Monday, July 29, 2013

What spills out of the depths of your heart? Mentoring Monday by I Take Joy

Posted: 28 Jul 2013 10:00 PM PDT
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Charles de Bruyères

When you are taxed by your children, your friends, your husband, what flows out from the depths of your heart? Whatever you have cherished inside is what will flow out. When you are squeezed you will spill out what is in your heart. So it is essential to understand, what you are pouring in will surely spill out in your words, your eyes, your attitudes, your actions. Filling the inside of our souls with beauty, goodness, humility, faith and love of Christ must be intentional so that there will be substance of his life to spill over to others.

Proverbs warns us to guard our heart. “Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the well spring of life.” Proverbs 4: 23

Jesus said that it is not the outside–the performance for others, the attempt to do righteous works, that determines what a man or woman is like. It is possible to fool others because of our behavior. But it is never possible to fool God. He sees what we are like on the inside,

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Heart cleaning leaves us empty for heart-filling. Pouring in is something I must do on a regular basis, so that my heart is light, pure, filled with joy and love. This does not just happen accidentally. And of course, eventually, all of our children sniff hypocrisy pretty quickly–and by the time they are teens, they are fully aware of what our heart is revealing through time.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matt. 23: 27

I have had a number of sweet women in my home the past 7 weeks. Usually, the questions flow, “What did you do to cultivate godliness in your children? Exactly what did your daily schedule look like? What books did you read to them? How did you deal with their bad attitudes?”

But the beginning point of a mama spreading inspiration and faith starts with her cultivating her own heart. If she is reading scripture, pondering the heart of Christ, worshipping him and following His ways, then her children will draw the love and sweetness of Christ from her every day.

If a mama is engaging her mind in great books and growing and learning new ideas and stretching her own intellect, then her children will also be drawing from the interesting thoughts in which she has invested her mind.

If a mama is developing her character and taking small steps to become more self-disciplined, more of a servant leader, more patient, more generous with life-giving words, because of her obedience to Christ, then her children’s souls will be sprinkled with the strength of her obedience.

If she engages herself in meeting the needs of others and reaches out with the redeeming message of Christ, her children will learn not just to hear words of the gospel, but to learn what it looks like to live the gospel.

A mom is a mentor–a coach in all things excellent in life. If she is not growing in excellence, she cannot pass on to her children what she herself has.

Don’t worry so much about the right rules, the best formula, what are the right books to buy. Be concerned instead, for your soul–what are you planting there? What are you watering in the depths of your heart attitudes? Whatever you water will grow. Nothing in your heart will be long hidden–as all things hidden eventually will come to the fore.

So the starting point of your influence is the state of your own heart, mind and soul. If there is purity, wisdom, strength, faith, love and righteousness there, then when you pour out your life, those around you will be blessed indeed.

No money, things, training and activities can replace the importance of Children finding the very essence of Christ spilling out in our lives, from what we have carefully taken the time to place there inside.
I am leaving off of the 24 Family Ways right now, as I have taken so long to complete this series due to life and busyness and commitments. If you still want me to keep teaching these, let me know, as it seems interest has waned. I will keep making Mondays a mentoring time.

Friday, July 26, 2013

The Strength that comes from Resting In Grace

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 10:13 PM PDT
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…If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

-Galatians 5:25
As godly mothers, we strive to make the best possible decisions, set the perfect boundaries, and have the correct rules that we believe will somehow cultivate “spiritual” children. However, we can’t buy sheer force or the right rules or the right devotional curriculum make our children spiritual.

That being said, there is a mysterious process by which the Holy Spirit leads our children to see their need for Christ as we seek to cultivate their hearts. But it is entirely led by grace, informed by love, and carried out by the help of the Holy Spirit.

We are putting so much pressure on ourselves as mothers. Each time we find ourselves too busy to cook (so we opt for fast food), too exhausted to clean, or so hectic in our lives that we didn’t do a devotional with our children one week, we feel absolutely defeated and believe that we somehow failed our children.

Often, I receive comments or letters from mamas who say, “How did you seek joy? How did you manage to live by faith?” And then they will tell me the very difficult circumstances or exhaustion or loss of job or marriage problem…..

The grace of God is given in spite of our circumstances, his peace comes when our difficulties would suggest otherwise. When we cast our burdens on God because we cannot handle them or when we choose to exercise joy because we know,”in His presence is fullness of joy,” or when with our inadequacies in all areas are filled in by the invisible grace of His own doing, we always have hope and reason to be at peace.

