Do You Dare Take God's Pregnancy Test?

Did you know that you may be carrying within you God’s plan to permanently alter your reality for His kingdom?

Did you know that you may be pregnant?

Here’s how to tell. Has God given you a promise regarding a circumstance in your life where you are desperately needing Him to show off His glory? Did you take Him at His word? Has that promise not yet materialized? Are you still holding onto it?

Then you ARE pregnant!

Anyone with any knowledge of biology knows that in order to produce a zygote, two elements are needed: an egg plus a sperm. The same is true in spirit. In order to produce a spark of new life on the inside of us, two elements are also needed: faith plus a Word from God. These two must come together for conception to happen in our spiritual womb.

If His Word found fertile faith in you, than CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are expecting! Brand new life is on its way to your home! I am smiling as I type those words. I know He is too.

Photo via mentalfloss.com

(For more introduction to the concept of spiritual pregnancies and how men also carry them, you can read here and here).

Before anything else, I believe that the first thing He wants to do is to commend you. He wants you to see what an incredible thing it is that you have a spiritual womb environment that is and has been eagerly ready to receive the implantation of His divine seed. This verse describes exactly what you did:

“Humbly accept the word planted in you…” (James 1:21b, NIV).

That you even have an inner atmosphere of faith cultivated in your spirit, with the capacity to host what He would deposit in you, is amazing.

In the natural, how many, many, many times does a man’s seed simply die before it ever has a chance to create life? An average male produces 525 billion sperm cells over his lifetime, and only a very few of them, if any, actually become a baby. It is only when the woman’s egg has come through a full maturation process that successful fertilization can even happen. And even then, an estimated 50% of fertilized eggs are lost before they become a successful pregnancy (UCSF Medical Center).

How does this translate into spiritual terms? What happens when the divine sperm of God's Word finds no fertile faith to inseminate? Conception cannot happen. Hebrews 4 tells us that this is exactly what transpired with the Israelites who died in the wilderness and were never able to appropriate and enjoy their Promise (Canaan). “The word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” (Heb. 4:2b, NKJV, bold emphasis mine). Word did not encounter faith. The divine sperm found no mature, receptive egg. A generation died in the desert instead of receiving what God longed to give them.

God is ALWAYS speaking. But Jesus asked out loud, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, NIV). Way too frequently, the divine sperm finds no home. This is parallel to the biological reality that it takes the production of about a billion sperm per one zygote conceived. Can you see how marvelous it is, if you are one who actually received and retained the deposited seed of His word? Just like He said to Mary, “You have found favor with God!” (Luke 1:30, NIV).

The USCF website explains, “The receptivity of the uterus… [is] important for the implantation process.” Again, you need to hear this. Holy Spirit is rejoicing over you. He wants you to join in the celebration. You are a fertile environment for the reception and gestation of His Word. Yes, you! You who have not given up on His word breathed into your inner being -- this is you! Fertilized Promise has planted itself in your womb, and has begun to grow inside of you.

The proper response is to be amazed. Be in awe of the privilege that is yours. At the same time, let your spirit rise in awareness of the responsibility that you now bear in stewarding this pregnancy.

I remember the euphoric wonder that crashed over me in waves, and poured through my eyes in overwhelmed tears, when I found out that I was carrying my first baby. In one life-changing instant, I knew to the very core of my being that I would do ANYTHING to protect and nourish this child. I would give my last life’s breath if need be. In the same way, when God has implanted Promise on the inside of us, this lioness instinct must rise up within to guard, defend, and nurture the new life commended to our care.

Let’s get you in to see OBGYN Jesus right away. He will lovingly instruct you on how to go about this protecting and nurturing. He will gently remind you that the first trimester is the most vulnerable part of the pregnancy. Baby is taking shape, and is in critical need of the ideal environment for this process. Around eighty percent of miscarriages happen in this window, a fact which speaks to how vulnerable of a time it is for the little one (babycenter.com). During this crucial period, we must be on guard against our enemy, watchful and alert. He will always try to extinguish life at its very inception, before it has a chance to develop and become strong (see Rev. 12:4 and Matt. 13:4,19). We will never allow a spirit of fear to govern us; however, being acutely aware of his nature and strategy is imperative for effective vigilance.

The devil will try to steal from you what God has entrusted to you. The very thought of what will come to pass when you have born this life full term has seized him with terror. He knows what is growing in your womb, and he knows it can only mean one thing: unspeakably devastating destruction to his kingdom. He will fight you with every resource at his disposal.

Here’s some transformational perspective though: he has already lost. Your Maker, Your Husband has given His entire being to the covenant He has with you. He has pledged fierce commitment to shield and defend both you and the life developing inside you. You are in His powerfully capable hands, and He will zealously carry you all the way. Be comforted and assured by these words: “God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him” (1 John 5:18, The NET Bible®).

With this mighty encouragement in your heart, it is time to get Mama (or Papa) Bear passionate about giving nourishment and attention to the Word He has given you to carry. It is time to partner with Him in pouring the very best of care into the Promise budding within you. Let feasting on Scriptures, staying hydrated with His living waters, and resting in His green pastures, consume your mind and heart. Invest generous amounts of time into what has now become your most vital assignment. No matter what it costs you, you feed and guard this tiny one. Give the entirety of your inner space to nursing God’s baby until He brings you to the moment of birthing! Don’t give up, dear one. You will see Promise born!

