I keep hearing, “I am on the cusp of something really great.”  This word will not leave my mind and has been swirling around me for a couple of weeks.

I believe that not only am I on the cusp of moving into something great, but so is America.  I am unapologetically an intercessor for America.  It is my mission field and has been my heart for most of my lifetime.

I am declaring over America that we are on the cusp of a great and wonderful transition.  We are about to see a return to holy values.  As the enemy is obviously so stirred up right now, I am increasingly aware that he sees something to really be afraid of.  So when I see all the craziness being broadcast through the news and other outlets, instead of feeling discouraged, I feel encouraged because I know the only reason the enemy would fight so hard is because he sees he’s losing something.  That something is our country.  We are one nation under GOD.

I am sending out a clarion call to all those who would lay down their criticism of our country and simply believe God is not finished here.  He is not done molding us into what He desires our country to become.

God IS NOT finished.

Until Jesus comes riding on a cloud, wrapped in Righteousness, I will fight with all my heart, mind and soul for America.

Let it come Lord!  Let Your Spirit invade America.  Lord, grab hold of all the wayward sons and daughters roaming the landscape of America.  Help me to be love to the most unlovely among us.  God, give me Your heart for America.  Give me Your eyes to see the truth around me.  Give me courage to walk out the calling You have placed in my heart, and help me to not relent until I see Your glory pour over the face of this earth.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:  “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.  For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.  They overcame him with the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.  Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!  But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!  He is filled with fury, because he knows his time is short.      Revelation 12:10-12

At the same time yesterday when God spoke to me “epicenter”, He also spoke another word, “crest”

Crest- a comb or tuft of feathers, fur or skin on the head of a bird or other animal.  -the top of something, especially a mountain or hill.  – a distinctive device borne above the shield of a coat of arms, or separately reproduced, for example on writing paper or silverware, to represent a family or corporate body.   Verb: reach the top of (something such as a hill or wave)

When I heard the word “crest”, I immediately saw the frothy top of a wave.  I saw myself riding in on the top of that wave.  The wave had crested and now the tide was rolling in.

This is significant for me personally.  So much of life over the last several years has felt like a drifting.  Drifting at sea and wondering when we would reach the shore.  Wondering if I would drown.  Wondering if the tide would ever roll in.

I saw this as God saying that it is now time for that to happen.

Suddenly, I feel gratitude for all of the time and effort and stillness that I have invested in waiting on the Father to make the waves and cause the tide to come in.  You see, we can’t make the waves.  Ask any surfer, there is much more at play.  But what a surfer does is paddle out and wait.  They check the weather and look for the signs of a great surf.  But no matter what the forecast is, God alone causes the waves.  No surfer can paddle hard or long enough to stir the ocean into waves.  Not even a group of thousands of surfers paddling in unison can do that.

What is the point?

I believe sometimes as believers, we are so busy trying to “stir” up the Presence and move of God that we miss seeing other places where He is actually moving.

My “job” is to be watching and waiting and soaking in His Presence, and when I see Him moving in some place I go there.  That’s what I am to do.  Let God be God and go where He is.

Amen!  Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!  Revelation 7:12

Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.  1 John 2:15-17

This morning during my quiet time, I asked God what He had to say about me and what His thoughts of me were.  His answer, “Epicenter”.  I felt Him speaking over me that I am the epicenter of a move of His Spirit upon the earth.  I immediately felt worried that the word was too big and self-centered for me, but He didn’t let that thought land in my heart as He quickly spoke to me that when He says that of me it is accurate because Christ lives in me so it is not Him stating that I am the epicenter apart for Jesus, quite the contrary, I am the epicenter because I hold Jesus inside and that compounds every move I make and causes it to be the epicenter of a majorly impacting move of His Spirit upon the earth.

After this encounter with the Father and His heart for me, I looked up the full definition of the word, just like I always do…..

Epicenter:  The point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.                              -the central point of something, typically a difficult or unpleasant situation.

That definition reinforced what I heard from Him about the epicenter being me because Christ is inside of me.  “The point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.  He is the focus.

How amazing are Your thoughts to me, O God.  You wrap Yourself so intricately around everything in the most amazing ways.

I hope this word inspires you to press into God’s heart for yourself.  Will you be the epicenter for His works around you?  Are you willing to be impacted as well as impactful?  Are you willing to lay aside false humility and fully embrace the magnitude of the earthquake God longs to create through your life on this earth?

