Identity and Inheritance (Unchangeable)

Have you ever noticed that the main area the enemy attacks us is in our identity?  This seems to be a never ending battle in my life.  I recently went through a time of extreme battle in this area. The lies coming against me were rapid fire.  It seemed as soon as I replaced one lie with the truth another would come and then another and another.  It was never ending.  I began to get discouraged and little by little the lies started to become truth.  During this time I would pray, seek God, and look for the truth in His word to combat the lies.  I acted like everything was fine on the outside but inside I was struggling. 

During the midst of this battle my pastor started a series at church on covenant.  In this series he used the illustration of Ziba and Mephibosheth.   Mephibosheth  did not understand his identity or his inheritance and because of that he allowed Ziba, the enemy, to steal his inheritance.  In fact Mephibosheth identified himself as a dead dog to King David, not a very good self image.  I think at times all of us can identify with this mentality and image about ourselves.  We feel unworthy or like dead dogs or grasshoppers.  In other words  we feel small and insignificant, like our life has no meaning, value or worth.

Mephibosheth's low self image may have come because of his disabilities, but if he had totally understood the covenant between his father, Jonathan, and King David then he would have known that despite the disabilities he had a right and a privilege to enter the King's presence.  There would have been a boldness to Mephibosheth instead of a lowly servant mentality if he had totally understood his inheritance and identity. 

One of the reasons the enemy delights in attacking us in our identity is so he can steal our inheritance.  He wants to keep us in a dry and barren place where we feel unworthy, unloved, and totally useless.  A place where we feel we have to perform to earn God's love, to feel accepted by those around us, and earn our inheritance.   In this dry and barren place we begin to become malnourished spiritually and cannot discover our identity or inheritance.  There is no boldness in this place and it is a place we must leave before we can understand what is rightfully ours.

A few days before I heard the message on covenant there was a word spoken during worship practice that a time of release had come. The person who spoke this word did not understand it or why it needed to be spoken, but I knew it was for me.  I was being released into a new level in my relationship with God and I was being released into a place of freedom.  The tether that was attached to me, that only allowed me to go so far before I was yanked back, was being broken off of me.

Both the word spoken and the message were so liberating to me during my time of battle.  I realized as Pastor Stan had said I had stayed in a conversation with the enemy too long and gotten into a place of deception.  A dry and barren place where I could not feel God's presence, where I was identifying myself in how I acted and behaved and not who God had said I was, a place where I allowed my identity to become that of a dead dog.  There was absolutely no life in that dry and barren place and it was time I vacated it. It was time for me to rediscover who God said that I am and to take back from the enemy all that God has given me.

In the dry and barren place I may not have been able to feel God's presence but He was there all the time.  I was the one who moved away from Him and I was the one who would need to draw near to Him again.  What freedom came with that realization.  No more was I going to allow the pressures of this world and the demands and expectations of others rob me of hearing from God and sensing His nearness to me.  As I began the journey to draw near to God I want to say the results were instantaneous, but they were not.  Because God had said He is taking me to a new level with Him, I could not do what I had done in the past and expect new results.  Every time God takes me to a new level I have to discover what will bring me to a new level of intimacy with Him.  There is no set pattern and what works for one will not work for another.  All I can say is don't give up because the end result is so worth it!

To wrap this up I desire for all of you to leave the dry and barren place you may be inhabiting.  Do not become like Mephibosheth and allow the enemy to steal your inheritance and indentity.  Begin to see yourself as God sees you.  Speak those words over yourself, no matter how silly it may seem. Do not allow your present circumstances or situations continue to rob you of all the great and wonderful things God has in store for you.  There is absolutely nothing you can do to earn God's love or to keep you from God's love.  He loves you because you are you!  I recently read in the book Pursued by Jud Whilite a passage this sums this up so well:  "I can finally rest in the fact that I am not good enough for God, but He is absolutely good enough for me."  Such a powerful statement. We are unworthy of God's love yet He loves us, chose us, and has called us by name.  We just need to rest in that.

So do as Romans 12:1-2 says (see below) and give your all to God, you will not be sorry you did.  He has a great and wonderful plan for each of you as Jer 29:11 states.  Listen to the words of the new Matthew West song Unchangeable.  You are not a mistake, God's love for you in unchangeable, and He knows the plans and purposes He has for each of you.