While it is incredibly wonderful to set our standards high and live within these great ideals, we must hold ourselves to a standard of grace, not perfection. We won’t be able to have grace for our children if we do not have grace ourselves. Galatians 5:1 tells us that, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Are there any ways in your life as a mom that you are trying to live up to the false expectations of others?

In my home, we did our best, but our best was certainly not perfection. We just had committed hearts toward our kids and the desire to shape their souls to respond passionately to their Creator.

He came with grace and truth to bring life and wholeness into our hearts. We strive to follow His example in the lives of our children. We are not guided by culture, or what other moms feel is the “right way”, but we are led by God. We walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and rest in His grace.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Find and Follow Your Bliss! ~ By Bishop Carlton Pearson

Find and Follow Your Bliss! 
By Bishop Carlton Pearson ~ 7/11/2013

What is your bliss? What satisfies you most in spirit, mind, and body? What pleases you at the deepest level of your being and in the deepest recesses of your soul?

Bliss is to experience perfect inner happiness, great joy and satisfying peace. It is a state of spiritual blessedness and sublimity, usually all the things people attribute to the afterlife or heaven. What do you really want in life and as someone who is alive? Again, find and then follow up and follow thru with your inward joy, your bliss.

James Campbell, the American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion wrote: "Follow Your Bliss! If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else."

This has been my personal assignment for the last several years and it is my new assignment for all who wish to live a more authentic and complete life and experience yourself at both the highest and deepest level of reality. Remember, what you want, wants you, because what you want is you! Go for it. Your life will never be the same starting the very moment you make the decision.

Friday, July 5, 2013

10 Questions That Have No Right to Go Away ~ From Oprah's Life Class

10 Questions That Have No Right to Go Away

The thought-provoking poet David Whyte considers what we should be asking ourselves—especially when we least want to confront our own answers.




The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering. Nine years ago, I wrote a poem called "Sometimes" in which I talked about the "questions that can make or unmake a life ... questions that have no right to go away." 

I still work with this idea. Questions that have no right to go away are those that have to do with the person we are about to become; they are conversations that will happen with or without our conscious participation. They almost always have something to do with how we might be more generous, more courageous, more present, more dedicated, and they also have something to do with timing: when we might step through the doorway into something bigger, better—both beyond ourselves and yet more of ourselves at the same time. 

If we are sincere in asking, the eventual answer will give us both a sense of coming home to something we already know as well a sense of surprise—not unlike returning from a long journey to find an old friend sitting unexpectedly on the front step, as if she'd known, without ever being told, not only the exact time and date of your arrival but also your need to be welcomed back. 

Here are my 10 Questions That Have No Right to Go Away. 

1) Do I know how to have real conversation?

A real conversation always contains an invitation. You are inviting another person to reveal herself or himself to you, to tell you who they are or what they want. To do this requires vulnerability. Now we tend to think that vulnerability is associated with weakness, but there's a kind of robust vulnerability that can create a certain form of strength and presence too. 

There are many tough conversations, but one of the most difficult is between a parent and an adolescent daughter, partly because as a parent we are almost always attempting to relate to someone who is no longer there. The parent therefore usually tries to start the conversation by offering a perspective that the daughter finds not only out of date but also unhelpful; the daughter then replies by way of defense with something just a shade more unhelpful, and so the process continues. A year or so ago, I found myself in exactly this dynamic, my daughter's bedroom door slamming shut just as I was just about to say that last, deeply satisfying unhelpful thing. 

But I caught myself and said, "David, this isn't a real conversation. How do you make this a real conversation?" I gave it the old 10-minute cooldown time, walked into the kitchen, made tea and put out a tray, and on the tray: a plate of cookies, a milk pitcher, a cup and a saucer. Then I knocked on her door and said in a very different, more invitational voice, "Come on, Charlotte, I've made tea. Let's go and have a talk." 

As soon as I put the tray down and we had sat next to each other, almost by accident I happened to say exactly the right thing—I said, "Charlotte, tell me one thing you'd like me to stop doing as a father. And tell me one thing you'd like me to do more of." She suddenly gazed up at me with a lovely look in her eyes, one I knew from her very early infancy. She was engaged again because at last I was really inviting her to tell me was who she had become—not who she had been or who I wanted her to be—but who she was now.

2) What can I be wholehearted about?

