Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Look Again!

He is moving us, shifting us into a new season.

I read these words in the days to follow this blessed time in His anointing when He showed us the honey:

“Rapid success from a small beginning will be as sweet as honey!” ~Chuck Pierce

In the book Come Walk With Me: A Journey Into Intimacy by Jacqueline Varnedoe, she quotes Chuck Pierce referring to a time just before the STYOR Conference in 2009, when some of those on the prayer team saw a hummingbird in the tent during a 1-3am prayer watch. Then, just as these guys were telling Chuck about the bird, his wife, Pam called to tell him that she was watching the rain outside her kitchen window, and there was a hummingbird hovering and watching her! The quote explained the prophetic significance of the hummingbird.

What is it that He is beginning in us? Where is it that He is leading? As we walk out of this last season, we ask Him to end this spiritual drought within us. In the midst of this new beginning, we press into His side. We will not despise a small beginning. We lift our eyes, and LOOK at all the signs around us. We look above our current circumstances and obstacles, and know that the new season requires a new perspective. We choose to taste the sweetness of His honey. We choose to release the word of the Lord with boldness and clarity. We believe that He is showing us new ways to get over the ruts in the road that may have tripped us up in the past.

We draw near to Him with the knowledge that intimacy with Him is the key to our security and provision.

In the book of Ruth, Naomi and her husband left home to live in a land of strangers in order to survive a famine. We don’t know if they left out of fear of the lack of provision, or by His guidance, but I believe that they were trusting God to lead. After 10 years, Naomi returned with Ruth to her homeland because she heard of the blessings of the Lord on the harvest. She had lost her husband and her two sons, and grieved deeply for this loss, but didn’t let that loss keep her from moving forward. Naomi had to make a choice: she could draw close to God, or she could turn away from Him and become bitter. We have this same choice when facing tragedy or daily struggles. Naomi’s future was unknown to her, but she went home at the start of the harvest time.

God’s timing is so perfect. He prepared a new beginning both in the natural and in the spiritual.

He is providing a new beginning for us today, both in the natural and in the spiritual. We may have made a move to survive the famine, but He is giving us news of a plentiful harvest. We choose honey instead of locusts! We choose to draw near to Him, and ask Him for this honey to saturate us!

I don’t normally ask the Lord for specific signs, but in my desperate prayers yesterday, I asked Him to show me a hummingbird this week. I just really wanted to know for sure that this word was for us in this season. I am amazed that I am able to say that I just saw my hummingbird!

It was raining so beautifully earlier. My sister even commented on the beauty as we watched it out the window. After the rain had subsided, I was playing with my niece in the living room, when I glanced out the window to see the tiny little thing. We have trees with purple blooms on them just outside our apartment window, and a hummingbird was hovering over them just next to our window. I tried to get a picture with my phone, but the glare on the window was interfering.

It didn’t even matter. I lifted my eyes, and I saw the sign right there in front of me! I am thankful for this special gift from the Father, and for this new perspective. I’m so thankful that I LOOKED AGAIN!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Maple Drops of Revelation

The sound of His heartbeat was in the drum, the sound of His breath was in the keys, and the sound of His truth was in spoken words. The atmosphere was thick and weighty. It was His glory descending on us, kissing the back of our necks. We worshiped. We sang. We lifted our hands to Heaven. We waited. We listened.

He spoke.

His voice was in a song, a word, a dream, and a vision. Not one of these, but all of these. Now, it continues on for days—His confirmation of His words to us! It’s in what I’m reading. It’s in what I’m feeling. It’s in things here on the earth, and it’s in things from Above. His unfailing love never stops flowing.

What is there of this life on earth, if not for to allow His love to flow through us?

“…Pour it out…drip it down now…like warm honey revelation from Your throne…make Your way to our hearts…wisdom and revelation all the way to our hearts…”


It was for each of us individually, and it was for our nation. It was dripping down on the White House, and it was dripping down onto our foreheads from a great tree in our midst. It was light that was also honey—sticky, messy, healing, purifying, and a sign of His coming that sloughed off all signets of compromise. It left no room for any other but our God. It changed our hearts instantly, and it swirled around in the spirit realm, bringing healing to the region and beyond. It was representative of a choice for the saturation of God in our lives, or famine and plagues.

It was for one, and it was for all. He stirred up creativity in His people. He stirred up boldness. He broke us from the maintenance mode.

He woke us from a slumber—not with a jolt or a thrust, but with a sweet-tasting, satisfying nectar from Heaven.

Thank You, Father.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Longing for His Glory

Today, I was browsing through an old spiral notebook of mine.

It has notes and thoughts on various topics, and I came across something from last year--almost exactly this time of year.

I love reading things I wrote in the past, because it's always interesting to see how life was back then. Stroll down memory lane with me.

02 June 2009
I've been really obsessed with cloud-watching lately. I always wonder (well, lately anyway) when I get fixated on something, if it might be that God is trying to show me something.