My Creator, my Husband, with all my heart, I thank You that I have found favor with You! I am in awe of the privilege You have given me, to bear Your life within. I am also deeply relieved to know that You are carrying me throughout this process. I rejoice that, just as You are the Author of my faith, You are also its Finisher. Just as You planted this Promise in me, You will provide the strength, protection, inspiration, support, and sustenance needed for Your word to come through the full gestation cycle within my spirit. Teach me to partner with You in stewarding and caring for what You have deposited inside of me. I am Your willing vessel! Let it be to me as You have said! 

What are your thoughts on carrying God’s purposes within you to full term? Struggles? Suggestions? I would love to hear from you!

The Roaring Man of War... and His Birth Pains

A war cry! “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Eyes flashing like lightning, He bears down with terrifying strength on His enemies. He is invincible, unstoppable. They stumble over themselves in the sheer panic of their flight.

Wait. Was it the guttural roar of victory that came forth from Him, or was it the all consuming roar of birth pangs? It was both.

“The LORD will march out like a champion,
    like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
    and will triumph over his enemies.
‘For a long time I have kept silent,
    I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
    I cry out, I gasp and pant.’”
(Isaiah 42:13-14, NIV)

God? God – with all His glorious Warrior imagery, looking and sounding like the perfect specimen of idealized masculine strength and conquest – giving birth?

Yes.

Look at this one too:

“He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word” (James 1:18a, NTV).

Giving birth is part of God’s nature. This was true for all of eternity past, before He deposited this aspect of Himself into Eve’s biological design, making her in His image. The Hebrew word chuwl, meaning to travail or bring forth, is part of the text in Proverbs 8 describing the Creation story (vv. 24–25). God travailing. God birthing. Moses also expresses the same idea, speaking in Psalm 90 of when He gave birth to the mountains and brought forth the whole world (v. 2).

In the beginning, He gave birth to the breathtaking beauty of this planet on which we live. Today, He continues to give birth. Every day, thousands of people across the globe are born to Him. He is giving birth in Spirit. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, they are being born from above.

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6, NIV), He expounded to His nocturnal visitor. This is also what happened to you when you became His. The day you were born again, His Spirit gave birth to your spirit. This time, you did not come forth from your mother’s womb; you came forth from His – a living being, a new creation, a spiritual infant pristine in the perfection of His righteousness.

Spirit begets life-giving spirit. You were made in His image to bear life in like manner. His makeup is bursting with creativity; so is yours. He has a Spirit; He gave you one too, like His in so many ways. Giving birth is in His nature; and it is part of yours as well. His Spirit births what did not exist before; He has placed this same capacity within you.

Men, don’t check out on me! Giving birth is not an exclusively female thing to do. (No, I am not making any kind of cultural or political statement about genders; I am speaking purely of spiritual matters. In order to understand, you must listen with your spirit.) Reflect with me again on the biblical imagery at the top of this post. God’s mighty, manly war cry is associated with childbirth! Here is another Scriptural case in point. Would you consider the Apostle Paul an exemplar model of godly manhood? With all the strength of his masculine spirit, he made this exclamation: "My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you...!" (Gal. 4:19, NIV).

God’s Spirit gives birth. So does yours. We all have spiritual wombs, and because we have His nature by creation design, we are extremely fertile. We will give birth to something. Tragically, much of humanity is using this capacity we inherited to produce the fruits of the sinful nature. Three verses above what we just saw in James about God giving birth to us, we read this about the fallen nature’s gestation cycle: “…When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15, NKJV). Similarly, Eliphaz’s exposition on the rebellious in the book of Job states that “They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit” (15:35, NIV).

You have a spiritual womb that will spend a lifetime producing either joy or sorrow. What if I told you that God wants to move through this part of you to bring into being His plans and purposes for this world? Would you be excited if you knew that Mary was not the only one He chose to carry and birth what He wants to establish on earth? What if you can’t even imagine how astonishing His dream is -- what He wants to bring forth through your willing, fertile spirit? What if you and I answer Him in the same way that she did? “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38, NET)!

If you are willing, get ready.

Conception happens in a moment of intimacy. You are alone with God, pouring out your love to Him. Your heart cries out to His heart, "Take me away with You—let us hurry! Let the King bring me into His chambers" (Song 1:4, NIV). As you draw near to Him, He tenderly, exquisitely draws near to you. You have asked for more of Him, and you are receiving it. With all that it within you, you are seeking His face and His heart. In answer, He comes and drenches your yearning with a deluge of His manifest presence.

You are lost in worship, lost in His embrace, lost in His gaze. As you glory in your oneness with Him, imbibing His beauty, it comes. The moment arrives. As Holy Spirit hovered over the primeval waters, so He hovers over you. As He overshadowed Mary, so He moves in to overshadow you. As the Logos of God was made flesh in her womb, His Spirit deposits a Word into your inmost being. His divine seed encounters your spirit pulsating with expectation, ready to receive what is passing into you. Word combines with faith. Promise is conceived. Suddenly, softly, silently, you are carrying new life within.