So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1, 2 MSG)

Testify To Love

Today I spent time with my beautiful sisters in Christ.  We spent the morning just fellowshiping and loving each other but we also spent time sharing testimonies on how we have changed from a year ago.  During this time of reflection and sharing I started to realize a common theme in the all the messages.  Each woman  has felt isolated, unloved, unworthy.  Each of us longed to discover our worth and value.  What in the world were we placed on this earth to do? 

As the stories unfolded another theme started to arise.  It is the theme of God's faithfulness.  When we cry out to God He is so amazing to answer each of us right where we are.  One after another began sharing on how faithful God was to show them their worth and value.  He was faithful to help them realize where they are weak He is strong!  He was faithful to bring healing and deliverance at a time when it was most needed.

I am beginning to realize that as women we all struggle with accepting and liking ourselves.  We all struggle with discovering what we are good at and what we were destined to do.  The good news is we do not have to struggle.  God is faithful and just to speak to us in our time of greatest pain and need.  If you are asking yourself what good am I?  What am I here to do?  Stop asking the questions and just begin to focus on God and begin declaring how wonderful He is.  As you gaze at Him, He is so good to reveal the answers to the questions you have been seeking.  But be prepared for what He tells you because it will totally blow your socks off!

To finish as I listened to the last woman share today I glanced over at a beautiful flower arrangement and the thought went through my head that the arrangement had all the colors of the rainbow.  That is when I realized that each of us is a Testimony of God's love.  We need to begin to testify to love, His great love towards us.

Thanksgiving (From the Inside Out)

On the first of November I began seeing posts on Facebook declaring 30 days of praise.  Last year I found out about this too late so I made the decision to join in this year. It took me until day two to realize we need more than 30 days of praise, we need to develop a lifetime to praise.  Everyday we should cry out to God in thanksgiving for all the good things He has done.  We should praise and thank him for the love he so lavishly pours out on us.

The bible is full of words of praise and thanksgiving, especially the book of psalm.  I believe the author, David, learned how to develop a lifetime of praise and no matter what the situation or circumstances looked like he praised and thanked God.  Below are a few verses that God laid on my heart to share in this post.

Psalm 100:4 declares that we are to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  The message bible put this so plainly:  Enter with the password:  "Thank you!" Make yourselves at home talking praise.  Thank him.  Worship him.

Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
The message bible adds something so unique to this verse:  Oh, thank God - he's so good!  His love never runs out.

Just think about that:  God is so good and He has a never ending supply of love for us.  That alone is enough to be thankful for, for a lifetime!  When you combine His never ending supply of love for us along with all His blessings you will discover how truly wonderful our God is.

If we do not begin to thank and praise God the rocks will cry out for us, Luke 19:40.  Personally I do not want the rocks to do what I was created to do.  So instead of doing 30 days of praise begin a lifetime of praise and thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving and praise allow you to access your blessings.  Thanksgiving and praise is the key into entering new levels in the will of God (Steve Fish).  After thanksgiving and praise we will enter into worship.  Worship is the permission to become lost in the rhythm of God's heartbeat (Graham Cooke).

I don't know about you but I am ready to get my praise! 

The song chosen for today's blog is From the Inside Out by Hillsong.  I love the line that states "the art of losing myself in bringing you praise."  May we become lost in ourselves in giving God all the praise and thanksgiving. We need to just totally lose ourselves in giving praise and thanksgiving to God.  Today begin to develop a lifetime of praise, do not just stop giving praise and thanksgiving on December 1 but continue on where every day of your life reflects how good God is.

Secure (Impossible Tricia Brock)

This weekend the ladies from my church and some not from the church gathered together to encounter God.  The night before leaving for this encounter God gave me a word to share with each of you on Your Beautiful Purpose.  The theme this weekend was exactly the same, discovering your purpose and identity and stepping into that.  From the first night I was in awe that God would give me a similar message to those of some amazing other women.

At one point in the weekend each woman was asked to stand up and state a dream that God had given her.
Now for most of this year God has been revealing to me His plans for me so I knew what I needed to say when my time came.  Shortly after this declaration I came under attack.  I kept hearing the words "who do you think you are to do that?"  What had been relatively easy to believe and declare in the privacy of my home became a weapon of attack from the enemy.  That night during worship when I was still struggling with these thoughts God got ahold of me and lovingly reminded me who I was and that yes His plans are bigger than me but they are not too big for Him.

