Alpha and Omega!

“Begin with surrender, end with praise.”

In a world that threatens to overwhelm us with challenges that need to be confronted, relationships that need to be mended, obstacles that need to be overcome and dreams that need to be nourished, we can easily cave in to apathy or complacency. But in my experience, a better way to go about it is to wake up each day to the tender mercies that He bestows upon us freely, and simply surrender.

Surrendering our plans, goals and purposes for the day, in prayer, to The One who we absolutely trust, assures us that He will guide and help us navigate with the kind of wisdom and courage that we need in order to make that day count. Psalmist David said it this way,

“At each and every sunrise you will hear my voice
as I prepare my sacrifice of prayer to you.
Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar
and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart.” (Psalm 5:3-5, The Passion Translation)

The journey of a believer is a Spirit-led one. This means that even our chockablock calendars that are jammed with appointments and meetings, need to have first savored the taste of surrender. Submitting it all at The Master’s feet is where we taste freedom, as we let go of any ungodly attachments and let God guide our every step. Giving Him permission to do so not only honors The Father, but assures our success. He rejoices when we prosper, but laying it all out at His Feet is an act that not only demonstrates, but also forges the love that we have towards Our Creator. And how many of us know that love always wins?

Sometimes, I feel life is one long conversation with God, prompted by and grounded in love. As we go from one meeting to the next and from one task to another, it is a joy to invite Him in the spaces between and commune. It is a part of our inheritance to talk to Him about what happened, and ask Him to cultivate a unique language of love, truth, grace and mercy on the inside of us. Each of us is uniquely made because each of us is designed and destined to carry The Father’s Heart in a unique, special way that only we can. So, what I believe we need is an ongoing organic, thriving relationship with The Father that gives Him radical permission to intervene, guide, course correct and lead. Our best plans when laid out before Him pale in comparison to what He has in store for us. The Word promises us,

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived — the things God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NIV)

When we have such promises from Our Great and Mighty God, we can trust Him with all that is in our hearts, allowing His Spirit to freely flow through the hours of the day, keeping us sensitive to the needs of those around us, lest we overlook the very things and people that we are actually called to. A couple of months back, I myself received a loving correction from The Lord when He said,

“Divine interruptions are in fact, divine invitations.”

Friends, this was enough to cleanse my spiritual lens and allow His Spirit to sensitize me to what HE was doing as opposed to what I wanted or needed. His interruptions are usually the very things that leave our experience of life richer and fuller. These divine invitations come packaged and guised in the most unexpected ways, but should we allow ourselves to tap into the strength and courage, the compassion and empathy, the sense of awe and wonder that is deep down on the inside of each of us, we will realize the Truth of Isaiah 55:9,

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Leaning into His thoughts and making them are own are a sure fire way to live a life that is as adventurous as it is unpredictable. But isn’t that what Our Jesus was all about?

So, as we wake up to the bright dawn that each day gifts us with, may we bring our all to all of Him, surrendering at His Feet that which when touched and guided by the swift wind of The Holy Spirit, is sure to cultivate our day in a manner that not only allows our plans to manifest in accord with The Father’s Heart, but also gives us the liberty to be the salt and light we need to be in situations and circumstances that we never saw coming, but are more than willing to engage with, in order that Someone’s Eternal Purposes are also made manifest in and through our beautiful lives.

Suffice to say, let us begin with surrender and end with praise, because Someone knows the end from the beginning, and therefore, is worthy of our surrender in the first place.

Selah.

Glorious Fingerprints!

“A God dependent life is a God made life, and a God made life is a glorious life.”

In the world today at large, the idea of making it on our own terms and in our own strength is glorified. I believe this is at the core of why many young people are crumbling under the pressure of “making it happen.” While they see success at several levels and in different facets of their lives, I believe that true contentment and fulfillment is found only in being in the center of God’s Will.

If I know anything at all, it is this. It is never God’s intention to watch His Children fall to pieces in a vain attempt to bring all their gifting and talents together to try and create something that can give them a sense of worth and value. Rather, it is God’s passionate desire to watch His Children bring their varied expressions of God-given gifts and talents, entrusting them into the hands of their Father, and expecting Him to weave a beautiful tapestry of Grace through them that not only serves to advance their individual purpose, but that of the world at large.

This inevitably mandates an absolute surrender to God’s ways, will and timing. It is a response to a revelation of The Father’s Love that is so relentless that should we never turn to Him, He will continue to love us the same simply because that is who He is. When we get a grip of that, I believe we have been launched on a journey that will see us work, build and create from a place of Identity as Beloved Sons and Daughters of The Most High, a sure foundation that will never let us down, even should the world collapse, simply because Love has a grip on our lives, and He never quits.

Psalm 127 (ESV) puts it like this,

“Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV) also comes to mind as I write,

“Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. “

Interesting, isn’t it?