Will you now ask for the chambers of your Bridegroom? Will you let your spirit cry out for Him as deep cries out unto deep? Will you give Him access to the womb He created inside of you? Will you invite Him to overshadow you?

I long to bring you to my innermost chamber—
this holy sanctuary you have formed within me.
O that I might carry you within me.
I would give you the spiced wine of my love,
this full cup of bliss that we share.
We would drink our fill until…
His left hand cradles my head
while his right hand holds me close.
We are at rest in this love.
(Song of Solomon 8:2-3, the Passion Translation)

What is Holy Spirit showing you, speaking to you, stirring in you as you read these words of Scripture?

The Divine Sperm (Yes, It's from a Bible Verse!)

Blood. Vernix. A beautiful newborn child cradled in my arms.

Several days ago, I dreamed that I was giving birth. The baby was coming at a breathtaking rate. No sooner had I boarded the motocar (local taxi) to head to the hospital, she was bursting forth. I received her into my own hands as she emerged, covered in the elements of the womb. I marveled as I embraced her that I had experienced no pain or discomfort, or even had to push.

I knew as soon as I remembered this vivid dream that through it, the Lord was initiating vital communication with me. But what did He have in mind when He breathed such an arresting picture into my spirit as I slept? What exactly had He hidden within His own allegory for me to search out and understand?

Have you ever had a dream about birthing and wondered about it too? Could God really be portraying a message from His heart through a picture of human reproduction? I am convinced that He actually delights in this kind of secret language. So, an invitation. I would love to explore together the rich depths of biblical symbolism pertaining to this topic – would you join me?

In reflecting on the imagery of my dreams, I keep a key principle in mind. Everything in God's physical creation points to a reality in the heavenly realm that existed long before He spoke the Earth into being. Everything that came into existence between verses 1 and 31 of the first chapter of the Bible is a shadow of an eternal spiritual reality.

A striking example of this principle is found in God’s Old Testament desert dwelling. Hebrews 9 explains that the Jewish tabernacle was a copy of the real sanctuary that exists in Heaven (see vv. 23-24). God warned Moses to be painstakingly meticulous in following the blueprint He gave him for its design. This is why: His glorious earthly habitation was to be a precise replica of His original, heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 8:5). In this way, His children would begin to have a taste and glimpse of the transcendent, otherworldly reality of His eternal home. To the Father, this was crucially important. His house was to be on Earth as it is in Heaven.

The natural sanctuary represented the spiritual sanctuary. In the same way, everything that we can perceive physically here exists in parallel to something bigger, greater, more powerful, and more exquisite in the celestial realm. (I am referring to everything that God called “good” and “very good” when He brought forth Creation. This does not include the tragic aberrations afterwards caused by the fall and the devil.)

This truth extends into every component of God-breathed life on this planet. In its original creation design, Earth mirrors Heaven. As a result, oftentimes we can learn something about the heavenly places by keen observation of the material world around us. We use our five senses to absorb what it around us, leaning in to listen to the Holy Spirit and to search His Word. We ask Him, “What does this -- that my hands are touching, that my eyes are seeing, that my ears are hearing -- teach me about Your Kingdom?”

Of course, Jesus was aware of this principle of parallel realities during His earthly life. He explained to the multitudes that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a sower who scatters his seed… like a pearl of great price… like yeast working its way through some dough... Each and every one of His parables seized on an aspect of earthly life to open up for His listeners a corresponding facet of heavenly truth.

This Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Today just like two thousand years ago, Earth mirrors Heaven in many, many ways. If you gaze intently and quiet yourself to hear, the simplest things around you have precious and profound gems of wisdom hidden within them. If you seek them out with Him, you will find them. (I get teased for finding a Bible verse or a sermon illustration in everything that happens around me, but it really is true! He is intimately present in His creation, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.)

Now I return to unpacking my dream. Pregnancy and childbirth are one of the most spectacular arenas where the principle of parallel realities comes into play. Did you know that the Bible talks about the elements of gestation in a spiritual sense? I recently came across this verse in my personal studies:

"No one born (begotten) of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, for God’s nature abides in him [His principle of life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him]; and he cannot practice sinning because he is born (begotten) of God" (1 John 3:9, AMPC, bold emphasis mine).

Other Bible versions use the term "seed" instead of "sperm" in this verse. That probably sounds a little less edgy, more polite. However, the actual Greek word in the Apostle John's original writing is transliterated sperma. This word, sperma, is translated "seed" in other New Testament passages, referring to what a farmer sows in the ground. In still others, sperma is rendered "descendants" or "offspring." However, in this verse, the wording "divine sperm" is clearly an accurate translation of the concept John was bringing to us when he penned the word sperma.

We can see this by the context: being born of God. Sperm and birthing are closely related ideas. Just as I was engendered by my physical father's seed, so I was born a second time, in spirit, by my heavenly Father's seed. Just as my dad's DNA is reflected in every cell of my body, so God's sperma remains in the makeup of my spirit and defines who I am. Here is another Scripture that utilizes the same illustration: "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God" (1 Pet. 1:23, AMPC, bold emphasis mine).

