.

The devil is selling the lie that this current state comes with benefits. Don’t take the check.

If there is anything in us that wants the check more than God, healing is hindered.

When God says He’ll turn our mourning into dancing and our sorrows into joy, is it the same kind of turning that we see 2 Chronicles 7:14? Does the turning begin with us?

God doesn’t pretend at healing.

Just like we can’t pretend at being His. He says, “If My people who are called by My Name”…

God has a Name. His people have a Name. It’s Jesus.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and TURN from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

I will TURN their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing. Jeremiah 31:13

 

What if God told you to stop praying?

What if God told you to stop praying? Do I have your attention?

I was doing a little study on prayer with one of my favorites, T. Austin Sparks and what I read astounded me.

Do you know that Jeremiah was so persistent and fervent in prayer, that there were times when God actually told him to stop? Not because God wanted to silence Jeremiah, but to forbid him from asking that God improve the people’s lot, just so that they in turn would return to the same way of doing things.

This instilled in Jeremiah to focus his prayers on a day when the people would seek God, (who is Jesus Christ) with all of their heart.

I feel so compelled in this. It’s time that we stop praying prayers seeking to make everything “temporarily” better for everyone, so that we can get back to living for ourselves.

Here is my prayer for this nation.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for every soul that lives within the borders of the United States of America. This is called one nation under God. There is only one true and living God. I pray for conviction of sin to strike the hearts of each and every man, woman and child. That each and every one would examine their hearts and take personal responsibility before You. I repent for the blood that has been shed on this ground from the unborn child to grown men and I thank You fiercely, with all of my might God, for the blood of Jesus Christ has been shed for the remission of every sin. Father, it is because of Your mercy that we are not consumed. Release Your mercy. You are our only Help and I come boldly to Your throne of grace, to obtain mercy and find grace to help in this time of need. Lord, bless us… because no man can curse who God has blessed. Keep us… as we seek You because You promise to keep us in perfect peace as our minds are stayed upon You. Make Your face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. Lift up Your countenance upon us and give us peace. Silence every lie… every tongue that rises up in judgment… condemn it. No weapon formed against us, shall prosper! This is the heritage of the saints of God! I thank You God! You lead us in triumph and give us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.

(Scripture reference concerning Jeremiah. Chapter 7:16, 11:14. 14:11, 29:14)

 

He Holds the Key

A few weeks ago, I had a dream. With all that is going on around us, admittedly I was struggling with fear. I love God and I believe Him with my whole heart, until I realize I don’t or haven’t. Can anyone relate? It’s in the moments that I’m left dealing with something that my heart has been keeping from me that a dream will come.

Throughout my life, I have had a recurring dream. It’s the same sort of dream, I should say. Someone has broken into my house and usually, in the dream, I have woken to it already having happened or I come home to realize that someone has been in my house and gone.  In those cases, I can feel the anxiety of what’s already done.

This dream was different. In it, it was very early morning hours and I awoke just as my children were going to bed. I walked into my living room and noticed that the enclosed mudroom light was on. Instinctually, I knew something wasn’t right. I asked out loud, “Is someone here?” I walked to the door, noting it was not locked as I had left it and put my hand on the handle to turn the lock. As I did, a figure appeared on the other side of the door and I could see him through the glass. I quickly turned the lock and even though I could not clearly see his face, I shook my head NO, you are not coming in. With my hand on the handle, I could feel a key being inserted into the door. He had a KEY! I held the lock in place and yelled for my husband to wake up and bring the gun. Then I heard a voice with a very thick accent from the other side of the door. He said, “Come now. Just let me in.”

I woke from the dream and terror was palpable. I got out of bed and went to the living room and checked the door. Needless to say, I was checking a whole lot more than that. The details of the dream, being what they were, I asked the Lord to deal with me… anything in my heart.

Moving forward, yesterday I was listening to a news broadcast concerning this virus that sites it as man- made. I’m not here to argue concerning that. My gut…Holy Spirit, has told me such since this began and I believe it to be true. We are at war.

