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In Truth

A couple of weeks ago, Holy Spirit expanded upon the precept He highlighted to me earlier, which is 3 John 1:4 TPT. It says, “It is the greatest joy of my life to hear that my children are consistently living their lives in the ways of truth!” 

The key here is to constantly choose truth, which is life. We know Jesus is our Source of life and that we are a wheel within a wheel with Him.

Therefore, we are to walk about occupied by Him in divine ability and purpose, full of life and growing in His truth as our reality. We are to follow Jesus and walk ethically and comprehensively in full circle, right into His rainbow promises fulfilled.

To live like this, we must focus on Him and grow in Word and Spirit, gaining revelation-light that delivers us into more of Him as truth.

In John 16:13-15 NLT, Jesus tells us that “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.” 

So, are we listening to Him? Because He desires to turn our sadness to joy.

Holy Spirit revealed to me that He is powerfully delivering hearts into all truth right now. He’s causing them to ascend by getting them unstuck from “con-descending” issues, especially roots of unforgiveness.

He revealed to me that there are people who have new mantles waiting for them. But to fit into them, roots of bitter unforgiveness must first be plucked out and strongholds dismantled. 

He showed me that condemnation through evil speaking has interfered with their identity, value and purpose. And for some, it has been going on for years, even decades. He also showed me a Word-vision of “Enough-enough!” So, He is putting an end to their longstanding suffering and restoring them to His truth.

This deliverance includes repentance and forgiving perpetrators at a root level, where there has been blame and bitterness for a long time. Holy Spirit showed me that there are some who have spoken words of “I forgive you” but continue to walk in a root of bitter unforgiveness, while continuing to be actively wounded and feeling that nothing they do has worked.

He revealed that they haven’t experienced deliverance from the spiritual torture of unforgiveness because they have not submitted to His ways. Instead, they have held onto a deep sense of someone owes them and have tried to change people and relationships in their own strength and way, not knowing any better. In this way, they have become their own worst enemy.

Holy Spirit led me to the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:30-35, which says:

…the one who had his debt forgiven stubbornly refused to forgive what was owed him. He had his fellow servant thrown into prison and demanded he remain there until he repaid the debt in full. When his associates saw what was going on, they were outraged and went to the king and told him the whole story. The king said to him, ‘You scoundrel! Is this the way you respond to my mercy? Because you begged me, I forgave you the massive debt that you owed me. Why didn’t you show the same mercy to your fellow servant that I showed to you?’ In a fury of anger, the king turned him over to the prison guards to be tortured until all his debt was repaid. In this same way, my heavenly Father will deal with any of you if you do not release forgiveness from your heart toward your fellow believer.

Friends, releasing forgiveness toward someone must involve the power of Holy Spirit. For this to happen, we must know Him, choose to trust Him, invite Him to search our hearts for blind spots. Ask Him to pluck up any root of bitter un-forgiveness. Then repent and follow up on His instructions. Because, only Holy Spirit knows the whole truth. And when we submit to Him, we get safely delivered.

If you have been tormented by unforgiveness, I pray you receive a revelation of this freeing truth, which is that God’s power of forgiveness releases the enemy’s grip on you that worked through perpetrators. When you receive this truth at the root, all of the anger in your heart will dissipate in an instant, and you will be free to fit into your new mantle. This is how the shift will happen for some. 

I challenge you to refrain from a cycle of torture and come more fully into God’s powerful abundance of truth and glory (Ja 1:25; 1 Jn 2:20, 27). Guard your heart from people who speak death through condemnation. And ask Him how to best do this. Don’t let the enemy of your soul prevent you from living in the fullness of life God has for you. 

Arise from among dead things and receive new life. 

In John 5:24 TPT Jesus says, “I speak to you an eternal truth: if you embrace my message and believe in the One who sent me, you will never face condemnation. In me, you have already passed from the realm of death into eternal life!”

So, for all who are willing, pray and declare these affirmations, taken from the books of John and Psalms: 

“Your Word is truth! So make me holy by the truth” (Jn 17:17 TPT) (emphasis mine).

“Escort me into your truth; take me by the hand and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation; I have wrapped my heart into yours all day long” (Ps 25:5 TPT)!

“I’ve chosen to obey your truth and walk in the splendor-light of all that you teach me” (Ps 119:30 TPT).

“… those who love the truth will come into the Light, for the Light will reveal that it was God who produced their fruitful works” (Jn 3:21 TPT).

In Jesus’ Mighty Name, 

Amen. 

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

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Trust Him

As we keep our eyes on Jesus during this advent season, we can remember that He is with us and comes to offer us new life through His Glory-Presence, grace-power and wisdom. This is especially important right now as many continue to break through into new and higher places.