Spiritual birthing is an intriguing subject. As a result of the dream I told you about, I’ve been ruminating on it. I had a sense that the Holy Spirit was prompting me to write up some thoughts about it for you. It began to stir inside me when I ran across this “divine sperm” phrase in my reading. I prepared to obey. And then something happened that made me smile big.

As I was sitting with my laptop perched on my legs getting ready to type up this post, my daughter Ester came into my room. She lay down next to me and let me in on a musing that had "randomly" popped into her mind. "Mom, how is it possible that something so tiny as an egg and a sperm, can produce a baby?" Haha! I delight in how the Lord so often reinforces His direction for me through comments from my thirteen-year-old girl. She had no idea what I was about to start composing. I had not shared any of my contemplation of the topic with her. I knew immediately that His Spirit had provoked that pondering in her mind to encourage me in my writing.  Instead of responding to her query, I beamed at her and said, "Thank you for the confirmation, honey!"

Her question is exactly what Holy Spirit is inviting us to consider from a heavenly perspective: How can God produce brand new life inside of us from something so “tiny” as a spiritual egg and sperm? I will elaborate in my next post. Good things to come -- stay tuned!

A prayer for today:

Lord, is there something You want to show me today hidden in the world around me? I don’t want to miss it for the hustle and bustle of life. Teach me to be still and know that You are God. Empower me to quiet myself in Your presence and lean into You. Train me in Your holy calm. Lead me beside Your tranquile, living waters. As I am attentive with my five senses, speak to my heart and reveal Your heavenly realities to me. Daddy, I long for more of You!

Do you have an experience to share of learning something about the spiritual realm from observing an aspect of our physical world? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section!

Forever Ecstasy

I believe that our loving Daddy deeply longs for us to understand His heart on the subject of testing and trials. In my last post, we talked about how Abraham stole God’s heart away and became His eternal friend, by allowing God to KNOW love in an experiential way. This was the life-changing meaning behind the introductory verse, “God tested Abraham” (Gen. 22:1) I promised you another post about the tests that we go through. Let’s explore this difficult subject further together today.

I am vividly remembering a time that I looked up into Jesus’ beautiful face to ask for His help. My heart wanted to understand more deeply why He allows me sometimes to suffer. I looked right into His eyes and asked, “I know to my very core that You love me. How can I reconcile Your intense love for me, with the pain You have allowed me to walk through? How can Your fiercely devoted, tender heart be okay with me aching? Please help me to understand.”

Yes, I know pretty much all the Bible verses there are to know about suffering. Here’s one of the most quoted, and most apt:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2-3).

So we learn that the painful circumstances of our lives will ultimately be for our good. Holy Spirit is developing character in us. But still! My heart cried out, not in rebellion against His management of my life, but in yearning to fathom what seemed contradictory. “How can You be at peace with using this affliction as the tool for my refining? If my pain hurts Your heart so much, why is this the way?”

As soon as I asked, He was answering me.

He explained my pain by telling me about His pain. I felt Him moving around inside my spirit to expand from within my understanding of this matter. He breathed revelation into me of what it means for Him to be Immanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). He shared with me that He personally experiences the pain of every human being on the planet, all the time. He steps directly into it.

He told His disciples, “Whoever rejects you rejects Me” (Luke 10:16). He was making clear to them that when they went through the sting of rejection, He felt it personally, to the very inmost chamber of His being. Those angry looks they internalized, those powerfully hurtful words piercing their hearts – each and every one went into His own depths. “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me” (Rom. 15:3, NIV), He said.

This truth did not just go for these twelve men that walked closely with Him – He told them that it was also true for every starving, naked, forsaken, sick, and imprisoned soul – in short, everyone who is hurting on the Earth. That when these downtrodden ones are cast away and shunned, He Himself is the recipient of their abuse:

“Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was Me—you did it to Me’ (Matt. 25:40, MSG).

Jesus Himself experiences the ultimate depths of human pain, every single day. He is Immanuel. He is involved. Profoundly, intensely involved. He is here. He is walking among us. The tiniest sigh of your discomfort sweeps through His entire being. Your pain is His pain. When you weep, His chest heaves with your sobs. Not just in sympathy, but because He is feeling what you feel even deeper and more keenly than what you feel it.

Multiply that by seven billion. That’s a tremendous load of pain. Not to mention six thousand years of human history in which He has been making a pattern out of owning our agony. Not to mention the place where He carried it all to the supreme degree of internalization – Calvary’s hill. Isaiah the prophet looked forward through time to the unbearable emotional and spiritual anguish Jesus would take into Himself when He died for the world:

“He was despised and rejected—
 a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. (NLT)
He was hated, and we didn't even notice him.
But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us” (NCV). (Is. 53:3-4a)

The Lord told me that before anything existed, He was brooding deeply over the creation of the world. He looked into the future, and He saw all of it. He saw every single heart wrenching, agonizing scene. He saw Himself completely submerged in, wrapped up in, living inside of, each one.

