Sometimes people try....

Prayer releasers

         I've learned that much of what we hear from God is for us to pray about, not deliver. I spent much of my earlier years as a Christian wrestling with this. I'd be out shopping and I'd be hit with a "love wave" for someone. I'd never know what to do or what to say, "umm, excuse me, I feel God's love for you." (haha) and that works - people need to know, but many times it's not the point of the wave. The point is prayer! Maybe add, "Is there anything I can pray with you about?"

        Other times approaching someone is not an option, the nudging from the Holy Spirit was not for them, but for you. It's prayer fuel. I have gotten to a point where most of my alone driving time is  spent in prayer. I have worship music on and I start saying praises to God and then start flowing in the Holy Spirit and prayer. It starts off small. First, you're praying for the homeless man at the red light, then the family in the car next to you and the man with a busted up car etc. etc. You're prayer muscle continues to grow. 

       My husband is used to me bursting into random prayer while driving when I see someone or something that moves me or saying, "Honey, let's pray for this person/situation real quick." and we pause and pray. Other times I prayer under my breathe, or in my heart. Usually if I have to pray in my heart I will take out my phone and type the prayer in my "notes" app. It's a better release than holding in for me.  And there are times I have to get away, to a quiet alone place and pray it out for a longer period of time. 

      I spent much of my earlier years hoarding these impressions and feelings. It was overwhelming for such a sensitive person. Learning that prayer was the point of it all set me free.   The key is obey the Holy Spirit. Again, as you grow in this area the Holy Spirit will lead you to do different things. I always loved driving around my neighborhood and praying over the houses and families- speaking blessings and safety. Your prayer life with God can take on many shapes.

        Some of you reading this may feel the same way. You are overly sensitive. You feel everything. You absorb the sensations around you like a sponge. You are called to pray! Not everyone notices the things that you notice, trust me! You may have even grown up feeling ashamed of your sensitive nature, but I'm hear to tell you, it's a gift! Prayer changes everything. 

      When we pray it releases the pain and pressure of all the things you pick up on in the Spirit. As you continue to use prayer as a release, you being to see that prayer was the point from the beginning and you stop holding those feelings for long periods of time. You sense it, you prayer it out, repeat. You stop wrestling on how to deliver words to someone made of all the jumbled up things you've seen/felt/heard in the Spirit for them. Instead, you become a person of continuous prayer.

El Shaddai

Being moved by the Spirit

     We hear a lot about being firm and steady, about digging our roots down deep so we can stand in any storm, but there are times we need to be moved. Are we sensitive to the Holy Spirit? Are we moved like leaves in the wind? The more we learn to respond to the Holy Spirit the more sensitive we become and the deeper our relationship with God grows.

       It all starts and ends with prayer. If we want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit we must be people of dedicated prayer. Prayer is not limited to a designated place or time. It's a lifestyle of prayer - our spirit is in constant communion with God. You can pray without speaking, without closing your eyes and bowing your head. You can pray throughout the day without anyone even knowing it. It's about connection. 

      What does being sensitive and moved by the Holy Spirit mean? What does it look like in everyday life? Being moved by the Holy Spirit in every day life means that we are responding to His desires. For me, I can be driving and get a feeling - I respond by praying. I pray for the person I'm thinking about. I pray about the imagine I see in my Spirit. Often times people see things in their imagination and they dismiss it as day dreaming or reminiscing or something natural when in fact it is a picture from the Holy Spirit. These pictures, feelings and sensations are nudges from the Holy Spirit, they are beckoning us to pray, speak, declare in behalf of someone or something. 

       God's best plans are often one prayer away from manifestation. You may be the only one to ever pray for that individual or situation. When you learn to be faithful with the small nudges your sensitivity increases and you find that you are moving more and more frequently under the influence of the Holy Spirit - one act of obedience at a time.

        Other than feelings and images in our holy imagination, you may wake up from a troubling or encouraging dream. These things should be prayed about also. The Holy Spirit is always trying to communicate with us. As you grow, the Holy Spirit will develop spiritual habits in your life. For example, some people have a huge world map in their house. They pray over the map and the Holy Spirit leads them to pray about difference situation around the world. Others may get words of encouragement for co-workers and classmates and share it in a card or letter. Some, like me, write blogs, books, write songs etc. The possibilities are endless.  The key is developing the ability to listen. 

         When I was younger I used to get heavy mood swings that would cause sadness or fear. I never understood. I'd try to figure it.  Finally the Holy Spirit said, "Pray!" As I grew I realized these were not feelings part of me, they were prayer fuel. I was being beckoned to pray for a situation or person. As we mature we realize not all our feelings are our own. We are called to carry people's burdens and in order to pray more effectively sometimes we are allowed to feel what another feels.

        As you become more comfortable with this you may even cry for others while praying. You may speak words that are hidden deep in their heart and hit the bull's eye in prayer. The depths we can go with God are endless. We help bring restoration to people when we allow ourselves to be moved by the Holy Spirit. The more we say, "Yes" and bend to the Holy Spirit the more sensitive we become.

Call on the Name - Vertical Church

You're going East

      Your life is going East. Your future is East. God uses the picture of the sun rising in the East throughout my dreams as a symbol of Him moving us forward. Our lives are always moving forward with God. I realize this is a generalization and the sun rise isn't exactly east year-round, but it's the symbol, not science that brings the encouragement. My husband and I always look at each other and say, "We're going East!" anytime one of us gets stuck in a rut of some sort. It's a quick reminder that our future is forward and not in the rear view mirror.