So many of us aren't sure what we're meant to do. We wonder if we're simply doing what others are doing because we feel we don't have enough ideas or even enough strength of our own.

There was a time, many years ago, working at a nonprofit organization, trying to fix the world and finding the world didn't want to be fixed as quickly as I'd like, that I found myself exhausted, stressed and finally, after one particularly hard day, at the end of my tether, I went home and saw a bottle of fine red wine I had left out on the table that morning before I left. No, I did not drink it immediately, though I was tempted, but it reminded me that I was to have a very special guest that evening.

That guest was an Austrian friend, a Benedictine monk, Brother David Steindl-Rast, the nearest thing I had to a really wise person in my life at that time or at any time since. We would read German poetry together—he would translate the original text, I read the translations, all the while drinking the red wine. But I had my day on my mind, and the mind-numbing tiredness I was experiencing at work. I said suddenly, out of nowhere, almost beseechingly, "Brother David, speak to me of exhaustion. Tell me about exhaustion."

And then he said a life-changing thing. "You know," he said, "the antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest."

"What is it then?"

"The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness. You're so exhausted because you can't be wholehearted at what you're doing...because your real conversation with life is through poetry."

It was just the beginning of a long road that was to take my real work out into the world, but it was a beginning.

What do I care most about—in my vocation, in my family life, in my heart and mind? This is a conversation that we all must have with ourselves at every stage of our lives, a conversation that we so often don't want to have. We will get to it, we say, when the kids are grown, when there is enough money in the bank, when we are retired, perhaps when we are dead; it will be easier then. But we need to ask it now: What can I be wholehearted about now?

3) Am I harvesting from this year's season of life? "Youth is wasted on the young" is the old saying. But it might also be said that midlife is wasted on those in their 50s and eldership is very often wasted on the old.

Most people, I believe, are living four or five years behind the curve of their own transformation. I see it all the time, in my own life and others. The temptation is to stay in a place where we were previously comfortable, making it difficult to move to the frontier that we're actually on now.

People usually only come to this frontier when they have had a terrible loss in their life or they've been fired or some other trauma breaks open their story. Then they can't tell that story any more. But having spent so much time away from what is real, they hit present reality with such impact that they break apart on contact with the true circumstance. So the trick is to catch up with the conversation and stay with it —where am I now?—and not let ourselves become abstracted from what is actually occurring around us.

If you were a farmer, and you tried to harvest what belonged to the previous season, you'd exhaust yourself trying to bring it in when it's no longer there. Or attempting to gather fruit too early, too hard or too late and too ripe. A person must understand the conversation happening around them as early in the process as possible and then stay with it until it bears fruit.

4) Where is the temple of my adult aloneness?

In 1996, I wrote a poem called "The House of Belonging." In it, I spoke about the small, beautifully old house I came to live in after the end of my first marriage. In the poem, I wrote:
This is the temple of my adult aloneness
and I belong to that aloneness
as I belong to my life.
That temple was the house I moved into after the end of a chapter in my life. There I would live alone, but also with my son a good deal of the time. It was a new start. There was a great deal of grief in letting go of the old, but I was so very excited about my new home. I felt that even though it was such a small house and an old house, it had endless new horizons for me, as if the rest of my life was just beginning from that place. It is important to have the equivalent of this house at every crucial stage in our lives. Where do you have that feeling of home? Do you have it in your apartment? Do you have it when you walk along the lakeshore or the seashore? Where do you have that sense of spaciousness with the horizon and with your future?

Gaston Bachelard, a French philosopher, said that one of the beautiful things about a home is that it is a place where you can dream about your future, and that a good home protects your dreams; it is a place where you feel sheltered enough to risk yourself in the world.
5) Can I be quiet—even inside?

All of our great traditions, religious, contemplative and artistic, say that you must a learn how to be alone—and have a relationship with silence. It is difficult, but it can start with just the tiniest quiet moment. 

Being quiet in the midst of a frenetic life is like picking up a new instrument. If you've never played the violin and you try to play it for the first time, every muscle in your body hurts. Your neck hurts, you don't know how to hold that awkward wavy thing called a bow, you can't get your knuckles round to touch the strings, you can't even find where the notes are, you are just trying to get your stance right. Then you come back to it again, and again, and suddenly you can make a single buzzy note. The time after that, you can make a clearer note. No one, not even you, wants to listen to you at first. But one day, there is a beautiful succession of notes and, yes, you have played a brief, gifted, much appreciated passage of music. 

