Are you wearing your combat boots?

    

   One day when I was “putting on the whole armor of God” (as instructed in Ephesians 6:10-18), God stopped me at my 👞 shoes. (“your feet shod with the gospel of peace”). “You know, He said, “these aren’t lightweight footgear for the world’s idea of peace. This is not ‘Tiny Tim dancing through the tulips.’ [You have to be old enough to get this reference] These are combat boots you put on to fight for others to receive My Shalom.. I responded as I often do:  Huh?

   He proceeded to further confuse me: “You are a minister of reconciliation.” Wait, combat boots and reconciliation? Oh, is that like warring for peace? Hmmm. 

   2 Corinthians 5:18* declares that we as believers are ministers of reconciliation.. What does that mean? I know that Jesus was and is the Great Reconciler, reuniting us with Yahweh through His sacrificial death in our place. Holy Spirit is continually drawing all of Creation back to the Father. Separation from the Holy One Who made us brings eternal death…All life is in God. Without Him we are but dust. Yeshua laid Himself down as a Bridge across the gap so we could return to The Great and Holy I Am, of which He Himself is a part, (‘begotten not created’). I get that, but I still needed help with our role…..with the combat boots we are supposed to put on. Thankfully, He is always patient to explain:

   When we put our whole trust in the grace and love of our Lord and Savior, the Father seeds and anoints us to become more and more like Himself. Like the Holy Trinity, we are Reconcilers. We are assigned this occupation for the rest of our lives. We become more like Him, ministers of reconciliation.

   “What does this really mean?” I asked Him. “And why, again, is it that I am donning much too big combat boots instead of loafers or ballet slippers?”  

   Here’s the gist of what He expressed to me:  Encouraging, fostering, and nurturing reconciliation between humans and, more importantly, between people and Himself, is not an easy assignment. It is not for the faint of heart, so to speak. It requires courage and tough warfare in the spirit realm, as well as in the natural. Fear of man will try to outweigh our desire to fulfill our calling. For someone to experience God’s full Shalom of body, soul, and spirit, a battle usually must take place. It isn’t all sweetness and light, an absence of conflict, or “let’s all agree to make up and play fair.”

   Unforgiveness, deep-seated resentments, bitterness, trauma, abuse or neglect as children, the lies of the enemy, our own sins and selfishness, a sense of unworthiness, and all sorts of injustice, real or perceived, including anger at God Himself, can serve to block true reconciliation between people and between ourselves and our Heavenly Father. 

   We are also prone to try to take God’s place on the throne and judge others as deserving or undeserving of forgiveness. Mature Christians know this is totally irrelevant to the forgiveness to which God both calls and commands us. Are we worthy of God’s forgiveness? Yet we still find ourselves hopping up onto His cosmic judgment seat.

   “Be reconciled to one another.” Ok, we get it. We can visualize our roles as both forgivers and mediators for others. But what about serving as ministers of reconciliation between someone and God? Jesus already accomplished it, right? He suffered so much physically that he was unrecognizable as a man.****. Not to mention spiritually bearing the sins of every single human being past, present, and future on His own shoulders, in order to reconcile us to Yahweh and grant us His true Shalom of body, soul and spirit.

   The problem is: 

1) Many people have never even heard the the gospel, the Good News of His Shalom

2) Many people don’t believe it when they do..

3) Many people believed it at one point in their lives and then began believing lies.

4) Many people believe Jesus suffered and died for them to live in Heaven one day, but they are angry at God because of circumstances on earth they think He didn’t care enough to prevent. (If they were to really think this through and weren’t being deceived by the enemy of their souls, they would realize how ridiculous and illogical this is. So God would suffer excruciatingly in body and soul, take the weight of the world on His own shoulders out of His unfathomable love for us, but He can’t be bothered to help us out here on earth? Or He will help our neighbor but we’re chopped liver? Hmmmm.)

   Some people even believe God gave them an illness so He could make a good out of it. (See my post linked below, “Everything…) Because God makes good out of evil doesn’t mean He creates evil situations. He is absolutely and totally Good. There is no mixture of good and evil in Him, as some religions and philosophies teach. No ying yang  balancing to = good. (See my post on “Avoiding Modern Idolatry” linked below.)

   If we are going to fight for reconciliation, we must be prepared to do battle in the spiritual realm (through  praying, listening to Holy Spirit, decreeing, praising, etc., especially with other believers. We must be prepared to face rejection and ridicule and persecution. Not every minister of reconciliation will be received with joy and gladness***. Despite our best intentions, we may find ourselves the brunt of anger, judgment, criticism, and other forms of rejection. However, God calls all believers to this ministry, not just pastors, apostles, prophets, and teachers. 

