Let Love happen

I’ve noticed one thing about pain. It compels us to misunderstand the nature and character of God.

Much like Eve.

Cut to the chase, here goes.

The Bible tells us that God told Eve she was free to eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Why did He do that?

I believe that God was actually protecting her freedom and that of man, because we were perhaps never designed to know any evil. Yet, in the face of an inadequate understanding of God’s true nature, Eve sinned.

To me friends, it is not so much the sin that led her to partake of the forbidden fruit that matters, as much as it is what led her to.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'”
(Genesis 3:1)

For the crafty serpent to come in and sow doubt in Eve’s mind with irrelevant questions like, “Did God really say?” and have her succumb to the temptation of sin so easily, I do feel that somewhere Eve did not know the nature and character of her God well enough to begin with.

Neither did I.

But when you know better, you do better.

I am so glad, friends that we serve a God who forgives, redeems and makes all things new.

Jesus does not sit on the Throne with a stock of all our sin. He already dealt with that on the Cross.

He sits on the Throne and fights for us instead.

Our God is with us. He is for us. And He fights for us.

The Good News here is that He does not fight for victory, He fights from it.

Talking of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Word of God says:

“Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!”

(Colossians 2:15, TPT)

In short?

Having defeated and disarmed the powers of darkness, Jesus reigns.

And in Him, we do too.

With absolute victory over sin, sickness and death; we are called to co-reign with Christ.

So in the face of so much adversity, persecution and trauma; I am learning to be very intentional about reminding myself of some truths that though appear basic, are the very cornerstone of our faith.

And what I am realizing is that though in Christ, we do have victory over sin, sickness and death; we are not exempt from pain and suffering.

We are in the world, but not of it.

The world we live in friends, is lost and broken. So are the people that constitute it.

So when God called us to fight the good fight of faith, He made it abundantly clear that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the forces of darkness for which we have absolute triumph through Christ.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
(Ephesians 6:12)

Yes and Amen.

So it naturally follows that our enemy is not our parent, our sibling or our next door neighbour.

Our enemy is the devil, Satan. And the Good News is that he is defeated.

Yes.

The same crafty serpent that once deceived Eve and has continued in his attempts till date, is forever defeated.

How?

"By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony." 

(Revelation 12:11)

But here is the catch.

The degree to which we seek to know the Lord is the degree to which we will be abe to walk conscious of this reality, on an everyday basis.

Pain and suffering always threaten to numb or dim our consciousness of the victory we have through Christ. So it becomes important that we learn to process it in a healthy way.

In a way that is worthy of us.

For our perspective during such times, is the difference between life and death.

We will either succumb to the despair and hopelessness that our enemy, Satan would love for us.

OR.

Or we can choose to run to Jesus.
Run to Him for the healing we need in our souls and the perspective we need in our thought process.

Co-operating with the reality that God is trying to cultivate in us during such times friends, is key.

Are we trying to avenge ourselves, or are we letting Him avenge us?

Are we wasting precious emotional resources on harbouring bitterness and resentment, or are we learning to forgive, let go and trust God?

Are we walking in anxiety and dread, or in the fullness of the peace and power that the Lord died for us to receive?

The difference between the two sets of scenarious presented here is the difference between being a victim of our circumstances or rising above them as more than conquerors through Christ.

God often says to us,

Choose life.

Therefore, I choose to intentionally put Christ first. To surrender my will to be aligned with His and I find that the more I do so, the more I get to know the Lord.

Friends, as I am learning to do just what He says, I have found myself face-to-face with one beautiful yet startling reality,

“I may know Jesus fairly well, but I don’t know Him well enough.”

I really don’t.

I may know Him well enough to know that He is fully and completely worthy of my faith and trust, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how much He does honour child-like trust and mustard-seed faith.

I may know Him well enough to know that He is perfect in love and perfect in wisdom, but I don’t know Him well enough to know the full extent of all that He really is, all that He is capable of doing and all that which He will do.

I may know Him well enough to know that He is my best friend and my glorious king, but I don’t know Him well enough to know His next move on my behalf.