When I look at the clouds that have super bright lining coming from behind, I imagine what God's glory would look like. I wonder if it might be similar. I guess I just sort of associate that kind of beauty and light with God and His glory since it is in the heavens, and so mysterious and intriguing.

I made a comment earlier about how the clouds have just been really amazing lately, and added that maybe it was because of the storms that have been coming and going.

Today, it was overcast when I went to work, and a few hours later a very large storm blew in. It was in Dallas and Fort Worth on the radar, and as I looked out the windows of the hospital, I was thankful to be indoors at that moment. By the time I left work, it was hot and muggy, and the clouds had broke.

I think the most beautiful cloudwork tends to show just after the storm has passed.
As I ponder this idea, I wonder if it's the same in the storms of life.

I wonder if God's glory shines more brilliantly after the storm has passed.

I wonder if in the moments after we withstand a fiery trial, the Lord's glory blankets us in a greater array.
What is glory?

In Strong's Concordance, it actually is defined as weight, but only figuratively, in a good sense, splendor or copiousness--glorious, glory, honor.

For some reason, I stopped writing there. Now I want to dig a little deeper.

Dictionary.com has several different definitions for glory, but the two entries that catch my eye tonight are these:

4. resplendent beauty or magnificence.
5. a state of great splendor, magnificence, or prosperity.
The word prosperity really snagged me.

His glory is the ultimate copiousness of all good things. There is nothing more abundant, prosperous, or fulfilling than His brilliant glory.

His glory is more than just a beauty or magnificence too extravagant for words.

His glory is provision.

His glory is a fulfillment that cannot be duplicated or imitated.

His glory is the substance of my affection, my longing, my searching.

His glory is healing and brings freedom from every single thing that would press me down.

In the midst of one storm or another, I pray to press through, and that I would not stop longing for His glory--to, in fact, desire it even more. I pray that I will take on the weight of His glory in exchange for the weight of any other thing.

Here I am again.

I hear His voice comforting me with words that edify me--that instruct me to look up above the obstacle I see in the path ahead. I can see Him waiting with a big, honey-colored glory blanket on the other side, ready to wrap me up in His magnificence and prosperity.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Breaking Out of Maintenance Mode

I'm just reflecting on the events of this long weekend. It's been a full weekend, but still somehow so relaxing. Even though I feel like everything I've done has really had purpose, it's somehow still been such an easy-going time.

I just feel so covered in the Father's love. He has called me, led me, provided for me, and blessed me beyond measure, and I have been especially aware of that this past weekend.

I made plans to visit a friend that is helping me make a business idea a reality. We worked hard to get things rolling with that, but also never seemed to miss out on time to have meaningful conversation and fun in the sun this Memorial Day.

The whole weekend has seemed to be full of little love notes and gifts from the Father. I met some new people that I am certain will not only be lifelong friends, but also seem to be the kind of friends that are placed in my life for reasons affecting destiny. The Father created us for relationship--first with Him, but also with others--and sometimes we meet people that are clearly His choice for those relationships. From the very first moment of meeting these people it felt organic and real. This made it so hard to leave and get back to the routine of my daily life, but the Lord is reminding me how every little step we take affects the next step. I know that going into this week, I am equipped with something that I didn't have before.

I love that my Father has created me as one part of the body of Christ. Every bit of who I am and what I have to offer to the Kingdom of God affects how the entire body moves. It gives such a sense of purpose and reminds me that we are all so very special. It's impossible to fathom how many different paths that are contingent upon our actions, words, and prayers.

This weekend has been a special marker in time for me, simply because I was able to step out of my usual routine--nose to the grindstone, maintenance mode way of living. I just feel so refreshed and ready to see beyond what I may have thought my "purpose" is. The Father's dream for His children is so much greater than what we see for ourselves in the natural. My prayer this week is that I will open my eyes to the path that He has laid before me. The path marked by these supernatural realizations of who I am, who I influence, and what the real purpose is in what I am doing day to day.

This maintenance mode is purposeful in itself, but not a place that we are to camp out in for long. It rolls around in seasons. We have to lift our eyes above what is happening in the natural and question our human mind's logic. Sometimes God's plans don't seem to make sense, but that's how we get to see Him operate supernaturally in our lives. We step out in faith regardless of what the logical outcome is, and the Holy Spirit fills that gap that our human minds can't seem to occupy. We may look at our lives and think that what we see doesn't add up to our own expectations, but His voice is calling out to us, telling us to look above the natural circumstances. I hear Him telling me that even though the circumstances of my life in this season seem to just be surviving instead of thriving, He is stirring the heavens and preparing my heart for a new season. He's aligning me with people that are important in the next season, and strengthening relationship with those that I am already aligned with.

So I encourage anyone out there that feels like they are surviving instead of thriving to look up--above the natural circumstances, look into His eyes and listen to His voice. He is giving strategy to those that in this time, can venture out of the logical, human mind and into the supernatural. Break out of the maintenance mode simply by realizing that there is so much more happening in those actions, words, and prayers that you are offering to the Kingdom! Be strengthened, encouraged, and receive the vision He desires for your eyes.