christianity
A blueprint for the new year part 1
Have you ever received a blueprint from heaven?
Synonyms for a blueprint is a model, design, strategy or template. Blueprints are used to describe the detailed, blue, photographic prints which architects used for their buildings since 1942. 🏠 I love the word ‘blueprint’ is also used in the paraphrased, modern translations of the bible.
A blueprint is more than a vision. It is a plan on how to live it out. There are countless examples of this in the bible.
God revealed to Noah how exactly the Ark was to be built to carry out God’s rescue plan from the flood for the righteous (Genesis 7). David received the exact blueprints from God to pass on to Solomon to build the temple of God. (1 Chronicles 28:11 MSG) Jesus taught us the blueprint on how to pray (Luke 11:1 NIV).
I believe in the strategies of heaven. I believe God has designated plans for us and I know He wants to share His secrets with His friends: “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him” Psalm 25:14.
With 2019 just around the corner, we can draw near to God to receive blueprints of heaven for our new year: 🎆
“Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ.
Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.” 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 MSG.
I love the analogy of our lives as a house, and I feel the weightiness of the scripture too. God is serious about the foundation and the materials the house is built with. Why? Because the house we are building with our lives is the home He dwells in, His sanctuary.
Therefore, regular heart-check-ups are healthy. Is our foundation still Jesus Christ? Are we co-builders of His house building something of eternal value? Are the materials we use silver and gold that will stand the test of fire?
Or is it rather hay and straw that will make our house come burning down by the exposure of time?
In The Passion Translation commentary, it says that “there is an allusion here to the temple of Solomon, which was built using gold, silver, and costly stones. Wisdom will build her house with divine substance (gold), redemption’s fruit (silver), and transformed lives (costly stones). See 1 Chronicles 22:14-16; 29:2.
Wood, hay, and straw are emblems of the works of the flesh, the building materials of men, not of God.
It is both quality and durability that God commends. Fire will cause the better material to glow brighter, but the inferior material will be consumed.
How we build and what we build matters to God. Note that it is possible to build on the true foundation of Christ but with wrong materials. We need God’s work done in God’s way.”
We need a blueprint to build something of quality and durability in 2019. Are we building with His wisdom, His insight, His understanding, His provision and His perspective?
I hope you are encouraged that God is a God of blueprints. God has a blueprint for the wicked (Job 20:29 MSG), God used wisdom’s blueprints to build the earth’s foundations (Prov.3:19 MSG) and God has a blueprint for your life and season! You are heaven's assignment. You are believed in and dearly loved, and your life has purpose.
With your wise strategy for 2019, you can wage war and confuse the enemy’s blueprint for your life. (Proverbs 24:6 TPT; Psalm 55:9 CEV)
Be encouraged to build your life on the foundation of Jesus Christ with materials that will last and stand the test of time:
“You will find true success when you find me, for I have insight into wise plans that are designed just for you. I hold in my hands living-understanding, courage, and strength. They’re all ready and waiting for you.” (Prov. 8:14 TPT)
Let's press in and receive what God has for us. He has exciting things in store!
Bless you,
Sandra.
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Retreat to advance
Have you ever felt stressed with the thought of Christmas approaching?
I think most of us have! I know I need heart and soul-prep for me to step into the lead-up to Christmas with a healthy mindset amidst the busy. I need small spaces for my soul to breathe. I need to retreat in order to advance. The definition of advance is to move forward in a purposeful way. That's what I want; purpose in my every step.
The challenge to tackle is, Christmas has been the time of year with most ministry activity and outpouring the last five years for me. For three years, it looked like December night shifts and Christmas dinners for women working in the sex industry. The last couple of years, it has been through leading our social justice department of church, Citycare, and setting the Christmas table for vulnerable people in our backyard.
Through trial and error, I've experienced how it can be a season not overwhelmed with the schedule, but overwhelmed with Jesus!
