Changing area codes and anonymity...

I had a dream before I awakened this morning. A woman was trying to connect closer with God in prayer. I heard the Lord say to her, "Dial locally, drop the area code." She was perplexed by the statement. He reminded her of the scripture in Rev. 11:12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.
Still not knowing what to do, "The Lord said, "Close your eyes and take one step towards Me by faith..." She did, and in that moment she was before Him.

He said, "Talk with Me, unburden yourself, so I may unburden Myself..."

Puzzled, she asked, Unburden Yourself?

He replied,"I know you better than anyone, and you treat Me as a stranger, but yet I put you on an airplane next to a complete stranger, and in three hours you've exposed the most intimate information, and you're anonymously unburdened! Do you really think the 30 extra minutes on the tarmac was the airlines fault? I delayed everyone so you could open up..."

Still befuddled, again she asked, "Unburden Yourself?"

He smiled, "It is a burden for Me not to tell you up close, 'I love you. I've got this. I've got the answer, but can you tell Me about your day first... I loved how you didn't eat the last donut at the office, because you listened to Me, and saved it for the co-worker running late. I love you, I Am here. Come up here.' And by the way it's not your burden... it's Mine."

She smiled for the first time, her fear gone of standing before her Beloved.

And besides He said with a smile, "I won't post, 'That I had to sit next to a nut job on the tarmac for 30 minutes and in the air for 2-1/2 hours listening to their confession...' By the way, as you forgive him, pray also for him. You just beat him to the punch, I'll give him a minister to sit next to on his return trip. I love you deeply my daughter!"

Dream ended.

Take that step closer to Him by faith, step in. Be loved, beloved. Go up there, and talk with Him, face to face. A way was made, the veil was torn because of the Cross.

You're loved, prayed for, and paid for and have extravagant favor!!!

Nosey Eating...

Ever sat in a restaurant, and tried to listen to all the conversations at once, trying to pick up all the details of every conversation. Now try to muster up a deep love for every single person, compassion to help with every need they have, oh count the numbers of hair on their head, without standing over them (awkward in a restaurant) and listen to actually what's going on in their heart, despite what's coming out of their mouth, AND don't get worked up about any of it!! Just love them where they are, how they are, when they are, how they are, knowing why they are the way they are...

Welcome to the pinheads worth of knowledge God has in His ever expanding universe.

You're loved, prayed for, paid for and have extravagant favor!!

Wow Lord that's so good...

Ever get a revelation from the Lord that you can hardly wait to share it? I have, and Jesus showed me so did He!! Here's a fun passage from John 14...

“Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.” “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

“Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!”
‭‭John‬ ‭14:8-17‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Imagine the excitement that Jesus had when the Father revealed to Him, Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches!! I don't believe He was the somber spiritual encyclopedia of revelation walking around!! Think about how excited He was to tell His disciples, "I abide in you and you abide in Me!"

Put some joy in you're reading of John 14-16, He was literally beside Himself (think about it) in excitement when He saw the Father sending the Helper, His bequest at His request!!! "I'm not leaving you as orphans!!!! I'm sending you help through the Helper!!!

I don't believe Jesus had all this revelation knowledge all at once, massive download, that He shared at the right time... I believe He had a daily walk with His Father, and everyday was new revelation to His disciples about Himself towards them! He was excited to share about His relationship with His Father, and so it is with you too!!!

You're loved, prayed for, and paid for and have extravagant favor!!!

Devil just shut up...

Here's a couple of scawey verses.

“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, (text, post) they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12:36‬ ‭NASB‬‬ (italics mine)

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭15:18-19‬ ‭NASB‬‬

In our proclivity to communicate voraciously in our social media driven culture, look at the amount of things said through faceless devices to those with faces on the other side of those faceless devices. We digitally projectile vomit the enemy's own mess often times on unsuspecting viewers, then people take on other people's offenses.... AND ding, ding round 2.

The answer to this, came as a surprise.

“"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46:10‬ ‭NASB

DEVIL JUST SHUT UP!!! We are going to exalt God among the social media nations, and not your nasty mess!!

You're loved, prayed for, and paid for and have extravagant favor!!!

You Are Cordially Invited...