Putting the two together sheds light on the truth that unless what we build is founded securely on The Name of Jesus and The Word of God in order to advance purposes that go beyond the space of our own little lives, God is not obligated to sustain it. He sustains only that which He has called us to. So, if we are building that which we know beyond a shadow of doubt is from His Bosom and for his purposes, we can rest in the assurance that what He has begun, He is Faithful to sustain and bring to maturation. This is what a life surrendered to Him must look like, friends!

Fresh Fire mandates a fresh surrender. A fresh surrender requires a new found trust. A new found trust is grounded in fresh revelations of Love. Fresh revelations of Love, in turn, position us to surrender afresh.

It truly is a Father- Child relationship forged in and through Love that gives us the boldness and courage necessary to surrender and then, depend on Him. Depend on Him for everything: guidance, direction, resources, provisions. If God started it, He will do it. But the process will change us, simply because Our God is too loving to only give us things when He can grow us into them. Intimacy with Him will enable us to hear from Him, because our journey is purely relational. Our plans will be birthed from spaces and places that find us curiously asking of The Father, “Abba, what does this mean to me and how can I partner with You?”

As Christ followers, we begin from a position of Victory. We never have to work towards it, but we do get to partner with The Lord to watch that Victory manifest in every area of our lives, bringing redemptive answers and solutions to challenges that confront us in order that we may see outcomes and results that astonish the living daylights out of us!

As Bill Johnson often says,

“It’s not too good to be true. It is so good that it is true.”

In my experience thus far, I have seen that as we depend on The Lord, we begin to experience a new found freedom that nothing can take away from. We know where our hope lies, and it serves as an anchor in the fiercest storms and deepest valleys. His Faithfulness wins our hearts, time and time again; cultivating deeper trust which brings about a greater level of surrender and dependency. We witness Our Father taking every fragment of our life, and redeeming it for our good and His Glory. But He doesn’t quite stop there. In fact, He has just begun. He has just begun to write out a story of recreation that points to The Redemptive Touch of The Master which made it possible for our lives to come into alignment once again, with God’s original design and intention towards us. He does this to ensure that the legacy continues and the baton of Faith is passed on from generation to generation.

Therefore, a God dependent life is a God made life, and because the map of such a life has His Fingerprints all over it, it brings Him much Glory. As He brings together our strengths and weaknesses, our gifts and talents, our skills and abilities, our experiences and our desires; He begins to lay the foundations to a monument of Grace that will only point to His Highest Name. The lost will come seeking and those that seek, will be found. And to think that He chose you and me for a Purpose so grand should never cease to amaze us, humble us and draw us. As we yield to this divine design, the love and light that shines forth from the depths of our being will undoubtedly point to a Light that comes from another world, a world more real than the one we find ourselves in, a world that will endure forever and is the very substratum of the joy we find in our souls this day, today.

Should we choose to keep this joy to ourselves would be a sheer thievery that robs the planet of the Glory that awaits them. But should we choose to accept our assignment, we will have embarked upon a journey and an adventure that through the pitfalls , the detours and the setbacks; will always find ourselves rise back up again to pursue the Love that first, pursued us.

The rest shall be history, my friends!

Blessings.

True Liberty

“When a soul learns to be completely dependent on You, it is truly set free.”

Control is what is plaguing the world today. The need to control everything, from the outcome of circumstances and relationships to that of dreams and visions, we seem to want to control everything. The truth however, is a sheer contrast. What we feel when we are seemingly “in control” is the very thing that actually has us in bondage. In my walk with The Lord recently, I have had to let Him deal with me on this.

I too have control issues. I think all of us do. I believe it is a defense mechanism that we have constructed to create a false sense of security, a sense of security that is in fact, quite limiting and confining, a sense of security that betrays the truth that we fear hurt and disappointment, and we still haven’t quite learned to trust.

However, what I’m learning is that in order to grow in our walk with The Lord, it is vital that we learn to let him work with us as we slowly but steadily learn to let go and let Him. Surrender and control are antonyms. If I have my basics right, Jesus wants us to surrender. I believe this is because He wants us to experience true liberty of the soul.

The firmer our clasp on the things of this world, the more we are enslaved by them. The Bible clearly says,

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

This is not to say that we don’t enjoy the things of this world. In fact, I believe we honor our Father as we take delight in what He has created for us to enjoy. But at the same time, I also believe that our love for the things of this world cannot supersede our love for Our Father. He doesn’t mind us having things, He minds things having us. The words of Jesus come to mind,

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

A revelation of the all consuming Love of The Father is what gives us the courage to relinquish control and surrender. We surrender because we trust and know The One we are surrendering to. We surrender because we understand that our human strength is but frail, but that of The Father is infinite. We surrender because we know that our own resources are limited, but those of Heaven are inexhaustible. We surrender because we are Sons and Daughters who have supreme confidence in the nature and character of our Heavenly Father. We surrender because we have been chosen to.

As I write, Matthew 7:11 continues to reverberate in my spirit,

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

We are Children of a Father who gives good and perfect gifts. He never withholds a single, good thing from us. He may have to painstakingly work through our stubborn hearts till they are strong yet soft enough to hold the weight of the blessings He wants to unleash in our lives. But for all of this to manifest, a prerequisite is our willingness to release control and simply surrender.