If you have the same experience of Christmas being an intense season of outpouring for others, this might help you:
Firstly, devote yourself
Have you settled in your heart that you are devoted to this season of your life? Have you counted the cost and the pain and discomfort that comes with sacrificing your own comfort momentarily so that others can be comforted?
As my pastor Thomas Hansen so wisely says, it is easy to find excuses for why it's not worth it. For me, a few obvious excuses not to make it a season about others would be that it's exam season, it's "hygge" season, I just want to focus on my own family etc. However, that's not how I want to live my life, 'cause there would then always be an excuse to find.
Therefore, it's important to settle your personal why before stepping into a new season of intentional, increased outpouring, whatever that looks like for you. What's your personal revelation of your why? Count the cost.
Each one on our Citycare team has their personal why. Our collective why this year is our belief that we are paving the way for generations to come to be part of a healthy church that have a natural overflow of love and care for others in our cities. Our collective belief is that our 'yes' will shape church history and set an example of church that's about rising up and daring to care for our backyard.
That kind of faith and vision is something worth devoting ourselves to.
Jesus modelled ultimate devotion when he went on the cross for the vision of being in unhindered relationship with YOU. He suffered great momentary pain on the cross, and volunteered to do it! Mind-blowing. Therefore, I know I want to follow His example and volunteer myself and sign up for helping others this Christmas despite the excuses that are easy to find. I can give up my comfort momentarily to comfort others this Christmas ❤
Secondly, put on the armour of light
Be prepared spiritually and practically for the warfare that comes with advancing and going forward. Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and put on the armour of light! (Romans 13:12 NIV)
What weekly routines are you planning to make the Christmas season good? Is it a weekly one hour walk, daily journaling, a morning smoothie, getting your sleep in, remembering a Sabbath day? What does your prep look like?
Part of being prepared spiritually is protecting unity if you're part of a team you're serving with.
We recently gathered together as a Citycare key team, knowing that unity is key to what we're trying to accomplish at this time of year, and any time of year really. God commands a blessing where there is unity, and we need His blessing. Knowing we've been put together for such a time as this to serve the lost, hurting and broken and put the love of God on display through our kindness in action, we also know ahead of time the enemy will try to come against our common pursuit. When we are aware of his schemes, we can navigate through the small foxes that tries to spoil our bond of peace. We can do what's in our power to not give the enemy a foothold by quickly clearing out misunderstanding and offenses amongst the team, and we can fiercely protect unity by praying over one another.
My prayer our own team & yours is that we will not entertain what compromises our choice to:
"Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing our labour is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV.
My prayer is that we all think about: "What can I personally do to contribute to a sense of unity where I'm planted?"
My prayer is that we will endeavour to see the individual through the eyes of Jesus, and knowing our sacrifice, when done in obedience, and placed in the hands of Jesus, will be worth it:
We will not grow weary in doing good 'cause in due time, we will reap a harvest if we don't faint (Galatians 6:9 NIV).
Let's be these prudent people Passion translation describes:
"A prudent person with insight foresees danger coming and prepares himself for it. But the senseless rush blindly forward and suffer the consequences.
Laying your life down in tender surrender before the Lord will bring life, prosperity, and honor as your reward" Proverbs 22:3-5 TPT.
In the commentary to these verses, it says wise people solve problems before they happen. Let that be our endeavour. There are beautiful promises attached to and unlocked with our surrender to what lies before us in the steps ordered by the Lord - life, prosperity and honour as our reward.
Your labour is not in vain, dear one. Be encouraged! Jesus paved the way for you and I. Let's pave it forward with Him this Christmas.
Let's devote ourselves, put on the armour of light & let's keep on running 'till we get that victor's prize. When we retreat, we can prepare to advance rightly with purpose in every step.
His steadfast grace will keep us firm and fixed.
Amen,
Sandra.
Nudged out of the nest
To watch and listen to the message, click here: Nudged out of the nest
Have you ever felt like you've been nudged out of your nest?
