Kingdom of God

Opportunity Surge

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When God is faithful to my husband, he is faithful to me. I am an extension, and I feel privileged to be connected to the blessing. Tonight, Ricky and I got to go on a little date – we tried out the new sushi bar in town, Momiji’s. On the way there, he told me casually that he gets a bonus (a Christmas bonus… a little late?) from the boss he just resigned from! He resigns and his boss not only gives him a bonus but a solid lead for a freelance project for a wealth management firm! This new lead might even end up as a year-long retainer – what an incredible answer to prayer that would be!!
Then he told me about some of the recent encounters he’s had with inmates, as the new representative for the Freedom Through Faith program for the Washington County Jail. His title is Professional Visitor – such a strange thing to see in print inside a plastic lanyard. He has been given the honor of visiting inmates every week – many a week – to talk, to spend some time, to discuss how they’d like to connect with a faith community from the outside, maybe have a pastor from their preferred kind of church visit them. The fact that he has 3 past convictions of felonies in that same county makes it really hard to believe he’s allowed in there, let alone appointed to help the inmates in this way. The head Chaplain who offered him the volunteer position said he’s never seen it before. But here he is. Tonight, he said that one man told him from behind the glass, “I guess your prayer for me worked last time you were here. I didn’t think about slitting my throat once this week.” And today, an inmate looking at 12 years in prison soon, offered to pray for him.  It completely took Ricky off guard and blessed him to pieces.
Then we get home, and Ricky says – I didn’t want to firehose you with all kinds of news, but today when I was leaving the jail, I got a call from an old friend I used to work with, and he’s now working with John Maxwell and asked me if I’m freelancing again, and if I’d have time to help them with some projects. He offered to fly me to Atlanta to talk over everything. He even mentioned flying to a few countries to work on projects with movie clips or interviews or something…asking if he has a valid passport.
WHAT in the World!? No, he doesn’t! He’s never needed one!
This is all happening within weeks of resigning a job he knew that he knew that knew was not a good fit for him.  It seems so crazy – all kinds of opportunity (there are 2-3 other ones, too) showering down on him at once. But this has happened to us before – so we recognize it now – we are saying OK, Lord, we just want to be open. We want to keep trusting you. So bring it on, whatever you have for us. Whatever you think we can handle. Help us to walk in your wisdom and make choices that reflect boldness and faith. Help us to seek always and first, your kingdom. Your righteousness. It’s as if the moment things would seem wobbly and unsure in the world’s eyes, God swoops in and says, “Pick a Hand.” and then He starts pulling out hand after hand after hand after hand after hand from behind his back. And we watch them open and so often they are things of eternal value. Opportunities. Influence. Joy. Peace… They open and we look at each other like, Really?! Is He serious? Take it!

Thank you, God! All I can say is Thank you. For blessing my little family, often times by blessing my amazing husband. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

 

 

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Outpouring

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Vs1: There’s an outpouring of your Spirit

out of our hearts, out of our homes

An outpouring of your Spirit –

into the streets, into the public places

 

Vs2: There’s an outpouring of your Spirit

out of the church, out of our songs

An outpouring of your Spirit –

into our work, & into the lowly places


Pre-Chorus:

So I will go, go into my world, world

and I will love, love every boy and girl! 

Yeah, I will go, go into my world, world

and I will pray for FREEDOM every day

Chorus: 

Freedom,  Freedom be released

From your Kingdom

 Kingdom be released!

Bridge: 

Give me a mind not divided, not distracted

But the mind of Christ

Give me a mind set upon you, set upon truth

The mind of Christ


Chorus

Vs2: There’s an outpouring of your Spirit

out of the church, out of our songs
An outpouring of your Spirit –
into our work, & into the lowly places

Pre-chorus:  So I will go…

Chorus x2   Freedom…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_QoWrlITPI

My Kinda Dance – repentance and forgiveness

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After Break Free tonight, talking and praying with my awesome friend and prayer-sister Samantha about sex trafficking, I had to stop by Freddies on my way home. I figured I might possibly run into David from about a week ago (https://chelan.me/2015/02/21/david-from-freddies/), but wasn’t sure. What made me wonder, is that I’d picked a random sermon to listen to on my way home from some church called Victory, in my Podcasts. I’d never listened to one from there before. This guest speaker was preaching all about King David. She was specifically using him as a prime example for us to embrace repentance along with forgiveness.

As Freddie’s was closing, I picked a line to check out and then saw it was his line! But he had to shoo me away to self check out. I left, a bit bummed, but then saw him again at the main doors a few minutes later. I turned to him, “DAVID. I told you I’d pray for you, remember?”

He smiled, and I watched it come back to him. So I asked him there in front of the electronic double doors by produce, what I could pray for him about. He said for a stressful real estate deal set to close March 13th or 18th? to go through successfully. And then he asked me if I had anything he could pray for.  I thought about it…& said sure! I applied for a part time job and want it, only if God does. So direction on that.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and we stood there, basically strangers but brother and sister in Christ, and prayed for each other as his co-workers exited the store every minute or so.

After he prayed for me, I prayed for his real estate deal but added a part that I’d just heard from that sermon: that God would help him to see repentance for what it is – a turning away.  And when we turn away from sin, we are turning toward our God who loves us deeply. I prayed for a desire to always turn away and then turn toward, trusting that there will always be a great freedom found there.

He lit up even more and mentioned that there was power in that prayer, & that he feels like what I prayed for him should be “reciprocated”, back to me. And I received it. Cause I’ve always had a hard time with repentance for some reason. But now I’m realizing its the step to take before asking for forgiveness. Like they’re dance partners.

