and the noise of it distracts me!

This morning while I was listening to our morning Bible teaching, the pastor, almost off the cuff, made some mention of our being eternal.

You know what?  I know that.  I know I – and all those around me – are eternal.  I have no doubt that we have life eternal waiting for us.  But, you know what?  I forget it and the implications it holds for my life.

Time vs Eternity is quite a battle in my daily living.  When I do not have it in its proper place, I am jazzed about many things that are of no eternal import, but in this moment in time, it seems very important.

I have been dishonoring in my speech to my family, because of time. *Tick*  “I’m STILL angry about that.”  *Tick* “Why are we still working on this? Why haven’t you gained victory over this?” *Tick* “Aren’t you finished with that school work, yet?”  *Tick*

I have been disobedient to Father because of time.  *Tick* “This is due today, I don’t have time to do that right now.”  *Tick*  “Lord, we needed that TODAY!  Where are YOU?” *Tick*

I have been careless of other people because of time.  *Tick* “They are such a dork!  Why would I waste my time on that?”  *Tick*

I realized this morning that I need a fresh dose of eternity in my thinking… and its value and its import and its grace and its patience and its kindness.  I need to stop time from distracting me and keep my ears and eyes and MOUTH!!!! on eternity, rather than time.

Eternity woos me to be disciplined enough daily that I have time for the important issues of eternity.

Eternity requires me to have the grace to allow others to have time for the things that are eternal.

Eternity commands me to walk in the wisdom required to know the difference.

Eternity cups my face in its hands and turns my head (and heart) toward Father, the Eternal God, the Alpha and Omega, and says, “Go, be with Him today.  Do not wait for eternity to delight and enjoy Him fully.  Live in light of His goodness and His mercy today.  Draw near to Him, for His glory will endure for….eternity.”

This past weekend I had the pleasure of talking with a young mom of many Littles.  She had charming children, to be sure.  However, one little guy she clearly identified as “The Handful Boy.” 

Just before speaking to me, she mentioned that he had had a moment in a store recently that had resulted in his throwing a fit.  (Man, can I equate, I recently had a situation in a store that made ME want to throw a fit.)     There was a woman there that had been horribly unkind about the situation (and had I been there to hear it, it would have made for TWO situations in a store that made me want to throw a fit) making snide and derisive comments.

The Precious Mom said to me, “Do you have any suggestions on disciplining?”  When she asked that, I sat there a moment and appreciated how far the Lord has brought me in my mothering.  (Father, why is it that I’m so much wiser now that my children are growing up?  Now that I don’t have Littles (plural) underfoot and more than one toddler throwing a fit, I have to wonder, could I have had the perspectives I have now back then?  Or is this reserved for those who have passed through the flames?!!)  In pondering, I realized if I could tell every young mommy three things, it would be these:

1) Love your children for who they are.  God created them special.  They are His workmanship.  He WANTS them to be strong or quiet or chatty or, or, or, or….  Don’t let your own expectations of what the “good child” looks like keep you from being about the business of stewarding your own children.  For too long, I thought that cookie-cutter responses were the best method in child training. (You do this, this happens.  Period.)  It’s not.  I won’t go so far as to say it’s a lie sent from the pit of hell to keep us from seeing our children as precious, unique INDIVIDUALS made in the image of God…but I’d be tempted to.  Our job is to understand that we’re serving the Most High God and learning from Him who they are and loving them into maturation, making them good soil for the Lord’s Kingdom purpose to be grown in.

This will also be reflected in what and how you speak to them.  Remember that words have the power of life and death in them.  We must choose our words wisely with our children to make certain that we are speaking life to and over them.  God desires us to speak His Word to them.  He desires us to speak a future and a hope to them.  What we say to them becomes how we think about them.  We can’t help it.  (Proverbs 23:7 – “as he thinks in his heart, so he is.” )  From the overflow of our hearts, our mouth speaks.  Whatever our thoughts of our children, they will be revealed by the very words that flow from our mouths.  Therefore, it is ESSENTIAL that we guard our hearts to think of them in light of  the way the Lord does.  (This doesn’t mean that we can’t know in our hearts that he is especially strong willed or that she is particularly chatty – it’s the way we term those things that is so vitally important.  Thinking of them as being chatty versus thinking “that kid NEVER shuts up!” is totally different.)