With your nest I mean that place that has become your retreat, refuge and resting place. We all need a resting place for refuelling to go back to and recharge. But we need more than that. We need risky faith and gutsy courage in order to grow our known zones and comfort zones and be about the purposes of God.
To step out of our comfort zone is necessary to mature in God and to start adulting! Childlikeness is awesome in the kingdom but our childish ways should be abandoned in order that we might be trustworthy and able to carry others to the throne of grace.
"My righteous ones will live from my faith. But if fear holds them back, my soul is not content with them!
But we are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience true life!" Hebrews 10:8 TPT.
The scripture above tells me that my God is not content with me when fear holds me back. He is pleased with my faith. Therefore, I've experienced His gentle nudge out of the nest, my comfort zone, to trust the freefall.
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The definition of nudging is to gently push someone or something into a place or position. I experienced being gently nudged into a new place when I stepped into developing a new outreach department within my church.
Even though I was anxious as I can be about change in life, both God and myself knew I needed this transition to grow. So I gave Him my hesitant consent to take me where I had not been before, and trust He wold develop my wings on the way down; that His grace would carry me and give me wind in my sails.
Moses' freefall
Moses knew this gentle nudging of God as well. Moses' excuses to stay nesting were great (I'm not good enough, I don't have all the answers, people won't believe me, I'm a terrible public speaker and I'm not qualified - see Exodus 3 and 4) but he overcame his excuses and stepped out in obedience.
So can we.
Moses' obedience and courage even helped the next generation do the same. Through a song Moses wrote on his deathbed, the people of Israel, and their new leader, Joshua, were taught about God's faithfulness in the past. The testimony and wisdom from Moses gave them hope to step into the unknown freefall future without Moses by their side, and eventually they got to experience their promised land.
Moses' song has the potential to launch you into your promised land as well. It can help you put words to a season you are going through and courage to let God do and be the same for you as He was for Moses.
I have inserted 'me' in Moses' song below where it originally says 'him', referring to Moses and the people of Israel, for you to personalise and receive it for yourself:
"He (God) found me out in the wilderness, in an empty, windswept wasteland. He threw his arms around me, lavished attention on me, guarding me as the apple of his eye. He was like an eagle hovering over its nest, overshadowing its young, Then spreading its wings, lifting me into the air, teaching me to fly. God alone led me; there was not a foreign god in sight.
God lifted me onto the hilltops, so I could feast on the crops in the fields. He fed me honey from the rock, oil from granite crags, Curds of cattle and the milk of sheep, the choice cuts of lambs and goats, Fine Bashan rams, high-quality wheat, and the blood of grapes: I drank good wine!" Deuteronomy 32:10 MSG
This is who God was for Moses. He can be the same for you. He wants to lavish His attention on you. He can find you in your wilderness. He wants to protect you and discipline you; treat you like his beloved child. He is interested in your character more than your comfort. Therefore, He will teach you how to fly, even though it might be scary and there might be a long way down. If people do not or cannot stick with you to the next level you are going, you will be trained by God alone and learn that He is enough. God might allow you to let you fail temporarily but He will lift you up again and take care of your needs. He will give His finest to you because you are His beloved.
Name your nest
I do not know what your nest is called, but your nest can look noble and courageous in others' eyes and still be a nest for you.
My work as a team leader in a interdenominational café for sex trafficked women at night became a nest with time. There at night on my shifts, I was in my sweet spot, hidden away in a basement doing what I loved doing. But the grace also lifted from the work and I saw a mental picture of Jesus standing with a big watch on His wrist, pointing to it and saying to me: "Time is up, I am shifting the season."
As I transitioned into a new beginning ministry-wise and tried to navigate pouring new wine into new wineskins, I got this timely prophetic word that is strikingly alike to Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32:
"I feel like you need a little nudge. Yes a little nudge to push you over. It reminds me of the eagle pushing the baby out of the nest so the baby can learn to fly on its own. But the eagle as the Father lets the baby fall but the eagle/Father swoops the baby up before it lands. This process is done over and over until the baby learns to fly on its own."
