Browsing Tag

Word of God

Still Small Voice

Glimpses of Hope

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et faith rise up, my child. Stop holding on to what if’s. Believe for what can be. Trust in my word, and in my power. Understand that I can do all things. All means all. Put all your trust in me. I will not disappoint you. Believe for it because your faith can move mountains and then you will see the promises of your God fulfilled. What can you do today to step forward in faith? Start with your thoughts. Fill your mind with my word. Cast down rogue imaginations and use your imagination to create what has been given to you by faith. I will give you visions of your future —glimpses of hope. You will find them in my treasure cove. They are words strung together in power to produce a living proof of my love for you.

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. —Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.—2 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. —Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭KJV‬‬

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eja que la fe se levante, hija mía. Deja de aferrarte a lo que puede pasar. Cree en lo que puede ser. Confía en mi palabra y en mi poder. Entiende que puedo hacer todas las cosas. Todo significa todo. Pon toda tu confianza en mí. No te decepcionaré. Cree en ello porque tu fe puede mover montañas y entonces verás cumplidas las promesas de tu Dios. ¿Qué puedes hacer hoy para dar un paso adelante en la fe? Comience con tus pensamientos. Llena tu mente con mi palabra. Derriba las imaginaciones deshonestas y usa tu imaginación para crear lo que te ha sido dado por la fe. Te daré visiones de tu futuro, destellos de esperanza. Los encontrarás en mi cala del tesoro. Son palabras unidas con poder para producir una prueba viviente de mi amor por ti.

Jesús contestó: —Tengan fe en Dios. Pues les aseguro que si alguien le dice a este cerro: “¡Quítate de ahí y arrójate al mar!”, y no lo hace con dudas, sino creyendo que ha de suceder lo que dice, entonces sucederá. —San Marcos‬ ‭11‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭DHH

Y así destruimos las acusaciones y toda altanería que pretenda impedir que se conozca a Dios. Todo pensamiento humano lo sometemos a Cristo, para que lo obedezca a él. —2 Corintios‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬ ‭DHH

La fe es garantía de las cosas que esperamos y certeza de las realidades que no vemos. —Hebreos 11‬:‭1‬ ‭BNTI

Still Small Voice

Shine, Shine, Shine

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hine, shine, shine, for the darkness is thick. Your light is the hope of many souls wrapped in the tentacles of darkness. Shine your light as you take command of your post on earth. Stand firm on My word, and declare those things that are not as though they were. Let the gift of faith keep giving to others who lack hope. Open up your mouth and declare the truth of My word. Fill yourself with all of Me. Let My Holy Spirit teach you all things. Surrender your heart and mind and I will show you great and mighty things that will increase your faith. I will show you the spiritual treasures at your disposal, both as an arsenal, and a dispensary of healing and restoration. My truth will go forth to accomplish that for which I purposed it. Stand firm on it, and remember that the battle is mine.

Then upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation; and he said, Hearken, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Do not be afraid nor dismayed before this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ‭‭—2 Chronicles‬ ‭20‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭JUB‬‬

If ye love me, keep my commandments; and I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him, or know him; but ye know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. ‭‭—John‬ ‭14‬:‭15‬-‭18‬ ‭JUB‬‬

So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate, and as your shoes the readiness to announce the Good News of peace. At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the Evil One. And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you. Do all this in prayer, asking for God's help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people. ‭‭—Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭18‬ ‭GNT‬‬

B

rilla, brilla, brilla, porque la oscuridad es espesa. Tu luz es la esperanza de muchas almas envueltas en los tentáculos de la oscuridad. Haz brillar tu luz mientras tomas el mando de tu puesto en la tierra. Mantente firme en Mi palabra y declara aquellas cosas que no son como si fueran. Que el don de la fe siga dándose a otros que carecen de esperanza. Abre tu boca y declara la verdad de Mi palabra. Llénate completamente de Mí. Deja que Mi Espíritu Santo te enseñe todas las cosas. Entrega tu corazón y tu mente y te mostraré cosas grandes y poderosas que aumentarán tu fe. Te mostraré los tesoros espirituales a tu disposición, tanto como arsenal como dispensario de sanación y restauración. Mi verdad saldrá para lograr aquello para lo que la propuse. Mantente firme en ello y recuerda que la batalla es mía.