Where there has been faithful submission to Jesus, there will be an outward shift.

Even where there has been imperfection in the testing, learning and growing, He promises to “overwhelm your failure with His generous grace” as in James 1:5 TPT. 

And especially where it has looked impossible and nothing in our own strength worked except to teach us that only His way does, He will bless us with grace-filled new beginnings. 

But it doesn’t stop here. 

God is blessing the seeds He instructed us to plant over the last-season years, including seeds of prayer. They are about to spring up, especially over the next couple of years. These harvests will be miraculous, ordered by God and multiplied for legacy purposes.

God will also remember our obedience to His instructions and He will bless our faithfulness.

Ruth 2:12 NCV declares, “May The Lord reward you for all you have done.”

In this light, a couple of weeks ago, as I sat before our Lord, He showed me these Word-visions in this order: Trust Him. Seeded lot. Harvesttime. Solid ground.”

These Words reveal a progressive path of upgrade He has had us on, which remains true against enemy battles. 

Holy Spirit reminded me of Abraham, who brought his nephew, Lot, along with him as he departed his father’s house (Ge 12:4). We know the story, where it gets to the point that Abraham had to delineate a boundary with Lot to sustain the blessing (Ge 12:9-12).

And so, Abraham offered Lot his top choice of land. At the point where Lot received this land, Abraham sowed a tangible seed. And God did not forget. 

God rewarded Abraham for what he did by blessing him even more. And this spiritual principle is what I believe many, who have sowed seeds, are coming into.

When we zoom out and look at the very beginning of God’s instruction to depart from his father’s house, we see that Abraham welcomed Lot along. To me, this reveals Abraham’s heart for his fatherless nephew. I believe his fatherly heart is largely what God blessed as Abraham stepped out into new places that were unknown to him by faith, trusting Father God. 

Over time, God separated Abraham out and enabled him to receive outward blessings, even increasing them beyond his lifetime on earth, through all the seeds he sowed.

The point here is that God blesses our hearts when we do our best, even when we don’t get it completely right. And He also blesses our tangible efforts of obedience. All of these seeds of action-faith are about to meet God’s grace to produce more tangible fruit. 

Just like Abraham, there are those who stepped out in faith and trusted God to go and sow seed. And now, they will be rewarded. There are those who sowed “land” seed, like Abraham, and those who sowed “hospitality” seeds, like Abraham, who are in the process of reaping their harvests. 

These harvests will put God’s faithful on solid ground as they reap that for which they contended, that for which Holy Spirit revealed and promised, that for which they prayed, for which they waited and for which they will ultimately receive. 

It may not come the way we anticipate. God will bring us through some unexpected elements to grow us in Him. But our faith will be made strong in the process as we trust Him and come to know Him and His ways more. And in so doing, He will test others—the onlookers, the immature, like nephew Lot—to also grow them. 

God is a God of wholeness, shalom peace. He will not stop until our feet are set on solid ground. He will not leave us part of the way. He will not fail us. He will see us through. 

And when we are fully set in place, a fullness of joy will come. We will experience new life, a new normal, a new beginning. As we depart from the past, God will grow us even more in delighting in Him. He will make our joy full. And He will cause us to flourish to the point of helping others. He will cause us to share Godly wisdom and tangible goods. 

He will instruct us on how to build upon what He gave to us. He will delineate some relationships, reunite others and bring in new ones. He will give us all we need to fulfill divine destiny, including leaving a powerful legacy that honors Him.

To Him be all glory, honor and praise. 

In Jesus’ Mighty Name, 

Amen.

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

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Connected Life

When I sat before our Lord a couple of weeks ago and asked Him what He would like to share with us, He showed me these Word-visions: “Connected lifestyle. Survey gathering, community” in this order. 

As it happens so often, Holy Spirit had me search out the deeper meaning of each Word. And what He led me to see were meanings that I never would’ve seen had I not made the effort to do so. 

If you’ll take these Word definitions before Him in prayer, I believe He’ll reveal specifics to you for your own life. I believe they’ll be unique for each individual and so fitting you wouldn’t want to miss them.

So, here are the definitions:

The Word “connected” means the point of place, time, purpose, or result that has been reached or entered (Strong’s). It implies motion, penetration and union (Helps). It means joined or linked coherently in sequence. It can mean related by family ties. Or having “social or professional relationships, especially with influential or powerful persons” (Dictionary.com). It means “having a connection.”

Going deeper, the Word “connection” means “all-around (on every side); encompassing, used of full (comprehensive) consideration where ‘all the bases are covered’ (inclusively)” (Helps). Connection can be translated as “all about.” 