For far too long I have been in a tug of war with worrying about glorifying myself above the Father.  What I now know is, my heart is set on Him and bringing glory to His name.  What He showed me this morning was, I am not trusting Him enough to let Him move through me with His power.  Being constantly afraid of stealing glory from God, is actually stealing glory from God in my life.  Somehow the idea that I must be less, is causing Him to have to be less in and through me.  That is not at all what my heart intended.

Oh God, forgive me.  Forgive my foolishness.  Remove every shred of false humility from within my heart and mind.  Help me to trust You enough to trust that if I ever begin to occupy the throne You reside in within my heart and life, You would gently guide me back on the correct course.  The earth and everything in it are created to worship You, and so I will live a life of abandoned worship.  Let my life be a blueprint of a life surrendered fully to the Father.  Let every breath I breathe be filled with Your praises.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them singing:  “To Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”  The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.  Revelation 5:13-14

Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  1 Corinthians 13:4b-5

When we reflect on all the “love is nots” in the Bible, it can feel so overwhelming.  It can feel like a constant defeat to look at the list of what love is meant to be.  I think if we are each honest we would admit that we can never really live up to all of that, all the time.  At least I know that I can’t.

When I began to unfold these thoughts the other day, I heard, “Love is not…” and the list unfurled, but then I heard, “but Jesus.”

I think that’s the whole point.  We could never live up to the Biblical definition of love, but Jesus.  I believe it’s things like this that remind us and keep us ever focused on the fact that we so desperately need Jesus.

It’s true we know that we cannot get to heaven without having Jesus in our hearts.  Likewise, we are dependent upon Him for our every interaction.  We will never achieve the absolute pure expression of love while we are on this earth, but Jesus.  He continually guides and refines and molds us into more of His likeness.

Instead of letting the list of “does nots” make us feel defeated and downtrodden, what if we continually allow it to feel like a goal.  Something to reach for and grow closer to every day.  I think that is what God intends.

He first uses His word to convict, then to mold us.

I have grown to truly love that holy and gentle conviction He gives.  He is so gentle all the time.  His reprimand has never been heavy handed in my life.  No, He’s been more like a gentle hand leading me in the way everlasting.  Will you allow Him to do the same for you?  Can you stop being afraid of failure and just let your process be….well…. a process?  Our lives are a constant process and then one day we arrive, not while on this earth, but in heaven.  Looking into the face of the Father Who has always loved us and never forsaken us.  Full of compassion and wisdom and grace, that’s my Daddy.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.  1 Corinthians 13:1-3

 

As I have begun watching the leaves fall from the trees again, I have heard a resounding thought, “The leaves may be dying, but the tree has only begun to live.”  Isn’t it true though, that a tree doesn’t lose it’s leaves as a sign of death, but rather life.  A circling of seasons.  It’s a necessary part of the process.

We are the same.  Some things we carry in our hearts and minds, must die off in order for more of God to fill that space.  If we never let go, how will we grow and develop the newness of Christ?

Have you allowed the old to fall away from your life, or are you clinging to every leaf even though your holding something that is dead and no longer lends a life-giving hand to your life?  Sometimes we say we long for change, but if we’re honest we would admit that if change has anything to do with letting go of the past then we aren’t interested.  If it means forgiving and letting the past lose its grip on our hearts, sometimes we feel that invalidates the magnitude of what had happened.  I have learned through personal experience that this is a trick.  A lie.  The enemy wants nothing to do with you moving on.  No, it serves him much better for you to hold on long and hard to past hurts because he resides in the bitterness and can twist your thoughts into a tangled mess.

Imagine a trees roots attempting to grow, but one is holding onto something.  It would cause a tangling.  This is where some of us are today.

I know you don’t want to be this way.  Why not let go?  Today could be the day that you lay down your right to be angry and hurt.  I bet you never realized that true freedom comes from letting all that go.  It doesn’t invalidate any wrong thing that’s happened to you, but it does bring you the power to move forward.  Forgiveness is a most powerful weapon against the enemy.

You may be saying, “But _____ doesn’t deserve forgiveness!”  My reply is simply this, “Neither did you when Jesus died on the cross for you.  In fact, you didn’t even know Him yet.  But He did it anyway.  Even though He knew every wrong thing you would ever do, He died.”  Who are we to hold onto a grudge against anyone?  God isn’t asking us to do anything He’s not already done.  We love because He first loved us.  We forgive because He first forgave us too.