2) Don’t let other people’s expectations (or even your own) determine how you train your children.  That doesn’t mean you ignore everyone.  If your bestest friend in the whole world stops letting her kiddos play with yours, it’s time to give a real heads up to the situation.  BUT it does mean that if the grumpy lady in the store bashes your kid’s behavior, you don’t let it determine your response to them.  You have your response based on a Biblical principle, not someone else’s glaring look.  (Oh, SO BTDT!!)

I won’t lie to you – this is HARD.  I can’t tell you how many times I required our older girls to “dress right” when going into public.  I had a friend that would let her kids go to town dressed like clowns.  Literally.  They LOVED dressing up like clowns and she’d let them go out like that.  I freaked at the mere idea.  Guess what?  Squish went to town a few weeks ago (on a Tuesday, thank you very much Little G for suggesting Tutu Tuesdays in front of her!!)      in her tutu and tights, tiara and leotard.  With her hair in little blondish ringlets falling around her face, she was utterly charming.  And I was okay with it.  (It’s only taken me 20 yrs.  Sigh….)

On the same token, don’t make excuses for their behavior either.  Don’t allow your lack of training them to become “They need a nap” or “We just came from the zoo where she was attacked by a flock of 20 wild, drooling peacocks roaming around and she hasn’t quite recovered yet.”  Instead, learn to train them from Biblical standards and hold fast to them.  Honor, love, serving and kindness are good starts.  (If I need to explain what I mean by that, let me know.)

3) Ask the Lord to give you a bigger picture of what you’re doing than just disciplining.  Training? Yes.  Discipling?  Absolutely.  But, somewhere along the line, raising our children became a matter of disciplining them.  Period.  What we’ve lost track of  is the bigger picture – we’re raising up men and women who will take the Kingdom for the Lord!  We are raising up those that will be one step closer to ushering in the coming of our Lord and Savior.  We are raising up a generation of light and salt in a world that is getting darker by the moment.

Dear Mother, that precious babe in your arms has a call – a personal, intimate and specific call – from the Lord God Most High!  Do you think of that as you change his diaper?  Most often, we get caught up in the daily stuff and lose sight of what a vitally important task mothering is and how truly little of what we do is discipline.  And now that I’ve become a mom of more olders than youngers, I find that it’s so incredibly obvious to me that what we’re called to do has tons more to do with loving, blessing and encouraging and so much less to do with disciplining.  Again, that doesn’t mean we DON’T discipline, for that isn’t what we’re called to do either. But, it’s such a small part of what we do, yet for many years it simply took up my entire vision.

Be Blessed Dear Mum!  Yours is not the way of the weak, fearful nor timid.  More even than those who are out in the world, you must equip yourself with the Word of God, ready to explain to your children at any moment the hope that is in you, with gentleness and reverence.  You must clothe yourself in the full armor of God, ready to do battle daily for the minds and hearts of your children.  Be strong and courageous, valiant warrior, the Lord is with you!

PS I had no intention of sharing this here.  But, the Lord would not leave me alone about it.     So, out of obedience I have posted my thoughts here.  I am trusting Him to take these seeds and plant them in the fertile soil that He has His eyes on. 

Okay, so the family issue that has been usurping my time so much over the past few weeks has accelerated this weekend.  I ask your forgiveness please, as I attend to this, instead of working on our book.

We have given our time to this need and had no time left for writing this weekend.  We have made a point to schedule in time throughout this next week to write, but until we get past Wednesday, I won’t be able to even venture a guess as to when we can have sufficient time to complete this.  (We’re praying for Friday, but Wednesday will be a pivotal point in our estimation.)

Please check back on Wedneday evening, when I will post a better idea for you.

If you’re brain is wandering around feeling a little dry, I would encourage  you to spend the next few days feasting on 1 & 2 Corinthians and Galatians.   I think you will find them to be rich in encouragement and wisdom for your soul!

Abundant Blessings ~

And I quote him, “Let’s just do the book.”

SO, we’re going to put it into an ebook.  I forgot Monday is a holiday (ESPECIALLY considering Jeff’s family declared Memorial Day Family Reunion Day, several years ago, and I had completely forgotten all about it.  OOPS) so I will post it Tuesday morning, bright and early.  (Bright and early being a relative term)

Be blessed!