The Word “lifestyle” means “conduct, life, behavior, manner of life” (Strong’s). It also means to turn from down to up, an up-turn (Helps). It can mean a “change of outward behavior from an ‘up-turn’ of inner beliefs.”

If we break up this compound word, we see that life has numerous meanings beyond a basic existence for growth, resilience and elasticity. “Life” can mean breath of life, eternal life and the quickening of life that we partake of through our faith and trust in Jesus Messiah. This kind of life is “equivalent to the gospel” and is expressed in moral conduct (Vine’s). “The sign of life is movement,” and it “can be enhanced by loving and serving God, by experiencing God’s deliverance, and by receiving divine blessings” (Tyndale).

“Style,” as in lifestyle, can mean a particular “form, appearance or character” (Dictionary.com). And a distinctive mode of action.”

Moving on, the Word “survey,” has a variety of definitions, according to Webster’s. It means “to examine, as in condition, situation, or value; appraise.” Also, “to determine and delineate the form, extent and position of (as a tract of land).” It can also mean to see, to view comprehensively, or to inspect or scrutinize.

When we think of the Word “gathering,” so often a meeting or assembly or an attraction comes to mind. But, according to Webster’s, gathering can also mean a collection or compilation. It can reference contributions or an intuitive conclusion. As a verb, gathering can mean to pick, to harvest, to haul in or to amass. It can mean to summon, to prepare, to gain by gradual increase or control. And it can also mean to bring together parts of something or to draw about or close something.

The Word “community” can be defined as “a unified body of individuals,” who share common character or likeness as well as joint participation or ownership (Webster’s).

Now that we have all the definitions, I believe the general interpretation to be this: 

God has released a time of grace to now move synergistically and powerfully into the manifestation of His promises He put in your heart. He has brought you to the place and purpose of an up-turning in outward behavior, resulting from the restoration of a renewed mind.

He is now positioning you outwardly as a joint owner, an heir, with shared character and the likeness of Himself to participate correctly alongside Him. You will work to complete your divine assignments with Him now, not in your own strength, but by His powerful Spirit.

In so doing, it’s time to survey that which has been gathered, during a period of gradual growth. It’s time to examine the elements comprehensively, to compile them and sequence them into a delineated form and bring them to the point of conclusion.

“This time,” says the Lord of Hosts, “you will do it in communion with Me and it’s going to come together; because My grace has now met your faith and I AM in it with you. Because we will do it synergistically, there will be momentum.”

Holy Spirit highlighted Amos 9:13 in The Message version, which He has many times before. It says, “Yes indeed, it won’t be long now…Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills.”

To God be the glory. 

Amen.

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

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Disappointment Disappears

A couple of weeks ago, during quiet time with our Lord, I felt led to ask Him a particular question, which was this: Knowing what my earthly father knows now that he lives in Heaven with You, what would he like for me to know?

I knew whatever it was would have to align with God and that it would help me as his daughter.

Holy Spirit showed me a string of Word-visions, one of which was “truth.” And the verse He highlighted was 3 John 1:4 TPT, which says, “It is the greatest joy of my life to hear that my children are consistently living their lives in the ways of truth!”  

Another Word I saw caused me to seek God the most. It was the instruction to “consume glory.” 

And I thought, “Of course! Dad has a glorified body now. So, that would make sense. He’s worshipping God, who is Glory, in glory. It’s all about glory!” 

The first verse that came to mind was Revelation 10:10 TPT, where John says, “I took the little scroll from the hand of the mighty angel and ate it. Indeed, it was sweet as honey to taste…”

This is a portrait of John receiving the gospel as life-giving revelation-knowledge, given by an angel of promise, who declared that there would be “No more delay” (Re 10:6)! And this information was to be shared with others by John (Re 10:11).

As I continued to seek Holy Spirit, He led me to the Word, which is the title of this devotion, “disappointment disappears.” And then He led me to read the many definitions of the Word “appointment.”

From there, the interpretation of this Word was confirmed in this simple truth: When we consume the Glory of God, our disappointments disappear. Consuming His glory is the antidote for all that comes against our identity, purpose and mission. It enables us to receive the life-giving power-Presence (the anointing) that breaks yokes of disappointments and readies us to move forward.

Consuming glory reverses death, doom and condemnation to reset us to abide more in Him, to stand strong with Him. It frees us to enter more into all that is of Him as our Heir of all things (He 1:2). It postures us for His goodness of service and promotion in divinely-appointed seasons. 