I may know Him well enough to know that He will never leave me nor forsake me, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how very faithful and relentless His pursuit of me, in reality, is.

I may know Him well enough to know that He is sovereign and has the final say in all matters that concern us, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how He will bend the rules of the game as we journey on.

I may know Him well enough to know that He is good, He does good and He works all things together for good in conformity with the counsel of His will, but I don’t know Him well enough to know just how He will manifest this Romans 8:28 promise again in my life circumstances.

I know Him fairly well, friends. But I don’t know Him well enough.

Fairly well to know Him as a beloved father, a heavenly saviour and a dreadful champion of my cause; but not well enough to know just what that may mean in its entirety as my destiny unfolds.

But I take heart in what I do know.

For what I do know is that with each day that unfolds, I can seek to know Him more.

Filled with the awe and wonder of His majesty, His mercy and His might.

And somewhere I suspect that the same holds true for you too, my friend.

So together?

Let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.

Let Love happen.

💖

Promise Keeper

A most refreshing and timely reminder that no matter where we find ourselves at and what our circumstances may be trying to suggest, we can rest because our God is Faithful.

There is something He has taught me this past season, and I did feel an unction to share it,

“When we know the Truth, we are set free; and when we live the Truth, we are changed.”

Glory to glory to glory!

Praise Jesus🙌🏻

Music Credits: Hope Darst

The Beauty of the wilderness

“Heavenly perspectives saturated in Truth possess the power to heal.”

The wilderness is never a place we go looking for. It’s usually a season of the soul that we find ourselves in perhaps wondering how we got there in the first place. We can find ourselves “thrust into it” or “led into it.” I don’t think that it matters really.

For what truly matters is that we are able to accurately discern the purpose for our wilderness season and pray for eyes to see the beauty of it. In my experience, it’s usually in the wilderness that God does His deepest, grandest work. On the other side of wilderness, by virtue of divine design, there always is the Promised Land. However, the degree to which we can sustain the blessing of the Lord in the land that He promises to give us depends on our willingness to let Him do a deep work in us in the wilderness season where He uses time as a tool in His Hands to access us and reveal areas in our lives that are in desperate need of His loving, redemptive touch. The Word of God puts it this way,

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” (Hosea 2:14, ESV)

It’s in the wilderness that we learn the truth that the wonder of following His breath will always leave us in wonder. He teaches us as our loving Father that man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We start to learn the importance of developing a deeper intimacy with the Lord; a sacred, tender, purely pristine space that lets us come undone in His Presence, with a vulnerability that though seems scary at times, is really what we need to get comfortable with, simply because we know that through it all; we are deeply, deeply loved.

What I’m learning is the truth that the extent to which we allow ourselves to come before the Lord with our most authentic selves, shedding the false weight of pretences and performance, is the extent to which we can experience the depth of His Love; as well as the healing and freedom that it inspires. It’s in the shedding of the shackles of bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment; and the shame that inevitably accompanies this territory threatening to hold us hostage to the facts of what once happened as opposed to the Truth of God’s Word over our lives that declares we are healed, whole and set free by the blood of Jesus, that we start to walk in the freedom that Christ purchased for us at Calvary. Pastor Bill Johnson puts it beautifully when he says that there is always a gap between that which is in our account and that which is in our possession. Standing on the promises of God bridges the gap as we slowly but surely, start to enter into the light of who we really are in Christ.

We really are the righteousness of God in Christ and we really can do all things that we are called to through Christ who strengthens us. We really are much loved children of God whose Father dotes on them and is constantly thinking of them. We really are the temple of the Holy Spirit and greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We really do have access to a future through Christ that is more glorious than is possible for us to perhaps comprehend.

We really do.

But my experience testifies that for us to come to a place of agreement with the Truth of who we are IN Christ and what we have access to THROUGH Christ, we have to be willing to get alone with the Father. We need to take time to sit at His Feet, like Mary did when Jesus came visiting her. We need to lay all the hurts and offences that we have been carrying in the delicate soil of our hearts as a result of the traumatic experiences in our past, at the feet of Jesus and let Him love us back to life again till we know deep down beyond a shadow of doubt that we really are the absolute delight of His Heart.