I apologize if you were among the people that wrote and asked me if I’d fallen off the face of the earth.  Life here at the Clark place has been very interesting, to say the least.      (Your prayers for us during this time are greatly appreciated – and rawther needful.)

I had planned on wrapping up our Brainwashing discussion by this Friday, so that your minds would be renewed and you would be transformed, ready to do the will of our Lord and be refreshed by the Holy Spirit, in time for Pentecost.  Is anyone but me getting the idea that isn’t going to happen?

I still have pages of stuff in the Word doc that I have been keeping all the notes that got this project started.  (Did I mention pages?) Much of it is the very core of what I desire to share with you – the things that have made the greatest change in my relationship with Father – the things that made me fall in love with Him in a whole new way. I don’t want to just stop and leave you hanging here – but then again, the amount of content that I have is way too much to pack in here in the next four days.   (Not that the Holy Spirit can’t move on any day other than Pentecost.)

But, our big debate has been, what to do now?!!  We have this entire series basically in book format.  It wouldn’t take much for Jeff and I to turn this into an ebook that you could print off and have for your own devotional time.  (Rather than copy and pasting each day.)  But, not everyone is going to feel like they want to do that.  SO, what is the best way to serve everyone?!!!

Guess what?  Despite praying about it, we still don’t know.   I can either hit what I have now hard and have an ebook edited and formatted for you for Monday morning, bright and early, or I can start back into writing and we can finish this off, one day at a time.  My time (due to several other projects and a family situation) is rawther limited, so I can’t do both at this time.  (Meaning, either way, eventually this WILL be an ebook.  The question is, is it now or later?!)

I have a call in 2 minutes and when it is done, I will pop back in with a clear decision.  Well, clear for me, anyway. 

Abundant blessings on you all!

Prepare ye the way of the Lord…..prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Now, in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!”

If the Kingdom of God is not for here and now, why was John preaching it?  If it is for here and now, why was he saying that it was only at hand?

I believe that the reason is due to a transference of authority that was about to take place that would rock the Kingdom and return it to its rightful caretaker. Let’s back up again to Genesis 1:28  “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

At the time that the Lord placed Adam on the earth, He gave Adam authority over all that had been created.  His own little realm to rule.  I say little, only because at that point, the extent of Adam’s reach was the Garden. God’s intention, obviously, was that Adam would reign and rule over the entire planet.  (The command to rule – and it IS a command, not just a thought that God had rolling around in His head – included the whole earth and every living thing.)

Once God placed that authority to rule into the hands of man, He committed Himself to allowing man to rule – for good or bad – on earth.  (It’s kind of like men are the heads of their households  – it’s a positional authority – but whether they do it well or not is a choice that they each make)  By His words He placed the authority to rule on the earth into the hands of man.

Please make certain you grasp that concept.  Man was in charge of earth. He was God’s steward here on earth. Now, God didn’t just leave man alone to flounder, He came and walked with Adam in the cool of the day.

I don’t think that walk was just a chat about what Adam had done all day.  Because honestly, just how many times do you want to tell about separating the chimps because they were throwing body waste at one another?!!!  YIKES!!!  I think, instead, that those walks included managerial discussions about reigning and ruling.

I believe it is because Man was in charge – and KNEW he was in charge – that God was so explicit in telling him the consequences of his sin.  Scripture says that Eve was deceived, on the contrary it says that Adam was NOT deceived. (1 Timothy 2:14)  He knew what he was doing – not that he understood the depth of what he was doing, but that he knew that what he was doing was wrong.

In that one act, Adam committed treason.  He sold the Kingdom to another for the bite of a piece of fruit.  Just like Esau, his future relative, for the desire of food, he sold his birthright.  Only, in the case of Adam, he didn’t sell it to his brother, he sold it to his enemy.  To the enemy of his King.

From the minute that bite was down Adam’s throat, there was a major authority shift – and the “stewardship” of the Kingdom passed into satan’s hands.

I suspect that all the earth felt this shift, as Romans says, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”   (Romans 8:19 – 22)

Please understand, this didn’t diminish God’s power, it didn’t diminish His authority – He doled out consequences to the serpent, as well.  But, because placing the authority of the earth into the hands of a man was a legal transaction, He honored that agreement and had to allow the enemy to take dominion over the earth.