He saw the enraged husbands beating the wives. He saw the demonized soldiers raping the villagers. He saw the burning buildings. He saw the ashes and the scattered, broken bricks. He heard the terrified babies screaming. His heart took in the wrenching cries. And He saw you. He gazed upon your own face and whispered your name. He saw every occurrence of heartbreak you would face in your short lifetime here. He saw Himself weeping, grieving, in the midst of each and every one of them. Beforehand, He already tasted the raw ache His soul would carry day after day, year after year, millennium after millennium, as Immanuel. He fully anticipated the cup that He would drink – your pain, my pain, everybody’s pain. It would be fully His own.

And then He looked beyond it all. He gazed forward into eternity. He drank in, ahead of time, the absolute bliss of being entwined with you forever and ever. He saw the joy set before Him. YOU are the joy set before Him. He closed His eyes and was captivated by the picture of ecstasy that He saw: you and Him as one, swirling in a forever sea of intimacy and rapturous, unspeakable delight. And in His infinite wisdom, He knew that no matter how immeasurable the pain He would bear, it would be exceedingly worth it. To be with you. Endlessly lost in love.

He is looking right at you in this moment. Look up into His eyes. They have born the pain of the ages. In them is an indescribable depths of love for you. He gestures with a movement of His head at all of His suffering. And, gazing deep, deep into your inmost being, He says in the most tender of tones, “My love, you are worth it all! All of this, to have you in My arms!”

Jesus measured all of the pain to come. He knew that birthing the Creation would come at an extraordinarily great personal cost. And He chose to create the world anyway because He KNEW that the euphoria of having you for all eternity would far outweigh what it would cost Him.

In the same moment, He drew from His unsearchable wisdom, and He knew something else: it would also be worth it for you. “Consider it pure joy” is no cruel joke, no exaggeration, and no hyperbole. Even the most piercing, penetrating pain fits into the biblical category of “our light and momentary troubles” (2 Cor. 4:17) when shifted into the perspective of the everlasting elation that is up ahead. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” He isn’t lying, dearly beloved treasure of His heart! Far outweighs! That eternal glory of oneness with Him really, really does. It far, far, FAR outweighs every single tear!!!

When we get there, all of this will look like nothing at all compared to the bliss. “Not even worth comparing” to the ineffable glorious reality that will surround and overwhelm us forever (Rom. 8:18)! Not even worthy of being placed on the scale together.

He said to “rejoice and be exceedingly glad” about the reward of your suffering (Matt. 5:12). When the moment comes to stand face to face with the One who loves you more than His life, with Him who has walked through every sorrow you face and made it His own – when He marries you and wraps you up forever in His embrace of breathtaking intimacy, you will know  – all that pain is now gone forever. You’ll sink into His arms and exclaim in exultation from your deepest heart… that none of it was anything at all compared to the unending ecstasy that is about to begin!

My sweet, sweet Lord Jesus, Lover of my soul, thank You for choosing to create me! You knew that making me, making us, making this world, would pierce you through and through. It would wound you in the worst way that anyone can be wounded. But You decided that I was worth it. That the immeasurable joy of being one with me forever was so much more than the hurt. I come into agreement with Your infinite, unsearchable wisdom! Whatever I am going through today, is worth it, that I could revel in Your heart, in Your closeness, in Your union, in Your love glory, for all of eternity. Please open the eyes of my spirit more and more to see this present moment in the light of Your eternal perspective. And thank You that today, right now, You are the Healer of my inmost being. You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever!

Blogger’s note: My husband, children, and I will be heading to the U.S. for three months of itinerating in just over a week. Our schedule will be extremely full during that time, so I anticipate having significantly less time available for blogging. Once the trip is over, I should be able to resume my regular posting schedule. Thank you for following my blog, and be richly blessed today!

Stealing God's Heart -- This is a Test, This Is So Much More than a Test

Have you ever wondered why God would need to test us? I have. I think back to school, when the teacher would give us tests as a device to measure our progress in the subject matter. Why would God need to measure where I’m at? Doesn’t He know everything already? Isn’t He omniscient?

His word does comment on this:

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deut. 8:2, NKJV).

Still, why? Why would He need to come up with a test to find out what’s in our hearts? Can’t He just use His X-ray vision, look inside of us, and instantly come up with an answer? Tests are grueling! Often even painful! Why do we have to go through this stuff?

In this post and the next, I want to look into two specific examples of Biblical testing and see what we can pull out of them to help alleviate these questions that sometimes weigh on our minds.

Holy Spirit was talking to me about the first example I will share very recently. I was in the middle of an intense workout, and He chose that moment to drop into my spirit something that amazed me. (Yes, He likes to speak to me while I’m exercising to Jillian Michaels videos. He’ll communicate with us Spirit-to-spirit ANY TIME if we are tuned in and looking for it!)

As He so often does, He whispered a verse to me and began to explain it. This time the Scripture I heard clearly on the inside of me was, “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Gen. 22:12, NKJV).

He was initiating a conversation with me about Abraham’s ultimate test, and what it meant to Him.

The familiar tale unfolds like this: God asks Abraham for his heart’s treasure, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Abraham immediately obeys. The opening line of the story lets you know right off that the narrative that follows is about a test. “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham…” (v. 1a)

But again, why? Did God need “test results” to figure out if Abraham was devout? The Supreme Creator exclaimed when the deed was done, “Now I know that you fear Me!”