This is also true for the silence inside you; you may not want to confront it at first. But a long way down the road, when you inhabit a space fully, you no longer feel awkward and lonely. Silence turns, in effect, into its opposite, so it becomes not only a place to be alone but also a place that's an invitation to others to join you, to want to know who's there, in the quiet. 

6) Am I too inflexible in my relationship to time?

In Ireland, where I spend a great deal of time, they say, "The thing about the past is that it isn't the past." Sometimes we forget that we don't have to choose between the past or the present or the future. We can live all of these levels at once. (In fact, we don't have a choice about the matter.) 

If you've got a wonderful memory of your childhood, it should live within you. If you've got a challenging relationship with a parent, that should be there as part of your identity now, both in your strengths and weaknesses. The way we anticipate the future forms our identity now. Time taken too literally can be a tyranny. We are never one thing; we are a conversation—everything we have been, everything we are now and every possibility we could be in the future. 

7) How can I know what I am actually saying?

Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future. We need that same skill as an art of survival. We need to overhear the tiny but very consequential things we say that reveal ourselves to ourselves. 

I have one friend who, when she is in a quandary, goes out for a drive in her car and sings. Whatever she's grappling with, she sings about it—to the windscreen, to the road, to the oncoming traffic. Then she overhears herself singing how she actually feels about something and what she should do about it. 

Sometimes she pulls up to a stoplight, other people look over and she's singing, slightly crazed, into the windscreen, but that's her way of finding out. 
8) How can I drink from the deep well of things as they are?

In the West of Ireland, there are very old, very sacred wells everywhere. The locals call them "blessed wells" or "holy wells." At them, you find notes to the dead, bits of ribbon, keepsakes that people have left when they've said a prayer for a child or someone who's sick. Often a local church will have a Mass out there once a year. These holy wells are everywhere, and they're part of the local imagination and have been for thousands of years. 

So to me, a well, a place where the water springs eternal all year round, is a very real, blessed place to stop and think. Almost always, when I'm struggling over a particular situation, I realize that I am only looking at the surface of the problem and refusing to go for the deeper dynamic that caused all the tension in the first place. 

All intimate relationships—close friendships and good marriages—are based on continued and mutual forgiveness. You will always trespass upon your friend's sensibilities at one time or another, or your spouse's. The only question is, Will you forgive the other person? And more importantly, Will you forgive yourself? We have to deepen our understanding, make ourselves more equal to circumstances, more easy with what we have been given or not given. We must drink from the deep well of things as they are. 

9) Can I live a courageous life?

If you look at the root of the word "courage," it doesn't mean running under the machine-gun bullets of the enemy, wearing a Sylvester Stallone headband, with glistening biceps and bandoliers of ammunition around one's neck. The word "courage" comes from the old French word coeur meaning "heart." So "courage" is the measure of your heartfelt participation in the world. 

Human beings are constantly trying to take courageous paths in their lives: in their marriages, in their relationships, in their work and with themselves. But the human way is to hope that there's a way to take that courageous step—without having one's heart broken. And it's my contention that there is no sincere path a human being can take without breaking his or her heart. 

There is no marriage, no matter how happy, that won't at times find you wanting and break your heart. In raising a family, there is no way to be a good mother or father without a child breaking that parental heart. In a good job, a good vocation, if we are sincere about our contribution, our work will always find us wanting at times. In an individual life, if we are sincere about examining our own integrity, we should, if we are really serious, at times, be existentially disappointed with ourselves. 

So it can be a lovely, merciful thing to think, "Actually, there is no path I can take without having my heart broken, so why not get on with it and stop wanting these extra-special circumstances which stop me from doing something courageous?" 

10) Can I be the blessed saint that my future happiness will always remember?

Here's the explanation for what sounds like a strange question. I have a poem called "Coleman's Bed" about a place in the West of Ireland where the Irish saint Coleman lived. The last line of that poem calls on the reader to remember "the quiet, robust and blessed saint that your future happiness will always remember." 

We go to places of pilgrimage where saints have lived, or even to Graceland, where Elvis lived, because these people gave something to the rest of us—music or good works— that has carried on down the years and that was a generous gift to the future. 

But that blessed saint could also be yourself—the person who, in this moment, makes a decision that can make a bold path into the years to come and whom your future happiness will always remember. What could you do now for yourself or others that your future self would look back on and congratulate you for—something it could view with real thankfulness because the decision you made opened up the life for which it is now eternally grateful? 

