Posts

Posted on

Until Now

Three times, very recently, Holy Spirit highlighted the title of this devotion to me. We know that “until now” implies a continuance of something up to a point and that a shift is present or imminent.

According to Strong’s (#5704, #6258), “until now” can mean at “this time.” And it can also reference a limit of quantity and measure, even in the area of “no more” suffering.

This is what I believe God is saying in this hour:

The completion of your assignment has begun, and it’s not just for you. Some I AM calling home to Heaven. Some I AM reassigning on earth. And in all cases, I AM calling my beloved higher.

Official documents, that you may have to file, are your certificates of completion, as well as the evidence of what I have been leading you out of. Also, there are additional steps of closure I will bring you through in the days and months ahead.

Until now, you have seen gradual change. But I am bringing you into a fast-approaching close. Therefore, focus your time and energy on Me and what I instruct you to do, so you can keep pace with Me with the least amount of stress.

What I have instructed you not to do is equally for your benefit. It isn’t that I AM against your activities. It’s that, if you work your own list, you won’t have time for Mine.

You have patiently endured persecution (1 Co 4:12-13). And now, I AM completing your mission impossible with a good ending. Your suffering, as you have known it, is over.

Because you have prioritized Me as your First Love, I AM blessing you in My “beautiful and appropriate” time, where you will experience greater measure of my divine purpose (Ec 3:11).

I AM releasing that which has been held up, including, but not limited to, finances. You will finally encounter the expanse of your dreams and the embrace of approval.

I will give you a short rest before I open up your next assignments, where you will experience a whole new freedom of rejoice.

Just as Boaz gained insight to Ruth and offered direction for My newness during Harvest time, so, too, am I giving you insight, direction and clarity forward (Ru 2).

As you move increasingly toward your new assignments with Me, know that what is in front of you has a new heart, as I have renewed yours. It will not be like before, for I have made all things new. I have been working in others’ hearts to facilitate new covenant connections that are waiting for their moments in time, as well.

I will deliver you into your new assignments by My redeeming love, and I will not stop with the heart. You will see manifest miracles in soul and body in those for whom I have given you a heart and identified to you. For I AM bringing you into more of My power and what delights Me.

I AM bringing the Kingdom breakthrough you have longed for. And, as it was for Ruth, there is a fullness of harvest for you there. I will not stop short. It will be all that I have revealed to you and more. It will be light and legacy for My Glory.

So, continue in My ways, and you will be victorious, as I cause your efforts to prosper.

I AM with you all the way. And you will not be alone.

Your new time and place await you. You are almost fully there.

Friends, whatever your story, God will get you where He desires you to be. I encourage you to take His hand, follow Him wherever He leads. Trust Him and rest in Him. He will get you to your destiny and will not fail you. He loves you with an everlasting love and delights to surprise you in the best way.

So, pray with me if you will . . .

Dear Lord,

Thank You for the power of Your gracious salvation operating in my life. Thank You for breaking the enemy’s death grip to free me from confinement and bring me into Your expanse. I trust You to show me Your way, to help me to rest in You and stay the course.

Thank You for forgiving me for much (Lk 7:47), for bringing much-needed change and for protecting me all along the way (Ps 3:3). Thank You for giving me an undeniable identity in Your Son, Jesus, and for helping me walk it out.

In His Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

Posted on

Decision Maker

The other day, I asked God what His purpose was in sending me to a new, forthcoming assignment that He revealed to me long ago. My attitude wasn’t reluctant. I was just excited about it, and wanted to better understand His perspective.

The answer Holy Spirit gave to me was simply that it delighted Him.

I honestly didn’t expect to hear this. But I loved that it was the first thing He said to me; because it prompted me to realize, once again, that our primary purpose for being here is to please God.

As I delighted in His answer, I realized that so much of the complexity I was expecting Him to share was actually behind me and that I would experience joy in new ways forward (Ps 65:8). I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:11, which always lifts my mood.

The NLT version says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.'”

We see here that our Maker desires that we seek Him with our whole heart to experience Him in new ways right now and forward. He has revelations, to share from His heart of delight, that will lift our heads and guide us onward into all He has for us (Ps 3:3).

So, as I devoted more time to Him, Holy Spirit revealed some deep specifics of a joyful thing He has just ahead that filled me even more with awesome wonder.

God has many glimpses of specific elements that will delight your heart, too.

This is a time of intimacy with God, in which He will clarify His will for our new assignments and ignite fresh passion in us. There’s a blossoming and a fullness of life and power that’s just before us (Ep 3:19). It involves more than one element of life that God has been crafting together for a long time, as He brings us into the manifestation of what pleases Him (Ps 115:3).

