Recently, while praying over one another during our home church time, one of our kids said in their prayer…

Daddy is our family’s foundation.  He’s given us a firm foundation.  Mama is the form around that foundation.  She gives us a solid shape and boundary around that foundation. 

I thought it was such a beautiful picture.

This is such a representation of Jesus as our foundation and Holy Spirit giving it form and shape. 

What a wonder!

God is constantly using family and marriage to reflect Himself. 

Marriage is supremely important to God.  Family is supremely important to God.  They weren’t created on a whim.  No.  Both were made intentional and with so much purpose.  It’s no wonder that’s the thing the enemy is fighting so hard to destroy…making the government the family of the people.

It is not to be so!

Never!

We cannot let the enemy usurp the will and purpose of God in the family unit. 

We must fight for the family.

If we build upon the foundation of Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom to house it, we will see wonders we could never imagine!

Arise builders!

Arise and build upon the foundations you’ve been provided.

Christ is our firm foundation. 

I encourage you to take time today to ask God to come and establish you and your family.  Ask Him to show you the foundation you’ve built your life upon.  If it’s anything but Jesus, then repent and allow Him to come and re-establish His rule and reign in your life.

We cannot build upon a faulty foundation and without a solid form.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.  But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 3:10-11

He leads me along still waters…He restores my soul.

Disconnect.

I keep feeling the world and all its troubles screaming at each one of us.  Demanding our attention. 

But we all know that when a toddler is having a tantrum, the best recourse is to ignore.

The enemy is desperate to distract us.  That’s his supreme goal in order that we would miss…everything.

What better way to destroy the plan and purpose of God than to not even allow people the peace of mind to discover just what it is. 

We decide to walk with God by the still waters.  He leads, but we must decide to follow. 

Have you ever been around a person who seems determined to stay panicked?  I have. 

Have you ever been around a person who seems determined to live in drama?  I have. 

We decide to live in peace.  If someone is chronically panicked, they are not living in the presence of the Prince of Peace.  We decide to walk alongside the quiet waters…restoring our souls. 

Our soul…is comprised of our mind, will, and emotions.

Knowing that, it’s no wonder that mental illness is on the rise.

God restores our souls.  We need Him.  We need peace.  We need quiet. 

Today I encourage you to draw near to God and ask Him to take you by the still waters and to restore your soul.  Invite Him to come close.  Respond to Him.  Reach out to Him.  Let Him draw you near.  Accept His embrace and return it to Him. 

I encourage you to learn how to center your spirit.  To essentially ground yourself in His peace.   To take command of your wandering mind and draw it back to peace. 

He leads you by still waters.  He restores your soul.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; You rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Psalm 23

I woke up feeling suffocated.  I woke from a dream and in the dream, I began to feel things closing in on me.  I jumped out of bed and began to take authority over this familiar feeling.  This spirit I’ve been battling for a few years.  The one who is such a coward that it largely comes only at night.  When I’m sleeping.  When I’m most vulnerable.  The one who comes to attack the sacred time when I rest in God’s hand. 

The world isn’t closing in on me.  it’s a lie. 

The sky hasn’t come closer.  It’s a lie.

I can breathe.  Breathlessness is a lie.  

Focus.

Take one breath.

Now another.

Repeat.

Take command of those intruding thoughts.

I am safe.

God is here.

Christ comes and breathes into my mouth and I am full of air.

He is teaching me.  Am I willing to learn?  Yes.  Emphatically and resoundingly, I say, “Yes”.

I have authority over all of this, because of Jesus.  He gives us authority.  I speak to anxiety in the name of Jesus, and it flees.

Such wonder and peace come when we discover that we need nobody but Jesus.  We need nothing but Jesus. 

This season of my life…all the past 5 or 6 years…has been about establishing this…that truly, all I need is Jesus.  He is my wise Counsel.  He is my best Friend.  He is my first Love.  He is my yes and amen.  He is my Pastor.  My Everything.  I don’t need anything that He cannot give me. 

Neither do you.

Do you realize this?

You only need God. 

Today I encourage you to open to the idea that we truly only need God.  Community is lovely, but it’s not necessary…otherwise, what would life have been for those who live in the farthest places?  Community is good…but it’s not a replacement for being steeped in His Presence.  We desire community because it can add so much, but it was never meant to replace the voice of God. 