When God tells, commands, or encourages us... Do Not Fear, it is not a blanket statement made to keep us warm, snuggley, and comfy. It is a royal invitation to see things from His perspective. We actually have the ability to be in warfare, and get this invitation from the King, Do Not Fear Come Up Here With Me, that allows us to continue fighting and see His outcome of our battle simultaneously in His rest. All the while the enemy, is blustering and blowing..."Fear me, I'm big and bad, I'm make all your fears come true!" The King pulls back a curtain and here is this imp, the King defeated ages ago, trying to get you to fear him.
"Don't pay attention to the imp behind the curtain, I am the great... and powerful... woz... oh never mind."
God's kind of courage is something we put on like a coat, and like the armor of God we never need take it off. Bill Johnson asks the question "Why put on the armor every morning, when we should never take it off?" Courage is something we rest in, not take off when the action is over. Love is what enables us to be courageous, and courage is what enables us to love. What happens often times is we put on courage without love and we become controlling, hyper vigilant, if you will, which brings another fear into our lives, people not doing what we do! Lots of ministries over the years have been birthed with courage but without love.
Selah

Love courageously it is a royal invitation.

You're loved, prayed for, and paid for, and have extravagant favor.

As believers in Christ Jesus we have the incredible opportunity to bring order to chaos as His kings and priests.  What is our Kingdom?  It is a spherical one.  Imagine a very large hamster ball that He places us in, and where ever we go, we can influence the environment through our sphere of influence.  The spherical walls inadvertently bumping into folks by His design, not ours.  
A royal priesthood is first mentioned in Exodus 19:5-7,  5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My [a]own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him.  New American Standard Bible (NASB)

To be a kingdom of priests was God's design for the children of Israel.  Read in 1 Peter 2:9,  9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; New American Standard Bible (NASB)  It is the same for believers in Christ Jesus.  Again in Revelation 1:4-6  
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.  New American Standard Bible (NASB)

There is a real time, real people, even a real kingdom responsibility component to this position of authority He has given us.  We are a much bigger deal to Jesus than we think we are.  We are more like Jesus than we think we are.  Our spherical kingdom of Kingdom influence permeates all those around us.  Think about everything you say, do, even touch having a Kingdom impact on the people in your sphere of influence.  Bringing kingly Kingdom order to the worlds areas of chaos around us, and then ministering to people we bump into as priests.  Not are we also made in the image of Christ, but we have the same responsibility as He does... only doing what we see the Father doing, and speaking only what we hear the Father saying.  Being a king submitted to the King of kings is a great responsibility, one of humility, servitude and friendship to the Creator of the universe.

Hey king and priest, your loved, prayed for, paid for, and have extravagant favor...

C'mon wallflower dance with Jesus.  You ever felt out of place? I have and I think at one point or another we all have.  Why do we go to the dance of Jesus only to stand against the wall watching everyone else?  We want to be apart of what's going on, but way over there.  We want to see the action, NOT be a part of it.  We want to say we were there, but deep inside we want to do what Jesus did, and now does.  But we have spiritual acne, or our wardrobe is a sartorial accident, but worst of all we made a promise to the spirit of religion... we won't dance, for fear of intimacy.

We make more excuses; we don't have rhythm, we don't want not to be asked, we don't want to look foolish clinging to Jesus in intimacy in front of everyone.  We are ready just to go home disappointed, we didn't make ourselves available, but then resolute we'll not be made a fool of.  But then He looks us dead in the eye, and walks towards us.  Oh my God, NO!  He's walking this way, He has that missionary to Africa look about Him.  No, NO, NO!  Our heart beats so fast it pumps all the moisture from our mouth and  into our palms.  Our collective knees knock together.  Why did we come, "C'mon it'll be fun...," we thought.  He's the King of kings and right now we're the king of regrets.  