Lord, did You not know before that moment, that Abraham feared You? In Your majestic omniscience, had You not already gathered that he loved and reverenced You? Don’t You already know that we love You, without testing us in such extreme ways?

Yes. God knew. And He knows. But foreknowledge is never the same as experiential knowledge. God wanted to experience Abraham’s passion in the deepest way possible. Head knowledge was not enough. He, too, longed for heart knowledge of His covenant partner’s love.

Abraham could have said no. God would have respected his no. He respects our no, each and every time we are not willing to go all the way there with Him. Our free will is completely intact, and He will never, ever violate it. But Abraham said YES, and that stole God’s heart away completely!

Here is something to consider, as you listen in to understand God’s thoughts and emotions on this matter. Is it enough for you to know in your head that God loves you, if that knowledge never reaches your heart? I looked back at some of my teenage journal entries recently. They are overflowing with prayers, longings, even begging God to know His love beyond my head and into my heart. Head knowledge never satisfied anyone. Each of us can profoundly, sometimes achingly identify with the lyric,

“I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me…
Show me love is real, yeah, I want to know what love is”
                                                               - Foreigner

To know love. To feel love. To experience love. To drink of it exquisitely, to be consumed by it. To know that it is REAL. You and I and every human being on the planet long for that. Guess what? He does too. You were created in His image. That yearning in your heart directly reflects the Original Edition and His own longings. He made you just like Him. So you would long for Him too.

Even the words, “I love You,” out of our lips do not satisfy His burning desire, if He has not yet actually experienced our love. Listen to His heart when He expresses,

“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8, NKJV).

Can you hear the pain in His voice?

And again, “Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me…’” (Matt. 7:23, NKJV).

How will Jesus be able say that He never knew someone, when they stand before Him at the end of their life – if He knows everything and everyone? Here too, He is talking about experiential knowledge. This is the deeply personal knowing that comes through intimacy. The verb in Matthew 7:23 that is translated “knew” is the Greek ginosko. It means “to know…through personal experience” (HELPS Word-studies). The Lord will tell these people, “I never walked intimately with you. I was never allowed to experientially know your devotion. I never got to drink in heart knowledge of your love. You decided not to be Mine.”

Abraham gave Him the opposite. Abraham fulfilled the deepest longings of Daddy God. In this son’s ultimate act of devotion, God tasted a love that infinitely surpassed anything that He simply knew via foreknowledge.

It’s time to listen to these words again, with your deepest soul: “Now I really, really know! You have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me! Oh Abraham, how exquisite is your adoration! How it conquers My heart! How it causes My inner being to bubble up and spill over profusely with joy and pleasure! You have ravished Me with your worship!”

X-ray vision doesn’t cut it, folks. Daddy God craves our passionate love.

This is what the testing is for. It’s not about measuring progress or gathering data or awarding brownie points. God longs to know you the way He came to know Abraham. He is ablaze with desire to ginosko you. Holy Spirit is inviting you to understand -- when He asks for your own personal Isaac, it’s not because He’s mean and demanding. On the contrary – He is achingly yearning for you. He wants to take His relationship with you so much deeper. He wants to experience for Himself, to the very depths of His burning soul, how much you love Him. He wants to live out love with you.

Close your eyes and lean in. Listen -- He is singing to you: “I want to know what love is, I want you to show Me…”

Daddy God, You craved Abraham’s tangible love, and he gave You the experience You longed for. He conquered Your heart in actuality and became Your friend permanently. You yearn for my love, my fiery affection, my fierce devotion too. You desire to be my most intense passion, to be the One that I love the most. You are inviting me to let You feel the deepest depths of human love possible. I want to give You this experience too. I want to give You what You long for. I want to fulfill Your yearnings. Take me! Take all that I am! Take all that I long for, and make me wholly and completely Yours!

Releasing Righteous Retribution through Reverential Regard

The devil was whispering all sorts of ugly promises to me during a painful season of my life. The future seemed to loom over me with a sinister heaviness. Impending scenes of catastrophe and heartache fought for space on the platform of my mind’s eye.

As I struggled to reach out for God in the middle of the overwhelming circumstances confronting me, I heard Him speak. “Do not fear what they fear; do not dread…” came His breath inside of me. He often drops fractions of Bible verses into my spirit to initiate a conversation. Sometimes He’ll even murmur just a couple words, such that I can barely hear Him. He does this so that I’ll lean in to listen extra carefully. Then He knows He has my attention. When I take the time to search for the verse He’s quoting, often time brand new revelation is birthed in my heart. This occasion was no exception.

So I hunted for the Scripture over which He was brooding. This is what I found:

"Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary…” (Isa. 8:12-14a, NIV)

Conspiracy. What is a conspiracy theory? It’s the mindset that says, “Powers greater than me are out to get me. Circumstances treacherously beyond my control are in a position to steal my wellbeing and happiness.” In this passage, Holy Spirit is communicating to us that He earnestly desires us free from living under that kind of fear and dread. Dread doesn’t just refer to a strong aversion to an unpleasant situation. Dread is the Biblical term for the apprehension that sits on your emotions and makes you feel heavy, unsettled, and fearful when you are imagining the future. It is one of the enemy’s very favorite tactics.