Holy Spirit also led me to a section of Scripture subtitled “A Father’s Warning,” where Paul says:

For although you could have countless babysitters in Christ telling you what you’re doing wrong, you don’t have many fathers who correct you in love. But I’m a true father to you, for I became your father when I gave you the gospel and brought you into union with Jesus, the Anointed One. So I encourage you, my children, to follow the example that I live before you (1 Co 4:15-16 TPT).

Paul goes on to call down their arrogance and remind them that he’s coming back. And he defends Timothy, the son whom he loves and sent to them. 

When I read Paul’s words to his church family, it was like my own earthly father speaking God’s truth to me, which brought a richer connectedness with God’s Word. I was reminded that one of the beauties of living in Heaven with our Lord—and even living here in His Glory-Presence—is that it’s an existence of purity without corruption of this world. It’s far better than all else. 

Even Paul says, at the end of his “Father’s Warning,” that “For the kingdom realm of God comes with power, not simply impressive words” (1 Co 4:20 TPT).

And if we circle back to the little scroll that John ate—the one he was instructed to consume—we see that it became a part of who he was, what he did and why he did it. It was the most perfected part in him—glorious God.

Friends, when we consume God’s Glory-Presence, in Word and Spirit, we are set for His divine appointments. Foolishness has no power over us. Any wrong-doing, any wrongful judgments, condemnations, shame or guilt spoken against us cannot stand up to God’s truth that we deeply consume.

Hebrews 7:19 TPT reminds us by saying, “For the law has never made anyone perfect, but in its place is a far better hope which gives us confidence to experience intimacy with God!”

So, my earthly father’s words to me were my Heavenly father’s Words, which are to consume the Glory-Presence of God. Remain in it and let it draw out the best in me, while every lesser thing just disappears as God continues to bring me into the fulfillment of His promises right on time, while I share His good news.

And this is the same truth for you. To God be the glory.

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

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Zephaniah Today

There is a pattern in Holy Bible’s Book of Zephaniah that I see happening today and it’s this: God is burning off the dross from the souls of people to heal and restore them. To then bring them together again in unity as one family for the purpose of serving Him (Ze 3:9).

The Message version of Zephaniah 3:9 says, “In the end I will turn things around for the people. I’ll give them a language undistorted, unpolluted, Words to address God in worship and, united, to serve me with their shoulders to the wheel.”

Purity, worship and service are key here. Because this kind of unity involves wholeness of heart and Kingdom, where we see powerful demonstrations of God as enough, as we align with Him even more on a family legacy level (Strong’s #3605).

We are beginning to experience this, as we see it play out in His revivals around us right now. We know this can only happen by the powerful Presence of God as Love, simply because it pleases Him to bless those who earnestly seek Him and to draw others in.

Many have already come through a long season of dross-burning and foundational restoration to now continue on and help others through. A fundamental spiritual precept I learned during that time is that, as we go forth to help God’s family-at-large, He helps our own bloodline families and new family members to come.

As we help the least, we help Jesus. As we help His children, He helps ours. This is one way He helps us build legacy. 

But there’s more reward coming, because God’s math is multiplicity. He gives us an exponential return on our investment of seed sowing in the purification, worship and service.

I believe we’re coming into a depth and scale of unity that we’ve never known in our lifetime. I believe we’re about to experience and witness a move of Ephesians 3:16-21 in individual families and on a grand scale to build God’s Kingdom on earth. I believe we’re just beginning to enter into this right now, even as God repositions us to continue to sow life into others in new ways.

Ephesians 3:17-19 TPT reveal a strategy by saying:

Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!

Do you see here that it’s about exercising faith as we’re rooted in God’s love? Do you see that you’ll discover His multiplicity of blessings expressed as love?

One of the directives I heard very recently from Holy Spirit was to “consume glory,” meaning to worship God with a pure heart, the sole motive being to honor Him and experience Him and all He desires to do in the areas of purifying, healing and unifying.

This is especially encouraging for those who have lost loved ones, since we have an open invitation to worship the same God that our family of believers, who have gone before us, do right now. With God as our center, we can meet in the middle as we gather in Heaven and earth to worship Him. 

We can also rejoice laterally as we discover God’s everlasting love unfurling in His faithful deliverance of the fulfillment of the promises for which our loved ones contended, in addition to our own. Can you see this?

So, our hope extends forward as we go and build a legacy of family unity, which includes church family, personal family and heavenly family. 

And we can be certain of this hope, as Paul says to us in Ephesians 3:21 TPT, which is that “Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity.”

Also in Ephesians 3:20 TPT, he says to “Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”

So, friends, get ready to step into a redeemed future. Get ready for the blessings of unity from faithful God. And for the rewards of exaltation that come after purification as expressions of His love, even like the pattern we find in the Book of Zephaniah (Ze 3:15-17, 19-20).

To God be the glory.

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