Heartbeat

“Your move in our hearts is what gives us direction.”

Direction determines the course of our Destiny, and what I am learning is that Abba Father moves in our hearts to awaken us to the direction He is calling us to.

The past season has seen The Holy Spirit move in an unprecedented fashion on my heart. Where it was once hard, it has been softened. Where it was once judgemental, it is now gracious. Where it was once afraid, it is learning to trust. Where it was once almost made of stone, I now see God’s Hand gently mold it into a heart of flesh.

In His great Mercy and Love, God will always do this. Grace finds us the way we are, but never leaves us the way we are. It leaves us changed, for the better, and that too, forever.

Allowing God to soften our hearts is critical to be able to really hear from Him. As the stubborn rebellion of our hearts is dealt with, we find ourselves more pliable and willing to hear what HE has to say over what WE want to hear. It truly is a beautiful Father-Child Love Story, friends, that we are on. As we find Him move in our hearts and transform its spiritual state from glory to glory, He sets in motion a snowball effect that is bound to touch, heal and impact every heart that we will ever have access to in our given spheres of influence, and in our own unique ways.

Matthew 5:8 in The Message Translation puts it like this,

“You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”

This is why it is important for us to know the value of taking care of our souls. If our hearts harbor bitterness, anger, unforgiveness and resentment over past issues, then we are setting ourselves up for failure. What we are on the inside will be mirrored on the outside. This is not a call towards perfection, but growth that is yielded to the way, rhythm and cadence of God. This is a call to allow God into the deepest recesses of our beings, to slowly heal, mend and restore; in order that we may see similar ramifications on the outside; letting all things work together to manifest a piece of Heaven on Earth. Every single day.

It is a commitment to such inner work that will empower us to see our Destiny unravel as a natural result of yielding to the process of God. The choices and decisions we make daily all add up to form the big picture. I have yet to discover a more beautiful way to live this life than to be able to hear from The One who made me and follow His direction for my life, bit by bit and step by step. I believe this is why The Bible says,

“Your Word is a lamp unto my feet. and a light unto my path.”

God intends for us to lean our ears right next to His chest to hear and heed the next Word of instruction and direction in our lives. This not only ensures a continual dependence on Him, but comes with an assurance that what HE has begun HE is Faithful to complete. It is only unfair for us to initiate something in our strength and wisdom and then, expect Him to complete it. Love is a two way street, clearly.

As I hasten to a close, I only want to encourage all of us to trust God enough with our hearts, because as The Bible says , “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” And I believe we all want to be better. We want to grow and make strides for His Kingdom. But even the most illustrious vision starts with paying due diligence to baby steps. So let us not despise the day of small beginnings, and let us embrace the process where His Spirit meets our hearts, Heaven invades Earth, and nothing is the same ever again.

Selah.

To submit or not to submit

“Submission to You is Life to me.”

I am sure that in our walk with The Lord, there are more times than once when we may have found ourselves wrestling with God. At times, we need to. Even Jacob wrestled till He got a blessing from the angel of The Lord, even though it cost him to walk with a limp. However, what I am writing about is a different kind of wrestle though, the kind that comes when we war with The One who went to war for us.

At every juncture in our lives when we need to hear from Him, I believe He always speaks. He may speak through His Word, a person, a revelation, an epiphany, a song, a billboard, a message, whatever the case may be. But He never goes silent on us. Those times when we feel He has, it’s only because He has already spoken, and waits for us to embrace the fullness of what He has decreed in order that we may walk in it and seek Him for what He will do next in our lives.

The answer to the breakthrough we are contending for lies in reverent submission and obedience to what He has spoken concerning us. Not a wrestle. Not the kind that I am meaning to talk about.

Today is Father’s Day and my heart rejoices at the mere thought of all that He has already done for us, and is still committed to bring to completion that which He has promised. Personally, revelations of The Father’s Love have transformed me from the inside out, and developed a quiet trust, a brave confidence that He only has my best interests at heart. In order for us to follow through with what He has said, submission is a must. Putting our own plans and goals on the altar in exchange for His Eternal Purposes mandates that kind of trust and faith in the goodness of Our Great God. I still, by no means, have arrived and am very much a work in progress. But I believe that to truly receive the fullness of His Promises, we will need to cultivate greater trust which is possible only through greater encounters with The Lord leading to greater revelations of His Love, ultimately developing an unshakeable confidence that He is good, He does good and He works all things together for our good and His Glory.

Going against the grain of what He speaks will only delay and perhaps, even derail the good plans He has for us. He is Mighty to save, and will undoubtedly scoop us up even from the deepest of pits that we may have dug up for ourselves in our rebellious state, because His Presence is stronger than anything that may dare to come against. As I write, Psalm 139 comes to mind;

“Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.”

During one rather vulnerable period in my life, The Holy Spirit reaffirmed this Truth in my heart. He said,

“It is not your feeble grip on me, it is my firm grip on you.”

Soul saving, isn’t it?

It is this Agape Love of The Father that has won my obedience over and given me the courage to believe even when it makes no sense, in the full assurance that His thoughts and ways are beyond understanding and always greater. That also represents the fruit of obedience, friends. When we choose to obey in the face of all adversity, chaos and confusion; The Father honors it in a way that when we look back in hindsight at what HE was doing when WE didn’t understand, it breeds a greater awe of who He is and a greater revelation of who we are as His Children. Let me share God’s Promise from Isaiah 43 at this juncture,

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.”