David Whyte is the author of The Three Marriages, Crossing the Unknown Sea, and poetry collections including River Flow and Everything is Waiting for You.

Putting the Lord First: "My People Are So Busy Working for Me, They Have Little Time to Spend With Me"

Wade E. TaylorThat I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death...Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:10, 12
Within the visible Church is a smaller remnant who are seeking "something further" beyond their present spiritual experience. Thus, it can be said that there is a "Church within the Church," or spiritually speaking, a "people within a people."
There are those who have a present active relationship with Jesus. Others are satisfied with the fact that they are saved, and someday will be in Heaven with Jesus. Not having a present, active, ongoing spiritual experience, they are satisfied with being a "spectator" of all that the Lord is doing through the lives of others, along with attending "the" service, once each week.
However, some are being stirred to enter into a deeper personal relationship with Jesus. This also was the desire of Paul, who said with heart intensity, "that I might intimately, personally, know Jesus." This prayer of desire to have an active, present relationship with Jesus should resonate within each of us.
The CrossWhen the Lord responds to our prayer, we will be directed to the "Cross" – the dying of our self-centered lives, that we might become the expression of His life, through the "power of His resurrection." Thus, Paul also said, "I live, yet not I."
Jesus ever seeks for us to enter a higher realm of identity with Him (the fellowship of His sufferings). This goes beyond the "fellowship of our sufferings" and will bring us into a "Kingdom" relationship with Jesus, in which we, in the totality of our being, become totally submitted to the dictates of the Head (Jesus). He said that we cannot enter the Kingdom (an active relationship with Jesus in total submission to Him), except we first become as little children.
...[Allow] the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:14-15
The Lord may move in ways that differ from our past expectations, or experiences. This means that our response to the present stirrings within our spirit must be with a child-like trust and faith.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
The Lord's response to our seeking may be in a way that is not familiar to us, or that may appear offensive to our intellect. Therefore, we must be careful that we do not miss our time of visitation. It has been said to me, "This is not the way it was when we met the Lord," and they rejected the present time of visitation.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty...Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. I Corinthians 1:27, 2:12-13
The Lord may test us to see if we are really sincere, and if we are willing to accept Him on His terms. Herein is the need for child-like faith and trust.
Seek Him Early
I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me...that I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures. Proverbs 8:17, 21
The Lord will respond to the expression of our heart's desire to better know Him. As we worship and express our love for Him, He will become singularly interested in us.
Pray earlySome time ago, I was struggling to find something that I had misplaced. Finally I prayed, asking Jesus to help me, and quickly it was found. If I considered this, I would have to say, "When all else fails, pray." Rather, I should have prayed first. The Lord helped me, but I had missed a choice opportunity to establish and demonstrate my dependence upon Him.
The Lord is saying that He will respond in a special way to those who seek Him "early." This "early" means that in unquestioning anticipation, we are to respond to His beckoning presence, without first trying to understand what? or when?
But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
When we put the Lord first and acknowledge our utter dependence upon Him in all things, He will make Himself known to us, and also, He will work in our behalf. As a result, we will receive spiritual "substance" that will abide in our spirit – His life imparted into our lives. Now, our words will become the "testimony of Jesus" – His words being expressed through our relationship to Him (see Revelation 19:10).
And He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. Mark 3:13-15
Our primary calling is to come to Jesus – spending quality time in fellowship with Him. As we are faithful in our part (our coming to Him), He will be faithful in His part, our being sent forth as a witness of His life being lived through our lives.
But ye shall receive power (divine enabling), after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses (not do witnessing) unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8
Changes That are Taking Place Within Us
The important thing is that we have spent time alone with Jesus, so we might receive the "substance" that is to be imparted into our spirit for the outworking of our testimony and ministry. Our time of preparation is very important, as we can only give that which we have received. Thus, as we spend time in His presence, the Lord will place within us the seed (potential) for all that pertains to our calling.
Prepared soilIn Matthew, chapter thirteen, a sower went forth to sow. Some of these seeds fell by the wayside (hardened soil) and were eaten by the birds. It is very important that the seed (a present word) falls into carefully cultivated soil (our being in the center of His will and purpose). The distance from the hardened soil of the wayside to this prepared soil is only one step.
The step that we take into the place of separation for our preparation as an end-time witness is very important, as while the inner work of the Holy Spirit is taking place, there may be no evidence of a harvest. During this time, the important thing is the changes that are taking place within us, rather than in what we are accomplishing.
There have been times when I have struggled to meet the Lord, trying all kinds of approaches, but getting nowhere. Then I became quiet and found that all the Lord required of me was for me to take one step to the side and become quiet. When I did this, He was there, waiting for me to wear myself out, so I could yield and come His way. I had been trying to force the Lord to move as I thought He should. All that I had to do was to yield and come His way (child-like faith).
And Moses said, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses, Moses." And he said, "Here am I." Exodus 3:3-4
"I Will Now Turn Aside."
The Lord visited a young man recently and said, "My people are so busy working for Me, that they have little time to spend with Me." There must be "set apart times" in which we turn aside to spend quality time with Jesus. The enemy will do all that he can to hinder this, by keeping us busy.
The demands of our soulish desires are very real and ever present. To seek Jesus early requires of us a time of heart preparation. This involves a crucifixion of these self-centered desires with a determination to seek the Lord and spend time alone with Him. We must become serious concerning spiritual things.
As we do this, the Lord will draw us to Himself, and impart into us an adequate supply of the "substance" (the living, creative Word) that will meet the need – our being sent to preach the Word, heal the sick, and cast out devils.
Then, it can truly be said, "The Kingdom of God is at hand."
Wade Taylor
Wade Taylor Ministries / Parousia Ministries