Y estaba allí Jahaziel hijo de Zacarías, hijo de Benaía, hijo de Jeiel, hijo de Matanías, levita de los hijos de Asaf, sobre el cual vino el espíritu del SEÑOR en medio de la congregación; y dijo: Oíd, Judá todo, y vosotros moradores de Jerusalén, y tú, rey Josafat, el SEÑOR os dice así: No temáis ni os amedrentéis delante de ésta tan grande multitud; porque no es vuestra la guerra, sino de Dios. —2 Crónicas‬ ‭20‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭JBS‬‬

Y yo rogaré al Padre, y Él os dará otro Consolador para que esté con vosotros para siempre; es decir, el Espíritu de verdad, a quien el mundo no puede recibir, porque ni le ve ni le conoce, pero vosotros sí le conocéis porque mora con vosotros y estará en vosotros. No os dejaré huérfanos; vendré a vosotros. ‭‭—Juan‬ ‭14‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭LBLA‬‬

Por tanto, tomad toda la armadura de Dios, para que podáis resistir en el día malo, y habiéndolo hecho todo, estar firmes. Estad, pues, firmes, ceñida vuestra cintura con la verdad, revestidos con la coraza de la justicia, y calzados los pies con el apresto del evangelio de la paz; en todo, tomando el escudo de la fe con el que podréis apagar todos los dardos encendidos del maligno. Tomad también el yelmo de la salvación, y la espada del Espíritu que es la palabra de Dios. Con toda oración y súplica orad en todo tiempo en el Espíritu, y así, velad con toda perseverancia y súplica por todos los santos. —Efesios‬ ‭6‬:‭13‬-‭18‬ ‭LBLA‬‬

Meditation

The Feminine Plural

Many women feel less than, as if they lack something that will give them value. They may be estranged from their family, single or divorced, abused, infertile, lonely, or voiceless. They compare themselves to other women or men around them and all they can see is what they don’t have. But what if God’s intention for women is abundance in all the expected areas of life – family, intimacy, fruitfulness, friendship, and purpose, but only if she was willing to receive it in an unexpected way.

EVERY woman is capable of being a feminine plural.

EVERY woman is called to be a daughter, a wife, a mother, and a sister.

God has purposely chosen women to be a representation of the fullness of God. Just as He named Eve, the mother of all living – abundance is inherent in the makeup of a woman. She was designed to carry seed and produce life and live purposefully. A woman’s God-given heritage is waiting to be re-claimed.

Women —your fulfillment is in being ALL that God has created you to be. And that fulfillment is found in the company of the Triune God and His love for you.

Not in having an earthly family, but in being accepted in the Beloved.

Not in marrying a man, but in setting yourself apart to be the bride of Christ.

Not in having babies, but in birthing the Word of God from your spiritual womb.

Not in being liked or followed, but in denying your self and uplifting others.

Not in being a worldly success, but in living out your Spirit-driven purpose.

Family, marriage, pregnancy, community, and worldly success are earthly shadows of kingdom principles that are not yet fully manifested in their glorious state. Not all women will experience these conventional or expected norms, but the mystery is that abundant life can still be grasped. Who can ignore the distant echo of Jesus’ words reverberating down generations, The kingdom of God is within you.

Every woman has the potential to be all that she was made to be in the here and now. And its varied forms can happen all at once or in different seasons of a woman’s life. There is no need for jealousy or envy. God has given every woman the capacity to overflow in abundance.

EVERY woman can be a daughter — I will be a father to you. {2 Corinthians 6:18}

Some women have been adopted as children or have been in the foster care system, abused, rejected, neglected, or abandoned by their parents, victims of divorce, orphaned by disease, death, war or drugs. Simply put, some women feel alone and cry out for acceptance.

And from the deepest reserve of His love, God’s voice whispers, You, my dear child, are my daughter. I have chosen you. I knew you before you were knit in the womb. You have always belonged to me. Father, Son and Spirit are your dependable family and refuge.