At times, His Way may cause us to walk through the fire and flood. But with a confident assurance that we are covered in The Blood of Christ , we can go forth. He promises us that NO weapon forged against us shall be able to prosper, and every tongue that rises against us, He will condemn. He reaffirms us that greater is HE that is in us than he that is in the world. He instructs us to remain steadfast and constant even in the face of what we don’t like, trusting that if we have agreed to go through the purifying fire of God, then we WILL come forth as pure gold.

My heart says that we can submit only to that which we are convinced about or that which we trust. In our walk with Jesus, we don’t have to be convinced about what He is calling us into, if we are convinced about who He is. Once we are convinced about the impeccable nature and character of God embodied in The Person of Jesus Christ, we can trust. We can trust that He is a Father, Healer, Redeemer, Savior, Miracle Worker and Way Maker. He is both, The God of process and The God of breakthrough. Wherever He calls us, HE sustains us. And needless to say, He is Faithful.

According to Hebrews 5:7,

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

Friends, I believe “reverent submission” is key. It is both, an awe of God and a love of Him that enables us to submit to His Will over ours. My journey testifies that though our walk is anything but easy, it is quite simple. We don’t need a formula to figure things out when we have a Person to follow, is something I quite often say. I say this because all our answers, needs and desires are wrapped up in Him. As we continue to submit and obey in our walk with Him, these things unravel and manifest as a direct result. At times, it may be obvious and somewhat instant. At other times, it may be prolonged and noticeable only to a discerning eye. Either way, it manifests. And it leaves us richer and more whole than when we first began. Not because we received breakthrough, but because we developed an intimate connection with The God of the breakthrough, and through that connection, we found everything we would ever need to feel affirmed, secure and loved, no matter the circumstance that dares confront us.

Yet it all begins with saying that first, “Yes” that introduces us to the glorious gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus, a journey that will inevitably find us saying one “yes” after another, causing a chain reaction of signs, wonders and miracles to be put in motion, leading us step by step, into the fullness of who we are called to be and what we are called to do in our lifetime.

So the next time we find ourselves wrestling with giving God our “yes,” I hope and pray that we remember that the first time we did, we received Heaven in our midst.

What more can we expect?



It is all in the “Who.”

“I never have to worry about the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ as long as I have my eyes fixed on the ‘Who.'”

I think I may have lost count of the amount of times I have wrestled with the ‘what’ is God going to do, both now and next, and ‘how’ will He bring it to pass. Needless to say, these are not some of my proudest moments, but real all the same. In my human frailty, I have been wrought up with anxiety over the future, but each time I have been stilled by The Voice that lovingly reassures, “do not worry.”

As God’s children, we are all called and chosen. We each have been uniquely designed, strategically gifted, powerfully anointed, intentionally positioned for such a time as this, and purposefully packaged. The Word is the only thing that can bring light and dispel darkness. So, I will share what Our Father Himself has to say about us,

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

God made us on purpose, for a Purpose. He has endowed us with distinctive gifts and talents to serve our generation. He has established from Eternity the “good works” that He intends for us to walk in and fulfill in our lifetime. I love the fact that He uses the term “walk.” This informs me that as we walk with The Lord, we will unwittingly find ourselves walking in these good works that are our Promise through The Eternal Covenant in Christ Jesus. God does not intend for us to figure things out, when He has graciously blessed us with a Person to follow who will reveal what needs to be revealed, when it needs to be revealed. God does not expect us to strive in our own strength, when we are called to surrender; and He certainly does not want us to be consumed with worry, when we can be renewed, affirmed and encouraged by His Truth,

“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

Undoubtedly one of the most popular and widely appropriated pieces of Scripture, Jeremiah 29:11 is as simple as it is profound. I believe what God is asking us to do first and foremost is to trust, trust that He has plans to prosper us. Should we find one plan fail, it is not the end of the world because He is well able to reveal and manifest another in its place simply because Isaiah 55:11 assures us,


 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Friends, His Word can never return unto Him void. When He speaks, He creates. His plans for us are good, and it is from the abundance of our relationship with Him, that the rest follows. The more we allow Him to develop us on the inside, the more we are able to discern His Voice that directly catapults us into His plans and purposes, not just for us, but even those that are connected to us. He may speak through His Word, impart revelation through His Holy Spirit, forge connection through a person or simply envelop us with His Presence and let Love do the talking. Simply put, He has a million ways to reach us. All that we need to do is trust His leading, guidance and wisdom.

At this point, I feel led to share another profound Truth. At times, we may find ourselves in seasons that we can’t quite seem to understand. We have been faithful and fruitful, and still find ourselves thrust into the wilderness. Be encouraged, friends! This is a season that mandates strong faith which is the only thing that will enable us to one day, look back in retrospect, and marvel at what all God has done IN us in order that He may work THROUGH us, a process that leads us directly into the plans of God for our lives, in order for the Purpose to be accomplished.

Even Jesus was led by The Spirit into the wilderness, but He withstood every test and temptation; remaining firm and steadfast in the Truth of who He was and whose He was. This needs to be our stance too. At times when the world seems to be swirling or rather still, we can rest in the assurance of our Identity in Him, while simultaneously seeking Him to reveal the purpose of that which we find ourselves in. It could be a season of pruning, of purification, of refinement, of learning to exercise our authority as believers, of waiting upon The Lord, or anything that He chooses to reveal. One thing that I do know is this: He will never put us through something, if He doesn’t intend to bring us out of it better than we were before. It would benefit us to join our confession with that of Job,

“But He knows where I am going. And when He tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.”