       As long as we remain connected to the vine (Jesus) our life will steadily move forward. It can be painful to leave old things behind, but we have hope that tomorrow holds more love and life than the things of yesterday. We must walk in faith, knowing that God has our lives all planned out - we must only choose who we will serve (Joshua 24:15). When we choose Jesus, we choose the best path for our life. We choose what we were created for! 

       It doesn't matter how hard the future looks. When we choose God, He goes above and beyond to meet us where we are. Whatever obstacles we face whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual - He sees us - He knows us- and He meets us! You are going East!

Spiritual Serial Killers

 "In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t."- Romans 12:4-6 THE MESSAGE 

    I had a dream the other day about "Spiritual Serial Killers". We can see in the Bible that it's God's desire for us to be connected as a people, to live in unity, as a functioning body. In my dream the serial killer was cutting up bodies and hanging parts on trees to rot. Gross! But that's what spiritual serial killers do. They, "cut you off form the body, and hang you out to dry."

      We often miss the warnings God tries to give us. These warnings are meant to help bring unity and health; it's not a form of condemnation. I believe if more people saw these warnings as a form of loving wisdom instead of condemnation, they'd be more willing to listen.

    There is power when we're connected. Spiritual serial killers understand the importance of being connected more than many people understand it. It just depends if they are killing on purpose or as self-preservation. The one killing for self-preservation may feel threatened by someone's superiority, gifting, skills, looks etc. They don't see their destructive actions clearly. They justify it as protecting their  turf.

     However, in my dream the spiritual serial killers knew what they were doing. Their goal was to cut off any person who had a true gift to bless others, because as the Bible says, "But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?" If spiritual serial killers can get us alone, they can limit our gifts, they instinctively know in order to expand we need connection. When a body part is cut off from the body, it will bleed to death and rot. Our gift and contribution to society is handicapped without connection. Once we are cut off, the spiritual serial killer simply has to wait it out - it's only a matter of time.

     I've learned to never put anything past anyone. I've seen and experienced some crazy things, nothing surprises me anymore. We need to stop protecting the people that insist on carrying out division. Our agendas and favoritism will always cloud our ability to spot a spiritual serial killer.

      The spiritual serial killer's goal is to get people to leave the community their in, break fellowship, and hang out alone, cut off until they've bled to death. If you notice one person at the center of countless people disconnecting it may be wise to investigate the situation further. Send out an email or letter. Ask people why they've left or pushed away. Give them freedom to be blatantly honest without fear of hurting your feelings. That's the only way to reconnected with someone who has been cut off. 

     God's gifted people in many ways. Each of us is important. We are all on the same team. It's when we faithfully do our part that the world changes.

It's Time to Dream

         I've been following Jason Heilman's music for years. I was introduced to his creative ministry by a friend who sent me a youtube video. I was hooked. Recently, he's released a new song, "It's Time To Dream" -  fitting for the beginning of this new year.

          We all have dreams God's put in us that we've lost hope in along the way. Life has a crazy way of filling us with doubt, enslaving our schedules and stealing the very things God is trying to birth in our lives. This song will minister hope and encouragement back to you. It will empower you to believe what God has spoken to you and revisit some of the dreams you may have laid down. God is going to finish the work he's started in you!

 "There are good works he's prepared in advance for you to do."

2001 Flood Dream

         I wish I had documented a hard copy of this testimony when it happened but I didn't. I can only share from my and my families memory. Details like time and day of the week are missing, but the whole of the event is still clear. 

          I was laying on my bed when I had a vision. A vision usually happens when we are awake. I was awake and a vision/picture  of a flood came before me and my home church, Lakewood Church was above the storm. I saw news crews, people dropping off items, others in need picking up items, people in wedding clothes, people sleeping there and Lakewood being a safe place. I stood up after seeing the vision and told my parents. I had no idea what it meant. In my young mind I worried it was the end of the world (haha) and people were going to hide out at my church (haha). My vision didn't give me the context of the event. I just knew what I saw nothing more or less. 

        This is where my memory falls short. I don't know if it was later that day, a day after or a few days after, but at some point my family was watching TV together and my mom calls out for me to, "hurry, hurry, look at the TV. It's what you saw!" I run out and see my vision on the news in real time. I was 17 years old at the time.

       

        One news article reported back in 2001,

       " In the hard-hit northeastern part of the city, more than 3,300 people took refuge on Saturday night in the Lakewood Church, which eventually became the largest refugee center of more than 30 across the city.

     "People just started coming and kept on coming because they had no place else to go," the church's pastor, the Rev. Joel Osteen, said. "Eventually, city workers started dropping people off here in dump trucks because they were the only vehicles that could get through the water."

Short of food by Saturday morning, Mr. Osteen recruited two brothers- in-law with Chevy Suburbans and a family friend for a visit to Sam's Discount Club, where they spent $3,000 on ingredients for sandwiches.

       "Every time we returned with a load of food, the crowd of people would have gotten larger and we'd have to go make another trip," he said.

       But by today, the local news media had reported about food shortages at the church, and area residents bearing food, diapers, clothing and bottled water created a traffic jam in the streets outside the church."

        My family and I watched it play out on TV and later volunteered with the church to help fix up people's houses and clear out all the trash.
        One lady who was interviewed stated as she surveyed the damage, "I was raised in this house. I'm 54 years old. And I've never seen anything like this."