There are some who walk in wonderful community their whole lives.  But others are called to a different path.  The trail blazers.  The forerunners.  Those who press in and are used by God to forge the way forward.  Those who experience a far different type of community. 

Both types of people are wonderful and valuable, but one is not correct at the expense of the other being wrong. 

I’ve never been alone.  Not for one moment.  Not for a day.  Or even a breath.  I am surrounded.  God with us, Emmanuel.  My tribe is heavenly. 

Whether you have a tribe you can see with earthly eyes, or a tribe in the heavens…both are valuable. 

It was only when God separated our family from the fold that we realized how many surrounded us, in the heavenly places. 

Now breathe in and breathe out.

Be still and know that I am God.  There is nothing to fear.   

*Note: For quite some time now God has been strongly speaking to me that EVERY believer must establish an individual dependance upon Him.  There will come a time, though we know not when, that we will only have God.  We won’t be able to rely on another’s faith or wisdom.  If you were completely alone, would you survive?  Would you know His voice and be able to respond to His instruction?  In this season of grace, we must reach in and establish our individual walk with Him…so that in the end we will not turn away.  There is nothing to fear. 

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  Genesis 2:7

God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.  ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’  Acts 17:27-28

As I sat in the Presence, I saw God place a mark upon my heart.  It was a shiny, golden mark.  He said, “I’ve marked you to receive My blessings.” 

I felt this truth settle upon me…but I felt a nagging within…a knowing…

I asked, “Then what is blocking me from advancing and receiving all these blessings?”  I saw a spirit obstruct the view.  That spirit existed right in front of me. 

What is this?

I instantly knew it was a form of fear.  Fear of man, fear of rejection, many different fears…all in one spirit.

“God rescue me from all fears, in Jesus’ name!”, I cried out.

Peace came and rested upon me immediately, and from that moment to this I’ve been changed.

Something has shifted.  Even when confronted with some potentially stressful news, which used to set me off in a spiral of fear, I was completely cool, calm, and collected…and more than that…I was confident.

I have felt a confidence resting upon me that I haven’t previously known.

God marks His people.  We know that.  We are marked for heaven.  But we are also marked for blessings.  It would be impossible to become an adopted child of a King and not receive blessings abundant…right?

We are now God’s adopted children.  We are made to be blessed.

Today, I encourage you to sit for a while.  Close your eyes.  Focus your heart upon God.  Ask Him if you too are marked for blessings.  Once you see, ask Him if anything is blocking you from receiving them in fullness.  Thank Him for removing all the obstacles and then get ready…because the blessings are coming.  We are designed to have more than enough…do you know why?  So, we can share with others and draw them into the Kingdom, as well.  God desires to provide for His creation.  He longs to use us as vessels of blessings for others. 

Are you ready to receive?

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Psalm 23:5-6

I’ve been thinking about jealousy a lot lately.  Many of the wounds I’ve suffered at the hands of others were driven by jealousy, I now realize.  Many of the things my children have suffered at the hands of others, have also been borne from that same root.  Much of the bad advice we receive also comes from this root…others pretend to want the best for us but will sabotage us with bad advice because they really don’t want us to do better than they are doing.  They act like we are wrong for celebrating our families and lives when God’s blessing us, because they may be going through a hard time…but the courage to face difficult seasons can come from observing God’s goodness resting on another person, therefore reminding us that it won’t always be this way.

Jealousy.

What’s the deal?

Then this morning I read the Scripture below and it really made me think…the whole way of the world is based on a jealous root.  The same root that led the devil to stand against God, therefore, giving him and his demons a one-way ticket out.  He was jealous for God’s glory.

Jealousy…

Read this Scripture…

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?  Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?  You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.  You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.  Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong- you want only what will give you pleasure.  James 4:1-3

We have not because we ask not…

That’s what I’ve been dwelling on lately.

Dwelling and then opening my heart to openly ask.  Ask without restraint or apology.  Looking into the Father’s heart and asking Him to reveal my motivations and allowing Him to weed out my requests and change me, all at the same time. 

Why do I desire success in this life?

I know my answer with certainty, do you?

I desire success because God has shown me what He has planned for my family.  In desiring success, I’m simply agreeing with what He’s shown me.

It’s much easier to walk in abundance when you’ve taken time to see what God desires for you as an individual and as a family.

Asking for what He’s revealed isn’t selfish, it’s an act of gratitude.  Allowing Him to work it out for you is also an act of gratitude. 

