October 18, 2020
Dear Church Family,
2020 came is as usual. Some people had feelings it was going to be a different kind of year. The Lord told us it would be the best year ever! The first couple months were pretty normal as the last few years. Then one day in March life hit a bump, maybe a boulder in the road. Life as we knew it had come to a halt. Now in October, 7 months later, the Lord has a new word for us. He says it is a NEW SEASON!
How can it be a new season when this season doesn’t seem to have ended? How can it be a new season when we don’t know what the next couple weeks will hold? I heard Him say: “Prepare your heart. Guard your heart. Don’t hold on to old things – old seasons. They are a memory.” Those 7 months were a season of confusion, shock and disbelief. Now we must wake up – stand up – stay up and even grow up in the Lord. There will still be times of disbelief at what is happening but we must be on guard – watching – being watchmen and gatekeepers. This is a season we must protect our hearts above anything we do. No matter which way the votes go in a couple weeks life is going to change. There are going to be fighting, mad people either way who won’t lay down their agendas. Division will be even more evident and we need to be so close to the Father’s heart to so our heart will stay with Him.
“Then, as you unwrap my words, they will impart true life and radiant health into the very core of your being. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life. Avoid dishonest speech and pretentious words.
Be free from using perverse words no matter what!” Proverbs 4:22-24
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23
This season we will need to know the Great I Am like never before. Intimacy with Him, worship and communion with Him will look different. “And God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am and What I Am, and I Will Be What I Will Be; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you! God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is My name forever, and by this name I am to be remembered to all generations.” Exodus 3:14-15
It says that this is His name FOREVER to be remembered from generation to generation. I AM refers to His magnificence, His power, and His authority. Our Father is the same yesterday, day and forever. He is the great I AM Who is with us now as He was with the Israelites and every other Believer since the beginning of time. He sent His Son and in John 14:6 it says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We actually have more than the early Believers did before Jesus gave His life for the world. We now have Jesus living in us which give us the some power and authority through His life in us. What He has called us to do, we can do because He is the I AM.
A couple weeks ago I went to a conference and the speaker was talking to us about totally surrendering everything in us to the Lord. He was telling us we had to place those things holding us back on the altar and let them burn. As I was praying I thought of all this stuff I could place on the altar, all my shortcomings, fears, prideful thoughts, judgmental thoughts, and the list goes on. What He said to me was this, “Place on the altar, lay down and surrender the you - you see yourself as.” Wow! I needed to lay down “the me” I saw myself as. That encompassed all those other thoughts I was having. He was telling me to lay down the negative “I am”, myself in the flesh, and know who I am in the great I AM. That rocked my boat. Every sentence that I say or every thought that I have that starts with “I am” needs to end with an attribute of God. Sometimes that is hard to do but I am J realizing how negative I saw myself and life’s situation from the perspective of my own fears, thoughts, wisdom and strengths. It’s a process of daily changing my mind to agree with the Word.
What I’ve noticed the last few months is that my mind didn’t stay always on His love and His ways when I would get caught up in the whirlwind of the season and time. It’s been a season of confusion, lies, and division and I was letting it wear me out physically because it was all so unexpected and demonic. Confusion, lies, sickness, division are attributes of the enemy not of Believers with the Son living in their hearts. But it caught me and most of us off guard at times. When we get tired, run down and exhausted we don’t see the battle the same as we do when we are awake and alert in Him. Even though I was spending time with the daily and seeking Him continuously I still had the times of being dismayed. I needed to cast off those attacks and wake up to what was really going on.
“Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” Ephesians 5:10-17 NLT
None us of knows exactly what is ahead in this worldly situation. Nobody does. There is no worldly way to prepare since nothing outside of His ways will work to sustain, protect or comfort us. If we aren’t trusting the Lord and all He is asking us to do then we will get caught in a horrible battle without any defenses.
This is a new season. Starting NOW this moment. I was thinking about it this morning and I started to cry. There was a momentary fear rise up inside me. The reality of what could really be ahead isn’t pleasant in the natural. Already the family is being torn apart. Families are not coming together for holidays because of the virus scare. Grandparents are kept away from their precious grandchildren and everyone thinks this will end in a couple weeks or after we get a vaccination. We were told it would end in May! In the natural it is a disaster but in Him we are victorious and overcomers!
So what are we to do?
#1 - Most important thing is to guard your heart. Have an intimate relationship with your heavenly Father. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention.
#2 – Know that He is the Great I AM in you! Study out His Word and know who He says you are and all that you have because He lives in you. Place on the altar, lay down and surrender the you - you see yourself as.
#3 – Wake up and see the new season that has come. Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
#4 – Seek His direction for you right now, in this season. When fear comes, send it away. When hopeless comes, send it away. Come together with other like-minded Believers so that you can pray for and encourage one another. This will be vital during this season. So be careful how you live. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
“We come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced by faith that nothing will keep us at a distance from him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity and we have been freed from an accusing conscience and now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!
So now we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing, because we need each other! In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.” Hebrews 10:22-25
We continue to pray and believe. We continue to stand together in heart even when we are not close in distance. We are always here and long to be together. We continue to be watchmen on the wall listening to His words and watching for what He wants us to do and to share. We love you all and are so thankful for you. We are one in Him!