This word might be for someone else too in your season if you feel God's gentle nudge to rise to what He is asking of you. And with rise, I simply mean to lean over the edge, and do the freefall, trusting that your Father will swoop you up before you land on the ground. He is developing deep trust in you. Trust in Him. Trust in your relationship; that you do hear Him rightly as He is calling you out.
Your perspective and trust might be tested when it feels like you are just about to land hard on the ground in the freefall, and your faith will probably soar as you experience the Deuteronomy 32-experience of God lifting you to the hill tops for perspective and provision. All the in-between feelings will probably arise too of doubt and insecurity when the roots developed back in the nest are tested.
His heart is not to shame you, humiliate you or push you away. Rather, He wants to teach you to face giants when it seems like you are on your own in the freefall; to trust His Holy Spirit is with you even when you cannot see Him. Your own prophecies over your life can be used as weapons as you wage spiritual warfare by faith and with a clean conscience (1 Timothy 1:18 TPT).
When you find it hard in the freefall, remember those days right after you saw the light - those were the hard times where you stood your ground for your new-found faith! Do not throw away your confidence. It has great reward and God delights in your faith, even when it is feeble.
As God is developing well-formed maturity in you, a confidence will arise that the roots developed in the secret place with Him, will carry you wherever He is leading you.
The future is so exciting. We've got this. Fall, we welcome you!
Love,
Sandra.
Your turn
- What is God asking of you that's pushing you out of your comfort zone?
- Where are you nesting when you are supposed to be flying?
- What is the first step you can take to jump and let God grow your wings on the way down?
- How can you trust the process and provision in the freefall?
- What can you do to actively remember the faithfulness of God? (Moses wrote a song that helped give him the confidence to leave the nest and develop wings on the way down.)
Having done all, stand
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Sometimes we just need to get eternal truths applied correctly to the situation that's making us unsure if we can keep standing steadfast in our convictions and assignments.
I can feel like the prophet Isaiah is uttering, that my wrongdoings pile up before God and that my sins stand up and accuse me! It's like my wrongdoings can stare me down, because I know in detail what I've done. (Isaiah 50:12-15 AMP)The most important truth we can let us be penetrated with, is that of our standing in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3 AMP). We stand on His salvation through faith, and not by our works. Such an amazing grace. We are safe when we desire like David to fall into the hands of the Lord when we are in great distress over our own mistakes. His mercies are very great! (1 Chronicles 21:13)
We want to fall down at Jesus' feet, because only when we put Him at His rightful place by worshipping Him, will we ever be able to stand victoriously:
This is how God tackled Israel's disobedience after Israel was defeated at Ai. He approached Israel's leader, Joshua, for his lack of standing, and He might say the same to you:"Get up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?"
God's questions are so tender and convicting at the same time. His questions remind us of our convictions about getting back up and stand tall, even when life-and kingdom battles seem to knock us down.
Like God exhorted Joshua and the people, I believe He is exhorting us today to rise up and consecrate ourselves, because God knows we cannot stand victorious before our enemies until we walk in obedience to what He has said to us. Get back up and take courage!
So divinely loved one, let's be on our guard, so we can stand instead of fall from our own steadfastness of mind, knowledge, truth, and faith. (2 Peter 3:17 AMP)
The two only places in scripture it's speaking about withstanding is concerning God's power that no-one can withstand! That's why we can stand. We can be secure and trust in the Lord's withstanding against evil. He will resist it and stop it's progress in our lives. The weapons will be forged but they will not prosper:
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand]." Psalm 91,1 AMP.
Sanda.
⬇️⬇️
If you need an extra boost to STAND, whether it is to stand up for righteousness, to withstand the enemy or standing tall on your convictions and assignments, read these scriptures loudly over yourself and experience faith arise as you preach gospel to yourself: 💥💥💥
"Cast your burden on the Lord [release it] and He will sustain and uphold you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (slip, fall, fail)." Psalm 55,22
"When He arrived at the place [called Gethsemane], He said to them, “Pray continually that you may not fall into temptation.” Luke 22,40 AMP."Therefore let the one who thinks he stands firm [immune to temptation, being overconfident and self-righteous], take care that he does not fall [into sin and condemnation]." 1 Cor. 10,12 AMP.