Once I saw Scripture talking about how this authority transfer had taken place, suddenly God’s words to Job held a whole new meaning, “Then the Lord said to satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” Job 1: 12.

All this time, I thought God was giving satan permission to do something to Job, but that isn’t the case.  God didn’t say, “Behold, I will put all that he has in your power.”  He said, “Behold, all that he has is in your power.”  He ALREADY had the authority to do something to Job, because of his treachery in the Garden.  Instead, God was restricting the enemy.

Fast forward 4000 years – Jesus, the Son of God.  The Son of Man.  Earlier this year, the Lord began to impress upon us the importance of the fact that Jesus came to earth as a man.  As a man gave away the authority over the earth, a man therefore had to take it back.

We know that satan was firmly understanding his position because he offers it to Jesus.  Let’s look at it.

Follow along in Matthew 4, if you’d like.

“Again the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give to You, if You will but bow down and worship me.”

If the kingdoms and their glories were not the devil’s to offer Jesus, then it wouldn’t be a temptation.  Instead of responding to him, Jesus would have laughed in his face and come down from the mountain.  End of story.  But that isn’t what happened.

Because Jesus willingly operated as a man, it legally allowed Him to stand in Adam’s stead – hence He is called the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15: 45.  Romans 5: 14 says that Adam was the type of the One to come.

Now, here is where it gets frustrating – at least it did for me, as the Holy Spirit was teaching me: TECHNICALLY – for Jesus to do what He did, He had to be NO DIFFERENT FROM YOU OR I.  Jesus could not have taken back what Adam gave away, if He were imbued with any more power or Holy Spirit of God than we are.

TECHNICALLY you or I could live a sinless life.  It ain’t gonna happen, but it could.  IF IT COULD NOT, then the transaction would have been null and void and satan could demand the authority of the Kingdom be returned to him, and he would have charged God with dealing with him from a position of authority outside of what had been given upon the earth.  (In other words, satan would have stomped his feet and cried out, “Not fair, not fair!  You said You were giving MAN the authority over the earth, now You’re coming as God to take it back.”)

One of the things that I was taught – or that I just thought, I don’t know which – is that Jesus died and because He was God, He raised Himself.  This can’t be true.  In order for Jesus to get the keys to death and Hades, He had to go into hell and take them.  (Revelation 1: 18) This meant He was dead. (also in Revelation 1:18)

More than that, because He was a man, this meant that He had to have faith in God to raise Him up.  If God wasn’t faithful, if His Word couldn’t be trusted, Jesus would have been left in hell.  When I realized that, I about flipped.  This meant that there was nothing – absolutely, positively nothing that God was asking me to trust Him in that Jesus hadn’t already gone before me and made the way.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, He declared, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”  Jesus death and resurrection allowed Him to take back the authority that Adam gave up.  The Kingdom of Heaven that was at hand was the return of Kingdom Authority into the hands of a Man, who would steward it for the King!

What Adam willingly gave up in the Garden, Jesus took back, starting in a Garden.  But, it was more than “just” forgiveness of sin, it was a position of authority and dominion in the Kingdom of God.

Now, this may sound very nebulous and pontifical until this part: Luke 10:19.  That authority that Jesus has been given – all the authority in heaven and on earth – He has given to us.  “Behold, I have given to you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.”  ALL. THE. POWER. OF. THE. ENEMY.   Ponder on that.  Ask the Holy Spirit to let it soak into the very core of your being.  It will change you.

For your own enjoyment, read Hebrews 1.  Especially verses 8 – 13.

But of the Son He says,
“YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,
AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.
“YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU
WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.”

And, “YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;
THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT, AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;
LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED BUT YOU ARE THE SAME,
AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END.”

But to which of the angels has He ever said, ^“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET”?

When we understand that Jesus became a Man, not just for His time on earth, but for ALL OF ETERNITY, does it not make His sacrifice on the Cross all the more breathtaking and amazing?  Doesn’t it make you want to love Him with even more of yourself? Doesn’t it make Romans 12:1 all the more poignant – present yourself a living sacrifice – when you realize what He did for us?