The whole attitude of, “I’m gonna get what’s mine.” Is the worldly spirit of poverty.  It’s the opposite of trusting in the goodness of God. 

He is always and forever more than enough. 

Jealousy is unnecessary. 

I encourage you to evaluate your heart today.  Ask God to show you if you are operating from jealousy in any area.  If you are, then repent, and move forward.  Give the poverty spirit to God and in return receive a spirit of abundance!

I sat with my eyes closed and focused on Jesus. 

What do You want to say to me today?

I saw myself holding a small clay pot.  The water of Holy Spirit trickled in, filling it up.  I tilted it toward my mouth to drink, but as I did, I saw the clay mixing with the water and contaminating it.  Then I asked God to glaze the pot with Holy Spirit so I could consume Him uncontaminated by myself.  To receive wholly.  To receive purely.  I saw a shiny glaze come over the pot and I felt hydrated as I drank deeply.  I also felt peace and clarity come over my mind. 

God reminded me that we must be sealed by Him if we are to receive purely.  Our minds hold the contamination of wrong perception.  Wrongs from the past.  Faulty thinking.  Selfishness.  Self-condemnation.  A myriad of different things muddy the purity of His word released over our heart.

Oh God!!! Seal me with Your presence.

The only way a clay pot becomes sealed is through glaze put into the fire.  It must be fired in the kiln to become solid.

Let Your fire fall on me Lord!!!!

Today I encourage you to go before God and discern whether or not your clay pot is sealed.  If it isn’t, then ask God to come and place it in the fire.  Don’t be afraid.  Just know that maturity really only comes from walking through fire.  Don’t you want to embrace it, rather than run away? 

God seal our hearts.  Restore our thoughts and help us to see You clearly.  Don’t allow the mud of our past and wrong thinking to distort Your word over our lives.  Come Holy Spirit and seal us.  Seal us with Your presence.  You are the best teacher.  Thank You for loving us.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Yet You, Lord are our Father.  We are the clay, You are the Potter; we are all the work of Your hand.  Isaiah 64:8

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message.”  So, I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.  Then the word of the Lord came to me.  He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord.  “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, Israel.  Jeremiah 18:1-6

Parenting never ends…we walk through life with those we bring into it…from the cradle to the grave.  Just as Christ walks with us…parenting being a reflection of our walk with Him…

The biggest lie I was sold when I first became a mother was that I could really have freedom once my kids began to go to school every day.  For some reason most of the moms around me were most focused on being freed from these precious lives that they had pretended to desire so deeply. 

Why?

Why is it so bad to be a parent?

What’s wrong with sacrificing our time, our individual goals and dreams to partner as a family unit.

I found so much frustration and emptiness when I attempted to follow the status quo.  I was always irritated.  Always tired.  Everything felt like a stretch.  I hated having my kids shipped off to basically be raised by teachers.  Trained by people who barely knew them. 

What values did those teachers have and did they even truly care about my children?  What happens when they sneak a corrupt teaching into the day and my kids don’t notice but it takes root in their hearts?  How do I maintain a true connection with their hearts when we get precious few moments together in the evenings and most of it is consumed with homework or sports practice?

Again, parenting is a reflection of our walk with Jesus…all these same scenarios can be stated from His perspective too…He should be our first parent, teacher, friend, love…

We’ve been sold a lie.

That lie masquerades as a successful life.

I hate it.

I spit it out of my mouth because the taste of it is like bile.

Rise up parents!!!  Rise up!!!

Take back the gift God gave to you.  Become a true parent.  Don’t just get caught up in the tumult of activities you’re pulled into.  Make real decisions and don’t worry about outside influences.

Be the main influence in your kids lives.  Don’t be afraid that you’re not enough…you aren’t ever going to be enough, but that’s not the point.  The point is that God is enough and if we can stay content and focused on the lives before us, then we will walk in plenty not in want.

When we are given children, we are given a lifetime to be an example.  A lifetime to be a counselor and to become a counselor/friend.  It’s a privilege, not a burden.  It’s a joy.  It can lead to the greatest contentment we ever experience.

Oh, the gift of contentment.

What is achievement anyway?

In the past I would’ve answered one way, but today I’d say…achievement is raising children who know they are loved, who are unafraid to venture out and fail because they know our home is safe, who are brave enough to be creative, who love with all their might and don’t hide it, who know Jesus and have real relationship with Him. 

What’s the value of church if it never leads to a real relationship with Jesus? 