   I am one of those ‘avoid conflict whenever possible’ people. I hate confrontation. I would rather be comfortable in my own little world. However, watching someone else drown because I don’t feel like swimming is not an acceptable excuse for a bond servant of the High. King. Part of my donning of combat boots 🥾 is simply to get myself to move and obey in response to His direction. To listen and be willing to be deployed to battle. To enter the huddle (see previous post) and be ready to follow the Coach’s brilliant Plan. He wants none lost, none alone, none unhealed, none unloved, none deceived, none wandering off in left field….none unreconciled to others and, most of all, none separated from Him.

   Colossians 1:27 declares we are “carriers of the King of Glory.” Let’s don those combat boots and get about His business, work the Plan, love the unloveable, draw people back together and back to Him.

++++++++

17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! 18 And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, 19 which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation —2:Corinthians 5:17-19

*** Caveat: If we don’t follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, this may be our own error rather than our being persecuted for righteousness sake.

**** Just as there were many who were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being  and his form marred beyond human likeness—Isaiah 52:14 

I have an unction from the Holy one, and I know all things, — 1 John 2:20. 

I have the mind of Christ, —1 Corinthians 2:16,

I am anointed by God, —1 John 2:27, 

I was created by Him for good works, —Ephesians 2:10 

• Everything happens for a reason, but not always a good one” December 7, 2024:  https://tennyandi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-huddle.html 
• The Huddle, July 7, 2025 https://tennyandi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-huddle.html
• “Avoiding Modern Idolatry, January 8, 2025: https://tennyandi.blogspot.com/2025/01/avoiding-idolatry-in-current-times.html

Rendered

 

   Recently, in response to one of my prayers, the Lord said the following: “I will continue to prompt you, never fear. I will also transmit, transport, and render. Tenderly render.

   “What do you mean?” I asked Him. (Not an infrequent question on my part). He responded by telling me to look it up. (LOL God never stops being a parent.) I knew the words render and rendering as related to making a model or depiction of a design, as well aa its meaning of ‘giving to.’ (“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”+). Beyond that, i had no idea how many other meanings there were for the word. Here is what I found for render (verb):

• To make; to cause to be or become
• To do, perform
• To furnish, provide……afford, contribute, supply, give
• To exhibit or show….including obedience, attention
• To present for consideration, approval, payment, action
• To return, to make a payment, as by a tenant to a superior
• To pay as due (tax, tribute)
• To deliver formally or officially; to hand down
• To translate into another language
• To represent, to depict, as in a painting

   Immediately, the thought occurred to me: “Lord, if You are ‘tenderly rendering’ so much to and for me (and to all those who put their trust in You), what am I tenderly rendering back to You?” Am I ‘showing obedience and attention’? Am I ‘representing’ You well?

   “Explain more about what You meant by tenderly rendering me and then how I can better render what will make. you happy in return? I look at the dictionary list and  realize the distinction between formally giving you Your ‘just due,’ out of obligation, versus tenderly desiring to respond in love to what You are creating out of my life. 

   I see Your Artist’s hands at work, molding the lumpy, awkward parts of my personality, my actions, my disappointments, and my failures. Massaging them in with the happier more joyful, fruit-bearing parts.. Tenderly sculpting, scraping off bits here and there which need to be removed, smoothing out the rough places. Lovingly turning my aging struggles and my lifetime of experiences into someone who can tenderly partner with You according to Your plans in rendering others. Others who will render unto You the love and fruitfulness You deserve and who desire to see more of Your form and beauty manifested in their lives. Are there relationships for me to form, mentoring to humbly provide, mothering to do, targeted, surgical prayers to offer, unconditional love and encouragement to lavish?

  I looked again at the definitions:

Meaning 1: “To make, to cause to be or become.” 

Meaning 2: “To do, to perform.” 

Meaning 3: To supply, furnish, provide.”