Email: nancy@wadetaylor.org
Website: wadetaylor.org
Wade Taylor graduated to Heaven on February 29, 2012. He served others as a teacher and spiritual father for over 50 years. He was respected and loved by many for his quality of spirit and walk with his Lord. He was an anointed author, bringing forth deep truths of the Spirit with a clarity and simplicity that drew the reader up into a closer walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nancy Taylor WarnerNancy Taylor Warner, daughter of Wade Taylor, spent most of her childhood in a Bible school environment due to the calling on her father's life. In 1981, the Lord called her to support his message and she since has functioned in a variety of positions. Today, in response to her dad's wishes and the encouragement of its board of directors, she now oversees Wade Taylor Ministries. Nancy travels at times to speak and pray for others. She particularly enjoys teaching on intimacy with God and other truths that relate to our spiritual growth. She brings an expectation for the visitation at hand, and prays for the life and ministry of Christ to be imparted by the Holy Spirit each time she ministers. Nancy's special gift of relating to and loving people stems from her own love for Jesus and His Kingdom. Her spiritual life messages flow into the hearts and spirits of those to whom she ministers.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

God Really is Looking for People Weak Enough to Be Used

Bobby ConnerAs Believers, we are instructed to live our daily lives with true goals, aims, and divine purpose (see Ephesians 5:14-18). We cannot achieve this unless we walk in God's grace.
What is the key to experiencing God's grace?Embracing our weakness!
God is not looking for strong people to help Him accomplish His work. The truth is that the Lord is looking for people who are weak enough to be used. We must remember that His strength is made perfect in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). The key to experiencing supernatural liberating strength is personal weakness.
Understand that personal weakness does not mean weak character or faulty Biblical knowledge. We are to be pure and holy vessels of honor for God's service. On the contrary, God is looking for a people who have come to the place where they have lost confidence in their fleshly power to accomplish the work of the Spirit. Only when we embrace the weakness of ourselves apart from Christ can we become strong and "graced" to accomplish things for the true advancing of God's glorious Kingdom.
The winds and waves of the sea convinced them of their dependence upon God.This truth is clearly displayed in the story found in Psalm 107:23-28, which describes the strong, seaworthy sailors who made their living upon the high seas. One day, however, the Lord raised up a stormy wind that blew away every last ounce of their self-confidence. They found themselves at their wit's end and cried out for the Lord's grace and help. Although they were skilled and experienced, the winds and waves of the sea convinced them of their dependence upon God.
Have you encountered the winds of change in your life? If not, you can be confident they are on their way!
Christ Jesus declares that "Without Me you can accomplish nothing!" (John 15:5). This word "nothing" means completely, totally nothing. It truly means less than nothing. Ours is a life of unspeakable joy when we come to the place where we understand that only the work of the Spirit can advance the Kingdom of God.
In other words, absolutely nothing you have ever done in the past and nothing you could ever accomplish in the future will match the unparalleled joy of letting Jesus live His life through you! God has exactly fitted for each of us a unique walk of grace. As we yield our wills and ways to the Holy Spirit's control, we begin to experience this walk of grace. Through yielding and embracing our personal weakness, we experience the abundant grace that enables us to accomplish all that God has assigned for us to do (see Philippians 4:13).
Never forget it is not by our might and power, but by His Spirit, that great exploits are accomplished for the King (see Zechariah 4:6).
Amen!
Bobby Conner
Eagles View Ministries

