Month: January 2019

As I read Scripture I see there are lots of things God intended for us to receive through Jesus life, sacrifice and resurrection.

John 17
21 I pray for them all to be joined together as one
even as you and I, Father, are joined together as one.
I pray for them to become one with us
so that the world will recognize that you sent me.
22 For the very glory you have given to me I have given them
so that they will be joined together as one
and experience the same unity that we enjoy.

Isaiah 53 :5
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 61:1-4
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.
⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:^[b
joy that overflows,
peace that subdues,
patience that endures,
kindness in action,
a life full of virtue,
faith that prevails,
gentleness of heart, and
strength of spirit.

There is so much more but just looking at these verses and the benefits of the relationship with Jesus, I wonder why so many of us, who call ourselves Christian, seem to live without so many of them. As I’ve pondered this in my life and those around me I keep asking why not? What are some of the things that are blocking or restricting the flow of blessing that Father God wants for us? I know there are many reasons but is there a root issue?

Continue reading “Are we allowing Father God to give us all that Jesus gained for us?”

Goal setting has been a challenge for me most of my life. Missing a goal caused me deep emotional pain. So I chose one of two ways to avoid the disappointment. Either I didn’t even set a goal or I set goals that I knew I could reach. This was very uninspiring and not beneficial at all.

Our team has been using the 12 Week Year process for the last 3 years. However, it wasn’t making much difference for me. Yes, I set goals for each 12 weeks but the goals had no benefit for me, in fact, they added to my self-condemnation. But I kept hearing from others how important and effective goals were. So there had to be some disconnect, at least for me.

The first shift came going through a Tony Robbins course. He started me linking goals to dreams. He encouraged us to set goals that drew us forward, even with no clue how to accomplish the goal. He said that a big goal almost reached would be so much better than a little, easily reach goal would be. So I started trying to dream again and find goals toward those dreams.

Continue reading “Are our goals too small?”

Seeing Jesus heal someone, and being part of that, whether “big” or “small”, is so exciting. And watching the effect of an encouraging/prophetic word blossom in someones eyes is amazing. I pray for more and more as we draw closer to Father God’s heart.

I wonder, though, if having our focus so much on healing and prophetic, might cause us to miss the myriad ways the Father God is working miracles around us. And, might we be missing the greatest miracle of all? The amazing fact that the God of the universe likes us and wants so much to have us close and aware of His presence.

My prayer is for my and our hearts to be open and more aware of the almost constant supernatural (really, “natural” for God) things that He is doing all around us. I want to be so conscious of His presence that praise and worship just flows at all time.

Share your thoughts on this.

As I was thinking about seasons in our lives and how they change from time to time, I realized that is also about friendships. Not that we stop being friends, just that the closeness or time spent with them can change as a season changes.

As each of us moves into new places and relationships, our interests and focuses change.  This is normal and a good thing.  One of the consequences of these changes is a moving away from older relationships.  Often we struggle trying to hold onto the closeness we had with those we’ve been with in the past but this creates an unhealthy tension, almost like trying to move in two directions at once.  Sometimes, some of the folks move with us into the new relationships and interests.  Many do not. Letting go of those is difficult but oh so necessary.  Otherwise they become anchors that hold us back.

This being said, there are some friendships that transcend changes in our seasons.  These are so precious and quite rare.

If we find ourselves stuck and struggling to move into a new season,  we need a heart check to see if there are some relationships that need to be let go of, at least the time and closeness that we’ve had before. It will not only be a huge help for us but also for them, allowing them to move into their new season that is different from ours.