   You, Lord, are the Renderer. You do the work. You provide and cause and perform. Our part is to be willing, to be surrendered. All the while You continue the sometimes painful process in us, the beauty of others is being enhanced. If we’re operating in the fruit and gifts of Your Holy Spirit, no one else knows but You. Despite how we may  sometimes feel about our lack of usefulness (including some of us in our senior years), You are never at a loss. You say, “I can work with this!” You don’t set us aside, broken. Even when we make mistakes, are too lazy to obey You, or temporarily grieve You, Your creative juices still flowto create ‘beauty from ashes.’+ You rub Your hands together with glee and declare, “My child, there is so much more to come! Give yourself to me every day for continual rendering, that I may sculpt and paint your life, as more and more of Who I Am is manifested through you: My light, My Shalom, My creativity, My joy, My forgiveness,, My Agape love.. Until one day I take My  unique rendering of you Home with Me, where your fuller, more beautiful life will truly begin. And while you’re at it, let your continually rendered self encourage as many others as possible along the way, that they will one day rejoice with you There.

**********

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10

+Matthew 22:21

+Isaiah 61:3

If you missed my two “No Greater” posts, you might want to go back and read those: February 14 (No greater love…) and February 19 (No greater creativity…”.)

 *To find earlier posts: If you’re on a phone, click ‘see Web version’ at the bottom of the post, or open my blog on a computer or tablet. All posts since 2015 are listed on the right at Tennyandi.blogspot.com)

An ‘oldie but a goodie’ from the very early days of contemporary worship:

https://youtu.be/MneanjtBRns?si=DlrrKrtKQXd2Ev1U

 

When it’s good to be the thief

  

    I know we have moved past Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter and are now heading for the celebration of Jesus’s ascension. Alleluia! However, this morning I was reading in Deuteronomy 25 about the punishment of flogging and its maximum of 40 strikes (later limited to 39 in practice because it could cause a person’s death). A sentence was to follow a just decision regarding a person's innocence or guilt, as well as the extent of his wickedness. We believers know that Jesus was entirely innocent yet received OUR maximum sentence out of His incomprehensibly great love for us, ‘while we were yet sinners.”*

   What struck me this morning, however, (no pun intended) as I was visualizing all aspects of the horror Jesus endured for me, beginning even before his maximum flogging with metal attached to cords, was what was said to him by one of the two thieves hung next to him. I’ve known this dialogue since I was a young child and through the years have focused on Jesus’ words, “Today” you shall be with me in paradise.”** This morning, however, flashing before me were the words, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” I suddenly wondered, “How did the thief know Jesus was King of a kingdom not of this world?” NO one else truly seemed to. Even Peter, who had declared Him the Messiah, didn’t really get it. The disciples were hiding in grief and fear, not expecting Him to appear to them at any moment. Mary of Magdala and the other women were focused on caring for His precious body, which they assumed was still in the tomb or somewhere nearby. Who but the man known only as the thief truly believed Jesus would arise after His death as King over the Cosmos? Seeing Jesus in anguish and torment just as he was, this man still believed Yeshua was Lord of heaven and earth. Even if he perhaps did not grasp the full implication of that truth, he knew Jesus had the power, despite how things appeared, to save him after his body succumbed to death (something for which I’m sure he, in his own agony, then longed). 

   Everyone else at the scene (or hiding from it) seemed without hope, all their expectations dashed, with only images of a slow, agonizing death still before their eyes. Many who had waved palm branches before Him as Messiah, now thought, “I guess he wasn’t the one after all.” They were not visualizing a victorious kingdom much greater than any earthly one. They were seeing^ suffering, loss, disappointment, dejection, and devastating sorrow. Or in the case of those who wanted Jesus dead, a sense of satisfaction and success in the deed finally being accomplished. 

   Accomplished it was, but not as they thought. It was the King’s Gambit***, with ADONAI declaring to them (and, more importantly, to Satan):   “Checkmate, you lose!!”

  Maybe I am just very slow on the uptake, but I found the sudden realization astounding that only the thief appeared to truly get this. Ahhh….ADONAI, when You say that we become New Creations when we put our whole trust in Your grace and love, it is not just a metaphor of hope. It is a manifested reality for those who believe that You are the one and only Savior God of forgiveness and second chances. You Are the Resurrection and the Life for those of us who grasp our total dependence on Your Goodness and Mercy. When we repent and trust in You, we are no longer stuck in Groundhog Days of repeated sin and consequent sentences of flogging and Second Death. Nor are we sentenced to misery in this life. We are freed to live the abundant shalom-filled life You desire for us. We are no longer named The Thief. We have a new appellation, “Beloved,” as well as one uniquely given to us by The Father.****

   Although we have the advantage of hindsight, unlike the man who called out to Yeshua that day in faith, we believe though we haven’t seen Him, and we are blessed.*****

   We are The Thief. He has caught the hand we reached out to Him, drawn us into His outstretched arms, and declared, “Welcome Home, Beloved!” 