Email: manager@bobbyconner.org
Bobby Conner: This "Gentle Giant" is uniquely anointed with refreshing humor and razor-sharp prophetic accuracy which has been documented around the world. Bobby's dynamic capacity to release outstanding demonstrations of the miraculous – healings, signs and wonders – reveals the very heart of the Father toward us! Surviving a dramatic abortion attempt by his mother, being rescued again by the hand of God from drug dealing and suicide, the story of Bobby Conner is a display of a man who now walks in his God-ordained destiny to set others free! Highly esteemed as an internationally acclaimed conference speaker, Bobby has ministered effectively to over 45 foreign countries as well as here in the States for many years.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

How God's Promise Works in Your Life, Peter was the Only Disciple to Step onto Water

John BeltPartakers of His Divine Nature
2 Peter 1:4 By which He (God) has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
Many times people are disillusioned when they feel God has given them a promise and it has not yet come to pass. But with every promise there is a response. Just as promise comes through revelation, God opening our eyes to what He desires to do, there is the accompanying response that is required of us.
With a lack of response there is no fulfillment. Hope deferred makes the heart sick (see Proverbs 13:12). God wants us to know how faithful He is. He desires us to see the fulfillment of the dreams He has given us. When you look in the actual Greek meaning of the verse above (see also 2 Peter 1:4), it actually refers to us being "divine participants, communioners (by the vehicle of communion – from the root word KoinOnoi), partaking of God's nature through the promises of God."
The Seed of Revelation
The seed of revelationWhen the Holy Spirit shows us promise concerning things surrounding our lives, it comes by revelation. God gives us light to see. That revelation is a seed. Just as a seed needs to be watered to grow, so we need to water these seeds of promise with our prayers. Throughout the process, prayer is required to keep things moving in the direction of promises fulfilled. This requires patience on our part. God brings forth maturity in our hearts through this process. This is why we are encouraged not to lose heart. This does not mean that it takes forever to see promises fulfilled, but it does take some time, differing according to the promise. We can expedite God's promises through our response, pursuit, and actions.
Activation Through Response
When we have received the seed of revelation concerning God's promises, we now have an opportunity to respond in some way that gets us "out of the boat."
Matthew 14:28 And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
Peter's response was not perfect, but he did get out of the boatJust as when Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, as His eyes were opened to the event, Jesus gave Him an invitation to get out of the boat. Peter did what he knew to do. He took a step out on the water. He went some distance. Taking His eyes off the Lord, he began to slip, but Jesus was still there to meet Him and lift Him up. Peter's response was not perfect, but, unlike any other disciple, Peter was the only disciple with the faith and obedience to get out of the boat and step purposely onto water!
Sometimes in our own minds we justify waiting in the boat, not realizing it is just our natural mind wanting to know every detail. Thinking to ourselves, "Well, maybe I ought to just sit in the boat a little bit longer – after all, we want to have wisdom." Do you think Peter did that? No. He got out of the boat of his comfort zone before his natural feelings could jump in to dictate the next step.
Our spirit man does not need to have everything figured out. Faith is the substance that gets us out of the boat. Be encouraged to seek God on how to get out of your boat. Because once we do all that we know to do in response to God's promise, the Lord comes through for us. God gives us promises. Some have time slots of fulfillment, and others are without time frames just waiting for our response.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. We are not allowed to simply wait for something to happen. I heard it said by someone who had seen many experience supernatural weight loss (i.e. people losing tons of weight suddenly in a ministry meeting, etc), "The people were already actively pursuing their goal, God just showed up to finish the job!"
God Meets Us On The Water
Jesus met Peter on the water. This was the place of faith. Peter experienced something that none of the other disciples experienced because he was willing to take a step. Is it any coincidence that it was Peter who was used to preach at Pentecost? Although Peter had done some presumptuous things, he also found the groove through his persistence, mixed with shortcomings.
God's grace meets us and brings promises to pass in our lives. If it was about us doing everything perfect we would never make it. Find the place of faith where you respond to what God has shown you. Seek God about the proper response through communion, prayer, fasting, and worship. Then do all you know to do. It may not look exactly like the perfect response, but God will meet you on the water to help you get there.
John & Brandi Belt
Overflow Global Ministries