The wilderness is where, I believe, the Lord encounters us and declares,

“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

It’s here that He heals our broken hearts and binds up our wounds. It’s here that He renews our minds and restores our hope. It’s here that He dismantles the lies of the enemy and reveals the Truth that is able to save our souls and set us free. It’s here that He prepares us for what He has prepared for us. It’s here that He does a deep and gentle work in us so that in His perfect timing, He can manifest the fullness of that which He has spoken. It’s here that He refines our character and purifies the motives of our hearts. It’s here that we are met by Love and marked by Love.

Friends, it’s in the wilderness that we learn to lock eyes with the One whose eyes are like flames of fire till we start to truly become like the One we behold. It’s where our hearts begin to burn again with a new found passion and strength that serves as a womb for the rest of our divine destiny to be birthed and eventually, played out.

There is beauty in the wilderness. There is purpose in the pain. There is meaning in the melodrama and there is fruitfulness in the seemingly barren.

But it’s upto us to want to have eyes to see and ears to hear.

I pray we do.

Resurrection Day: I want to Follow You!

“Lord, listen to my prayer. It’s like a sacrifice I bring to you;
I must have more revelation of your word!
Take my words to heart when I ask you, Lord;
rescue me, just like you promised!
I offer you my joyous praise for all that you’ve taught me.
Your wonderful words will become my song of worship,
for everything you’ve commanded is perfect and true.
Place your hands of strength and favor upon me,
for I’ve made my choice to follow your ways.
I wait for your deliverance, O Lord,
for your words thrill me like nothing else!
Invigorate my life so that I can praise you even more,
and may your truth be my strength!
I’ll never forget what you’ve taught me, Lord,
but when I wander off and lose my way,
come after me, for I am your beloved!”

(Psalm 119:169-176, The Passion Translation)

❤️

Fear not.

“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.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
(Isaiah 43:1-3)

💙

https://youtu.be/g0GQp-vTqOw

When melody and language collide to breathe life into a sentiment that God speaks about 365 times in The Book.

Music credits: Kristene DiMarco (Bethel Music)
🎼

Seasons change.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” (Isaiah 54:10, NIV)

Seasons change.

Old longings come to fruition and fresh passions are birthed. Transitions become a necessary vehicle in our ongoing journey with The Lord. Being renewed little by little, and transformed day by day becomes a lifestyle. Layers of fear, doubt or unbelief are carefully peeled off giving way to a new creation that has agreed to become new from the inside out in order to step into all that The Lord has in store.

For what The Lord has in store is exceedingly abundant. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. When we think we know what it is that we want, He knows what it is that we need and even goes a step further to not just meet us at our point of need, but to fill us to the overflow.

He wants to give us our inheritance.

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:17, NIV)

God calls us co-heirs with Christ and called to possess an inheritance with Him and for Him. In His Name, it is already ours. But just like Joshua had to take steps to actually go in and take possession of the promised land that was for the taking, we do too. However, the journey towards that is precisely where we are formed. It is in the in- between space where He renews our perspective the most. We can either look at the promised land as a land of giants, or as a land that is flowing with milk and honey. We can either look at ourselves as grasshoppers in our own eyes or we can look at ourselves as more than conquerors. We can either look at the process towards that as uncomfortable or we can choose to look at it as unstoppable.

We can choose, and truth be told, we will be required to consistently choose. Choose better. Choose life. Choose adventure.

Choose to walk in the fullness of our inheritance in Christ and never settle for anything less than what HE has promised.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)

Very heartening.

Why?

Because anytime that we are called to tread the unknown, we can take heart because His Spirit is ever present with us.

He helps us. He counsels us. He strengthens us. He empowers us. He comforts us. He guides us. He loves us. He never lets go.

Because He never lets go, we can.

We can let go of the need to know. We can let go of the need to understand. We can let go of the need to control.

Instead, we can embrace the joy and delight that is found in simple child like trust which rests in the nature and character of its Father,

Unchanging.

For the Truth that sets us free is the same: yesterday, today and forevermore.