*******************

* But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.— Romans 5:8 

**Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”—-Luke 23:43

*** In effect a bold, long range trap which causes one’s opponent to have confidence he is winning, only to suddenly discover he has lost

**** “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” Revelation 2:17

***** “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  —John 20:29

^”He will not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear.” —Isaiah 11: 3

Birthday bicycle

     

   Imagine your dad giving you a beautiful bicycle for your birthday. Its shiny splendor thrilled you. You couldn’t wait to take it for a spin around the neighborhood. But then a boy who lived around the corner spied you riding it, and rather than appearing awestruck, he was rather condescending about it. He told you about an even more beautiful bike available to you and implied your dad was really holding out on you when he gave you this one. All you had to do, he said, was to give him yours, and he promised you a much fancier one in trade. You began to question why Dad hadn’t given you the nicer one in the first place. Yeah, why hadn’t Dad given you a nicer bike? Well, what was there to lose? Such a deal to be had, if only you were willing to relinquish your father’s birthday gift for something better. After all, your dad was probably just being a bit stingy, right?

   Does something ring a bell here? The snake’s best strategy for Adam and Eve to eat forbidden fruit was to raise doubt in their minds about the goodness of God, to question His true character. It wasn’t just the yummy-looking fruit that tempted them.

   We think to ourselves, “I would never have eaten that fruit! The Father very clearly said not to eat it! Nor would I have been like those grumbling Israelites in the desert who, after being miraculously delivered at the Red Sea, complained that God must have drawn them out in the desert to let them die there. And I most certainly wouldn’t have been one of those who cried ‘Crucify Him!’ after waving palm branches and heralding Yeshua as the Messiah a few days before. I would never have questioned God’s goodness or motivation or inherent nature like that. What were those people thinking?”

   Ahhh, but maybe…. Have we ever questioned the goodness of God when things didn’t go our way? When someone we loved wasn’t healed, a baby didn’t come to bless us, a marriage did not come to pass, finances were not forthcoming, a ‘deserved’ promotion wasn’t offered, or our ungodly neighbors were able to purchase the very home we wanted and needed, while we remained crammed into our little starter home?   

   Maybe we are not so unlike those we have mentally condemned. Every past good gift and bit of lovingkindess from God sometimes fades in the wake of disappointment and deferred hope. We begin to question if God really does want the best for us. If His directions are really to protect and provide for us or just to keep us from having some fun in our lives. Does He REALLY want life abundant for us or is He just withholding something good which He is perfectly capable of providing? Does he love others more than He does us? Does He ‘love the world,’ but we are chopped liver to Him?

   Maybe we should take things into our own hands, like Sarah, and help God along with His promises.  After all, “God helps those who help themselves,” right? [Not in the Bible, in case you are unsure.] It would take many blogposts to innumerate the many times this strategy went awry in Scripture. (Think Adam and Eve, Sarah, Saul, Judas, and a host of kings, among others.) Not to mention testimonies from our modern lives.

   Let’s always believe, think, speak, and act from the solid rock of faith in the truth that God loves us deeply individually, and profoundly, that He is by nature Absolutely Good, that He  wants the best for us, that His will is for us to experience His total shalom of body, soul, and spirit …even suffering torture and death for us to have it). From that Rock, we can explore why we don’t always receive what He wants us to have at any given time. But let us never believe ‘the boy down the street’ (who by the way just wants our bicycle for himself) over our loving Father Who sacrificed to give it to us in the first place. (Just wait til to experience all its bells and whistles!)

********

Part two of this post is coming next, in which we will explore what it took for our Father to get our bicycle back for us from that lying trickster, as well as how we can learn to tap into that vehicle’s innate power. 

   Julie

If you want to keep up with my blog, be sure to click “Follow”. Or you can email me at BearfootArtsfortheShepherd@gmail.com and I will make sure new ones are forwarded to you. If you open this blog site from a device larger than a phone, or click ‘web version’ at the bottom of your screen just below the HOME button. You can then see all my posts listed on the right, beginning in 2015. They are just easier to see to access on a larger device.

Take a flying leap!

    

   When I say Good Morning each day to Abba, Yeshua, and Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit), I picture myself hugging or embracing each part of the Trinity in various ways. i try to let Holy Spirit inspire the images in my mind. Most importantly, I want to express how much I love my ADONAI and how thankful I am that He not only allows me to come to Him each morning, but that He delights in it. 