Holy Spirit highlighted Ephesians 2:10 NLT, which says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

I believe He’s inviting us to draw near to Him and marvel at how He continues to shape our futures and bring His goodness in the land. At the same time, He’s sharing more understanding of what He brought us through so, we can experience even more peace, release and closure to more fully proceed (Ep 1:8).

Holy Spirit keeps showing me a vision of a relay race. In the vision, I see a baton passing that’s about to occur. I see that it will manifest swiftly and very soon.

Obviously, a relay involves more than one runner to get us to the victory line. So, where one runner hands off the baton and another runner receives it, I believe this is a depiction of those who are finished with their roles in our races and are handing them off to ready runners of God’s choosing.

These fresh, ready runners, who have waited for this baton, will receive their role and run with it—all the way to victory. They will be ones who are strong in The Lord, established and have much to offer with great efficiency.

Holy Spirit revealed to me that He‘s using them for redemptive purposes in our lives—to help bring us into what has seemed elusive up to now.

So, God’s truth is that He’s leading us into His fullness of time for what He has planned for us. This includes those tasks we tried to do earlier on our own but experienced outright rejection. God’s grace is coming into place for those things, and we can even feel it coming.

Holy Spirit revealed to me that He’s “removing the withholdings,” which is depicted by the runner handing off the baton, for the purpose of expansion and that what we have to leave behind He will put in perspective for us by revelation and by His Presence.

As we continue to devote time to God, He’s offering joyful understanding to us, so that we can continue our races freely in His peace.

Holy Spirit reminded me that the righteous are crossing over into the miraculous manifestation of His promises—big, jaw-dropping ones—and that faith in Him has been our bridge.

In all of this process, it’s important to remember that God will make “everything work out according to his plan.” (Ep 1:4, 11). “Even before he made the world, our Creator loved us and chose us…” Therefore, we can trust Him as our most wise Decision Maker. And, by His triple grace, we can know that we won’t miss it (Ep 1:7).

Lord, may it be according to what delights You, as You lead us into Divine destiny.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

Posted on

Resurrection Life

In Holy Scripture, the Word “resurrection” is derived from the Greek and literally mean to “rise from the dead” and to “stand up again” (Strong’s (#386 – anastasis). Resurrection also has a figurative meaning, which is to be “raised to life again” by God’s truth and power.

Jesus is our first “resurrection and life.” He says in John 11:25 NLT that anyone who believes in Him “will live, even after dying.” So, we have this assurance of life that we walk in, no matter what.

My favorite resurrection life scripture is Romans 8:11 ESV, which says that “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

So, resurrection can reference the spirit, soul or body. It can mean that a loved one, who has passed on, can be raised to Heaven. It can mean that someone receives a breakthrough in their soul of God’s light of truth. Or it can mean that a person’s body parts are miraculously restored to functionality.

I believe God is about to overflow this life-giving power through us to facilitate dream-level restorations of relationships and miraculous physical healings (Je 33:6).

I believe we can expect for the hopes He restored in us to manifest in overflow in this season.

I believe that, as we keep the faith, draw near to Him and carefully walk with Him, we will experience His Word to us as an expression of His beautiful justice, especially in the areas we cannot make happen on our own.

Right now, our Lord is releasing affirmations to strengthen us, through revelations of His Word. He’s revealing more details of how to process the shifts into His Kingdom expansion before us. Faithfully walking out this path with Him will prove extraordinary.

Recently, Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, reminding me that we don’t have to worry about our lives or where He’s leading us (Lk 12:22). As He has in the past, He will cover us with His feathers (Ps 91:4).

Since, Jesus said in John 15:14, that we are His friends if we do what He commands, what do we have to fear?

It may happen, as it did with the early church in the Book of Acts, that there may be resistant ones, who will try, in vain, to stop the Spirit of God from moving. But, like the early disciples, we must remain close to God as our Life Source and go and do as He leads.

Remember, the wisdom of discernment is key in our new season. Holy Spirit will help us navigate foolishness (Pr 26:4-5). He will guide us and give us Words to speak when appropriate.

Remember, that our Lord is the One who lifts our heads high (Ps 3:3 NIV). So, we can agree with Him, as our Vinedresser, to faithfully lifts us, as branches, even when we cannot help ourselves.

We can know that God is bringing us into greater honor, as we continue to honor Him, and that He has prepared us well. It may feel risky, but God is in it with us, and His way is certain. So, no matter what, He will help us remain steadfast above any resistance (Jn 15:7).

Therefore, we cannot lose.

Also, since God does not reveal His plan for us, as individuals, to most other people, we can expect some to fall away who don’t align with the dramatic changes He will work in and through us.