If you, like me have believed that Jesus was anything less than wholly and completely man when He entered into hell, it’s time to change your thinking.  Because when you do, first of all, you will love Him more. Secondly, you will ACHE to do all that you can to advance the Kingdom that He died for.

(This is so very, very important that if my words lack clarity, I am beseeching you to ask me to make it crystal clear, because understanding of this concept is vital to you taking your rightful place in the Kingdom. DO NOT let anything keep you from asking for more, if you need it.)

While very blessed to live in America, there is an aspect of doing so that is to our detriment.  Because we do not live in a monarchy, there are many things that simply bypass our understanding of a kingdom.

Kingdom: The domain over which the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ extends, whether in heaven or on earth.

Kingdom of God: (a) The universe. (b) That spiritual realm of which God is the acknowledged sovereign. (c) The authority or dominion of God.

Those are two definitions that I took from the…of all places, dictionary.

Many of us see the Kingdom of God as being something far off and futuristic. However, according to just a dictionary definition, let alone the Word of God, the Kingdom of God is N.O.W.  It’s not in the future and it’s not something that we need to be waiting for.  It’s something that we need to be operating in daily.  The Kingdom was Jesus’ first priority and it needs to be ours as well.

For too long, the enemy has worked hard to confuse our understanding of what Scripture says about the Kingdom.  Part of that has been very easy, in part because we’re not Jewish.  In this past year, we have found that there are many, many issues that the Jewish people understand from Scripture that we simply don’t have the cultural understanding of.

For example, a recent conversation with a Jewish man revealed to us that the Body of Christ is ignorant of proper understanding of Matthew 5:32.  Any Jewish individual hearing that understood that Christ was teaching them that to be involved with a divorced person was sin UNTIL (important concept here) U.N.T.I.L. Yom Kippur.

Once that sin had been placed on the goat and driven into the wilderness, they were no longer in sin.  We have turned a concept that was intended to speak of a temporary situation into a legalistic ruler with which to slap the hands of divorced people in the Body of Christ.  Rather than ministering to the pain that they might be suffering, the enemy has convinced us to focus on the Law, rather than Love.

And Love is the highest rule of the Kingdom.

Admittance into the Kingdom is subject to our acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Our success in the Kingdom is based on walking in love – both with our God and Lord and with one another.

Just like earthly kingdoms, the Kingdom of God reflects the character of the King.  If we do not know or understand His character, we are not able to know or understand fully what His Kingdom is like.

When we are living in His Kingdom, then we will live in a way that is different from the world, simply because we understand that we are under a different government from the rest of the world, not to mention a different culture and a different set of laws.

Because we don’t see the Scripture in a Hebrew light, we don’t realize that the call to live in the Kingdom of God is actually God’s first set of instructions to man.

Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

We call this the “Dominion Mandate” when in fact, I really think we need to think of it as The Kingdom Mandate.

God’s intention was always that earth would be like heaven.  That is why Eden was so amazingly beautiful.  It was the heart of Father that it should reflect His home – we are made in His image and He likes His home, I suspect He wanted to share His home with us.

God’s desire to bring heaven to earth has not changed.  “Seek first the Kingdom of God…”  “on earth as it is in heaven….”  “Go into all the world and make disciples of all creation.”

Every one of those calls is a clarion to bring heaven to earth.  To have men make the Kingdom of God a reality on earth. A reality that carries more weight than the disappointments, discouragements and destruction of the world.  A Kingdom that sets captives free, restores sight to the blind and binds up the brokenhearted and proclaims the favorable year of the Lord.

Does this describe your daily life?  If not, what do you need to change in order to live in the Kingdom that your Lord has created for you?

(I’m so sorry that it’s already Wednesday and I’m just posting the first blog of the week.  This has been quite the week here and I’ve simply had to leave this until now.  I will quickly get us back on track.   Abundant blessings!)

Jeff and I are reworking our morning routine to accomodate this newest project that we have.  As we are doing so, I’m wondering – does anyone have a preference when I update Brainwashing?  In other words, would you prefer to have it early in the morning to include in your morning quiet time or do you just grab it when you can? If you do, would you please either drop me a note (at stromata eight) or leave a comment here.  That would be ever so helpful.