God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him.  There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because He first loved us.  If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.  And He has given us this command:  Whoever loves God must also love his brother.  1 John 4:16b-21

Last week, I saw part of Thor: Ragnarok.  I came into the room as Thor was facing his own sister in battle.  She said, “Don’t you know who I am?  I am the queen of death.”  At this point it seems as if she will soundly defeat Thor, as he simply doesn’t seem to be as powerful as she.  Then she taunts him saying, “What is it that you are king of?”  She says this multiple times as she is attempting to choke him to death.  Then suddenly, he closes his eyes.  You see his dad standing in a field and they begin to talk to one another.  Lightening begins to flash over he and his sister, as he remembers his identity and throws her off.  It was an amazing moment, as I saw Marvel unknowingly demonstrating the power of identity and to top that off, that it should come from the father.

Never underestimate where, when or how God can and will speak to you.  He speaks to me during secular movies, particularly ones with superheroes, all the time.

We lose power when we forget who and Whose we are.  It’s so important to regularly meet with the Father so you don’t forget.

If you read much of the Bible at all, you will see over and over again how often we forget who and Whose we are.  The Israelites could be saved by a clear miracle in one moment, only to forsake the Kingdom the next.

It is important to know who you are.  It is not selfishness or self-centered to see who God has made you to be.  On the contrary, it’s wisdom.

God is repeatedly reminding me who I am.  I seem to need constant affirmation.  I am weak in that area.  Words of affirmation is a strong love language for me.  But even if it’s not your number one love language, you still need it.  We can’t live fully for Him if we don’t also know who He created us to be and what He created us to do and carry into the world.

Father, I ask that You speak to each person who reads this devotional.  Sprinkle Your thoughts of them throughout their day and open their eyes to see it.  Tell them who they are to You.  Be relentless with them Father.  I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, Who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.  Colossians 3:1-4

 

 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.  John 10:10

This verse keeps circling my mind over and over again.  I keep hearing, “And have it to the full”.  The full.

Are you living life to “the full”?

And then the first part of the verse….I think we often rush past it and don’t fully notice something.  The ONLY thing the thief does is steal, kill and destroy….That’s the ONLY thing he does.  That means there is no, I mean absolutely no, good in him.  None.

I believe the only way to live life to the full, is to first realize that the enemy is, well, the enemy.  Period.  There really is no grey area.  He is evil.  God is holy.

The only way to live life to the full is to walk in agreement with God.

Our world is full of voices contrary to the way of God, it’s up to us to hold every thought captive, and weigh every voice we hear.  Ask yourself, “Is this life giving?  Does this build up or tear down?  Is this a voice of peace or fear?”  With a few basic questions you can quickly begin to sift through the noise of the day.  It just takes some deliberateness.

I encourage you to begin to do this today.  Don’t let the enemy steal one more second of the fullness you are meant to live!

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:3-4

If the Lord delights in a man’s way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.  I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.   They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.  Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.  For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake His faithful ones.  Psalm 37:23-28

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which was against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.  1 Peter 2:11-12

 

 

 

I see people lining up at the beginning of their day, ready to step onto a merry go round.  They are not smiling and not happy, because it’s not the merry go round of childhood joys, it’s a merry go round of the constant battles of life.

Do you ever feel like you are fighting the same battle over and over again?  Do you wonder, “How many times will I have to go through this?”  I absolutely know that I have felt this way.

Have you ever stopped and asked God why this is so?  I have.  And it always leads me to reflect upon my personal responses and behaviors.  In other words, if you (or I) are fighting the same thing over and over again, then something within ourselves needs to be changed.

It could be a simple thought pattern.  It could be an area of sin.  It could be that God is strengthening you in a certain way, but no matter what, make sure you stop and ask.  There is no reason to mindlessly fight the same battle every day.

Life changes.  Seasons shift.  That’s the true way of things.  What we carry in our spirit attracts other spirits.  It’s true.  Have you ever noticed how certain types of people always seem to find each other in new groups?  Like speaks to like, is what we always say.  That’s true, but I’ve really discovered it’s our spirits attracting others.  I really want my spirit to attract the optimists.  The overcomers.  The unstoppables.  The intimate worshipers.  What would you like to attract?

Think about that as you head out into this day.  Be the person you want to attract.  Be the better you.