For this to truly emanate from the very depths of our being, it is imperative that we know The One we are walking with enough to be able to trust Him through the fire and the flood. A deep enough revelation of The Cross only goes to say that He who has secured Eternity for us, will He not also take care of all that pertains to our lives while still here on Earth? The question is not of Hs Faithfulness, but perhaps, ours.

I have of late had to walk through a rather unexpected season of my soul. Things shifted circumstantially, but only so that He could work internally. Looking back from where I am now, I am eternally grateful. Simply because I know Jesus better. I know Him as Immanuel – God WITH us. Not only has He shouldered me all the way, He has enabled me to cultivate a depth of intimacy with Him that nothing else can compare to. He has been Faithful to reveal Himself with such Glory, Splendor and Majesty; that it has birthed in me a brand new awe of “Who” He is.

He is both, a bolt of lightening and a warm sunrise; the beauty of the morning dew and the fury of the fiery flames; the soft cooing of a dove and the thundering roar of a lion. Neither words nor worlds can contain Him. He can come as a mighty rushing wind, or a gentle, soft breeze. Simply because, He has been revealed as both, the Lamb of God as well as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

He can come at unexpected times and in unexpected ways to do the unexpected, but only to bring about an expected end. He is good, He does good and He works all things together for our good and His Glory. His Power and Might no mind can fathom, yet He humbled himself and came as a man so we could find ourselves in Him, and make His Story our own. He became obedient to God even to the point of death, and that too a rather gruesome one, but God took Him through only because of a plan and Purpose so great that even two thousand years later, it is saving, changing and redeeming millions of lives in our world. By The Spirit of God, Jesus rose again and because He did, we cannot remain where we are.We can be faithful where we are, in the confident assurance that on the other side of crucifixion, there always is a resurrection. There is always another plan. There is always a greater purpose.

Suffice to say, friends, that we really have no need to know or understand the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of things, as long as we have our eyes fixed on the ‘Who’ who is above ALL things.

Selah.





Becoming.

“Becoming is a process of not striving, but surrender.”

The Lord put this thought on my heart last night, and I thought perhaps it wasn’t just for me.

The world we live in today is obsessed with achievement which inevitably puts everyone on a performance treadmill. Everyone wants to become something, and as great as that ambition is, it should never be something that consumes us, rather something that serves to provoke us to a Greater Truth – what can we become on the inside so as to manifest the desired results on the outside?

Therein lies the absolute beauty of entering into a relationship with The Anointed One, Jesus. As we slowly are grafted into Him, we begin to realize that we already are all that we need to be because we are complete IN Him. However, does that mean that now that The Holy Spirit has made His Dwelling in our midst, we don’t have to grow anymore? On the contrary, I believe our most authentic work of transformation has just about begun, and will continue till we see Him face to face. 1 Corinthians 13 is something we are all familiar with,

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

I believe that as we continue to walk with The Lord, we allow Him to slowly, deeply and gently unpack those seeds of greatness that He has already deposited on the inside of us. We already have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. However, these fruits of The Holy Spirit have to be gradually and consistently developed and exercised. The degree to which we allow these fruits to develop is the degree to which we will be in a position to receive the fullness of what God has promised us.

This though, in my experience, is not a result of striving but rather a process of surrender. Each time God deals with our anger issue, or selfishness, or discipline; and we faithfully surrender, submit and say, “Yes,” we can be rest assured that as we are allowing God to evolve us and forge His Character on the inside of us; we are well on our way to promotion.

The spouse will come, the child will turn around, the marriage will be restored, the right job will manifest. Simply because God honors our obedience. We cannot be in a relationship with Christ and expect the fruit of it to manifest as a result of striving to be better, we can expect a bountiful harvest only by walking along in a spirit of total surrender – an open mind, a soft heart, a courageous soul.

God wants us to live a wide, open and spacious life. But we also have to allow Him to enlarge the place of our tent. As we let Him do what He wants to do on the inside of us, results on the outside will have no option but to come forth.

This is the process of “becoming” that I have embarked upon in my lifetime, with a confident assurance that He who has begun a good work in me shall perform it unto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

I hope this encourages you today friends, to let go and let Him take over, and as you do, know that Heaven is cheering you on.

And so am I.

A New Walk

“Instead of praying old prayers, I’m beginning to walk a new walk.”

I’m sure we have all been there sometime. We feel God has impressed something on our hearts, and we begin to pray and believe with all our might, passion and fervor. That’s what I love about our walk with The Lord. But as I have continued on with Him, I have begun to realize that the process of becoming is just as important as the prayer of believing.

Prayer changes things, but most importantly, prayer changes us. It shapes and reshapes our hearts on an ongoing basis till we start maturing and growing into the person who is well able to handle the glory that comes with a breakthrough received in the Name of Jesus. I am starting to learn that as we pray and allow God to mould us further into His image, it is equally vital to take those necessary steps of obedience that will be instrumental in manifesting that which we are believing for. This to me encapsulates the process of “becoming.”

Becoming a higher and better version of ourselves is a process that is laced with grit, courage, tenacity, perseverance and patience. There will be times that we will fall short of our own expectations, if not others. It is during such times that we will need to give ourselves the gift of grace. We will need to pick ourselves up each time we fall, dust ourselves off and keep running our race, our gaze firmly fixed on Jesus, who beckons us on with such encouragement that all excuses have no option but to fall away.