I was thinking, our hands, if they are still filled with undealt with (unrepented of) sin, they will not be able to be filled with his gift of forgiveness. It’s a give and then get. A bit like a spiritual dance. Move toward God a few steps and give up the sinful action or attitude and then move back a few and get freedom and joy that comes from receiving His forgiveness. And a bonus comes when we gain victory over that area. Praise God!

Now that’s my kinda dance.

On the way home from there, the Lord gave me a new song with these words:

Vs1: There’s an outpouring of your spirit – out of our hearts, out of our homes. An outpouring of your spirit – into the streets, into the public places.

Vs2: There’s an outpouring of your spirit – out of the church, out of our songs. An outpouring of your spirit – into our work, & into the lowly places.

Pre-Chorus:

So I will gogogo into my worldworldworld and I will lovelovelove every boy and girl! Yeah, I will gogogo into my worldworldworld and I will pray – for freedom every day

Chorus: 

Freedom freedom be released

From your Kingdom.

 Kingdom be released!

Bridge: 

Give me a mind not divided, not distracted.

But the mind of Christ.

Give me a mind set upon you, set upon truth.

The mind of Christ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_QoWrlITPI

Why do we Need the Holy Spirit?

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Here are some thoughts I wrote down this week, on what the GLORY of God is, and Understanding the Holy Spirit  – inspirations from Piper, Munroe, with a little bit of my own, sprinkled in:
Glory – what is it? John Piper says it is the public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God (based on Is. 6 – where the angels sing, Holy Holy Holy Holy is…, the whole earth is filled with his glory). They are describing his goodness, perfection, love, radiance – made manifest for all of us to bear witness to it.
We will behold – we will see, feel, be changed by – his glory – His Godly attributes in fullness, on display.

Understanding the Holy Spirit – according to one of our favorite (now late) preachers of deep faith, Dr. Myles Munroe:
Acts 1:1-6 (written by Luke) John baptized you in water but in a few days you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls the HS “the promise of the Father” – relating to the 1st promise the Father made in Gen. 3:15 What Adam lost when he first sinned was the Holy Spirit. He lost the Kingdom of God – The King’s dominion. The dominion of the rulership of God. When you lose the Holy Spirit, you lose the kingdom. When Adam lost the kingdom, he lost the dominion over the earth. So He made a promise.
Matthew 4:17 Jesus, right after his own baptism, was baptized by the HS (it descended upon him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven, saying, You are my Son, My Beloved! In you I am well pleased and find delight!” – Luke 3:22). In his first sermon preached after his 40 days in the wilderness, he declared – Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near (is at hand). He was speaking of himself, for he was the only carrier of the fulness of the Holy Spirit. All of the Kingdom was IN him. He was FILLED with it without measure. And his primary message was on the Holy Spirit – the Kingdom of God.
Man’s #1 need, he communicated, is the Kingdom.
The Spirit of God – all of the Holy Spirit and his fruit.
Law enforcement are equipped to handle broken laws. Crimes committed. But the only person equipped to handle SIN, is the Holy Spirit. We may have information, or news of sin and the affects of sin in this world, but our solution is not in simply enforcing laws, or in behavior modification. It is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To have his Spirit inside of our bodies.
Spirit is invisible. It cannot contain blood. A physical body must be the agent or carrier of blood. Since blood is the only thing that can truly free and forgive us of sin, according to the way God established covenant from the beginning of time. We’ve either got to shed the blood of animals, or accept the blood of Jesus as our new and improved sacrifice for sin – of our past, present and future.
 
*(My view: there is another sacrifice of blood and that is in the act of suicide…in essence, a physical declaration that Christ’s blood was insufficient to free you from your sin or pain. His sacrifice did not fully do its work, and therefore the sin and shame and pain inside became so overwhelming that a lie was believed – the lie that spoke, not even Jesus and his blood and his resurrection power is enough to bring hope for a new start, forgiveness, or relief. This is also the lie believed by those who cut themselves. They are deceived. The blood cutters release out of their body releases only temporary relief. It is a counterfeit, and a distortion or perversion of the truth that is found in the shedding of Jesus’ truly cleansing blood). 
Jesus said it’s better that I go, so that the Holy Spirit in me can come out of me when I leave, and go – or be released – into YOUR bodies. But he cannot fill an unholy body. So Jesus imparted the Spirit to US, but not until His work was finished – that is, until his body was used by the Holy Spirit until the job was completed in Him. He had to let the work be finished in Him and leave his earthly body before the Holy Spirit was let out of him and able to enter into OUR bodies.  Jesus was saying – you need MY body to prepare YOUR body. My blood to completely cleanse your sin, your body of its weakness, sickness and sin.
So, the promise of the Father from Gen.3:15 was fulfilled – that He would restore what was lost – the Spirit of God. The baby came through a woman and he was spotless, he shed his blood unto death. And now we have His blood that cleansed us (past tense).
Why was blood necessary to cleanse us? By Moses’ law, nearly everything was made pure by blood. The tabernacle and all the things in it were mere copies of the things of heaven and had to be purified by blood. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. (Heb.9:22). He entered into heaven, and appeared before God on our behalf. Not to offer himself over and over and over, like Priests used to do w/animals.  vs. 26 – but now ONCE for ALL time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.
*Jesus tells us about his Kingdom & says that it will begin when we receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We are living in the Kingdom of God now – the power of the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God will BEGIN when you rec’v the power of the HS.  To exercise the power available in the Kingdom of God, we must release the power of the HS.