Later that night as I was praying and contemplating on who God says that I am He gave me a word.  The word is "secure."  God says that I am secure in knowing who He says that I am and the plans He has for me.  I had never thought of being secure in all that God has been revealing to me.  I know that He is God and what He says will come to pass but the word secure was never thought of.

When I came home I looked up the meaning of secure as was completely blown away (God can do that to you).  Here are some of the definitions: 

• Free from danger or attack - secure fortress.  Psalm 91:2 states God is my refuge and fortress.
• Free from fear, anxiety, or doubt - 2 Tim 1:7 and Phil 4:6
• Not likely to fail or give away - stable (we can be the rock in the midst of the storm)
• Firmly fastened (just hold on to God and don't let go)
• Reliable, dependable, assured, certain

I also took this a step further and looked up the Hebrew word for secure.  That word is Batach and here are some of the definitions for this word.

• To trust, trust in
• To have confidence, be confident
• to be bold
• to be secure
• to be safe

Two of the words I have been declaring over myself since God starting revealing His plans for me are confidence and boldness.  So when God said I am secure in Him, I believe He is also saying I am bold and confident.

 Why is so easy for each of us to believe the negative yet when God speaks something so wonderful to us we are slow in believing?  Why do we worry about what others think, especially about what God is saying to us?  Today I will boldly declare to you that God has called me to be an armour bearer, He has called me to proclaim the good news of freedom to the captives and to bring them out of the land of captivity into a land of freedom.  A land that is flowing with milk and honey.  Do I know how each of these things will come to pass?  Do I know when I will step fully into these identities?  No!  But I do know that God has spoken this to me and I will stand firm and secure in knowing who I am in God.  Others may not see me the same but as long as God sees me this way I will see myself this way.

 I want to personally thank each of you for taking the time to read this blog and for your wonderful words of encouragement.  I am praying and believing that my openness is helping to bring each of you into a wonderfully more intimate relationship with the one who knows and loves you.  Be secure in all that He is revealing to you and rest in Him until He brings it to pass!


 I found this on Facebook on the Whosoevers page and thought it would bless and encourage you.

•  "I can feel you all around me.  Thickening the air I'm breathing.  Holding on to what I'm feeling.  Savoring this heart that's healing.

 Last what would this blog be without a song!  This song is called Impossible by Tricia Brock.  I love it because it declares that nothing is impossible for God!

Your Beautiful Purpose (I Am Yours Misty Edwards)

Jeremiah 29:11 states that God has plans for each of us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us to give us a hope and a future.

Psalm 139:13-17 (message bible) You shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb.  I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.  Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day!

Do you not get excited reading the above words?  This is so amazing.  God knew us before our parents came together and before they even knew they wanted a baby.  He took the time to put together a beautiful plan and purpose for each and every one of us (all the days of my life were written in God's book before the day I was born).

No matter what we have believed or thought about ourselves, we are not here by accident.  We were not a mistake our parents made one night because they forgot to use some sort of birth control.  If you have been reading my blogs long enough you will know that for most of my life I questioned my purpose here on this earth.  I felt very worthless and purposeless because I did not posses natural gifts and talents.  I had a failure mentality. 

Thankfully God turned that all around.  When I began spending time with Him he began to show me my beautiful purpose.  It is somewhat overwhelming because what He is showing me is way outside the realm of my ability or talent but the awesome thing is it doesn't matter.  I will step into my inheritance and identity because of the great God that I serve and He is more than able!  There is a verse in the bible that states we can do all things through Christ because He strengthens us. I believe it is the King James version that states we can do all things through Christ because He EMPOWERS us!  Isn't that wonderful!  God gives us the power to walk out His Beautiful Purpose for us.  Think back to all those people in the bible who God had a beautiful purpose for.  Each of them rose up in their negativity and God just looked at them smiled and they stepped into their divine destiny and purpose.  That is because despite their doubts in their abilities they knew the God they served was more than able to work through them.

If God's plan for our lives is something we can do in our own power and ability then we will try to take the credit but if that plan is bigger than us God will receive all the credit and all the glory.   So begin today to seek God just for who He is and as you fellowship with the most amazing, beautiful, and loving God He will turn His face towards you smile at you and begin to reveal His beautiful purpose for you.

God has made each of us unique so don't get discouraged if your beautiful plan does not look like someone elses.  Lance Wallnau said it so wonderfully:  "Be Bold! Be Original! You'll never find your voice trying to fit in somebody else's chorus."