In my own journey through life, it has been anything but a smooth sailing. In retrospect, I’m kind of grateful for that. Each trial in life brings with it an opportunity to receive a new level of anointing, and you don’t need me to tell you that it is the anointing that breaks yokes and catapults us into the next dimension of who we are called to be.

This is something I delight in. As Christ followers, ours is a journey of transformation, from the inside out. So when a season catches us off guard, we can seek God to see what it is that He wants to do IN us and then, THROUGH us so that we can be well on our way to our Promised Land. We can encounter the heart of God through each and every step of the process, till our relationship with Him supersedes any need for anything for us to be content. The Apostle Paul puts it like this,

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

This picture of pure contentment that comes from being in the center of God’s Will sets me free. It lets me know that no matter where and how I am, God knows, cares and has my best interests at heart. What may have caught me off guard was actually, a very intentional part of His Divine Design for my life. It was something that He, in His Sovereignty, orchestrated only to bring His Child closer to Him so that it would be from a secure place of having heard from Him that I would find the confidence to move on. As I write, a verse has landed on my heart,

“Wherever God calls you, He sustains you.”

If we are where we are called to be, then friends, we can be rest assured that even though the process may at times seem excruciatingly slow, we are on schedule. He promises to be Faithful, even when we are faithless. He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. He promises to rebuild and restore us. He promises to prosper us and give us “good success.”

So, we can yield and surrender to the journey. Simply because we trust in The One who chose to trust in us when we had nothing to truly trust in. Joyce Meyer very aptly says that we may not be where we want to be, but Thank God, we are not where we used to be.

That, my dear friends, is an exhortation to all of us to keep praying and believing, while simultaneously taking a step of faith as and when The Holy Spirit nudges us to. As we remain committed to this sacred pilgrimage, we will, slowly but surely go from strength to strength, and glory to glory. We will find our prayers manifest in ways that exceed our imaginations. We will align our prayer life in a way that allows us to truly partner with the Person of The Holy Spirit in a way that sees the plans and purposes of God burst forth in our generation.

That’s what I’m believing for.

What about you?

Coming through.

“That’s why I went through what I went through, because I had to come through.”

It is safe to say that in my short life, I have seen a lot. I have seen triumphs and trials, successes and failures, scars and stars. And I am acutely aware that I’m not the only one.

As I look back, I realize that God has shouldered me all along, when I knew Him as Immanuel and when I didn’t. Though in my earlier years, I seemed to have it all together on the outside, the Truth is that I was rather broken and empty on the inside. I did the best with what I had, but what I had was never enough. The success was always preceded by a lot of striving, but when I entered into a Covenant relationship with Immanuel, I realized that there is no striving in His Grace.

His Grace has changed everything for me. A revelation of what took place that day at Calvary embarked me upon a path that has and will continue to change me from the inside out. With my sins forgiven and a fresh, clean slate for Father God to write once again a story of redemption in the blood stained ink of His Son, Jesus; I began to slowly receive my God-ordained Identity as a Daughter of The King of kings and The Lord of lords. That, to say the least, is EVERYTHING.

As opposed to operating from strategy, I have slowly evolved into walking in Identity. I now know that because of the redemptive work of The Cross, I no longer have to strive to build a name for myself, because my Higher Calling is to glorify The Name that is above every other name. I am everything I need to be simply because I am IN Him. The Word puts it like this,

“I am complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power.”

These words are healing to my bones and strength to my soul. As this Truth began to marinate on the inside of me, perfectionism began to fall away. It dawned on me that because Jesus is perfect, I don’t need to be. What I do pray for however, is a more whole and mature version of me, as I keep on keeping on. He is Faithful to complete that which He has started, and my soul can rest in that Promise, till I see Him face to face.

Going down memory lane, I have to admit that it wasn’t easy. The stubborn rebellion in my soul had to be gradually broken, so that The One who would never leave me broken could come in and take residence. It was during some of the most tumultuous times of my life that He taught me the value of hanging on every Word He said. When I was anxious, He spoke from Matthew and said, “Do not worry.” When I felt unsure, He spoke from Isaiah and said, “Do not be afraid, you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace, you will not be humiliated.” When I felt abandoned, He spoke from Hebrews and said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” When I didn’t know how to trust Him with my future, He spoke from Jeremiah and said, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” When I was afraid of man, He spoke from Romans and said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” When I feared lack, He spoke from Philippians and said, “I have no lack for my God supplies all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Needless to say, what the enemy meant for harm, He turned it around for my good and His Glory. Looking back, I now realize that I had to feel and face those feelings of inadequacy in order to find and elevate what God said about me till I began to see its manifestation in my life. Decreeing and declaring His Word not only shifted the atmosphere, but was also critical, as I confessed with my mouth till my heart began to believe the Truth which trumps the lies, every single time.