There may also be those, whom God calls home to Heaven. There may be those in our inner circles, whom God will distance from us to work their assignments with Him. There may be those, like the Israelites in the wilderness, who won’t have the right heart to continue forward with us. There may be those who are jealous and envious, like the Pharisees and Sadducees. And there may be those who do not have the integrity of character, like Aiken or Judas.

Yet, we can cling to God, say a prayer for them, release them to Him and move forward anyway. Remember, God is taking us to higher places, so we can determine now to remain high with Him and not go low in the flesh. We can experience His justice when we put Him first in all things and not make idols out of those we are expected to release to His care.

If there is one lesson I’ve learned in life it’s that, when we go where God sends us and do what He instructs, He brings new life to our loved ones from whom He expected us to depart for a season. In His time, this resurrection life cycle will come around again, as He blesses us through these renewed relationships in a unique way.

So, we don’t have to confuse mourning with honor and eat the bread of mourners indefinitely. We can process through grief and celebrate their lives and their Godly impact they had here. We can let God heal our hearts, and move onward to accomplish our divine purpose for being where He sends us.

We can know that beloved believers, who depart from us, worship the same God we do and that God is safely keeping them in Glory as His stored-up treasures for us (He 12:22). We can remember that those who didn’t make it into this season on earth can see us from Heaven and are cheering us on. So, let’s give them reason to rejoice even more.

We are on a mission to bring life with God to earth as it is in Heaven, and they know this. God’s purpose is ours to apprehend in honor of Him and them. So, settle for nothing less, and God will settle us in our new, manifest promises.

To Him be all glory, honor and praise (Jn 15:8). Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

Posted on

Decision-Making Strategies

God can turn our lives around when we earnestly repent, which means to turn back to Him. And no one is too far gone.

God can regenerate dead things. We were dead in our sin, but He came down and rescued us through Jesus (Co 2:13).

Jesus even revived Lazarus, who was dead (Jn 11:43-44). And when He did, He restored all of life to him, including his relationships. Jesus brought those close to Lazarus to a new level of gratitude and awe. And He expanded their evangelical outreach.

Very recently, Holy Spirit revealed to me that He’s about to do some Lazarus revivals in people’s lives. As we continue to depend upon God, many will witness His miraculous hand bringing dead things to life again.

God has positioned us before some amazing new beginnings, so it’s important to make wise choices. Our willingness and decisions that align with Him help facilitate His strategies.

However, for anyone who thinks they can just live irresponsibly and God will erase the effects of their poor decisions by His grace, they are unaware of God’s law of reciprocity. God’s truth is that we reap what we sow.

Yes, when our beliefs and actions oppose God’s way, they will also return upon our own heads. When this happens, we can turn to God and He will be there to restore us. But perhaps you’ve figured out that God’s restoration often takes decades. So, who would want to live a messed-up life this long?

I’ve viewed countless videos and shows where guests talk about lousy decisions they’ve made and how God redeemed their lives over time; but not once have I heard any of them specifically say that they brought their consequences on themselves.

This is a blow to the ego to even consider that we brought “it” on ourselves. And that’s the whole point: The truth of humility breaks false pride—the same kind of pride that caused Heaven’s most glorious angel, Lucifer, to fall.

So, when we make ungodly decisions, we cannot point a finger at anyone else, lest we memorialize ourselves as victims, the very opposite of victorious. What we do to other people comes back to us. In this way, we can perpetuate a victim cycle of our own doing in our own lives.

Do you see how desperately in need of Jesus we are? And at some point, we must awaken to who and what our God is and intentionally commit to Him and His ways consistently.

I recall a time in my own life, many years ago, when I was experiencing a long, dark night of the soul season. I asked God what was at the root of it all. He revealed a few specific actions in a previous season that brought heaviness into my then current season. I listened to His still, small voice, as He clearly listed a few root causes to me, one by one. And I understood Him perfectly.

Yes, I repented of each sinful cause, but God’s restoration for me was slow, deep and consistent over time. He knows how to correct and restore lasting character in us, so we don’t keep making the same mistakes.

Anytime we think we can get away with doing life our way and still be blessed by God, we are mistaken. The result of living this way is powerlessness, because God and His power are not in it.

If we want to walk in the righteousness and justice of God, we must align with Him by being open vessels to Him and His ways, even when it doesn’t make sense to us. We must decide to follow Him in Spirit and truth. Anything less than faithfulness is sin and will prove to be fruitless (Ro 14:23).