The components of the structure of the virus caught my attention. Obviously, I have no medical education or background. However, as they were talking about the makeup of the virus, they said there is something called an S protein (spike…which is the part that makes up the “crown”, hence corona). This spike was originally found in SARS, making this strain of coronavirus lab derived. These are mushroom shaped proteins designed to breakdown the human cell. Without those, human cells would not be affected. They literally called it the KEY to the cell.

That’s when it dawned on me… that the man in my dream had a KEY! Now, let me break some things down that I’ve realized about this dream. This is not a flesh and blood enemy. This is not something you can just kill with a gun. Just like when Peter drew a sword and cut off the ear of the servant to the high priest’s. Jesus commanded him, “Put your sword away!” Well, this is no different. A gun is absolutely worthless. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (something man made) but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4) There is a weapon formed against us in the shape of a spike (the curse looks like thorns and spikes) but we are not without help. The Word tells us that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. (Isaiah 54:17)

So, let’s address about this key situation.

Matthew 16:18-19, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 

• This statement came on the heals of Peter confessing that Jesus was the Christ. For those who confess Jesus as the Christ… the keys of the kingdom of heaven belong to US.
• What we bind (FORBID) on earth will be bound (FORBIDDEN) in heaven. What we loose (PERMIT) on earth will be loosed (PERMITTED) in heaven.

Revelation 1:17-18, “…Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and Hades.”  

• Jesus and Jesus alone holds the keys of death and Hell. The Living One, holds the key. It is firmly in His hand. We can trust Him to hold it.

 

A prayer of agreement:

Father, in the name of Jesus, we repent for what man has once again fashioned to serve himself and to try to make himself Lord over another! We say that Jesus Christ is Lord! We repent for the lives that have been affected and lost. We bind the S protein to the hand of Jesus Christ! We bind the key assigned to kill to the Living One who holds the key of death. This key is forbidden in the earth. This key is banished. Be gone and return no more! We evict it from our houses, our communities, our states, our nation and the nations of the earth because that’s how far You said we could forbid it! So we say it’s in it’s rightful place now. Under the authority of Jesus Christ, in whom we believe and trust! Jesus Christ has the Master key to my heart, my life, my house. Nothing comes in unless it first submits to the Passover Blood of the Lamb upon my doorposts, the finished work of the Cross. Thank you Father that You have lead us in triumph and have given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

 

What’s It To You?

John 21:18-23… In this passage Jesus had been preparing Peter for the days ahead and even his death. (It wasn’t easy to hear, I’m certain.) Jesus again called Peter to “Follow Me!”

It’s interesting that the next thing Peter did, was to “turn around” to observe what others were doing. He saw John following and asked Jesus, “What about him?”

Jesus said, “if I want him to remain until I come, WHAT IS THAT TO YOU? Follow Me!”

How often do we do this? We observe others in their walk with Christ to see if their assignment is comparable to ours before moving forward.

As it turns out, Peter was crucified upside down on the cross and John was the only remaining disciple to die a “natural” death. Was one loved or preferred over the other? No. Peter was actually told how his death would GLORIFY God!

Next time you’re tempted to “turn around” to see if anyone is heading the same direction, allow God to ask you, “What’s it to you? Follow Me!” It’s in following Him as ONLY YOU CAN DO, that God will truly be GLORIFIED! Comparison will rob you! Don’t allow it!

 

Your Faith Has Made YOU…

I’m dealing with ALOT right now but the point of this post is not the DEFICIT of ALOT but rather a surplus available to us. If you find yourself in the same place right now, I pray this is an encouragement to you.

As I was driving home the other day after getting bad news, adding to the seemingly insurmountable pack of lies the devil is trying to dish out, I looked up and saw this in the the sky.

To me, as a person of prayer, I see an “anvil”, that the smith uses to forge. [We read about the smith in Isaiah 54:16, which is the one of the most foundational passages of my prayer life, thanks to my pastor.]

The moment my eyes fell upon it, I heard, “make it”.
I was reminded that the answer to every thing I “need”… the TRUTH that has dominion over every lie… can be “made” in prayer.

And then today, as I was pondering it, I was reminded of Jesus saying on several occasions, “Your faith has made you well.”

Do you see that? There is great emphasis to me in YOUR FAITH HAS MADE…

Three things stand out….