“He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.” (Daniel 2:22, NIV)

I will let The Holy Spirit have the privilege to speak to you personally on what this verse may mean to you as you too are journeying along. But to me, this speaks of His Omnipresence. He knows what lies ahead, as the future may seem a bit obscure at times. But we take courage in the revelation that He is The One who goes before and makes all our crooked paths straight. In His foreknowledge, He already knows the path we are on and the way we must walk in this day, this time, this season for the future to unfold the way it needs to in order for us to taste of the goodness of The Lord in the land of the living. Therefore, seeking revelation knowledge through the power of The Holy Spirit to keep us in sync with His foreknowledge becomes not only our portion, but perhaps even our prize.

So, the promised land also comes with a corresponding promise:

Transformation.

For to take possession of that which has our name on it, Jesus will first transform us on the inside as we continue to be conformed to His image from one degree of glory to another; more loving, more forgiving, more gracious, more kind, more courageous and more trusting with each day that He blesses us with.

More trusting in the unchanging character of our Father at a time when we are changing on the inside, with a peaceful and patient expectancy of change, even on the outside.

A change that may come with its fair share of challenges is a change that is in fact, a breath of fresh air. It’s a welcome change as it is something that our Father uses to woo us further into His Presence, which is where the real change happens.

Suffice to say, as seasons change, let them.

Integrity.

“We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, The Passion Translation)

Years back, I had a revelation from The Lord concerning what we call, “tests.” He told me that He already knows me and what He has put deep down on the inside of me. He is sure. But He wants me to be sure too.

So the thing we like to call, “tests,” are only an opportunity for us to know ourselves. To know ourselves the way He does. For he trusts us. Tests are only sent our way to reveal to us who we are in Him. He already knows. It is for us to know.

This truth has been etched out by Him in my soul ever since. Even before something like a test comes my way, deep down I know that this is something God is using to only peel back another layer of who I am in Him. It is a tool in His Hands to not only reveal His Faithfulness as He walks me through it, but also something that on the other side, becomes a trophy of His Grace in mine.

Why am I writing about tests today?

Because truth be told, life towards the fulfillment of dreams and destiny birthed through the revelation of His Promises will be marked by them. They may come at times when we least expect them, but as His Own, we can rest.

We can rest as surely as Jesus slept in the back of the boat in the midst of a tempestuous storm. His disciples panicked and even thought that perhaps, Jesus didn’t care. When they accused Him of being unkind, He quickly rebuked the wind and the waves till calm was restored and the disciples left with an astonishing revelation as Jesus said to them,

“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:38-40, ERV)

He simply wanted them to know that they too had the authority to do what He just did. Likewise, as His Children, we too have authority when tests and trials come our way. His Name is what gives us authority and His Character is the essence of our rest. His Name has defeated death and won life everlasting for us, then in the light of this revelation, can we ever be intimidated?

No.

We may feel intimidated, but it can never get the better of us. For He who promised is Faithful.

He promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He promised to be an ever present help in times of trouble. He promised that hope will never let us be ashamed. He promised that even though we stumble, we will not fall for He upholds us with His righteous right hand. He promised that we have a spirit of power, love and a sound mind. He promised that He has hemmed us in, behind and before.

And because He has, we can rest for we know The One whom we have believed. His Love is constant and endless. His Mercy knows no bounds nor limits. His Grace is extravagant and all sufficient. His Majesty reigns and rules. His Supremacy over all things is incontestable. His Sovereignty makes all things possible.

He is the God of Love, Freedom and Purpose. When He speaks, He creates. And what He creates is what we have the privilege and delight to walk into as He takes us from one degree of glory to another. When He releases a promise from His bosom to ours, it not only becomes a guarantee of fulfillment, but also a guarantee that we will overcome.

Why?

Because He is watching to see that His Word is fulfilled.

Through every test or trial that we may encounter, we can rest in the integrity of The One who will be faithful to encounter us even more through it all. And my experience tells me with absolute certainty that when He encounters us, we never are the same again. For He makes sure that we become better than before.