Secondly, please hold us in prayer.  You recall I shared with you the week I was to start Brainwashing, our family got sicker than we’ve been in years, yes?  Yesterday I spent the day battling food poisoning.  We’re just not thinking that all of this is a coincidence.  We’re not sitting by just waiting to have our booties kicked, but it would sure be great to have others praying with/for us. 

Thanks!

She was leaving the bathroom in a sleep fogged daze (or was it him? Oh well…) carrying a chocolate bar in one hand.  (That always grossed me out – chocolate in the bathroom??!!!  Blech!  And I’m a chocolate person! But, better chocolate than the other…)  He was running down the hall, a jar of peanut butter in hand.  WHAM!!!! They collide.  (What a surprise)

“You got chocolate on my peanut butter.”  “No, you got peanut butter on my chocolate.”  Two great tastes that taste great together.  (Of course, then we all sing the jingle…that is if we’re older than 30.) 

Today, that’s what we’re going to talk about in our discussion about faith.  The power of two powerful things coming together.  And it will be great!  Yesterday I shared with you the verses that the Lord shared with me when I was asking Him to teach me about faith.  The problem is, when you ask something like that, the Lord takes you seriously.  (Even if you aren’t totally certain that you are!)   He begins to bring all kinds of information and teaching your way that focus on the very thing you have asked about.

So, when I started asking my questions, the Lord starting bringing books and teachings and Scriptures to me – times when I’d wake in the night, KNOWING with every fibre of my being that I HAD to get up and read a specific book in the Bible. (and sometimes the Lord would let me sleep until the alarm and then get up and read it and sometimes He didn’t.  I think it depended on how badly I needed to hear it.)   We even had someone send us the “wrong book” for our half.com order – and then let us keep it despite the book we ordered being a buck something and this one being significantly more.  THAT’s how serious God is about getting the information to you that you need.   You ask, He will respond.  He loves to teach us about Himself.

NOW, while I fully intend to go into this at more length, I will pause here and make a statement for clarification.  What I’m going to teach you, from the overflow of what Father has been teaching me, is not for your personal gain or glory.  This is about Kingdom stuff.   This is about living life as a Kingdom-minded Believer, rather than just a Christian.  Again, I will go into more about operating in the Kingdom later.  (maybe I’ll do that next, instead of Covenant.  That makes more sense.  Sorry, do you feel like a guinea pig?  I did have it all laid out, but when I actually put feet to it all, it requires some on the fly changing to make it more useful to you.  Sorry, I’m rambling…)

So, imagine my surprise when the Lord starts teaching me what seems to be on the outside as nothing more than “call and haul it” ( or “name it and claim it” as some people refer to it.).  To say that I was angry – to say that I felt as though I’d surely been deceived is to put it mildly.  I’d spent time with Call and Haulers and I wasn’t interested in becoming one.  I openly ignored the leading of the Lord for some time.  Part of the time quietly, part of the time quite vocally.

I won’t drag you through my journal for that time, because a) I’d humiliate myself if you could see how ugly my heart was about all this and…does there need to be any other reason?!!!  The first is more than enough for me.  But, I will tell you that this was a hard and trying time as I went to the Word and scoured it for Scripture to understand why the Lord would call us to speak to the things in our lives.  And yet, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t disprove it.  In fact, the evidence to the contrary began to mount up.

Things like Ezekiel 37.  Or 1 Peter 4:11.  Or Proverbs 18: 20 & 21.  Or 2 Corinthians 4:13.  These, added to Jesus telling the people that they would need to tell the mountain to move, not pray it away – TELL it away.  Those were all pretty hard evidence intended to change my understanding.  And it did.

Since we are created in the image of God – and God created all things by the Word of His mouth – we are to use our mouth as well.  I believe that this is a principle – a law, if you will – that operates in the Kingdom of God.

I believe that this is how God brings about the supernatural – one way, anyway.  I believe He desires us to take the power that is in our mouth (Proverbs 18, Psalm 45:1, Proverbs 12:14) and use it.  When we do that, we take our natural and combine it with His Super. Ezekiel 12:18 (and 37) are incredible examples of that!