   This morning a picture of me running to the Father and jumping into His arms came to me. It made me think of how my granddaughters run and jump into their father’s and grandfather’s arms, laughing with delight. I’m not sure who enjoys this ritual more, but I suspect it is the former. Pondering this caused me to remember the Lord’s words:  “Unless you turn and come to Me as little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom.” [Matthew 18: 3].

   In the past I have pictured myself reaching up to my Abba, but not running and jumping into His outstretched arms. The problem for many of us is that our earthly fathers weren’t the best representations of our Heavenly Father. We can’t conceive of ever running and jumping into our father’s arms. From distant to downright cruel, some earthly fathers were a source of emotional and even physical pain, rather than joy. Others of us were blessed with loving, if imperfect, dads. Mine was a wonderful man. However, he was raised by German parents to not express emotion, despite his internal tenderness of heart.  For example, when he fell out of a tree and broke his nose, his father told him “he had better not cry or he would give him something to cry about.” Hugging, for example was not our family way until much later in our lives. Thankfully, we knew he loved us, and he himself was much respected and even beloved to others. However, his earthly father, who died in his 50’s, did not represent our Heavenly Father well when it came to the extravagantly loving aspect of His character.  

   ADONAI Elohim is a prodigal (extravagant) Father, Who loves His children beyond their comprehension. [Luke 15: 11-32] Like my sons, son-in-law, and husband, He takes absolute delight in our taking a running leap into His arms. Give it a try, if you haven’t already done so. You will not only experience abounding joy but also deep healing. Yeshua has paid the cosmic price of Reconciliation* for us. Our sin no longer keeps us out of the Father’s Holy Presence.** Greet Him gratefully each day, knowing He is Absolutely Good. Let go of all your preconceived images of Him keeping His distance from you. But back up a few steps, as my granddaughter does, so you can get some good speed as you take the leap. You won’t be disappointed…and neither will He.

******

*Romans 5:10: For if we were reconciled with God through His Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by His life now that we are reconciled!

**Romans 8: 15: For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to bring you back again into fear; on the contrary, you received the Spirit, who makes us sons and by whose power we cry out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”).

Yahweh is near to those whose hearts are humble. He saves those whose spirits are crushed. —Psalm 34:18

A different kind of usher

     

     Before I retired from teaching and moved to be near our kids and grandchildren, we belonged to a wonderful, humble, little church on the Space Coast of Florida. Holy Spirit’s sweet and powerful Presence often dwelt there.  I think He came in power so often because we simply loved Him and wanted what He wanted, more than we wanted our own way. To be blessed by His continual outpouring, our pastors had to be willing to step out of the way and gratefully hand over the reins to Him. 

    In this spiritually intimate atmosphere, people needed to only choose to come near the altar, and Holy Spirit did the rest.* One of my job assignments from the Father was simply to get them there. I would listen for His direction, go to the person he designated, silently reach out my hand, and walk the chosen one forward.

    It was a very short walk, but a life-changing one. Whether for healing of body or soul, a resting in His Love, or a first-time surrender and commitment to Him, Holy Spirit’s Presence effected the transformation. Yet the short walk needed to be taken. The Father knew, of course, what was going on in each one’s heart, including who wanted to come forward but was struggling with whether or not to do so. All they needed was a hand outstretched to help usher them forward. 

   Whether we are in church, on a sidewalk, in the grocery store, or having coffee with a friend, we can be an usher. The Lord knows what is happening in each mind and heart. Let’s remain open and sensitive to His prompting. We musn’t be reluctant, for fear of what others will think of us. We can’t read a heart, but He can. 

   Let’s “put our whole trust in His grace and love”…for ourselves as ushers, as well as for our ushees. [On anothe occasion, roles may be reversed.] We may be only one in a long chain of ushers, which culminates in that person’s final walk to the altar. There they will find that His hands are the ones outstretched, ushering them into His very heart.

*********

* Quiet, anointed soaking worship, as well as our pastors’ tender hearts and sensitivity to Holy Spirit, also served to create this manger of a church.

** “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. —2 Corinthians 13: 14

Is this seat saved?

    

We used to joke around sometimes when someone asked if the seat next to us was saved. We would say,

“I’m not sure,” shake the chair, and ask, “Are you saved?” 

The humor was based in a time when people might well have asked you, or any stranger, if you had truly received salvation.

Last Sunday I had an empty seat next to me in a thankfully very full church, where late arrivals were searching for a spot. (I wish all our Bible-believing churches were that full for 4 services.) The one empty seat made me think of our old joke. It also prompted me to think who should have been in it. Who was God calling to take his or her place there? 