Email: office@overflowglobal.com
Website: overflowglobal.com
Overflow Global Ministries is the ministry of John & Brandi Belt. The heart of their message is that God's greatest desire is to indwell His people with His presence. They believe that man was created to be inhabited by God through His Spirit. With a sincere devotion to God through the Holy Spirit, people can live in a place of overflow in His presence. This overflow translates into touching the lives of others through living encounters with God. When John and Brandi minister, the intimate presence of God is manifest – being accompanied with demonstrations of God's power to heal, revive, and restore.

Monday, July 1, 2013

July to December - A Time of Promises Fulfilled

Doug AddisonJune Gloom Lifting
The month of June started for many people with a spiritual gloom. There has been an attack on people's minds to get them to believe the things that God has promised them will never happen. For me, June has been the biggest challenge with my daily prophetic words. I normally get them all very quickly, a month to six weeks in advance. It spiritually felt like trudging through mud this month. This is symbolic of what many people are going through right now. Things are moving slower than normal and not as clear.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV) ..being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.The fog will clear
The way to respond in unclear times is to keep moving forward. It's similar to driving through an unexpected fog bank. The sun is still shining above the fog, and it will eventually break through. Remain calm, steady and carry on!
June Is a Time To Complete Things
God is bringing healing to many people who have suffered from "hope deferred" (Proverbs 13:12), or what I call prophetic disappointments. July through the end of the year will be a time of "promises fulfilled." Many things that God has promised you will begin to take shape. We will see lots of movement and relocation.
That being said, June is a time of closure for an old season that is coming to an end. Tie up loose ends, make preparations, and get ready to cross over to a new season starting in July.
New Sound and Creativity
I have had several dreams this month about new music and creativity coming from Heaven. I saw new instruments, including an electronic cello connected to a guitar and a computer. There is new anointing from God coming to musicians, new creative song writing, and new sounds that will open the spiritual realm. Step out and try new things musically.
This new sound from Heaven is intended to create breakthrough in the spiritual realm. It is not limited to churches and will begin to spill over into secular music that has deep spiritual roots. It will have an amazing, positive effect on people.
Trumpet Blast Calls People Into Place
Trumpet blastOn Sunday, June 9, I heard a trumpet blast in the Spirit and God spoke to me that this is a call for people to begin to fall in their places. God is aligning people into places and positions that will allow them to operate at their maximum potential.
There is a major shifting that is happening right now that will begin to align people into their destiny at a greater pace. We can expect to see a lot of movement and change over the next couple of months. There will be a gathering of people who have been drawn to particular places.
Another aspect of this trumpet blast was to wake people up who have been in reserve. There are many of you who are being reserved or seemingly put on hold for a future time. This time is now! You will get greater revelation as to what and where God is calling you as you step out.
Wounded Warriors Rising
Part of the prophetic word I received with the trumpet blast was that there are "wounded warriors" who are now being refitted and repurposed and will begin to emerge. God reminded me of a scene from the beginning of the movie Dark Knight Rising in which Batman was on the sidelines living in obscurity. Cat Woman (the enemy) breaks into his cave of isolation and robs him of his fingerprints (his identity). This attack motivated him to come out of hiding and get refitted in order to fight back.
There are battle-weary, wounded warriors who have been suffering from rejection and living in isolation. They are coming back on the scene, as the reality of the enemy robbing them will bring about a new strength to fight back. It is interesting that, at the end of the movie, Cat Woman ends up helping Batman. This is a prophetic parable that the enemy must repay for all that is lost. People who were once enemies will become allies.
One of the biggest prophetic messages in the movie Dark Knight Rising was that the superhero could not save the day alone as he did in the past. He had to rely on others. This emphasizes how we need unity in the Spirit like never before.
God is calling people into place right now. Watch for people to rise from obscurity. People who have been previously considered spiritual outcasts will experience a new movement of God's power and love.
Pray that we have eyes to see what God is doing right now! This is an exciting time to be alive.
Doug Addison
InLight Connection

Email: respond@dougaddison.com
Website: dougaddison.com
Doug Addison is a prophetic dream interpreter, speaker, writer, Life Coach, and stand-up comedian. Doug travels the world bringing a message of love, hope and having fun! His unique style helps open people to discover their destiny and experience God's supernatural love and power.