If you look up the Word “fruitless,” you will find it’s actually a type of destitution. It occurs when we leave our very Life Source (who is God), out of our decisions. Simply put, our way alone will not profit much, if at all (Jn 6:63). Ever. So, basically, not yielding to God’s ways produces a very limited yield. In God’s eyes, it’s literally counted as a no good, lifeless waste. God’s Word clearly tells us that we are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Ho 4:6).

I love the command that our Lord spoke through Joshua, which is, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped . . . and serve the Lord. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Jos 24:14-15 NIV).

So, our decisions matter. God cares and is watching. He longs for us to draw near to Him and live out His strategies, even for our own benefit. When we seek Him, He’s faithful to lavish us with His wisdom. He will be overjoyed that we want to work with Him. He will meet us there and share His best life with us and Himself as our greatest love.

To God be the glory.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

Posted on

Keeping Secrets

I love that God reveals Himself and His secrets to us. I’ve learned that keeping them or sharing them depends on the wisdom of God in regards to purpose, people, approach and timing.

When I think of the secret that Mary, the mother of Jesus, carried and the responsibility of such divine purpose, I can barely imagine it. The life or death level of obedience that was required of her to deliver God’s big promise to the world amid threatening surroundings must’ve felt impossible at times. Not knowing exactly what would happen next, as she fled to safety, surely caused her to cling to God even more.

And, just like with Mary, God sometimes keeps details that threaten us from us.

In my own life, I’ve learned that God, in His kindness, will reveal elements of life to me to set my heart on His righteous expectations. It’s more than a holy gesture and an outreach of love. It’s His guidance for divine protection and provision to the point of life over death. It’s to help keep my focus on Him so I keep the faith and make righteous decisions amid chaos.

Even when Jesus grew up and began His ministry, as we know it in the mysterious Gospels, His identity was relatively hidden from the world until it was time for it to be fully revealed. Father God knew the impact and persecution His Son would have as He was increasingly presented to the world. Every marker was graciously timed and purposed.

Likewise, when God prepares us to enter into our destinies, He prepares us for new beginnings. Only after we’ve entered into a thing do we receive the sustaining grace to be developed and established in it. If you’ve ever gotten married, you know what I mean. It’s a process that happens progressively. This is why we feel like we don’t have all the answers to accomplish a thing at the forefront. It’s a trust walk above fear, where God reveals His secrets to us as we walk with Him. He also keeps secrets for a time along the way (Lk 24:16). But He has us the whole way.

When I think of Ruth, I’m reminded, especially of her courage to keep choosing life after death for a new beginning, to keep moving forward when all seemed lost. I think of the wise guidance God provided for her through Naomi and the faith it must’ve taken for her to keep believing, to keep heading into a new land to find a new life. I think of the growth and level of spiritual maturity it surely required and the days of gritty work. But the beauty of it all is that God graciously worked on her behalf the whole time to provide a kinsman-redeemer as she kept moving closer to Him daily.

Likewise, every day that we choose faith as we live our lives, God is working on our behalves to bring us into new life and greater life. As we trust Him and move with Him, He will show us which way to go, leading us to safety and fulfillment of His purpose alongside Him. The secrets we hold in our hearts fuel us. The ones He reveals to us in the secret place.

When I think of Esther, and how she risked her life approaching the king to save a nation of people. How so much was plotted against her and them. But how God took care of them all—protecting and working to give Esther overflow favor for her obedience, as she risked her life for divine purpose beyond herself.

When I drill down into Luke 8:17, I see the core of Esther’s story. The ESV says, “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”

The word “hidden” here means “secret parts, inward nature (character),” according to Strong’s (#2927). The word “secret” in this verse means stored up and treasured (Strong’s #614).

So, from the purposed time Esther entered into and served out her role as queen, God secretly developed her character, revealed His treasure and pierced the darkness with His light (Es 7:10). God’s priority was the purity of gold and it prevailed. So, where the mixture of Vashti was banished, Esther aligned with God and reigned victorious (Es 1:19, 8:15).

Like Esther and Ruth and Mary and Jesus, we can carry God’s secret plan and make decisions that align with His will (Ro 16:25 NLT). When we know God’s secret, we can rise in His strength of truth in the midst of impurities and let Him graciously work it all out for His Glory. And we can trust Him in the areas we don’t yet understand, remembering that He makes everything beautiful in its time (Ec 3:11).

Pray with me if you will . . .

Dear Lord,

Thank You for choosing me to carry Your purposed secrets. I embrace Your ways and choose to take courage to step out into Your Kingdom assignments for Your Glory. Help me to steward Your secrets wisely, with great honor to You. Thank You for revealing Your wisdom and “remarkable secrets” to me that I didn’t know about things to come (Jer 33:3 NLT).

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.