A bit nostalgic at this time as we are in the midst of transitioning to a new location, I couldn’t help but reminisce about all that God has done in me. He took me at my weakest and manifested His Strength instead. I came to Him one way, but He launched me on a street called straight. When I felt backed up into a corner, He was fighting for me till I found the courage to get back up again. He has taught me the value and delight to be found in walking with Him, just one day at a time, sensitive to what needs my attention in the “here” and “now” as opposed to a reckless pursuit of “one day when.” And last but not the least, He has revealed to me that every God blessing that I have received in my life is something that I have always stumbled into. I didn’t plan it. I didn’t prepare for it. I didn’t expect it. This is exciting and liberating news, friends! It points to the fact that in our lifetime, God already has divine appointments, interruptions and alignments lined up. All that we have to do is steadfastly follow Him. The Bible puts it like this,

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Walking with Jesus simply means crucifying our flesh and letting His Spirit lead us on. Once we surrender our lives to Him, our Destiny unravels as we walk with Him. This adventure will never cease to amaze us, friends. We will begin to do things we once thought were not possible. We will begin to believe for people who cannot yet believe for themselves. We will begin to give love as though we are made of it. We will become a version of ourselves that I believe, in hindsight will leave us astounded and seeped with gratitude.

To The One who made it all possible because HE chose to go through what He went through, simply because He had to come through, so that we could too.

Selah.

The Truth about Obscurity

“Those He chooses to hide within Himself, He is also Faithful to reveal when its time.”

We will all inevitably walk through obscure seasons in life, seasons where we feel hidden and unseen. When we put our hand to the plough, we at times may feel like what we are doing isn’t really making an impact. But, as we all know, it is the Truth that sets us free.

When we commit to walking with The Lord, we are positioned in the midst of such seasons on purpose. If we are going to go from glory to glory, then we must also allow God to transform us internally, so that we can emerge more whole, healed and restored. It is precisely in these seasons of waiting that we actually develop our wings. Taking flight is a matter of time, and depends on how strong we have allowed our wings to become. Just like a child is hidden within the womb of it’s mother in the form of an embryo as it goes through it’s various stages of fetal growth, Jesus also develops us in a similar fashion. I once heard someone say that when we feel its dark, its only because we have been hidden under the shadow of His Mighty Wings.

Let’s think about this a minute. Just like an embryo has to go through nine months of growth, development and nurturing care; even we have to be put through seasons in life where though we feel it is dark, it is precisely here that we are being developed. In the careful hands of Immanuel, we are allowed to come undone, and give Him permission to put us back together again. We feel vulnerable, but as long as we keep our sights on the Truth of Whose care we are in, we can feel safe and secure. Through the mess that growth often entails, it is crucial to remind ourselves that what we find ourselves in is just a season. It is season where perhaps, not much seems to be moving on the outside, but it is a season where God is moving on our hearts. He is not only holding our heart, but is taking us by the hand and leading us on, step by step.

I recently had God show me something as I was wrestling to see what lies ahead. He gave me a vision of a staircase, where I saw a series of steps. As I found myself on one step, Jesus had already gone ahead of me, was standing on the next one, and lovingly inviting me to follow in His stead. I didn’t have to see the whole staircase, because I had enough trust that it was leading me to my Promised Land. But the way to it was in my ability to honor each step, as I took it. The Glory of it lay in the joy and contentment of encountering the Person and Presence of Jesus, along each and every step. The more I began to enjoy my walk with Him, one step at a time, the more the allure of the future lost its hold on me, and I realized I already have all that I need because I have Jesus.

I allowed myself to drift off for a bit, but only because I felt the need to share this profound picture of our walk with The Lord as something that will give us the strength to take that next one step He is calling us towards, fully assured that He has already gone ahead of us and trusts in our ability to handle what has already been graced with His Presence.

Growth always mandates vulnerability, and Jesus is too protective of us to expose us in our seasons of vulnerability. He does His best work in the dark. When we bring the petitions of our heart to Him in prayer, I believe He instantly goes to work. But He begins the work first IN us so that we evolve into the version of ourselves that is able to handle the weight of what we have prayed for. Internal transformation always has external ramifications. The more we trust Him in the process that He will inevitably initiate, the more we are on our way to see the fulfillment of the Promise. But it is this process that becomes both, a testing and a training ground. Will we allow Him to take us THROUGH to the other side, or will we succumb to the lies that come to daunt us? Will we allow Him to manifest the spiritual warrior on the inside of us, or will we cower in fear and unbelief? Will we fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith, or will we let our current circumstances dictate our responses? Simply put, will we choose to trust Him even when we don’t understand? Because trust simply negates ANY need to understand.

At many times in my life, I have found great encouragement in how Jesus calls forth our Identity in Him. Let me share one of my favorite Bible verses,

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”

If we truly are going to be the light of the world, then it naturally follows that God would take us through seasons where we learn to fan the flame on the inside of us till it burns brighter than anything on the outside. Light has its best use in the dark. A bulb in a fully illuminated room would have from little to no use. But in a room that is dark, it will serve as a precious gift and an absolute necessity. Friends, that is what we are called to.

We are called to be beacons of light in a rather dark world. Needless to say, wherever we turn, there is pain, suffering and trauma. But, as Children of Light, we are not called to run away from, but rather run towards such scenarios that need the love and light of Christ that we carry on the inside of us. As human beings on this planet, this is definitely not our first nor natural response. But the degree to which we have allowed God to cultivate His character in us is the degree to which this response from us simply gets easier and easier till we reach a point where we learn that THIS is the hope of the calling we have received. THIS is where we will find soul satisfaction. THIS is where we are revealed as Sons and Daughters of The King of kings and The Lord of lords.

Let this Truth sink into our bones today. God develops our character from strength to strength, but our process will invariably see us go through seasons of obscurity. They may seem disheartening, but when we tap into the Truth of what God is intending to do in such places, we will be liberated from the need to know and simply trust that if He has chosen to do such a deep work in us, will He not also birth a great work through us?