And at that juncture in my life, it was the one with which he was bombarding my soul in a thick, relentless, daily onslaught. There were many moments during that time in which I felt so downtrodden that I could barely take another step forward.

Holy Spirit came to rescue me. He truly does not waste anything. He used those difficult circumstances as a training ground for me. He revealed to me that the time had come to learn, in depth, what it really meant to fear Him and Him alone. “The LORD ALMIGHTY is the ONLY one you are to fear!” was His crucial message to me.

When I was a child growing up in church, the phrase “the fear of the Lord” seemed strange and hard to grasp. Wasn’t God a loving Daddy? Why fear? The Sunday School teachers would attempt to clear this up by asserting that it didn’t mean to be afraid of Him, but to be respectful of Him. I accepted this explanation, but the idea still felt remote.

Fast forward back to this distressing period of my life as an adult. Over and over again, my Comforter took me back to Isaiah 8:12-14. He faithfully, repeatedly insisted, “Don’t be afraid, My love. I am right here with you. Don’t let dread rule. Don’t give credence to the demonic mutterings of conspiracy sent into your ears. No one can snatch you out of My hand. I’ve got you, and I AM your sanctuary!”

I needed a specific battle strategy with which to fight the attack that was lambasting me. He gave me one, as I continued to meditate on these verses. What is the opposite of giving weight and attention to the enemy’s threats and imaginary scenarios of chaos and sadness? Filling up your inner space instead with praise for the Holy One!

He went on to illuminate for me the words, “He is the One you are to fear.” With His help, this is what I began to fathom:

To fear Him is…

• to be impressed with Him to the very core of who you are… 
• to see Him for who He is in all of His splendor and glory and ENORMOUSNESS… 
• to be in awe of how infinitely powerful He is… 
• to understand deep in your being that He really did already vanquish whatever enemy you are facing at the cross… 
• to SEE with the eyes of your heart Him sitting on His throne, reigning in indestructible might and ultimate supremacy over every force that exists in all of creation… 
• to be stunned by His majesty… 
• and to worship Him with absolutely everything that’s inside of you.

“The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning (the chief and choice part) of Wisdom…” (Prov. 9:10, AMP). The truly wise will tell you -- you can actually exercise your fear of the Lord. Put it to work on your behalf. War with it! Chase the enemy off with it, along with his sorry conspiracy theories about your future!

How? What to do when the devil starts aggressively blowing his noxious smoke into your mind? It’s time to get your fight on. It’s time to shift your focus intentionally onto the grandeur of the I AM who will never let you go.

The best way to do this is to purposefully begin to exalt Him as you simultaneously look right into His face. Use your heart’s eyes. Lift up your gaze to Him where He is peacefully occupying His unshakable victorious position in the heavenlies. If you look closely, you’ll become aware of Him looking directly back at you. See? You’ve got His undivided attention and all of the immeasurable depths of His loyal love that comes with it. Now begin to magnify Him!

In order to get your whole being in alignment with this exercise, find some anointed music that moves your spirit in His presence. Turn it on and SING. Lift up your voice! Don’t hold back! Forget about how you sound and concentrate intensely on looking at Him. Remember, when you use your imagination (mind’s eye), guided by Holy Spirit, to see Jesus on His throne, it is not pretend – on the contrary, it’s the most real thing in the entire universe. He is truly there, and you are engaging your inner eyes through His empowering, to gaze on His beauty as He has invited us to do (Ps. 27: 4).

Lift up your face toward the heavenly realm. Lock eyes with Him. Belt out that praise!

As you do this, I want to share with you some lyrics that have powerfully aided me in getting my focus on the Lord and off the enemy:

“To the One who’s seated on the throne above all thrones…
To the One who was, the One who is, and is to come…
Highest Praises!”
                                  -- Amanda Cook

As I’m singing these words to Him at the top of my voice, I’m seeing Him exalted to the highest place! I am sending all the energy of my being into extoling Him over my circumstances. As I do so, I feel His power being released on my behalf. He literally is enthroned on my praises, and on your praises too – you and I are partnering with Him in establishing His throne over our adversities, as we work out our spirits this way. Through our worship, His government is dynamically exerting dominion in our daily realities. Even as we lift Him up with all that is within us, His kingdom is actively coming on earth as it is in heaven (Ps. 22:3, Mat. 6:10, NKJV).

When you have completely let yourself go in this exertion of magnifying him, you will notice something afterwards. That voice of dread has been silenced. The enemy of your soul cannot bear watching the Holy One receive the glory that he tried so hard to steal! He has run away shrieking with his hands over his ears. YOU have won! You have pulled heaven’s victory to your here and now!

Get militant about this one:

My Lord Jesus, YOU have the name above every name! YOU are the Holy One! You are set apart and far above all else that exists in this universe, in heaven and on earth and under the earth! YOU are enthroned in my praises! I exalt YOU far above these circumstances facing me! I will not be afraid of my enemies’ threats, for YOU are the One I praise! I stomp on dread because YOU are the Author and Owner and Establisher of my hope and future! YOU are the One I reverence! YOU are the One I worship! YOU are the One I stand in awe of! I fear YOU ALONE!!!! I praise You that You created me to OVERCOME!!!