As God reveals His beautiful purpose for your life begin to declare that identity.  Don't allow worry, fear, doubt, and unbelief to keep you from your beautiful purpose.

The song for this blog is a beautiful worship song that I feel God chose for this.  When we declare that we are God's He begins to lavish His love and plans upon us.

God's peace and joy I give to you, guard it and seek it above all else. 

Your My Everything

I would like to take a moment to just brag on what a wonderful worship team we have at my church.  They are all so gifted, talented, and anointed by God to lead us into some amazing worship.  Worship that ushers in the very presence of God in our midst.  Even at worship practice, which I am so blessed to be a part of, you can feel God's presence is there with us.

The reason I wanted to take a moment and give them a shout out is because without them, without God directing me to that church this blog never would have begun.  I was in such a dry place before coming to Revolution church.  I loved God and I heard from God but I did not realize how close and intimate I could be with Him.

It is thanks to our worship team at Revolution Church that I learned the song Your My Everything by Pocket Full of Rocks. It was during this song that God got a hold of me in the midst of worship and asked "am I really your everything"?  The question surprised and saddened me.  I had felt up to that point God was my everything but He began showing me areas of my life where He was not my everything.  I began a journey, of which I am still on, of learning to let go of the reigns of control, learning to trust God with the promises and truths He has spoken over my life, and learning to not let fear control me.

There is one word that sums up the above so nicely:  Trust!  I needed to learn to trust God more, to know His word was true and that He is able to perform it.  I am in the process of learning that when God speaks something to me or about me I can be quick to rise up in my negative nature and remind Him of what I am not.  Graham Cooke has some great advice on this matter.  Take a piece of paper and write down every negative thought you have about yourself, then on another piece of paper ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the opposite of every negative word you have written.  Take the first paper with the negative and burn in!  Begin dwelling on the positive and allow God to speak His word and truth to you regarding every positive until it gets deep within you.  That is how God sees us.  Makes me want to shout! (This comes from Grahams message on Discovering Your True Identity).

For God to be my everything I need to stop dwelling on all that I am not and dwell on all that He is.  God is powerful, true to His word, loving, kind, and a restorer of things the enemy has stolen.  The list could go on and on because God truly is your everything.  We just need to allow Him to become our everything to us.  We need to learn to trust Him with every area of our life even the hidden painful parts.  NOTHING (and I cannot stress that enough) can separate us from God's love.  His every desire is for us and to develop a close and intimate relationship with us. There is nothing that is too big or difficult for God to handle. 

Take a moment to listen to this song, open your heart to God, and allow Him to become your everything.

Shalom.

Chains Hit the Ground

This has been an extremely trying week with many tests and trials.  Wish I could say I passed each of the tests with flying colors.  This morning before starting on the blog God led me to Isa 41.  In verse 8 and 9 it talks about how God has chosen us and not rejected us.  We are not to fear because He is with us and takes hold of us with His righteous right hand.  The next couple of verses is what really excited me today. 

• All who rage against us will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.  Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them.  Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.

I have battled many enemies this week.  I know physically they may have a name and a face but that is not truly who I am battling.  I am battling the rulers, authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Eph 6

Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work I believe God spoke two words to me.  The first was break every chain and later He spoke the word rise up.  Again I wish I could say I was a mighty warrior who rose to the occasion and bravely fought the enemy and remembered who I was in Christ.  Sadly yesterday was one of the toughest days and I realized at the end of the day I had allowed old mindsets to filter how I viewed myself and reacted to different situations.  You would have thought the enemy would have learned by now that I am onto him and those situations just send me to the one I love.  The one who brings me higher than the situation around me, the one who heals me physically, spiritually, mentally. Tears of frustration and discouragement may be shed but joy comes and I will laugh!  If you cannot tell, I am a determined woman who desires to become all that God created me to be.

Become determined to be all God created you to be.  Know that He will rise you up.  God has put His power and authority in all of us.  May we have a deeper revelation of that power and authority so we can enter any place and claim it for God's glory.  Allow God to break the chains off of you, regardless of what those chains are.  I think some of the biggest chains that bind us are wrong thinking.  May we start to dwell on who God says we are and not what our past or others may have said about us.  Let us shake off the dead dog and lowly worm mentality and become the head that God has created us to be.

This morning as I was getting on Spotify I came across the song I believe goes with this blog.  As you listen to this song just close your eyes and envision the chains hitting the ground and complete freedom in Him.  Blessings!