EVERY woman can be a wife —Thy maker is thy husband. {Isaiah 54:5}

Jesus is calling every woman to be His bride – to an intimate spiritual relationship. She will be cherished, honored, empowered, fruitful, and safe. Jesus will meet a woman’s every need and transform her if she gives her self wholly to Him.

And He says, Come, come sweet bride. Listen to the gentle whispers of my love for you. I will comfort your aching, longing heart, and prepare it to receive. The secret of the depth of our fellowship is time. Set aside time every day to talk with me and I will reveal my secrets to you.

EVERY woman can be a mother — For more are the children of the desolate woman than the married wife. {Isaiah 54:1}

Once a woman has decided to give her heart to Jesus, the result of their union is abundant life. She will become a fruitful garden. He will tend to her and cause the North Wind to blow out her fragrance into the lives of the people around her.

As the seeds of God’s word are planted in her spiritual womb, the voice of Jesus whispers, The excess of my love will spill out for others through you. And you will comfort and care for my wounded children and you will feed the hungry – these are fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. I have bundles of joy for you.

EVERY woman can be a sister — She had a sister who sat at the Lord’s feet. {Luke 10:39}

Surrendered women have a dynamic, personal assistant in the Holy Spirit. He reveals the deepest mysteries of Jesus. In silence and stillness, make time each day to listen and focus on the words and work of God. In yielding yourself, the Holy Spirit will be your influencer, your mentor, your teacher, your revealer, and your reminder. Strengthened by the Spirit you bandage, you carry, and you love your wearied, broken sisters.

And the gentle whisper of Jesus says, Be that sister who sits at the Lord’s feet. Be the sister who has loads of love and encouragement, the sister who edifies, the sister who teaches her sisters to seek the Lord with all their heart.

EVERY woman can have a purpose ­– You have come to your position for such a time as this. {Esther 4:14}

God makes everything beautiful in its time. All our sufferings are used for good. Some women feel like they’re permanent residents of a wasteland of buried dreams but God has a plan for each woman – confronting her past with her future to bring forth a dynamic now. You may be in a season of suffering or a season of waiting or a season of intimacy. But these are all leading to the revelation of your unique purpose.

And Christ whispers, Come with me, walk with me. Let’s hold hands. My visible scars will remind you I understand your brokenness. I will wipe your tears away in the company of my faithful love for you. I have wonderful plans for you – for us. Set your eyes on eternity – on me, and do not look back. Do not be afraid of your future. I am there.

My prayer for you, dear sister, is that God will empty your heart of regret, pain, loss, the shadow of death, loneliness, barrenness, and dreams deferred to make room for the fullness of God.

Embrace your feminine plurality. Abundance is yours!

Meditation

10 Keys to Spiritual Creativity

Many of us think that being a ‘creative’ is about self-expression. I’m here to ruffle a few feathers and challenge that long held view. Over the years I’ve come to believe that living a truly creative life isn’t at all about us. Unless we’re willing to take our ‘selves’ out of the equation, the path of pure creativity cannot flow through us.

Creativity is a spiritual process. Thoughts, inspirations, and dreams find their way into our inner being. But how do they get there? I believe creative ideas come from one of two places in the spiritual realm. The source and motive behind them is what distinguishes life-giving creativity from corrupting creativity.

God is the first and unsurpassed ‘creative.’ Our creative pursuits should always spring from Him not ourselves or other sources. We are spiritual vessels to be used by God for His purposes. If God has a purpose for each of our lives, He also has a unique and creative plan tailored just for us. He alone knows how our life journey will also weave into someone else’s path.

The creativity given us should uplift humanity in some way; build it up, not tear it down. It should cause us to seek higher spiritual pursuits and not temporal pleasures. If what we create causes another to live an ordinary or shackled life, then our contribution is of no value. Freeing the human soul from the clutches of carnality should be our highest creative aim. And we have to trust that God has a storehouse of imaginative ways to reach each individual.

When I was in art school some of the exercises we did entailed drawing or painting whatever came to us. We used our hands and brushes as physical tools of deliberate expression. Writers do it too with free writing. God wants to use us the same way, special tools in His hand to create majestic works of art that transform the human spirit for eternity. But we have to be willing to let go and allow the Spirit of creativity to direct us.