He hides us within Himself in such seasons, much like a mother hen would hide her chicks beneath her feathers. This, to me, presents a beautiful picture of Our God’s exquisite Love. He is caring, protective, nurturing and kind. He develops us in the dark, but when the time is right, just like an eagle pushes her eaglets out of the nest, wanting to see them take flight and soar into the blue unknown, Our God does the same. The vision awaits an appointed time, but when it does come to pass, He will leave no stone unturned to ensure that what He has developed in the dark will be revealed in the light. The Bible says it like this,

“For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.”

Friends, let us be encouraged that if the season we find ourselves in is rather obscure, then it is a sure sign from Heaven that our season of prominence is well on its way. However, will we remain as tethered to Him in the latter as we are in the former? Is our attachment to Him driven out of need or desire? Will our faithfulness remain consistent in all seasons? Will we continue to be moved by obedience or manupilated by applause?

These questions reveal to me the purpose of obscure seasons, which through the passage of time, will undoubtedly give way to seasons of favor, promotion and elevation as we continue to pursue the Heart of God, because when its all said and done, the truth is,

“Those He chooses to hide within Himself, He is also Faithful to reveal when its time.”



Count it all joy!

“Help me to find the joy in obedience as I release the need to control the outcome.”

When God reveals the battles He wants you to fight in your life in His Name and through His Strength, I have learned one simple truth. The obedience is our part, the outcome is entirely His responsibility. Because the God we serve is Faithful, we can be rest assured that in His own Will, Way and Timing, He WILL come through. That is not the question. What is though, is this:

How can we find the joy in our earnestness to obey on a consistent, day-to-day basis?

I believe the answer lies in a simple revelation. As the answer we are praying for awaits an appointed time, we can find joy in encountering the steadfastness of The One who has embarked us upon the adventure of a lifetime, in the first place. We can find joy in The Person of Jesus Christ, and the person we ourselves are becoming by being in a consistent relationship with Him. We can find joy in the tenacity, grit and courage that is developing within us the character necessary to sustain the blessing once released. We can find joy in the fruits of The Holy Spirit that are being birthed on the inside of us, forging the character of Christ; a sure evidence that though the answer seems delayed, it will arrive right on time.

We are called to, as The Bible puts it, “count it all joy.” Let me share the verse here,

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

This is one of my least favorite scriptures, yet unquestionable in the infallibility thereof. Because the truth is that as Jesus said, in this world, we will have tribulation. He however, did not proceed to tell us to brood or moan. Instead, He exhorted us to, “take heart!” Why? Because HE has overcome the world, and I will proceed to say that because we are IN Him, we too, are overcomers. We are overcomers in the face of the giants we are called to slay, the wilderness we are called to go through, the valleys we are called to scale, the mountains we are called to climb, the seas we are called to navigate, the life we are destined to live.

It is not the absence of obstacles that makes us overcomers, rather the presence of them. In our lifetime, we may face relational challenge, financial crises, an unexpected diagnosis, a gut wrenching betrayal. The disappointments in our life are an inevitable part of the process of “becoming.” However, it is the way we steward them that helps us know who we are and where we are in our relationship with Christ. One critical question to ask in such situations is this,

“What is God doing IN me and then, THROUGH me?”

In my walk with The Lord lately, I realized that He has begun within me a work of birthing and cultivating love. Where I once had a hard heart, He has remained Faithful as the Promise from Ezekiel come to mind,

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Life does a darn good job of hardening our hearts by dealing us blows that can come packaged as disappointment, pain, rejection or loss. But when we enter into relationship with Christ, He begins to unravel layers of such toxic waste in our hearts which are detrimental in our ability to pursue and fulfill the Destiny that God has in store for us. God wants His Life to flow in and through our inmost beings, thereby touching and transforming the lives of those that are around us. It is for our good and His Glory. I believe Our Father rejoices when we commit to the painful, but very necessary process of allowing His Spirit to reveal and then, heal those broken crevices of our hearts, minds and souls that, apart from a relationship with Our Savior, we would have had no hope for.

But Christ in us is the Hope of Glory. The extent to which we allow the love and life of Christ to flow in us, and then through us is the extent to which God can use us in ways that as I write, I’m sure we cannot even fathom. His Promise comes to mind,

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

The obvious question is, what is the power that works within us? How deep have we allowed The Holy Spirit to go within us so that He can eventually reach out to those He wants to through us?

It is this process, dear friends, that we will have to learn to embrace and “count it all joy.” Addressing issues of the heart is never easy, but necessary if we are going to walk in the fullness of our God-ordained Identity and Destiny. As we allow His Spirit to access, heal, mend and restore what only He can, I know we will feel vulnerable. But let me encourage you with the encouragement I myself received as i chose to say, “Yes,”

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”

This is our Immanuel. He is kind, compassionate, merciful and understands us in a way that we ourselves don’t. He has loved us, saved us, redeemed us and wants to renew us. He is too good to leave us fractured and fragmented. He longs to make us whole and mature, slowly but surely evolving into the full stature of who He calls us to be. Our confidence in His Character emboldens our spirits to let His take over, mending what was once broken, and fortifying that which He has initiated in our lives. He doesn’t want us to build our lives on quicksand, but rather on The Solid Rock that is His Name.