Victory Outside the Box: A Duct Tape Sword and an Oil Drenched Warrior

While I was in the midst of writing up my recent posts about prophetic acts, a living example of these principles was unfolding right under my nose. I want to introduce to you my friend Christina, who is about to let you in on the story. Christina is a missionary who moved here to Iquitos a year ago to work with our ministry. She has quickly become an integral part of what God is doing in our midst.

When she related the following incident to me, suddenly it clicked. I knew that the Holy Spirit was illustrating His own sermon. He led Christina into a series of fascinating prophetic acts right as I was writing on the subject. I asked her to share them with you. She cheerfully did so; what follows is that account in her own words.
                                                     

“The past two posts from Jennifer have been highlighting prophetic acts in the natural and their connection to the spiritual realm. This past week I had an incredible experience with exactly what she has been writing about, and I would like to tell you about it here.

First, I would like to say that this world is entirely new to me. I did not grow up in the prophetic, and I have been on quite the learning curve since I moved here to Peru. If anyone had told me three years ago that I would be doing some of the things the Lord has had me do lately, I would have thought the one telling me was absolutely crazy. But here I am, and this is the latest in His intense training of me.

About a week ago I felt called very strongly to an afternoon of intercessory prayer. During that time, I saw a vivid picture of a sword that the Lord was giving me. The sword had a double edged blade. It was made perfectly for my hands… With the point touching the ground, it came almost to my waist in height. Scripture references were written on the blade that were promises of God that He wanted me to remember and use to fight. The blade was silver and the grip was gold, with a ruby pommel, and the cross guard had TRUTH written on it. The blade was also burning with a brilliantly bright fire. The Lord told me He wanted me to fight.

A few days later, the sword was so very much on my mind. I was sitting in my bed looking around the room, and my eyes fell on a tent stored there. My mind immediately went to the tent poles in it. Before I even really realized what I was doing, I had gone and taken one of the tent poles out and folded it to where I felt was right. I held it up to my side, and it was exactly the same length as the sword in my vision. I knew He wanted me to make a physical representation of that sword. The Lord had me cover it with duct tape and mark off the handle with a sharpie. He then instructed me to write on the blade I had fashioned, Scriptures that had been on the blade in the vision. One of them that He led me to me write out was: 'Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance…' (Ps 149:6-7a)

Then the Lord told me, 'It is time for you to fight for what I have promised you. As you take up the sword I just had you make in the physical, you are picking up the sword I gave you in the spiritual realm. It is the sword of Truth, covered in My Word and the Fire of My Spirit. Anoint it with oil, and consecrate it for Me and My service.'

I had long felt that He wanted me to pray over the upstairs area of the house where I stay. The second floor is currently under construction, and no one lives up there. It has so many spider webs, it is difficult to walk through without running into them. The Lord summoned me up there. I took my sword, some praise music (Kari Jobe’s 'Majestic'), my Bible, and a bottle of oil.

His next words were, 'I want you to begin with the oil. It represents my Spirit that I am pouring out on you to do this task. Pour it out on your head.' I poured out a little on top of me. As I felt it dripping down my scalp, I could feel His presence falling on me. Seven times He had me pour the oil on my head until half of the bottle was gone, and the oil was dripping down my head and down my neck and back.

He continued, 'Now, take up your sword and work your way through this floor. I want you to pray over this house. As you enter each room, I want you to cut away at the webs in the physical realm. While you are cutting the webs in the physical, you are also cutting away at the webs the enemy has tried to spin in an attempt to block you and others from their destinies. I will give you what to pray as you cut through each one. Now… sing and worship as you fight!'

I began to sing, and in each room He had me cut away at the things the enemy had tried to use to block the Lord’s moves in my life and in others’. At one point I found myself with my sword positioned in front of me and declaring, 'I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and heir with Him in the heavenly realms. The Lord my God will reign in this place. With this sword lit with Holy Fire, I cut down the cords you, my enemy, have attempted to tie the people of God down with!'

When I finished all of this, I collapsed on the floor utterly drained from what He had poured through me, overcome with His powerful presence. I can say with absolute certainty that I felt something break in the spiritual realm while carrying all of it out. A little while later I was sitting down in the patio area downstairs and looked up to take in one of the clearest and most complete rainbows I have ever seen in person. I believe it was a sign of His promise of the victory.

The Lord may lead us to do things that do not make earthly sense, but the Bible shows us that He never has made ‘logical’ requests of those He has great things for. I believe that so very often skepticism and doubt greatly hinder what He wants to pour out on and through us. We think we can’t be important enough, or that He just doesn’t do those kind of things anymore. But He DOES! It takes simply laying ourselves down as living sacrifices to be used mightily by the Lord… He is so kind and loving… He beckons us to yield ourselves to His Will and Way – especially when it doesn’t make sense to our natural minds. The more I lay myself down, the more I long to lay myself down again and again to see what else He will unfold in and through me. Such a magnificent adventure!!!”