And not just better than before, but even better acquainted with ourselves and The One whom we have believed. The One who not only breathed His very life into our being, but even the plans and purposes that He has destined for us to walk into. The One who enables us to put faith into action, and doesn’t let anything interfere with it. The One who overlooks all that we are not, and delights in who we are becoming. The One who has gone into all our tomorrows and yet is present by our side. The One who bestows upon us a newness of life rich with promises that are designed to bring us closer to the very One we are talking about.

For The One we are talking about is the truest person I know. And because He is True, I can trust. And when I trust, I can rest.

As I hasten to a close, the picture of the mountain that He has led me to use for this post has brought to remembrance one of the songs sung by Worship leader, Steffany Gretzinger; a song I’ve perhaps sung more than once,

“Standing on this mountaintop
Looking just how far we’ve come
Knowing that for every step
You were with us

Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful.”

And He never changes.

Integrity.

Infinite.

“Because You are limitless, we can travel weightless.”

God is infinite.

When I googled the synonyms of infinite, one of the words that caught my attention was, “boundless.”

Truly. God is boundless and not limited to the constraints of human logic or rationale. He is beyond what we see, feel and touch; a thought that brings to rememberance one of my cherished verses of Scripture,

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV)

We see glimpses of this truth in the Word of God throughout which challenges us to perhaps discern what is happening in the natural, but not be bound by it simply because the God we serve is limitless. For every problem we face, there is a corresponding promise of God. More often than not, this promise draws us into the presence of God where anything that He tells us to believe is rendered possible. His Spirit gives us insight and revelation knowledge into that which He is speaking. Our part is simply to believe.

Believe that what He is speaking is true. It usually does not make sense to our natural mind, and the Good News is that it doesn’t have to. One of the things that I recently heard Bill Johnson speak comes to mind,

“Your heart can hear what your head can’t fit.”

I love that. It stems from an absolute confidence in the goodness of God. It reflects a radical confidence in the nature of God to perform and bring to completion that which He has spoken into being.

Therefore, we can travel weightless. We can choose to simply take Him at His Word and put our trust in His Character to do that which He has already purposed in His Heart. We can cast all our burdens on Him and watch Him transform them into blessings. We can do as He says in a passage that I have crossed paths with more than once in the past few days, a passage that truly anchors us in the midst of all that seems to be swirling around us simply because it puts us in touch with the true reality of what our journey really, really looks like. So, allow me to share,

“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 4:6-7, The Passion Translation)

Friends, if His peace transcends human understanding, then His power does too. His power to rend the Heavens and make a way where there seems to be no way. His power to work signs, wonders and miracles behind the scenes that manifest in our lives in the natural at the appointed time. His power to either remove or supersede those barriers that seem to be in the way of the fruition of His promises over our lives. His power to illuminate the path in the process when things seem hazy or unclear. His power to break through the gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron, all for our good and His Glory.

His power contained within the limitlessness and boundlessness of His Majesty, yet released without constraint. For what is enshrined within Someone who is infinite is the very thing that empowers us to travel weightless.

As I draw to a gentle close here, I hope and pray that regardless of the weight of our circumstances, we will ask Him to help us cast it all on the mighty shoulders of Him who took that Cross at Calvary, simply so that you and I can travel light and free.

No burdens. No worries. No cargo.

Because HE is limitless, WE can travel weightless.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

Gentle reminder ❣️

“Your promises are good, and You make good on Your promises.”

I found myself confessing this to The Lord yesterday, and as I share it with you, I pray that we will all remember that no matter how many promises God has made, they are in Christ, “Yes,” and “Amen.” So, let us continue to pursue Him, know Him, love Him; and watch the rest take care of itself.

All my love and many blessings,

❤️

A call to persevere.

“Love that perseveres is one thing, but to persevere with love, is quite another.”

We are all called to love God, ourselves and the people around us so much so that it would be safe to say, that we were designed to be conduits of love. Love heals, restores, liberates, accepts, and as The Bible puts it, “always perseveres.” It does not give up, it does not quit but rather, continues to believe for the best. It is a dynamic force in our midst that empowers and compels us to bring forth gold from the people that God has called us to.