I write all this because it is only when we yield to the power of surrender that we allow our souls to be completely dependent on Him. This can initially be both, terrifying and liberating. However, through each stage and season, it only keeps getting easier and better, simply because He will never ask us to do that which He doesn’t empower us to. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals the Goodness and the Perfect Love of Our Father, thereby creating in us a new found capacity to believe, and surrender all control to The One in whom all things hold together, in the first place.

The degree to which we surrender control is the degree to which we allow our souls to be dependent on Him, and the degree to which our souls learn to depend on Him is the degree to which we experience true spiritual freedom, which, on this side of Eternity, is our Promised Land.

Friends, we were never designed to be enslaved and ensnared by the things of this world, rather, we were called to have dominion over them. God says so in Genesis. The Fall through the first man, Adam, may have happened, but Redemption through Our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, has too. The only possible response to this would be as The Passion Translation puts it,

“Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free – not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”

Our past may have been a track record of bondage to habits, behavior patterns, addictions, and relationships that were damaging our souls, but NOW that The Lover of our souls has bought us over from the dominion of darkness and brought us into His Marvelous Light, we have been set free forever. At this juncture, let me also be very clear that Jesus may have bought our freedom for us, but it is up to us to choose to walk in the fullness of that freedom. This is a choice we get to make every single day, in His Strength and by His Grace. The decision to choose to walk in the freedom purchased for us at Calvary is a decision that requires us to trust in His Will and Ways, as He gently works through those issues of our hearts, minds and souls that we had no hope for, but God. It is a brave decision that conveys to The Father that we trust Him to make whole that which was broken, to bind that which was wounded, to restore that which was plundered, to establish that which was shaky.

Friends, my own journey has required me to make this decision time and time again, and each time, He has come through. I am still learning to trust and surrender, but gain strength from reminding myself of all those times in my life where flesh and blood could have never saved me, but God. I’m sure you have had experiences of your own and can testify to His Faithfulness. So, together let us make a whole hearted decision today to not tackle things on our own, when we have both, the privilege and the obligation of learning to lean on Him, not because He needs us to, but because WE need to. For when a soul learns to be completely dependent on Him, it is truly set free.

Amen.

When it’s time to reveal

“In His Kingdom, it is never understood; only revealed.”

In my walk with God, it is evident that everything about Him is never understood with human reasoning, rather only revealed through the power of His Holy Spirit. From the nature and character of God to our Identity in Him to our Destiny through Him, it all revelation knowledge. As we continue to abide in Him and He abides in us; a natural by-product of this sacred communion is Revelation.

I don’t quite know about you, but in the season I’m currently walking, I have tried to understand and sought to see ahead. I believe in vision, don’t get me wrong. But there are times in our lives where we truly have to test ourselves to see if we really are walking out the Truth of the mandate;

“The just shall walk by faith, and not by sight.”

As I find myself surrendered to this Truth, I find my soul nestled back into the arms of safety within the warmth of His embrace. I find that my heart, mind and soul are free from the bondage of having it my way and liberated enough to let Him have His. I find myself evolve into a better and higher version of myself. I realize I may not have all the details of my calling figured out just yet, but can choose to rest in His Faithfulness to reveal in time all that He has in store, just like His Word promises;

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived
the things God has prepared for those who love him”

….”but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.”

It is refreshing to note that He says He reveals it to us by His Spirit. Not all at once, but enough for us to take that next small step in obedience. This is what walking by faith really is. We sense God put a desire, a prompting, a stirring in our soul by His Spirit; we choose to trust, obey, walk and watch. Watch in awe. Watch in wonder. Watch in amazement. Because He? NEVER fails to deliver.

Let me encourage you friends, that wherever it is that you find yourself in life today, be rest assured that every step of your obedience to His Voice SHALL be honored. As you sow faithfully, you will also reap bountifully. Which brings to mind another exquisite Truth about The God we serve. If you feel you have sown in one area, you may just reap a harvest in an area you never expected! This is the joy of walking with Him. He is the God of the Unexpected. He cares for what you want, but KNOWS what you need. He may just touch upon a facet of your being that you had buried under the carpet and lost all hope for, but doesn’t He delight in breathing on dry bones till they come back to life? Won’t He do it?

You bet He will.

So my hope and prayer for you, my friend, is that you will go on to believe for more and make fresh strides of faith. You will allow His Spirit to ignite within you fresh fire that can fall only from Heaven. You will be consumed with fresh passion in your walk with Him, confident that what you sow in obedience to your revelation knowledge at this point in time is what will move the heart of Heaven, positioning you to receive blessings which otherwise would have been forfeited.

I’m guessing that’s why He has you reading this.He knows. He cares. He is Faithful. So, the only thing that remains is this :

When we find ourselves cradled in the arms of such undeniable Faithfulness, let us rest in our affirmation of what I believe He put on my heart today,

“In Your Kingdom, it is never understood, only revealed.”

And that’s perfect, Abba!

Amen.