1. I have to OWN faith in God.
2. Faith is believing and speaking. Faith is communication with our heart, mind and mouth. It’s the CREATIVE FORCE entirely INVESTED in the CREATOR.
3. “Made” is the past tense of the action called “make”. It follows directly on the heels of communication with God.

And the thing is… we think faith is creating WHAT we need, when truly it creates WHO we are. Because the pack of lies aren’t on assignment to us because the devil wants WHAT we “have” in terms of material things. No. He wants WHO we are in relation to God, our Father.

Jesus said, “Your faith has made YOU…”

So, today, I’m putting myself on the anvil in prayer.

 

Clear The Room

What I’m about to share is very transparent but I sense that there are others who are struggling with the same thing and so, I pray that my coming out and just saying this really helps someone.

On a daily basis, I have come to realize that when I spend “alone” time with the Lord, I’m not really alone. Yes, physically maybe but in every other sense, the room is crowded. Crowded with standards I can’t keep, quotes I’ve read, status updates that give me a check in my spirit, the people who give those same status updates a thumbs up of agreement, opinions of others, obvious hypocrisy, disappointments, etc.

The list could go on and on but I think it’s clear enough that the room is so crowded that God can get nowhere near me and I can get no where near Him. Sure, He can speak to me over the crowd but He’s hard pressed to get His arms around me or for me to press my ear to His heart.

Today, as I was praying, I heard the Lord say to me very clearly, “It’s time to clear the room!” and He reminded me of this, referenced in Matthew 9:23-26

And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. BUT WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE PUT FORTH, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

He told me that when I clear the room, that’s when life flows!

So, this is what I’m committing to do. I’m clearing the room because quite honestly, the crowd mocks and laughs and scorns. So I say, GET OUT! This 2017, I want to arise from this slumber that I’ve been in because with so many contradictions, it has been easier to just lay down and …go to sleep.  But He insists that I’m not dead! That the Word He has for my life is still in full force. Resurrection power is at hand! The Kingdom is at hand!

Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for this one reading this who is lost in the crowd. I ask Lord that You would clear the room and bring deliverance from people, places, and things.  Clear the room of the voices of doubt, scorn and any influence that hinders.  Let life flow through their very being and let them arise and awaken to You in a way they never have before! Let their relationship with You and what You are doing become famous in the land so that souls can be saved and people set free! Thank You Lord! Amen & Amen.  

 

Like He Said

It’s been too long, I know.  Much has been going on. Many changes taking place and honestly, I’ve been dealing with my flesh.  I’m thankful for this forum, where I’m among dear friends. I’m about to bear my soul here and believe me when I say that I know what the scripture means when it says, that we are to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  (Philippians 2:12) I’ve been having to work out a great many things here lately. However, I take great comfort in that because this trembling… this fear of the unknown… of being somewhere in the “in between”… this testing of my faith… is EVIDENCE that (verse 13)  “it is God who works in me to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”

All that being said, let me lay some ground work for what’s on my heart to share.  Many years ago a prophet came to the church and I wasn’t one to seek a prophetic word.  Almost right away, after I was first saved, God put that strange fire out in me.  The prophetic isn’t strange fire.  The unchecked zeal in seeking after a man to do for me what only God could do for me, that’s what God had to deal with.  And so… I was a little uneasy sitting there, listening as my church family received glorious and seemingly glamorous words for their life.  One was a prophetess. One an evangelist and a worshiper.  One this and one that.  You see where I’m going here?  What was I?  I knew what God had said.  I had discovered it on my own and  was happy being who God made me to be.  But I wasn’t ready for someone to put a label on it.

Long story short… the minister of helps.  That’s me.  The prophet called me up there and nailed it.  I was ALL that and a bag of chips.  Well… at least a minister of helps and a “servant”.  Now, please don’t misunderstand me but my heart broke.  Even though I knew everything he had said was right and it was GOD, (he even said “Don’t pigeon-hole yourself.  You aren’t called to do just one thing. There are many things for you to do.”) I did not receive the Word with honor.  I was swallowed up in offense and pride.  And then God graciously reminded me…

But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth. (Luke 22:26-28)

You see, He was actually getting to the heart of the matter with me and honoring me with such a humble Word.  I didn’t know but I was having an inward struggle that was very much like the disciples…  (Luke 22:24)

“And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.”