This process will see the stubbornness of our hearts gradually removed, and instead, be replaced with a softness and tenderness that comes ONLY when we learn to yield, surrender and give back to Immanuel that which is rightfully His – our obedience. Our confidence in His Character will enable us to trust Him with the outcome. The outcome, as a matter of fact, is only a result and simultaneously a reward of our obedience. It is not too much for Him to release that which we are praying and believing for. However, He does know that an answer when delivered prematurely can also serve to be a burden as opposed to a blessing, and we know that He is too good to allow that to happen. Hence, we trust, we believe and we continue to pray, because through it all, in ways we may recognize or not, we are being changed. We are being developed. We are being prepared.

The blessing is not being prepared for us. We are being prepared for the blessing.

The only question is,

Will we “count it all joy?”

Friends, I’m praying we will.

Amen.


When life calls us to love

“It doesn’t take the life out of us. It flows from the life inside of us.”

I must confess that lately, as I have chosen to say “Yes” to the call of God on my life (which is an everyday affair!), I certainly have felt overwhelmed, like it was all a bit too much and perhaps I don’t really have what it takes.

In this presumption, I am both, right and wrong. In my own strength, I certainly do not have what it takes to do what God calls me to do. But The Good News is that the whole reason why God calls us to step out of the boat is to sensitize us to the fact that though our own strength maybe fickle and feeble, weak and too little, His is not. As His Children, we are called to go on adventures , both big and small. God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

When we come to Christ, we become a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. But it definitely is a walk that will see layers and dimensions of our new found Identity unfold and unravel as we go forth. There will often be a wrestle between the old man, Simon and the new man, Peter. The old man is comfortable in the abyss of mediocrity, complacency and comfort. The new man has an appetite to invade the impossible. The old man is content fishing, but the new man knows that Jesus calls us to be fishers of men. The old man is rather selfish, but the new man is learning to put others first. The old man is satisfied with building castles, but the new man is excited about building the Kingdom. The old man is limited by the restraint of finite human strength, but the new man decrees that he can do all things that he is called to do through Christ who strengthens him.

“Christ in me, the hope of Glory” is something I need to consistently remind myself of. When called to help a hurting neighbor or mend a broken situation, I have realized the old man gets scared far too easily and succumbs to the illusion of safety found in self-protective mechanisms which in reality, are death to the soul. Life, on the other hand, is found in dying to ourselves. Jesus says it the best,

“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.”

As Jesus calls us to surrender our will to His, He promises to reveal to us the true meaning and purpose of life. This may contradict what we seem to have believed will give us life, but true life that can thrive in the midst of the chaos, confusion and tribulation (which also is a promise to us, by the way!) can be found ONLY in Him. In my own personal walk, He has always filled me with His Love, healing that which was broken and mending that which was wounded. It is not the absence of conflict which is life, but the presence of a Person, Jesus Christ.

A sublime experience of His Presence is enough for us to go and want to share this Good News with all. However, God has taught me that it is never what you say, but the way you say it. Love is what gives our message the power to reach the heart of the person we love. So, it naturally follows that we will have to allow God to embark us upon a journey of becoming love. Jesus is the embodiment of Love, and as we allow Him to transform and conform us to His image, we will find ourselves becoming more loving, accepting, gracious, compassionate and understanding of the people that God has positioned in our lives. We will not always get it right. We may find ourselves frustrated at times, angry or even weary; but our confidence, friends, is not in our own strength. It is in the work of The Holy Spirit within us. The deeper He goes, the wider and stronger the impact.

The mandate seems tall, and the call too great; but just as I was beginning to succumb to the pit of despair, He whispered;

“It doesn’t take the life out of us. It flows from the life inside of us.”

That still, small voice is just that. Subtle yet deep, and was enough for me to readjust my perspective. It dawned on me that the love He calls me to share flows from the depths of the living water that is on the inside of me. When I began to respond to Christ in those earlier days, He took me in His Arms just the way I was. He did not condemn, nor judge, nor criticize nor find fault. He simply loved me back into wholeness, and continues to. For that, I am eternally grateful.

My natural response thus, is to want to love those in my sphere of influence the way He has. But how many of us know that unconditional love and acceptance are things that He has to intentionally work within us? Loving people is a messy business, but an absolute evidence of our faith in action. Differences of opinion and temperament tend to get in the way, but isn’t that why the fruits of The Holy Spirit are to be exercised? As we let go of things that don’t matter, we will begin to lay hold of those that do. What is most encouraging to me is that a commitment to such a life only takes us deeper into the heart of Our Father. How does He see the person I am trying to reach out to? Am I being judgemental or accepting? Is fear holding me back or faith propelling me forward?

These are just some of the questions that I have had to grapple with. I felt like it was taking the life out of me, but He didn’t hesitate to remind me that in fact, it flows from the life of Christ alive in me. It is the life of the new man, Peter who was used by God to initiate The Church of The Living God on the day of Pentecost as three thousand people responded to the call. Peter was fiery, temperamental and had even disowned Jesus three times. Yet, God called him the rock on whom He would build His Church.

Friends, we don’t have to live intimidated by our weaknesses when The Word promises us that it is in our weakness that His Strength is made perfect. He is ever with us, and is always fighting for us. It is from a positioning of being rooted and grounded in Him that we will have the power, love, authority and anointing to dare to go out and do all that God has called us to. That, to me, is truly terrific. I have a go at this thing called life, but I don’t do it alone. And no one else should need to either. All that I need to remind myself is that,

“It doesn’t take the life out of us. It flows from the life inside of us.”