Today, I encourage you to take stock of your life.  Are you following the status quo just because it’s all you’ve ever known, or are you following Jesus?

That’s the foundational question we must all face, no matter what season of life we are currently living. 

Am I following Jesus or just what I feel is expected of me?

Begin there…I’m excited to see where it leads you!

Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord.  Joyful are those who obey His laws and search for Him with all their hearts.  They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in His paths.  You have charged us to keep Your commandments carefully.  Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect Your decrees!  Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with Your commands.  As I learn Your righteous regulations, I will thank You by living as I should!  I will obey Your decrees.  Please don’t give up on me!  Psalm 119:1-8

We should never be afraid to enter into the Presence of God. 

He allows us to have such intimate access to Him.  We must embrace this access if we want to live in the fullness of heaven on earth.

Let heaven come…

On earth as it is in heaven.

Do you believe it’s possible?

For it to be on earth as in heaven.

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.  For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’”  Matthew 6:9-15

God’s wants to see His will done on earth as in heaven.

Will you enter into His Presence?

Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord.  These gates lead to the presence of the Lord, and the godly enter there.  I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory!  The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.  This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.  This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.  Please, Lord, please give us success.  Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  We bless You from the house of the Lord.  The Lord is God, shining upon us.  Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.  You are my God, and I will praise You!  You are my God, and I will exalt You!  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  His faithful love endures forever.  Psalm 118:19-29

This Sunday, I encourage you to enter into His presence boldly.  Then ask Him to fill this earth with His glory as He rests upon you. 

We are made to carry His Presence in our hearts and shine it into the earth.

Go forth and shine bright!

Enter into His Presence and exalt Him in all the earth!

This morning, as I sat to write for you…I was thinking about what it is that I do.

I thought of the way I know, confidently, that if I read Scripture, then I can almost always find a word to write from it.  The Word of God is alive, and I am confident in it.  Then I heard God saying, this is a gift He’s given me, and I should acknowledge that. 

So, I am doing that right now.

I acknowledge that writing these is a privilege.  I’m thankful to do it.

You too have giftings.  Maybe yours is also to write and teach.  Maybe yours is singing or drawing or counseling…

But whatever it is…

Today I encourage you to do it with courage.

Courage.

There has not been a moment when writing hasn’t required courage.  There have also always been those around me who speak to me that they are afraid to have the responsibility of teaching anything because it holds us to a higher standard, and we will answer for that which we’ve taught. 

While this is true, it’s not a reason to run away from your calling.

God’s grace extends over all things, including an ill-timed written or taught word. 

He forgives.

It’s not like God is watching and just waiting for us to make a mistake so He can smite us.  On the contrary it’s always a teachable moment.  He’s always teaching us.

So, whatever you do, do it with courage.

Today I encourage you to embrace whatever it is that God has called you to do.  Stop apologizing and simply take a stand.  Stand firmly and allow God to begin to transform you in the midst of it all.

The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.  Proverbs 28:1

I’ve noticed that we walk through many different stages in parenting.  In the beginning we must do everything to keep our little one alive.  Without us feeding them and caring for them, they would die.  We are their everything.  As they grow our role in their life begins to change.  Every season of their growth leads to another moment of release…but our parenting never truly ends.

It never ends.

Our example to our children lasts.  We spend the rest of our lives showing our children the way to walk through life. 

It’s our decision whether we teach them by good example, or as something to avoid.

Let that word hit your heart, even if it stings a little.

If it stings, then I’m glad because we all have improvements to make and the sting, we feel is evidence that we are still willing to be provoked toward change.

I have decided to always be willing to change.

It’s literally a conscious decision I’ve made.  I make it daily as I talk with Jesus.  I invite His hand of change into my heart.  When I feel myself becoming stiff and resistant in one area, I stop myself and ask God if I need to be changed.  The answer has always been, “Yes”.

We are supposed to be in a constant state of changing.  Being transformed into His likeness.  Bit by bit.  Day by day.  Moment by moment.  We are changed.

Are you willing?

Even if your children are grown you are still a parent.  Not to boss them around.  Not to tell them what to do, but to be a godly example through every season of our lives. 

As parents we have the unique opportunity to forge the path forward…let’s not lead our families astray.

Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, or riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.  After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in, your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.  Proverbs 27:23-27

What kind of legacy will you leave your family?  One they must tear down to renovate or one they can firmly build upon…