He says one word to us, the same one He said to Simon Peter in the boat, "Come." We place our sweaty palm in His outstretched hand... we really have to go to the bathroom NOW! Thirsty!  Punch, we need punch!   We told the spirit of religion we wouldn't scuff our new shoes... He pulls us to the middle of the room, embraces us, and His Peace descends.  All others disappear, we kick off our shoes, and we dance barefoot with the Lover of our soul.  It doesn't matter what the dance is, He leads perfectly, our missteps are covered by His love.  When the music fades we expect to hear laughter and mocking, only to find we have danced before an audience of ONE, Whom is very well pleased with our dance with His Son.  One thing would have turned perfection into absolute perfection.  When His gaze fell upon us, the best way to keep our collective knees from knocking together, take a step forward and meet Him in the middle.  To meet Him without a beckoning call, to desire to meet Him in the middle of everything, no matter how it looks. 

The dance is the dance of life fully submitted to Him, whether we make it the first song or the last, C'mon wallflower, dance with Jesus for an audience of One!

You're loved, prayed for and paid for.

Come up here My beloved... what does that mean, exactly?  When we read Hebrews Chapter 4 and we are to boldly approach the throne of grace to receive grace and mercy in a time of need what does that look like to you or me?  I can tell you what it looks like to me. How is that so?  We humans, made in His image, are incredibly imaginative and adept at painting mental pictures.  I have heard some call it a sanctified imagination.  We read in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, about casting down vain imaginations, or empty imaginations if you will, and taking every thought captive and bringing it to the obedience of Christ.  Oh my, what does that look like?!  Can I take a thought, capture it, hold onto it in my hand and submit it to the Lordship of Jesus?  Can I see my self actually presenting a thought to Jesus, for His approvl or disapproval, in my imagination.  Can I see Him either handing it back to me with a thumbs up, or saying, "Thank you, and you better let Me have that."  Can you see that?

What about the vain imaginations mentioned above, the empty ones.  Basically if the enemy of our soul can do damage it's usually here.  Ever hear this expression, "It's all in your head..."  Think about all the times we've worried about something, got really worked up over it, and in the end there was nothing to it. Empty notions, or accusations, no substance at all, but we wasted in worry about nothing.

Now can we imagine taking that worrisome thought captive, submitting it to Jesus fro the thumbs up or down, and either way we get to boldly approach the throne of grace, and crawl up in our Father's lap and checking in with Him we can find ourselves loved and listened and wiser to the enemies schemes and His outlook on our lives.  Imagine that!  A real Savior, taking a real thought of ours, making a decision in real time and sitting in the Fathers lap for reals!  

We spend our life asking God to come down here, to inhabit our praises, fix this or that, I hope He shows up.  But can we stop and listen for His voice as He says, Come up here My beloved.

Your loved, prayed for and paid for!

We have heard this plenty of times... "it's not a sprint it's a marathon..."What is keeping up with the pace of Heaven?  I can tell you what it isn't, it isn't our pace, our stamina, or our wits.  It is though, as much humility as we can muster to stay submitted to His plan for our lives.  Often times requiring more stillness and knowing He is God, than some form of action on our part.  It is realizing we can get more done for Him and by Him by being at rest in Him.  Learning to do this, is a lot like learning to drive a stick shift.  A lot of stalls, sputters, and grindings to find the right gear.  Learning when to shift, down shift and hold the clutch in at the right time.  Before we it, our shifting becomes fluid, almost thoughtless, only looking for the road signs to obey HIm, oh and some directions.

Keeping up with the pace of Heaven is more like a cross country race or steeple chase than laps around the track.  A spirit of religion will keep us confined to running around a track.  Also it isn't the chase, it's the pace.  It is Who we keep our eyes on as we run and not just who's eyes are on us.  It is how we finish, eyes focused on the Prize, Jesus.  If we spend our time competing with others, we can find ourselves judging others, or coveting giftings, or even jealous of  His blessings towards others.  

This is why humility plays such an important role in our pace for the race of Heaven.  Humility is the fuel of the race. How much like Jesus does the Father want us to be?  It's about letting others set a pace for us in an iron sharpens iron way and resetting a pace for others with encouragement and prayer, even during our own windedness.  It's about offering His water with His electrolytes, helping a wounded runner to an aid station, picking up someone who's tripped, and hugging a fellow runner at the finish of the days race.

The humility fuel is also doing only what we see Him doing, saying what we only hear Him saying. This keeps us on that pace.  Jesus ran an incredible race before us AND for us.  Following in His footsteps, at His pace, with His grace keeps us at Heaven's pace.

You're loved, prayed for and paid for.