Amen.


A Call to Believe.

“Is why we are called ‘believers’ and not ‘knowers.'”

I asked God today, “Why do you call us to ‘believe’ and not ‘know’?”

I have often found myself wanting to know what the future holds, annoying Him (if that were even possible!) with questions such as what is the next phase, the next dimension, the next breakthrough?

Although I don’t feel there is anything wrong with such questions and in fact, are perhaps necessary to give us the vision for our life which can serve as a potent driving force to press through our challenges and continue to walk into seasons of our souls and chapters of our lives that only go from glory to glory; it is equally important to be securely anchored to His Presence in the “here” and now,” which is the only way to one day manifest, the “then” and “there.” The wisest question we can ask ourselves on a daily basis is, “What is The Holy Spirit doing?” and then wholeheartedly partner with Him towards an assured outcome for the day we find ourselves in.

Personally, this revelation to me has been a major breakthrough in itself. As someone who always was performance driven and needed a vision to propel me forward; I have, of late found myself walking with The Lord in a season where He is teaching me that to find peace, love and joy in the delights of the ordinary everyday is true wisdom and wealth. He is tethering me to His Presence more than an expected outcome from circumstances. He is assuring me that His Presence is stronger than anything I will ever face. He is uncovering layers of my Identity in Him and dismantling the lies I seem to have inadvertently believed about myself previously.

This season is both, painful and glorious; all at the same time. As I allow His Spirit to go deeper within me, He seems to also be working through me and around me; changing my circumstances slowly but surely. This has shifted my whole perspective of faith. Hebrews 11 is a verse we are all very well acquainted with,

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith is what we need to tap into as we walk out the process towards the promise. But does that mean that we are going to postpone our joy to, “one day when?” Or are we spiritually mature enough to exalt His Presence over all else, be secure in it and allow Him to reveal the mystery, day by day, layer by layer. To me, faith now requires me to activate my joy in The Lord each day that I wake up alive, knowing that when times will have reached their fulfillment, there is no demon in hell nor person on Earth who can stand in the way of Him manifesting His Promise in my life.

And that, dear friend, goes for you, too.

My journey, needless to say, has seen me wrestle with God. All until He stilled me long enough in His Presence and through a cherished woman of God gently whispered, “Rest.”

In The New Testament, it is clear that the only thing we are to strive towards is to enter the rest of God. This, to me, is hugely profound. It displays an unquestionable trust in the character and nature of God, in “who” He is and “what” He is able to do; in His own will, way and timing.

THIS is why we are called to ‘believe’ – believe in the goodness of God and allow His Spirit to woo us into His Presence consistently, remaining firmly tethered to it. In His infinite wisdom, God does not reveal all the plans He has for us and the things He wants to bless us with, all at once. If He did, I can’t help but wonder if we would still desire relationship? I feel that we would perhaps like prodigals simply turn our backs on Him, and desire the resource over the relationship, a desire that is sure to bring about the utter devastation of our precious souls. It is evident that He has our best interests in mind, wanting us to attach our affections not to that which is temporal, but that which is Eternal.

It is not too much for God to bless us with what we are believing for, right here, right now. But I think He is far more interested in developing within us the character necessary to sustain the magnitude of the blessing that has already been prepared for us. He is far more interested in knowing whether we believe Him for who He is, or whether we believe Him only for what He can do, whether we honor The Blessor over the blessing or desire the blessing over The Blessor, whether we value The Producer over the product, or the product over The Producer?

Now maybe a good time to get our priorities in order. For it is ONLY out of an abundance of relationship with Him, that the true riches of life begin to flow. As we seek Him for WHO He is, He begins to forge a Love relationship with His Child so much so that anything else in this world would fade in comparison. As we walk with Him, our deep needs are met : acceptance, affirmation, healing, wholeness, restoration. This journey deepens our trust in The Person so much so that we begin to believe that if He could access those parts of us that we once had no hope for, how much more is He both, able and willing to do? We eventually come to a point where we begin to trust Him to really do the exceeding, abundant that He has promised in His Word, without wanting to know the details of the “when” and “how.” Simply because we have learned to trust, and answered our call to ‘believe.’

Friends, tethering our souls to the things of this world would never satisfy, but tethering our souls to The One who holds all things together, certainly would. Postponing our joy to “when” we get our breakthrough is a sheer thievery of the glorious gift of life, and gets us back into the bondage that God, in His Mercy, has rescued and redeemed us from, in the first place. Conversely, choosing to believe in the impeccable character of The One who promises to be Faithful, no matter the circumstance, is true freedom. Scripture says it like this,

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

The death and resurrection of Christ is reason enough to believe. Jesus came to reveal the heart of The Father. He is Good, Gracious, Kind, Compassionate, Loving, Merciful, Mighty, Strong, and Faithful. He is not a man that He should lie, and in Him, there is no shadow of turning. So, if we are called to ‘believe,’ let us make a conscious decision to believe Him for WHO He is. The what He will do will inevitably follow. As I continue to write, I also feel a strong stirring in my spirit, that if, at any time, we feel the need to ‘know,’ let us be quick to remind ourselves that the only thing we are called to ‘know’ is actually a Person, the Person of Jesus Christ.

And because He IS who He says He is, we are called ‘believers’ and not ‘knowers,’ for we ‘know’ The One we are called to ‘believe.’

Selah.