The pastor spoke of Lazarus and the fact that Jesus was not the one to actually roll away the stone or even unwrap his grave-cloths. He asked the others to do it. “Unbind him and set him free!” (Luke 11). The pastor’s message had to do with our role in ‘unbinding’ others and the power we have to do so, even though Jesus is the One Who brings the actual resurrection.

He spoke of people ‘being dead to one another.’ Of the binding cloths of unforgiveness and judgment. Of the lonely ones, the hurt ones, to whom we could be reaching out and drawing into our life circle. He spoke especially about the ones who have severely wounded us or continually taken wrong paths until we have finally given up on them. The ones of whom people say, “He’ll never change!” [Never speak a prophetic word that opposes God’s will!] Even those whose prickly personalities cause us to avoid contact with them whenever possible. The ones who often need ‘unbinding’ much more than those vulnerable-seeming, humble ones who are much easier to love.

Whom have we written off?

Whom have we ignored and left in the cold, while cozy in our own warm circles?

Whom do we intensely (or even moderately) dislike and avoid reaching out to, whose presence in our friendship groups could sabotage our comfort levels and pleasant interactions? (Martha: “but Lord, there’ll be an odor!” Luke 11:44)

Whose reserved seat may be empty because we ourselves have fallen short of doing the hard thing? 

Or perhaps we’re the stone-removing forgiver or renouncer of condemning prophecies. (Speak ‘crop failure’ to those spoken words!) Yet God then plans to call someone else to draw that person to his saved seat?  All we need to do is be obedient to our part. 

It seems unfair that we should be considered responsible, especially when we have been the recipient of someone’s unkind, disrespectful, neglectful, or even abusive treatment. It may be a jolt to our self-righteousness that we are even seen by our Lord as having the ‘job’ or the capability of helping to bring that change about. We’re ‘only human,’ right? 

We absolutely need to set boundaries in cases of potentially harmful relationships. However, that is not what I’m referring to above. It’s the large stones blocking the tomb, the boulders of refusal to forgive, the walls of a back turned against another, and even the pebbles of rejection due to our discomfort with those annoying personalities, that make it challenging to reach out to another, whether stranger, acquaintance, or even family member.. 

So many reasons for a seat sacrificially saved by our Savior to remain empty. Sometimes it’s self-loathing masquerading as arrogance. Sometimes it’s straight-forward intellectual arrogance. Sometimes it’s a spirit of rejection that whispers to a mind, “You’re unwanted, unsuccessful, unworthy, unknowledgeable, unloved, unforgiveable.” 

If you find yourself, like me, putting your hands over your ears and saying to the Lord, “I can’t hear You!”…you’re in good company. Hence, so many empty ‘saved’ seats. Let’s determine that the next time there is an empty seat next to us at church, we take our hands off our ears and ask Him for whom it’s reserved….and what He might want us to do to help fill it. We might be one of several on a team or in a series, whom our Father is asking. Yet if no one else answers His call to roll away the stone, let it not be we who refuse.

The main thing

   This morning as I was praying, decreeing, and listening to Father’s Holy Spirit, He said (at least the gist, if not word perfect):

    “This is the main thing.” 

    “Which is the main thing, Lord?

    “This time in your day…each morning. It is not what  you do so you can move on in your day. This IS the focus of your day.”

    “Aaahhhhh.”

    “The other tasks and activities are incidentals. This is the heart, the main thing. Keep returning to the main thing. Every other part of your day should be subsumed under this NOW time with me. Once you understand this more fully, you won’t be checking off your ‘prayer time to-do list’ so you can get to your other seemingly important responsibilities. There is NOTHING more important than this.

   I do not deny you the rest, or even dislike or discourage you from accomplishing them. Just remember that they can be a distraction from what is truly important in My eyes, especially at this critical time in your world’s history. This is it. This is that time foretold, the time of spectacular fulfillment of My promises, recent and ancient. Bigger than ever before. You will be astounded. The earth’s mouth will hang open. Understand that you, My Child and all My church, must be on it. Armed and battling, not just ready for battle. The battle is NOW. Fight on your knees. Fight standing up. Fight sitting down with your Ekklesia staff in your right hand. Fight with your mouth, fight with your actions, fight with praise, fight with prayer, fight with decrees in My Name, fight in thankfulness, fight with My angels, fight with great celebration of all I have done, am doing, will do. Fight with rejoicing, My Child, My Children, My Warriors. Fight from my place of Rest.