Now, what words are our mouths to utter?  His Words.  We’re to take His Words and speak them out.  Just as Jesus took the Words of the Lord and used them to make His stand against the enemy, we’re to do the same.  And as we do that, since the Word says that faith comes by hearing the Word, every time our ears hear ourselves speaking out the Word, our faith is built up.  And because we’re hearing the Word, what is our faith being built up in?  The Word.  See?  It’s this beautiful dance the Lord has laid out for His children.

His Words have power. (Hebrews 11:3) He created us in His image, that our words might have power too (Proverbs 18:20&21).  He gave us His Word (2 Timothy 3:16) and He told us to use it. (1 Corinthians 2:12 & 13)  When we do this, we combine two great things that go great together.  With them we help advance the Kingdom of our Lord into this dark world.

Note: I do not expect most of you to just accept what I’m saying without a fight.  I told you, my receiving of this came with a BATTLE.  The kicking and screaming type.  If you need to kick or scream at me, feel free.  I won’t cry.    I won’t budge, either, but I won’t cry.

I am convinced that this is really not something I can teach you – that it MUST come through a revelation by the Spirit of the Lord.  If He is not revealing it to you, then perhaps it is not for you, at this time.  BUT, I beseech you to make certain that it is not the traditions of men that are holding you at arms length from this.  Be bold.  Ask the Lord, “Is this something that I should even consider?”  Let Him be your teacher.  I’m just the initial mouthpiece standing in the middle of your road speaking….and we ALL know what that means.  

If you want/need to discuss this with me and want to email – feel free to use stromata8 at msn dot com.  I will happily respond to you.

I have a notebook where I have written out the things that I wanted to share in this series.  It was pretty clearly defined, with plenty of notes.  However, what I realized as I have been staring at my notes is that what I intended to teach here requires a better understanding of Covenant than most people have.

Please, don’t hear that as anything but what it is – a realization that I am the recipient of much grace, as Father took the time to teach me about grace.  Please don’t receive my words as being anything other than an acknowledgment of that….and eager anticipation.  I lovelovelovelove talking about Covenant!

An understanding of the Covenant will set you free in your relationship with Father like nothing else.  You will have a better understanding of what His will in the earth is.  You will have a better understanding of what His love means to you.  You will have a much deeper and richer appreciation for what our Lord and Savior has done for us.

Did I mention I love talking about Covenant?   Maybe I did.    Anyway, armed with a fresh and deeper understanding of Covenant you will find that the Scripture has a whole new depth of meaning for you.  Suddenly you’ll be reading something and you’ll say, “Whoa, wait a minute, that is talking about Covenant.”  It’s SO much fun.  I’m not certain if I told you or not, but I just love talking about Covenant. 

ANYWAY, we will start on that on Monday.  I’m planning on spending a week on it – BUT – if you have any questions – if you have any clarification you desire/need, I’m quite willing to go beyond the week.  Hey, I’m flexible. 

When I started this intense study of faith, the first thing I did was list everywhere that Scripture used the word “faith” and I started making notes.  Then, I took those notes and started dividing them up into categories based on whatever the Word indicated that faith did or was.

What I found was one of the hardest aspects of walking by faith for me.  It was one I’d heard people talking about, but had eschewed.  So, I took it on – “strapped it on”, as our friend Tom says, and began a deeper and more intense search.  I took a lot of time to read and study and pray through this.  I understand if it offends you or really, really irks you.  That was my initial response as well.

“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”  Hebrews 11:3

“And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and cast into the sea,” it will happen.’”  Matthew 21:21

” Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.”  Mark 11:23

“But what does it say? ‘THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART’–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.”  Romans 10:8

“But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.”  2 Corinthians 8:7

“But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,’ we also believe, therefore we also speak.“  2 Corinthians 4:13

What do you see is the common denominator of all those verses?  (Which are a sampling of verses, not the total of…) Ask the Holy Spirit to grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation.  Ask Him to open the eyes of your understanding.  (You ARE praying that over yourself, right?)    Just soak with these verses and pray.  We can talk about them tomorrow.

As I said in the beginning, you might get mad at me and you may want to argue with me.  Please feel free.  I’ve got really broad shoulders (truly!) and I can handle it.  If you’d rather not discuss it here, feel free to email me.  I would be happy to share with you what I’ve learned – and bless you to hear from the Lord, yourself, as well. 

Til tomorrow!