Snake

I do not like snakes. They, like mice, startle me. I do not like to be startled.

I stay away from snakes. But, if I am in the car and see one crossing the road, I will make a bee line for that snake and run right over it. Then I get the hibby gibbies thinking about the snake on my tires. I avoid snakes at all costs.

Just yesterday my brother, Only In His Service, and I were working in my backyard. My brother suddenly jumped, startled. You guessed it. A snake. But, I did not run, I did not jump on top of anything, instead I ran and got my camera. Who is this woman?

I stood there and took multiple pictures of this snake and it's little snake friend. I do not recognize this woman.

This morning while I was thinking and praying about blogging, God brought this event back to me and talked to me about the world. You see, I have grown to accept the snake as a way of life. I have grown accustom to the snake in my life. He, the snake, is the same, I have changed.

So, I have began to search myself. What else of this world have I grown accustom to and accepted into my life. Have I forgotten that I am not of this world. I did not see the change that brought acceptance of the snake in my life. Could it be that other worldly things have crept into my life and I did not notice. How worldly have I become?

I still do not want to touch the snake. But, I seem to have lost my fear and disgust with the snake. Slowly, I have accepted the snake. Letting him in inch by inch. How numb I have become to the snake.

Have I become numb to the things of this world and begun to just go with the flow. To allow myself to inch by inch fall into the schemes of the evil one. To say to myself "oh well, it's just a snake". No harm in seeing a snake, just do not touch the snake.

How easy it is to fall into the evil trap set aside just for us Christians. How easy to slide into the world and see it, accept it, but tell ourselves, "I will not touch it." Danger, Will Smith, Danger". There in lies our vulnerability. Telling ourselves I can look but not touch.

We, as Christians, are prey to the predator, Satan. Like the snake he spends his day looking for the vulnerable to devour. The prey, does not pay attention to their surroundings and succumbs to the predator. Loosing their life in the twinkling of an eye.

Search thyself.

Abandoned

Sunday, at church, I needed to be at the altar to worship. I went to the front of the church and flew into the arms of my Lord.

I never close my eyes when I pray, you do not want to miss something that God may be doing, but I do close my eye when I worship. While I was worshiping this last Sunday, I heard something next to me. I opened my eyes because it was a bit startling. I did not turn my head to see what was going on, but did shift my eyes in that direction.

What I heard and saw was someone on their knees next to me. She was yelling as loud as she could "Lord, I give you my anger, my bitterness, my hate." I closed my eyes again, but would open them now and then because I could hear her sobbing, gasping and talking. She tore up a piece of paper and threw it on the altar. Then stood there looking exhausted.

When the song was over, I turned to see who it was and it was a friend of mine. We hugged and she said "I can not believe how long I have held on to my anger". After worship was over, she turned to the church and shared her feeling. She said, that she had thought that God would never accept her. She had been molested multiple times, raped and with many men. Just filthy. But, she shared that God loves her. That He had given her an incredible husband. It was a remarkable moment.

This woman let herself become vulnerable in front of the church. She was not ashamed of how God was moving her and did not care what the world thought. God healed her in that moment. Like David, she became naked to the world. She only wanted what God was offering at that moment and was not going to let it go by without grabbing on to God's garment. She is healed.

So many times we allow the Spirit of God to just fly by. We ignore His urging or say to ourselves "I'm not going to do that". If this woman had done that, she would have missed her emotional healing. To few of us will allow ourselves to look peculiar. Yet, we are called to be peculiar. We fear the thoughts of man.

To be totally abandoned into the presence of God, is what we are called to do. To fly freely into His arms and enjoy His very presence. To dance, sing, yell, rejoice or anything that He may move you to do. But, we suppressed the Spirit and do not allow Him to move on us as He did on this woman.

This is a perilous time. Much is happening in the spirit realm. If we are not in tune with the things of God we will be easily swayed to the wrong way of things. I was once told that my radio was tuned to a different broadcast than everyone else. May I suggest, dear reader, that we all tune our radios into the realm of God and listen to what He is saying. Because, if you are tuned into the wrong air waves, you just may miss the Good News.

Repentance

This last weekend I was asked to get a prophetic team together and prophesy over some women going through a class. I could not use my existing team because some of them were in the class. So, I got together three other women and we spent the day in prayer over this class.

It went well. We flowed together well and experienced the Lord all day. The Holy Spirit spoke through us and many had revelation.

There was, however, one women with whom everything was different. She caused me to feel humble around her because of the way she carried God. She was so close to Him that you felt Him in her presence. She is from Africa and her and her husband had pastored a church, like mine. in a small town in Kansas. They are church planters.

We ministered to her, but when we went to pray for her, she looked at me and said "it is you". She shared that lately God would give her a vision of someone and she could feel what was going on with that person. She told me that I was empty inside and very lonely.

When she said this I could suddenly feel this great loneliness inside of me. It was huge. One of those, in the room, suggested it was because my mother had just died. This could be. But, I thought it was because every Christian sensitive that I know is alone. This started quit the conversation. Everyone identified, that even in a grounded room you are alone.