   Do not be distracted, vulnerable and ineffective. Rather stand in confidence and assurance that I AM your Deliverer. I lead My army to Victory. Make sure your eyes are on Me, alert to every command, and you will reap the spoils of the Great Harvest ahead. You will hear Me say to you, My children, My Church: ‘Well done!’……and we will celebrate together as One.”

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Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.” Joshua 6:2-5

When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. — Joshua 6:20

The Power of Conception

Most of us know by heart Paul’s instruction to be transformed by the renewing of your mind [Romans 12:12].  Recently, I’ve been listening to eye-opening teaching on this subject by people such as Barry Bennett (Conception in Your Heart); Andrew Wommack (series on Imagination); Duane Sheriff (Orlando o Gospel Truth Conference 2019, multiple sessions).  My own conception of this verse is now so much greater than before.  [See also my post, Ministering to the Lord].

The term imagination has been pretty much relegated to the realm of fantasy.  Their interpretation, however, based on the Greek and Hebrew understanding of the original text, involves transforming your mind by seeing what God sees, seeing what God says...envisioning His will for you and for His kingdom, whether through His written Word or His Rhema Word.  He wants us to turn our eyes from what we can see, touch, and hear in the natural world, and from our feelings and circumstances; and see, instead, the Truth beyond what our western world calls the facts of the situation.

Ever since I started listening to teachings explaining the power of Conception (in both senses of the word) , I’ve begun to see new insights in my daily Scripture readings, as well as in my prayer time. I’ve often stopped and tried to visualize the situations taking place in the Bible (see through the eyes of the participants, etc.). In fact, it has stirred up questions in me for the Lord. I’ll ask Him, “Why this?” Or “Why that?” or “How is this possible, Lord?” Or “What did you mean by this? I don’t
understand!”  I’ve found He loves questions; it means we’re truly delving in and trying to understand at a deeper level. Some days I don’t make it past a single verse in my Scripture reading.

As mentioned in a previous post, the word Yetser has been translated: frame, conception, imagination, and meditation.  When I didn’t make it past one verse and was trying to paint a picture of the statement or event in my mind, I was meditating, imagining, trying to conceive it. When we apply faith and belief to conception, we’re in a position to conceive (or give birth to) what God says and desires to become a reality in this physical world:  from Spirit manifested into physical reality.  His Reality, His Truth is so much greater than anything our ’unrenewed’ minds can conceive (in either sense of the word).  Ah, but when our minds are renewed and transformed by meditation on and conception of what He says, then we begin to see the fulfillment of what He promised:  “you shall do greater works than these...”; “all things are possible for those who believe...”; “you shall say to this mountain...”; “by His stripes you were and are healed...”

In a previous post, I encouraged us all to try to draw on paper what we’re trying to conceive, whether with stick figures or with artistic skill.  The Father loves the heart of what you’re trying to depict.  He isn’t concerned about the level of your artistic talent.  (Remember the pictures your children brought you?). Draw pictures of yourself with Yeshua, with the Father, with the Holy Spirit. Draw a scenfrom the Bible. Draw something beautiful from His creation and thank Him for it. Draw a memory of an encounter with Him (at any age). Create drawings of thanksgivings. Paint scenes of how the Word describes Him (your refuge, your shield, your strong tower, your delight, your Father, your shepherd, your mother hen; singing over you.  Look for images of Him in the Word and record them in a journal. Then gradually draw them one by one.  Trust me; He’ll love them.

Imagine people who are currently struggling: now imagine them (with faith and belief in your heart) whole, happy, and fruitful.  Imagine marriages, finances, health, and every other aspect of people’s lives, including your own, in a state of Shalom, in  wholeness in every sense.  Conceive, envision, depict, meditate on what God sees, wants, and desires to become manifest...and what He has already accomplished in the spiritual realm at the Atonement.  “It is accomplished.”  Not just for one day in heaven, but for now.


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If you’re interested in listening to the teachings referenced at the beginning of this post, you can go to YouTube and search the names of the people,  along with a search term  like “conception” or “imagination. If you have Roku, you can add Andrew Wommack Ministries channel to it. There you’ll find all his teachings, including the one on Imagination, as well as titles like God Wants You Well, Believer’s Authority, the Balance of Grace and Faith, Spirit, Soul, and Body, and many others.  If you have any difficulty finding any videos , please be sure to comment on this post  with a question,  or email or fb message me.  Don’t be offended if a video challenges your current understandings. They did mine, but I am utterly convinced, now, of their truth. Look at their fruits in massive signs and wonders taking place. (“By their fruit you shall know them.”). Personally, I am more interested in pleasing God than in guarding my own spiritual pride.)

Ready to Jump On?