He so tenderly reassured me, “No Stacey. Not you.  I won’t have you comparing and striving in your heart about who you are.  I won’t have you vying for a label or a title or a position.  I am among You as the One who serves.  Be like Me.”

Years have passed and much has happened.  I’ve had more joy in serving the body of Christ than I have ever imagined possible.  It’s been the greatest privilege of my life and I am deeply grateful.  More than I can even express.  And He has placed BIG dreams in my heart.

Which leads me to where I am today.  Part of the BIG dream is Uganda.  Having been sent there twice and having tasted that “yes, it’s going to happen”, you can perhaps sympathize with the trying of my faith when God required my obedience in a way I didn’t expect as I made ready to go a third time. Everything was in order and I was all set.  It was the DAY BEFORE I was to leave.  THE DAY BEFORE.  And God said, “Do NOT go!”   That’s an entire blog post in itself but what it came down to was, was I willing to do what He said, even when it didn’t make sense… even when all seemed lost… even when relationships would be strained, my integrity scrutinized and I would never know why?  Was I willing?  And the answer was yes! I stayed home.

Afterward, I grieved… deeply.

And wouldn’t you know it, during that season of grief, a man came to the church.  He and his wife pulled in to the church parking lot with the RV, he walked through the front door and basically dropped the bomb. He said, “Here you are.  You’re a minister of helps and don’t be surprised when God requires more of you here.”   The word came in a haze really. I don’t really know that I heard much of what he said.  Forgive me. I don’t mean any disrespect. God knows everything I’m about to say but when he showed up, I was scrubbing toilets.  He came in like Captain Obvious with his cape and stated what was plainly seen.  “You’re here to help.”

Let me just tell you.  I believed him. I knew what he said was true and that God had sent him but boy was I mad! When he and my pastor left the building, I went back to cleaning the toilets and yelled and carried on.  “Why God? Why?!”  I felt like the biggest joke ever! The kind of joke that no one gets and doesn’t even laugh at.

What I failed to hear were the words, “I will increase you and prosper you. And as you serve, I will add to you and bring help. You will be happy.”

God again had to revisit my pride issue. He again had to remind me… “No Stacey. Not you….”

I am among you as the One who serves. REMEMBER…

The next day, I was driving to work and passed a truck that read, “ALL”.  And on the side in huge letters, “ONE CALL DOES IT ALL.”

What hope filled my heart.

And shortly after that, I was called into the office and was asked to take on more.  I said yes and it’s been a privilege.  It has challenged me. Stretched me.  It’s even been God’s rod of correction unto me.  My plate is FULL.  Not your ordinary dinner plate either.  It’s an oblong, divided, cafeteria style plate FULL!  But man, it feels good.  I know this is where God wants me and somehow, I am happier now in my work that I have ever been.  Not only is my plate full but my cup is running over.

And, are you ready for this?  It’s been since October that I made that heart-rending decision to trust God’s “no” and I just now realized that the prophetic word is in the early stages of coming to pass.  I’m living it out.  If I’m in the stage of “don’t be surprised when God requires more of you here“, that means the rest is coming!  The part about increasing me and prospering me. The part about adding to me and bringing the much needed help.  The part about being happy. It’s coming!  It’s here.

The same is true for you.

 

I Am Poring Over Your Life, says the Lord and I Am Pouring Over Your Life.

I woke up this morning hearing, “I am troubling your borders now. How far will you let Me take you?”  I see how we have yellow taped off our comfort zones, maintaining our self-appointed jurisdictions. We’ve been policing our lives, as if they are our own.

I see boundaries roped off in our swimming holes.  “This is deep enough.”  What we think is waist-high is only ankle-deep.  There are deeper waters still.  We’ve been playing in the puddles of broken cisterns and calling man-made pools oceans.