Then she said that she could see God putting blocks of wood into a glass inside of me and as soon as it was full, He pulled a block out of the bottom. I said that this reminded me of every time I get close to someone, God pulls that person away. I know that He does this so that I will go to Him not someone else. All the women in the room agreed with this as well. But, is this what God was saying to me.

It is rare for me to get a word from someone. I was told that I do not get words from others because I already hear from God. So, for me to get a word from someone is unique and I need to pay attention. So, what could it mean.

The word weighs on me. I think about it a lot. Waiting for revelation. Sunday we took communion. My husband and I take it together. At our church you go up and get your bread and juice then take it back to your seat. So, my husband and I share with each other what is on our minds, or what we need to repent from etc. Well, my husband starts talking about all he has no needs that have not been met by God. All of the sudden, I was struck by revelation and began to cry.

The Lord showed me that I am never satisfied. That I have acquired a need to have stuff. My stuff has become more important to me than should be. It is not any thing of any substance, just stuff. I repented with great sadness and went to the altar to worship.

After church, I began to think about what the woman had said to me and try to find if this new revelation had any part in it. I can see were in part it does. It speaks to the loneliness. Trying to fill the void with stuff. The void, more than likely, is the death of my mother and I am trying to fill it with things other than God. But, when I look at the glass with blocks in it, it does not seem to work out.

Does God fill my class and then take out from the bottom. Does my dissatisfied state of being cause me to some how interfere with the gifts that God is giving. I can not see this is the revelation. So, as for now, I do not have understanding of the vision.

I confess, to you dear reader, that I have been looking to values other than God to satisfy my loss of my mother. I praise God for revealing this to me because I was certainly blind to this fact. But, no excuse, I did not take the time to search myself for those things that lie deep within myself that destroy instead of build up. So, in repentance, I turn my back on this sin and walk forward to the love of God over my spirit and find all my needs met in Him.

Birth Pains of Evil

We had a visitor last night. A friend whom I truly enjoy. We were talking about my last post. I was telling him that I had had a few comments from people that were also feeling the evil in the air. He suddenly said "birthing pain."

The "birth pain" of the rise of evil. Not something I really want to concentrate on.

Revelation 9:13-15

Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, �Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.� So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.

Could it be that this is what we are feeling. The birth pains of the release of these four evil angels. My heart breaks for humanity with the oncoming release of evil. As a Christian, when I feel this evil, it unnerves me. I can not imagine what this will be like. My senses become overwhelmed with the reality of what is to come.

I think that what Patti wrote in the comments of my last post is a word worth heeding. She wrote: " When Babylon (systems of the world that are controlled by the evil one) falls, make sure your feet are not planted there or any little roots, as you will be taken away with it. (Like being in a building when there is an earthquake. Let's all ask the Lord to show us if we have any idols of this world which are keeping us from being totally His. The only power that is stronger than the evil one is His, and contain that power in our earthen vessels."

We certainly do need to search ourselves and find those things inside of us that keep us from the intimacy of our loving God. Those things that separate us from His glory. Will we be strong enough to hold off the hordes of evil. Or will we succumb to the ways of the world.

It is so easy for us to get caught up in the world and leave those things we know to be just and true behind. Or to dabble in the things of the world thinking that it can not harm us. But, beware my dear friend, the time is nigh, and the birth pains have begun. Hold fast to the things of God. Dig deeper into His word and His love. I agree with Patti, if we are not sure footed, we will certainly slip.

Parables

Luke 8:10
He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, " 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.

I have written about the first time that I heard the audible voice of God in the post "The Farm". But, I have since found the above mentioned verse that confirms my thoughts on whether what I heard from God was a parable or not.

Do you not love how God confirms what He needs and wants from you? In my early walk with God, I had, so many times wondered at if I was truly hearing Him or not. But, sure enough He would confirm my doubts and I would have a sure foundation to walk on.

Now, I know for sure that I am hearing God and need no confirmation, although, at times I still get the confirmation. This past Sunday, at church, I was asking God to speak to me about going back to the farm. I wanted to make sure that I was doing the write thing. So, I asked to hear His voice. Instead, I closed my eyes to worship and had a vision for someone in the church.

Ok, I thought, I'll go and give her the word. After speaking to the woman, I came back to my seat and again began to worship. I quit trying to get a word about the farm and just enjoyed the worship.

But, when we sat down to listen to my pastor, God started to speak. One of the things He said, was that my brother, Only In His Service, would have an answer about the first word I ever heard from God. This would be a confirmation of what I believed the word to be, instead of a parable.

After church we went to lunch with my brother. I began to share with him and my husband the things that God had told me in church, but did not share that my brother would have a confirmation word for me. When I shared the word from God that "No predator will cross your land" my brothers face lit up and he said "the predator is a unmanned aircraft used by the military." This was interesting. I told him he was confirming the word from God about the farm.

"No predator will cross your land." When ever we try to see the land on Google maps or any other satellite image, you can not see it. You can get over it, but it is always blurry and a different color than all the rest of the map. My brother confirmed to me that what we are doing, by going back to the farm is correct.

I do not look for confirmation anymore, but it sure is nice when you get it. Especially, in a situation like this. A life changing situation. I praise God for confirmation and for wanting to commune with His people. Our God is an awesome God.