Remember those career days at school, where you could bring your parent in to share what he or she did for a living?  (In my school days in the 50’s and early 60’s,  it was pretty much just the dads.). This morning I was envisioning what it would be like to take my ABBA to school for career day.

Can’t you just picture holding his hand and introducing Him:  Hi everybody...this is my dad! He created the whole world and all the universes,  just by speaking! He keeps everything going, too! He is so good and kind and wise.  He’s the perfect dad. It might take Him quite awhile to tell you His job description, so maybe we should eat our lunches here in the classroom.  I’d like to say He’s just mine, but I know He wants to adopt all of you, too. So pay attention, everybody. He has the best job ever!

Are you proud of your Heavenly Father? Do you guard His reputation when people try to slander Him? Do you stand up for Him when His character is maligned? Are you more afraid of what others think of you than you are how God is regarded? I’ve had to ask myself these questions.

When people attribute illness and death to my Heavenly Father, do I speak up? When someone asks why He took a child or gave someone cancer as a teaching opportunity, am I quick to jump up and say, “Hey, that’s not my dad! He’s not like that! Don’t you say that about my daddy! He’s a good dad, a great dad. He would never do that!  [Obviously, He gives us mature ways of communicating that truth, but that attitude should be what rises up in us.]

As children, many of us were quick to praise and defend our earthly fathers, who were so very imperfect. Why do we not declare how good our perfect, Heavenly Father is, who gave everything for us so we could be with Him both in this life and forever? Why do we timidly stand back while even Christians slander him?  Is it because we’re uncertain about Who He really is and what He’s really like? Have we let doctrines and philosophies and circumstances dictate our understanding and replace our delving first-hand into His Word?  I know I have.

No more. I am seeking the truth about His nature as never before, and He, who always answers prayers for wisdom, has given me a seat in His Healing Academy of the Holy Spirit. I can’t get enough of these new understandings of His Word. Finally, after decades of setting certain Scriptures aside because I didn’t know what to do with them (“You shall do greater works than these....If you say to this mountain...”) my eyes are being opened to the hows and whys of what Jesus said.

Jesus didn’t say “...gotcha...just joking!” when He spoke those words. Neither does He toy with us and tell us to do things that are ridiculously impossible, although that’s what it had seemed like to me. There are people and ministries right now living out His statements with signs and wonders...massive numbers of healings, deliverances, resurrections from the dead...blind eyes opened, deaf ears hearing, the depressed freed, the addicted delivered, the paralyzed walking.  Greater works indeed! Yeshua doesn’t lie.

The proof is in the pudding, and you and I can enter in, if we’re willing to let go of our pride and be humble enough to learn.  To be more concerned about fulfilling God’s purposes in our lives than we are in our own comfort, or in leaning on our own understanding. To repent of being modern day Pharisees and, instead, say, “teach me, Lord!”  “I believe; help my unbelief!” “Show me my error. Let me see you as You really are. Forgive me for maligning Your character in my mind and heart and speech...and for being silent as others have done the same.  You are so Good. You want us well and provided for in body, soul, and spirit. You suffered and died not only for our sins to be forgiven, but for us to have everything we need for abundant lives here and now. We place ourselves in Your life-giving School of the Holy Spirit and say, ‘Lead us on!’”

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If you want to join the class in which I'm currently a student, try listening to any of these people (searchable on YouTube), who are living out Jesus' first century call:  Andrew Wommack, Audrey Mack, Barry Bennett, Bill Johnson, Randy Clark, Todd White.  The eyes of your heart will be enlightened, as mine have been, and you'll never be the same, as you follow where Yeshua will take you.  Remember, humble yourself...and He will lift you up....  If you think you already know it all (you've read it, studied it, taught it, heard it all before)...you won't be able to receive the truth of it, by seeing new insights into His Word.

• Barry Bennett:   https://youtu.be/zhaRZMM7YA8   [and dozens of other teachings]

• Panel at Healing is Here Conference 2018:  https://youtu.be/VJ-K6XlaHnc 

• Todd White, Heaing is Here 2018:  https://youtu.be/-6Aak2mT-lU   [fast forward in about 7 minutes]

• Audrey Mack, Healing is Here 2018:  https://youtu.be/7NjpqTOmUr8    (part 1); https://youtu.be/eTvAF57o_hc  (part 2)
• [see also Healing is Here Conference 2019, sessions 10 and 11 (fast forward in 1 hr, 15 minutes! for session 11)]
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• Andrew Wommack:  https://www.awmi.net/healing/