We have to let go of what we think we know in order to be filled with what we don’t know. We have to drain our soul of our ‘selves’ and ‘our’ ideas about God to be filled with deeper revelations of God’s heart and His desires for us.

Some years ago God questioned the motivation behind what I did. Why do you do what you do? If we want our creative pursuits to matter, we have to be willing to question our motives. We have to be willing to lay down our desire for self-expression just for the sake of expression, the desire for fame or validation, and the desire for fortune. Those motives stain the purity of spiritual creativity.

Revelation 3:8 contains a message to the church in Philadelphia, which in Greek means ‘brotherly love’.

These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

Over the years I’ve thought about creativity, God, and our unique purposes while living our one life on this earth. I’ve collected a few spiritual keys to a creative life that honor God and uplift our fellow sojourners.

  1. FAITH: It all starts with believing in God’s majestic grandeur – His omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience. His infinite creative power and imagination is beyond our comprehension. God’s thoughts are higher than our wildest dreams. If he deposits an idea in us and we try to flesh it out without His help, it’ll probably remain stagnant. If we put our trust in His dynamic ability to reveal His deep reservoir of creativity, He’ll gift us with unique ways of expressing His truths.
  2. FOLLOW: When we consistently follow the Word of God, our life will be created. We are to be followers of Jesus – the Word of God. Without Him we can do nothing and with Him all things are possible. Jesus created us and everything we see and everything we don’t. When we truly follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He offers us the gifts of His divine fullness. He is everything we need and even more than we could ever imagine.
  3. FELLOWSHIP: Who but the Spirit of God is able to reveal the secret things of God? Let us fully surrender to the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person, not some energy or force. He is our ally, our teacher, and our comforter. Let us become one in spirit and the shadow of the Holy Spirit. Say what He says and do what He tells us to do. But we have to take the time to fellowship with the Spirit and listen to that still small voice that searches the deep things of God and reveals them to those who are in pursuit.
  4. LOVE: Putting others first is the essence of love. When we die to self it opens the door to creativity because we’re willing to lose in order to gain. You can only fill an empty container. When our hearts are aligned with God’s, then our life’s purpose will undoubtedly include serving others. Our creative endeavors should always lean toward depositing life into another and always naming that life ‘God.’
  5. GRATITUDE: Being thankful opens the heart and hand of God to His endless bounty. God so loves it when we are grateful for all that He is and all He has done for us. Greed just fills us with corruptible things, leaving no room for the eternal. When we loose our grip on earthly things, we open our hearts and minds to receive God’s treasures.
  6. INTEGRITY: We must be the same person when we’re around others and when no one is looking. That’s the mark of a person of integrity. God needs to be able to trust us with the gems of His heart and to carry through to completion the purpose He’s planned for us.
  7. HUMILITY: Having a teachable spirit opens us up to God’s endless imaginings. If you think you know it all then you’re not being receptive to the enchanting thoughts of God. Acknowledge your weakness before God and His strength and He will send dreams, stories, songs, paintings and all sorts of goodies to your heart.
  8. PURSUE: Being a truth-seeker will lead you to God’s wisdom. Those who seek do find. Those who ask are given. And to those who knock, doors will be opened. Wisdom is saying or doing or not saying and not doing the best thing at the right time. Without God’s wisdom creativity loses its strength to transform.
  9. FORGIVE: Without letting go and forgiving those that have wronged us, we cannot plant seeds of inspiration in our spirits. We need to be a garden ready for God’s perfect ponderings not a field of bitter roots. Forgiveness is at the heart of God’s ways. It’s not enough to be like-minded, we must be like-hearted to be co-creators.
  10. RECYCLE: Surrendered souls have stories that God can use. We must be willing for God to use our suffering for the benefit of another. God can recycle our pain and birth a purpose out of it. Nothing we have experienced in our lives is wasted with God. He heals our wounds, comforts our hearts, and strengthens us to be a soothing balm for others. We must tell the story together, sing the song together, and display His goodness and loving-kindness together.

It is my desire that our creative journey will take us straight to the chamber of God’s heart. It is there that we will find the unique ways of expressing His love for the world. It was His love that created us for good works and I know He longs to embrace us and release His dreams into our spirit like a breath of life for us all.