And if you happen to feel like the child who fell off their horse on the merry go round and got dragged around on the ground as it relentlessly continued to circle, just make a decision to stop.  Take command of your thoughts and hold each one captive unto the Lord.  Make a decision to find joy and learn how to walk in it.  Believe me, it can be done.

Blessings friend.

I find such encouragement from the following verses…..

How priceless is Your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings.  They feast on the abundance of Your house; You give them drink from Your river of delights.  For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.  Continue Your love to those who know You, Your righteousness to the upright in heart.  Psalm 36:7-10

 

 

 

 

As I look around the landscape of my heart, I see a tree.  On that tree are many different cicada shells, left empty but clinging to the tree before eventually being swept away by the wind.  Those are all the parts of my “old self”.  Places where I have outgrown my once small thoughts on life and God.  They are old mindsets that were bound by poverty spirit, religious thinking and boundaries within which I had required God to reside.  Now, I eagerly shed this shell each time I find a new depth of His Presence.  I no longer pretend to know His fullness, I only know the fullness that has been revealed to me thus far.  I only hope to always be willing to see new depths my entire life.  I never want to outgrow my awe of Him.  I only want to outgrow the limitations I had previously placed upon my understanding of Him.

Do you?

Have you allowed God to break out of the mold you had placed Him in?  Have you allowed His true Presence to be set free within your life?  God is so much larger than anything we could hope or imagine.  He is the Creator of the entire earth and all within it.  Why then, do we place restrictions upon Him?  Why do we decide what is Him, or not?  Shouldn’t we simply ask Him instead?

He moves in mysterious and sometimes unusual ways.  Those are the things I’ve learned to love most about Him.

Take some time to meditate on the following scriptures and see what God has to say to you about them….

This is what the Lords says- the Holy One of Israel and your Creator:  “Do you question what I do for My children?  Do you give Me orders about the work of My hands?  I am the one who made the earth and created the people to live in it.  With my hands I stretched out the heavens.  All the stars are at My command.  I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill My righteous purpose, and I will guide his actions.  He will restore My city and free My captive people- without seeking a reward!  I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”  This is what the Lord says:  “You will rule the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans.  They will come to you with all their merchandise, and it will all by yours.  They will follow you as prisoners in chains.  They will fall to their knees in front of you and say, ‘God is with you, and He is the only God.  There is no other.’”  Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, You work in mysterious ways.  All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated.  They will all be disgraced together.  But the Lord will save the people of Israel with eternal salvation.  Throughout everlasting ages, they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.  For the Lord is God, and He created the heavens and earth and put everything in place.  He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos.  “I am the Lord,” He says, “and there is no other.  I publicly proclaim bold promises.  I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.  I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found.  I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare what is right.  Isaiah 45:11-19

 

 

There is a space that I have found, where silence and rest abound.  No longer held by the tools and trappings of the endless noise, I have found a place where rest is found.  It is within the Presence of the Lord.  In His Presence I can find stillness even in a room full of noises and distractions.

Did you know you could walk contrary to the noise of the world, while still being in the world?

It’s true, you can.  Silence and stillness is an inside job, just like joy.  I carry a stillness and silence within my spirit.  That stillness never leaves.  The world cannot rob me of it because it came from the Father.  I chose to walk in that every day.

I’m not saying I never feel overwhelmed or distracted, but what I am saying is, I have learned that I don’t have to respond to those feelings when they begin to rise-up.  As I mature in the Lord, I have discovered that I carry a strong peace.  The only time I seem to begin to “lose it”, is if I allow it to go.  When I lose focus on the Father, it’s because I have become subject to distraction.

I praise the Lord that I am now more aware of this than ever.  I pray that today, you become increasingly aware of it as well.

When you asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, you received citizenship in Heaven.  You are no longer of this world, only living in it.  As if a visitor from a distant land, you reside here temporarily.  We can live differently from those on earth.  We communicate with a Heavenly Father, we are to be Heaven minded.

I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them.  I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that You take them out of the world, but that You protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.  John 17:13-19

We don’t need to escape the world, we only need to embrace the Savior.  Will you take time to seek out the silence He places within you?  That place where His Spirit resides within you.  The place where Heaven meets earth inside your heart.  Embrace that part of yourself.  That place where Christ resides within you.  And as you walk out this day, lean into that stillness.  No matter what occurs, live in that place of peace.  The place where you experience Heaven on earth.