In my experience, when God calls us to love people, it is usually a call to persevere. We are all a complex amalgam of experiences that are bitter-sweet. As such, in our attempts to share the love that God has put within us, we will have experiences that at times leave us in the valleys, and at other times, may feel like mountain top experiences. It is not always a smooth sailing, and when dealing with a world that is full of people that are delightfully different, perseverance is key. We may not always get the responses we desire or expect, but we can choose to persevere, and the call to persevere is again something that we are called to do with love.

Whether we are believing for dreams to take flight, marriages to be restored, families to be reconciled, communities to be rebuilt, enterprises to take shape, or visions to manifest; it will always mandate perseverance. On searching the meaning of this word, Google tells me that it is synonymous with persistence, tenacity and staying power. It is the ability to stand in the midst of adversity, difficulty, trails and tribulation which are a promise from God as surely as is the crown of life that is ours to receive, once we have stood the test.

In our journey through life, perseverance is not an option, but a necessary test that we are bound to encounter from time to time. Wisdom tells me that the way we do it will determine how long we stay in the test. If we travel properly, then I believe that The Lord is able to give the required quickening which will hasten that which we are believing for.

Begs the question, “what does it really mean to travel well?”

The Lord recently gave me revelation. He told me that though it is important to cultivate love that perseveres, it is equally important to persevere with love. And not just with love, but with; joy, peace, patience , kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This spoke to me so powerfully that it literally shifted my spiritual posture and perspective to one of hope, courage, faith; all of which served to catapult me further into His Bosom to hear what else He had to say.

It came to me nearly six times (if not more) through various mediums in the span of a single day, and I knew it was my Word for the season I am currently in. Let me share,

“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7, AMP)

I knew it was The Lord. He always comes through with an unmistakable impetus for His Children. Our lives hang on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and to say the least, I was absolutely ecstatic to hear from Him at a time that was critical to my understanding of where I was in my journey with Him. As God is committed to making us more and more like Jesus, it is always helpful to know what it is that He is cultivating within us in this current season that we find ourselves in. For me, He made it crystal clear : perseverance.

Though it is not our first and natural response to get excited about something like perseverance when we would much rather have breakthrough, the truth is that even Jesus persevered. Through all the rejection, misunderstandings, insults and hardships that were destined to come His way, He persevered. The Bible tells us that He even endured The Cross for the joy that was set before Him. However, my recent conversations with The Lord have revealed that it is His desire to see us persevere not only for the joy of the reward, but to persevere WITH joy in our midst as we make our way towards the reward. A Bible verse He seems to have laid upon my heart is as follows,

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12, NIV)

Friends, as I continue to press in, what I’m learning is quite simple. We may need to persevere in our walk with The Lord, but we can take heart in the confident expectation that Christ will come through, but at the appointed time. Meanwhile, we will abide in Him as surely as He abides in us, allowing Him to transform us from one degree of glory to the next. We will stay in The Word and allow The Word to stay in us. We will confess His promises and allow His promises to dwell within us. We will grow in the revelation of what it means to be in Christ, and let that revelation permeate every crevice of our being. We will resolve to not look with our natural eyes, when God has enlightened our spiritual ones. We will learn to see every situation through the eyes of The Father. We will ask for a wise and discerning heart. We will come to an understanding that if Jesus is both, The Lion and The Lamb, then our love needs to be both tender and tenacious: tender in its approach and tenacious in its intention.

So, as I hasten to a close, my only exhortation is that as surely as we are called to persevere in love, we are also called to persevere WITH love. To be able to stand in the midst of the vicissitudes of life with unyielding peace and joy that comes from abiding in Christ will not only help us receive the upgrades in our relationship with God and thus, in our Identity in Christ; but perhaps will also pave the way for us to develop into a people that are no longer tossed to and fro, because we have learnt that the promises of God are a superior reality to what we see happen in the natural, and as long as we remain, “joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer,” we are well on our way to walking into a reality which when manifested is sure to blow all our paradigms of what Our Great God is able to do with a heart that is committed to not just love with perseverance, but to persevere with Love.

Enough said, friends.

Selah.