"A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But danger will not come near you." Psalm 91,7 AMP"I will set no worthless or wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the practice of those who fall away [from the right path]; It will not grasp hold of me." Psalm 101,3 AMP
"For You have rescued my life from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from stumbling and falling." Psalm 116,8 AMP.
"You [my enemy] pushed me violently so that I was falling, But the Lord helped me." Psalm 118,13 AMP.
"Do not rejoice over me [amid my tragedies], O my enemy! Though I fall, I will rise; Though I sit in the darkness [of distress], the Lord is a light for me." Micah 7,8 AMP
Photo by Lasse Hultén.
From watch-watcher to map master
Have you ever impatiently waited for the clock to turn to the time you wanted it to turn? When we are aching for a moment to come about, it feels like time can only go too slow.
At Easter I went with my family to Geneva where we visited the famous Patek Phillippe Museum. The museum showcases thousands of different watches. The first pocket watch was made in 1540.
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There is a market for watches, obviously because they can be pretty accessories and a fine piece of craftsmanship. But there is a market for watches because we all care about time! We don't like being behind or even too far ahead of ourselves. We want to be right on time. We are watch-watchers, watching the clock and waiting, dreaming and hoping for something to come to pass.
I think this desire to be right on time is godly. We are created to follow a rhythm of grace and a timing.
What is not godly is when we try to take the matter of time into our own hands.
Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:7-8:
“You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”
Because timing is the Father's business, we'll benefit from loosing our glance on the clock and follow the directions of a map instead; the map of the word of God. <3
Psalm 19,7 MSG tells us that the life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes. God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.
Proverbs 4:11 MSG also tells us, "I am drawing a map to Righteous Road. I don’t want you ending up in blind alleys, or wasting time making wrong turns."
I personally know the pain of being a watch-watcher, staring down the clock for the minute hand to move in areas like starting to date, get married and finishing up studies.
The result has been the same - wasted time and ending up in blind alleys, as the Proverb above teaches us.
When I change focus from passively being a watch-watcher to actively studying the map of God's transforming word, I set myself up to receive what I'm hoping for in the Father's perfect timing.
Below are three keys which can help us see why and how we must go from being watch-watchers to becoming map masters:
1 - Sow your seed
"Go to work in the morning and stick to it until evening without watching the clock. You never know from moment to moment how your work will turn out in the end."
(Ecclesiastes 11:6 MSG)
This verse speaks about hard work and persistence. It speaks about us not needing to evaluate our job every single day to check if it's producing the fruit we are hoping to see from our labour. Instead of evaluating if we are getting the results we want, we are better off getting on with sowing the seeds that are moving us in the direction we are heading to. That will make sure we are not living short-sighted, but for the long haul. (even though getting regular wins are key as we move forward.)
As my pastor, Thomas Hansen, will often so brilliantly say, it's not our position in life but our direction that counts. As we sow the right seeds in the direction of God's principles mapped out in the bible, we will eventually get where we need to go in His timing. Our job is sowing the right seeds. His is the timing.
2 - Map it out
What do you already have in your hand that God has given you? For the Israelites, they had been given Jordan, their promised land, and a courageous leader in Joshua, who asked them to map the land, so the seven tribes yet to receive their inheritance could get their portion:
"So the men set out. As they went out to survey the land, Joshua charged them: “Go. Survey the land and map it" Joshua 18:8 MSG.
The bible speaks over and over about the principle of offering God what we have, and then God will add His miraculous power to it. So whatever you have been given, map out how you can best put it to use, just like the Israelites mapped out the land they had been given.