Dear Church Family,
2020 came is as usual. Some people had feelings it was going to be a different kind of year. The Lord told us it would be the best year ever! The first couple months were pretty normal as the last few years. Then one day in March life hit a bump, maybe a boulder in the road. Life as we knew it had come to a halt. Now in October, 7 months later, the Lord has a new word for us. He says it is a NEW SEASON!
How can it be a new season when this season doesn’t seem to have ended? How can it be a new season when we don’t know what the next couple weeks will hold? I heard Him say: “Prepare your heart. Guard your heart. Don’t hold on to old things – old seasons. They are a memory.” Those 7 months were a season of confusion, shock and disbelief. Now we must wake up – stand up – stay up and even grow up in the Lord. There will still be times of disbelief at what is happening but we must be on guard – watching – being watchmen and gatekeepers. This is a season we must protect our hearts above anything we do. No matter which way the votes go in a couple weeks life is going to change. There are going to be fighting, mad people either way who won’t lay down their agendas. Division will be even more evident and we need to be so close to the Father’s heart to so our heart will stay with Him.
“Then, as you unwrap my words, they will impart true life and radiant health into the very core of your being. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life. Avoid dishonest speech and pretentious words.
Be free from using perverse words no matter what!” Proverbs 4:22-24
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23
This season we will need to know the Great I Am like never before. Intimacy with Him, worship and communion with Him will look different. “And God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am and What I Am, and I Will Be What I Will Be; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you! God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is My name forever, and by this name I am to be remembered to all generations.” Exodus 3:14-15
It says that this is His name FOREVER to be remembered from generation to generation. I AM refers to His magnificence, His power, and His authority. Our Father is the same yesterday, day and forever. He is the great I AM Who is with us now as He was with the Israelites and every other Believer since the beginning of time. He sent His Son and in John 14:6 it says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We actually have more than the early Believers did before Jesus gave His life for the world. We now have Jesus living in us which give us the some power and authority through His life in us. What He has called us to do, we can do because He is the I AM.
A couple weeks ago I went to a conference and the speaker was talking to us about totally surrendering everything in us to the Lord. He was telling us we had to place those things holding us back on the altar and let them burn. As I was praying I thought of all this stuff I could place on the altar, all my shortcomings, fears, prideful thoughts, judgmental thoughts, and the list goes on. What He said to me was this, “Place on the altar, lay down and surrender the you - you see yourself as.” Wow! I needed to lay down “the me” I saw myself as. That encompassed all those other thoughts I was having. He was telling me to lay down the negative “I am”, myself in the flesh, and know who I am in the great I AM. That rocked my boat. Every sentence that I say or every thought that I have that starts with “I am” needs to end with an attribute of God. Sometimes that is hard to do but I am J realizing how negative I saw myself and life’s situation from the perspective of my own fears, thoughts, wisdom and strengths. It’s a process of daily changing my mind to agree with the Word.
What I’ve noticed the last few months is that my mind didn’t stay always on His love and His ways when I would get caught up in the whirlwind of the season and time. It’s been a season of confusion, lies, and division and I was letting it wear me out physically because it was all so unexpected and demonic. Confusion, lies, sickness, division are attributes of the enemy not of Believers with the Son living in their hearts. But it caught me and most of us off guard at times. When we get tired, run down and exhausted we don’t see the battle the same as we do when we are awake and alert in Him. Even though I was spending time with the daily and seeking Him continuously I still had the times of being dismayed. I needed to cast off those attacks and wake up to what was really going on.
“Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” Ephesians 5:10-17 NLT
None us of knows exactly what is ahead in this worldly situation. Nobody does. There is no worldly way to prepare since nothing outside of His ways will work to sustain, protect or comfort us. If we aren’t trusting the Lord and all He is asking us to do then we will get caught in a horrible battle without any defenses.
This is a new season. Starting NOW this moment. I was thinking about it this morning and I started to cry. There was a momentary fear rise up inside me. The reality of what could really be ahead isn’t pleasant in the natural. Already the family is being torn apart. Families are not coming together for holidays because of the virus scare. Grandparents are kept away from their precious grandchildren and everyone thinks this will end in a couple weeks or after we get a vaccination. We were told it would end in May! In the natural it is a disaster but in Him we are victorious and overcomers!
So what are we to do?
#1 - Most important thing is to guard your heart. Have an intimate relationship with your heavenly Father. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention.
#2 – Know that He is the Great I AM in you! Study out His Word and know who He says you are and all that you have because He lives in you. Place on the altar, lay down and surrender the you - you see yourself as.
#3 – Wake up and see the new season that has come. Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
#4 – Seek His direction for you right now, in this season. When fear comes, send it away. When hopeless comes, send it away. Come together with other like-minded Believers so that you can pray for and encourage one another. This will be vital during this season. So be careful how you live. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
“We come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced by faith that nothing will keep us at a distance from him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity and we have been freed from an accusing conscience and now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!
So now we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing, because we need each other! In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.” Hebrews 10:22-25
We continue to pray and believe. We continue to stand together in heart even when we are not close in distance. We are always here and long to be together. We continue to be watchmen on the wall listening to His words and watching for what He wants us to do and to share. We love you all and are so thankful for you. We are one in Him!