A flood of His glory is coming.  Like waters cover the seas and then defy the banks and the brinks when heavy rains fall; this is what is coming.  Prepare to be swept up in the current and allow God to carry you.  I see houses and landscapes changing.  Houses and lands.  All will be effected.  Denominational walls. Man made walls cannot stop even the trickles of this next move.  For there is a river pouring forth from under the threshold of the throne room of heaven now. “I am poring over your life, says the Lord. And  I am pouring over your life.”

 

A Strong West Wind

Last week about this time, I felt a strong stirring in my spirit and the Lord instructed me to begin interceding.  He said, “It’s time to put to flight.”  Immediately, I connected that phraseology to the passage Leviticus 26:5, And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand  to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 

I began praying, not realizing what the Lord had set out to accomplish through my prayers.  I was riding on the wind of the Holy Spirit.

As I walked and prayed, I had a vision.  I saw the land (farm land, harvest fields and vineyards) covered in locusts. I understood that it was the land the Lord has given us for inheritance.  It’s the ground we have invested ourselves in.  It looked brown and barren…dead.  Yet, as I continued to pace, the ground began to move in almost fluid motion before me and I realized that the wind had begun to pick up and it was sweeping over the ground and over the trees.

Again, God spoke to me and said, “There is a strong west wind blowing.”

You’ll find reference to that in Exodus 10:19, And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.

As I kept praying, I saw that what I perceived to be fruitless and barren… stripped to dirt and bark was actually the remains of what had been plaguing the ground.  The wind made quick work of blowing every last locust away and there in the soil were tender green shoots.  The very thing that had been sent to strip the land was in fact covering precious seedlings.  The harvest is here. What has been just under the ground shall produce suddenly.  Many have sown and many have watered but God is bringing the increase.  Now is not the time to gauge our success by the world’s standards or the condition of Pharoah’s heart.  God is bringing the harvest for the coming harvest. What we have been waiting and believing for is here and it’s for His glory.

In Matthew 3, we read of another time when there were locusts in the land… on the threshold of the Lord’s entrance…  on the brink of liberation!  It’s evidenced in verse 4,  John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.  The man crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” fed on the very locusts that preempted a move of God like the world had never seen!

What has been stripping you down has been itself stripped away.  Look up!  Your Redeemer is drawing near! You are on the brink of your breakthrough!

 

The Valedictorian Church

Misalignment of the spine can cause any number of problems in the human body and can affect not only the skeletal system but major organ function as well.  Studies show that heart, lung, gall bladder, pancreas, spleen, stomach, kidney, bladder, prostrate and uterus issues can be directly influenced by the spine.  Furthermore, nerve fibers stem from the spine into every major immune system organ.

In the spiritual terms, misalignment can be just as detrimental to the Body of Christ.  When we fail to come under the headship of our Lord Jesus Christ and those He has set in authority, things become out-of-order.  As children of God and necessary parts of the body, our function can be hindered and our immunity weak.

For the remainder of this post, I want to call the misalignment, a “spiritual learning curve”.   To spare you the more in-depth and wordy definition of “learning curve”… here it is in short form.  The learning curve averages everything out.  In other words, new skills or knowledge can be quickly acquired initially, but subsequent learning becomes much slower. At first, a minimal investment of resources yields significant results, but the payback from continuing effort is smaller.

This is daunting in the world we live in of bigger, better and limitless upgrades.

At first it’s easy to make progress and our efforts are rewarded quickly but as time passes, the efforts we’re making do not garner the same results.  Just as when much is given, much is required, there are times when more is asked of us, with seemingly little to no increase.  This is when we are in real danger of settling for less in terms of spiritual gain if we fail to rise to the challenge. The average Christian walk, with a letter grade C and without challenge can begin to look rather appealing. It’s still passing right?  Yet, God wants us to excel in the call upon our life, walk worthy of it and increase more and more.  Come up higher and get an A!

I do believe God wants us to be straight A students… studying to show ourselves approved by Him, regardless of the applaud of men or the immediate result.  He is interested in our commitment and our longevity in our faithfulness to Him, the church, our leaders, fellow believers and the duty assigned to us.  We should be nothing less than valedictorian in the Spirit as we serve from scrubbing toilets to preaching to the multitudes.  Every season of our life comes with its own report card.

How are we faring?

“Average is just as close to failure as it is to success.”-Dr. John Polis