The meaning of mapping something out is with other words to outline, plan a route or course of action in detail, sketch out, rough out, block out, draw up, formulate, work out, frame, draft, plan, plot out, arrange, design, programme, think out, think through and to organise.
This is right in line with the scripture in Habakkuk 2:2 MSG that frames it this way:
"Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait. And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time."
When we map out our dreams and resources, we can do what God tells us. We can walk in the paths He shows us. We can follow the life-map absolutely. We can keep an eye out for the signposts, His course for life set out in the revelation to Moses; then we’ll get on well in whatever we do and wherever we go (1 Kings 2 MSG).
3 - Expect His timing to be only good
When I fell into being a watch-watcher recently, I was tempted to doubt God's heart and if He even wants to give me what I purely and godly desire. When I started doubting in the waiting, my mum wrote out this amazing encouragement to me: "We must learn to trust that God will give us what we need, when we need it. He is ALWAYS timely."
That dream of yours you might be watching the clock to see happen, remember so much more is at play than you can even imagine! God is attentively, intimately aware of your heart's longing and aching in the waiting and at the same time He is working hard to connect all the dots. Because when your dream comes to pass, it will help a lot more people than you imagine! So many puzzle pieces will be put together for the kingdom to advance in and through you, and the testimony will be wild!
"What a Day that will be! No more cold nights—in fact, no more nights! The Day is coming—the timing is God’s—when it will be continuous day. Every evening will be a fresh morning." Zechariah 14:6-7 MSG.
The timing is God's for your life, and the timing is God's for the bigger picture it's speaking about in the verse above on that day when heaven comes to earth for good.
Our part is becoming great map masters of His word & revealed will, so we can align ourselves with what He has for us in the future.
His love is poured out for you and His timing is only for your good.
So let's dare going from being watch-watchers to becoming map-masters in Jesus' name.
In this together,
Sandra.
No doubt about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv_8e8fSMNg
To watch the message, click above⬆
To read the message, continue below ⬇
Have you ever entertained doubt in your mind? Doubt about the future, doubt about your abilities (self-doubt), doubt about your relationships, doubt about your direction? Doubt can show up everywhere and it can be debilitating.
Doubt comes up for me, especially in waiting seasons. Big dreams and vision are awesome and without them, we perish. But in the in-between-space of dream becoming reality, our minds can easily spin into, 'Did God really say?', 'How will this come about?' and 'Have I missed anything since it has not happened yet?'
Rarely will these kind of questions do our heart any good. We'll start reason our way into a downward spiral, jumping to conclusions on how our future will become reality and we'll afflict our life with self-doubt about the seeming gaps in our lives.
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I think Jesus wants to ask some of us: "Faint-heart, what got into you?" Jesus asked this question to Peter as he started to doubt and sink down into the water he just so bravely walked out on to follow Jesus.
So sweet, amazing faint-of-heart-you, what got into you?
No matter what kind of doubt has taken hold of you, it's a gift for us that the topic of doubt is covered many times in the bible!
Let's look on three keys that can help us combat doubt when it starts to damage our day:
1. Simple trust
In this story below, Jesus is appearing for the first time to the disciples after His resurrection. Despite the disciples' doubt, Jesus had been true to His word. He was teaching them simple trust:
"While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. He continued with them, “Don’t be upset, and don’t let all these doubting questions take over. Look at my hands; look at my feet—it’s really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe (Luke 24).
When doubt arises, instead of acting on our doubt, let's wait and watch how God will come through. We might not see the bigger picture right now, but that's where we got to trust God's timing. A delay does not mean denial. Mark 9 tells us that there are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen. Therefore, watch in expectation what He will do.
Wait and watch for God - with God's arrival comes love, with God's arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it - He'll redeem you, He has bought you back from captivity to sin. (See Psalm 130:7)
3. Ask for help
Let the walls fall
Have you ever thought you were smart, later to find out what you have done has been silly and had the total opposite effect of what you actually pursued? I've tried this many times when it comes to creative processes. When I embark to paint something (which rarely happens), this is my experience. I'm thinking what I'm up to will turn out exactly as I envisions in my mind, and because of using the wrong painting tools and not having the regular practise, it ends up looking silly in comparison to what I pursued!
I think this goes for our hearts too sometimes. It's my heart experience at least. 🙋
For years, my heart was surrounded by thick walls built of destructive bricks. Bricks of insecurity, self hatred, control, perfectionism, people pleasing, unforgiveness, bitterness, and that's even only to name a few.
Sin, like these bricks are, always promises us satisfaction and safety, but ends up stealing from us. I thought each brick would build a wall of protection from getting hurt, but instead I built a destructive prison of isolation. What I envisioned would be good for my heart turned out to be silly, even traumatic. Just like my painting efforts.
My heart result was a numb, masked and superficial life filled with addiction. A life lived in denial about the real condition of my heart. I would pretend to be completely fine while I was dying from the inside; isolated in the shame of wrong thoughts which led to lots of negative emotions! Thank God our heart is not static but is ever shaped into His likeness.
So, how do we let the walls fall? How do we let light in?
My experience is we allow ourselves to feel it to heal it, we let Christ take over and be strong for us, and we bring others with us - holding the torch lighting the way for them to be set free as well! ⬇️⬇️
- Allow yourself to feel it to heal it
An important step in my healing process was to allow myself to feel again after years of suppressing my emotions. For a season I would write to my mentor every day and simply put into words how I was feeling.
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It was an exercise in being aware. Waking up. Not faking it for myself or others anymore. Coming out of denial. I began to express instead of living to impress.
It was a tough and humbling process to acknowledge my own weakness and not pretend to be strong when I was actually hurt. Daring to ask for help. Smashing pride in the face. Receiving grace. Letting the walls fall.
My mess was met with love and no sense of condemnation. It was so incredibly healing to realize that emotions are not a curse. They are gifts that make life colourful.
As I submitted my emotions to the authority of the wonderful word of God, the great exchange happened. An exchange of what was momentarily true about me for that which is the ultimate, forever truth about who I am in Him! He lowered my walls brick by brick so I could receive His steadfast love that melts lies away.
2. Let Christ take over and be strong for you!
As my walls came down, I began to come in contact with my own fragility and weakness, which is rarely a fun experience for anyone! It’s humbling for sure! But, I keep practising to just let Christ take over. And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. (2 Corinthians 12:10 MSG)
What a crazy thought! The weaker we get, the stronger we become. This kingdom we are part of is truly upside down!
That’s why we especially as leaders as well need to lead upside down. I once heard someone say: “Before I trust you as a leader, show me your scars.”
How profound. Jesus, our perfect leader, modeled this when He showed his scars to Thomas after His death and resurrection.
When Jesus let Thomas touch His scars, doubt was turned into belief. Jesus showed that His leadership was trustworthy because He could sympathise with humanity. He knew pain. He knew humiliation. He knew weakness. And conquered it all!
May we be people who dare to do show others our scars so that Jesus’ strength can shine forth and be revealed in our human weakness.
3. Bring others with you - hold the torch!
We cannot take people where we have not been ourselves. When we allow the Lord to do the amazing work of wall breaking in us, we become carriers of the freedom and restoration we have received ourselves. We become lighthouses.
Figuratively speaking, we become like the Statue of Liberty; holding a torch of freedom in our hand that lights the way for others to follow.
Free in Jesus, we become people not focused on building walls to protect ourselves but rather people focused on building bridges to reach the lost!
God wants to bring our strongholds to ruin. (Psalm 89:40 NIV) With Him it’s safe to let the walls fall and let LOVE rush in.
So the question is: What do you want gracious Jesus to do for you? Will you dare to lower your wall brick by brick?
He is eagerly waiting for your request. He wants to break through for you.
Trust your heart ❤ to the One who sees hearts like we see faces, who hears ache like we hear voices, and who touches wounds like we touch skin. (Ann Voskamp)
Love you and it it together,
Sandra.
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