In the Name of Jesus

"Until now you have not asked for anything in My Name.

Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

(John 16:24)

So, I purchased a gift bag at LifeWay this morning for a friend's gift. The following Names of Jesus were listed on the bag: Jesus. The Everlasting Father. The Alpha and Omega. Bread of Life. The Seed of David. The Lord of All. Mighty God. Prince of Peace. The Bright and Morning Star. The Lion of Judah. Wonderful, Counselor, Deliverer, Healer. The Dayspring. Lord and Master. The Word. The Messiah. The Way. The Truth. Saviour. The Shepherd. Light of the World. Worthy One.

Can I get an AMEN?!

What, dear sister, are you asking for in the Name of Jesus today?

Ask ... and you will receive.

21 Spiritual Stops

Chances are, you may find yourself on one or more of the "21 Spiritual Stops," referenced in the post from yesterday. I wanted to post some Scriptures that the Lord used to encourage me, to challenge me, and to comfort me - during each one of my personal spiritual stops along the journey.

Whatever spiritual stop you are currently on, there is great purpose for you there. God wants to have a profound encounter with you ... right where you're at. Allow Him to come along side of you, to accompany you along the journey. In fact, just allow Him to completely lead the journey. I assure you, He'll totally and completely blow your socks off. Before you know it, you'll find yourself completely unshackled. May you be freed up to believe your God, sweet sister.

Brokenness: Psalm 6:3; Psalm 5:1

Healing: Psalm 106:8, 10; Psalm 27:11-14

Rebuilding: Psalm 66:12; Deuteronomy 8:2-5; Hebrews 12:11; Proverbs 3:11-12

Passion Ignited: Psalm 37:4

Letting go: Isaiah 43:18-19; Psalm 17:2

Throwing off: Hebrews 12:1; Psalm 119:133; Proverbs 1:10,19; Isaiah 7:9b; Psalm 42:7

Repentance: Psalm 5:4-5

Forgiveness: Jeremiah 33:6-9

Obedience: Psalm 119:32, 60, 10; Philippians 1:27a, Psalm 101:2, Proverbs 4:25, 27

Satisfaction: Psalm 16:11, Hosea 11:8, Psalm 107:8-9

Longing: Psalm 119:20, Proverbs 13:12, Psalm 130:5-6; Habakkuk 1:2,5; Habakkuk 2:3

Surrender: Proverbs 16:3; Psalm 138:8; Psalm 131:1-2

Desire to Believe: Psalm 145:4-5; Psalm 5:12; Hebrews 11:1-2, 6; Matthew 7:7

Doubt/Unbelief: James 1:5-8

Warfare: John 10:10; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Desperation: Psalm 119:24

Clinging: Joshua 1:8; Psalm 119:11; Psalm 143:8; Romans 12:9

Humility: Isaiah 43:19b; Psalm 107:35; Psalm 114:8; 1 Corinthians 2:5; Exodus 4:12

Peace: Psalm 6:9; Romans 10:11; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 26:3; John 14:27

Intolerance of Unbelief: Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 11:6

Freedom to Believe: John 16:24; Psalm 63:5; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 6:15; Hebrews 10:23

Unshackled: Freed up to Believe

"O LORD, truly I am Your servant;
You have freed me from my chains."
(Psalm 116:16)

Brokenness, Healing, Rebuilding, Passion Ignited, Letting go, Throwing off, Repentance, Forgiveness, Obedience, Satisfaction, Longing, Surrender, Desire to Believe, Doubt/Unbelief, Warfare, Desperation, Clinging, Humility, Peace, Intolerance of Unbelief, Freedom to Believe

For the past 90-120 days of my life, the Lord Jesus Himself has dealt with me on every single one of the above 21 "spiritual stops," as I'm calling them. We have been on a journey - He and I. And what a whirlwind of a journey it has been (and continues to be). I am in awe of the specificity of our God. The Lord has led me to visit (and at times re-visit ... re-visit ... and re-visit again) the above 21 spiritual stops. From brokenness all the way down to (Hallelujah! in my best faux operatic singing voice) freedom to believe, the Lord nudged me along, encouraging me to finish this particular race. And a race it has been! All of this in 90 days - Are you kidding me?! I know what you're thinking ... Man, she had a lot of issues! Yep, you're right. I certainly did.

God began to speak the concept of being "unshackled" into my heart a few months ago. Lord, I prayed, I want to be that! I want to be unshackled ... freed up to believe You. I mean, wholeheartedly believe You. You see, up to this point my belief-life had been very wishy-washy. On again, off again. There's gotta be more to this, I thought. I need some consistency in believing my God. What I was about to realize was profound, life-changing, and yet extremely disappointing. I began to realize (and witness first-hand) what a horrible stronghold unbelief can have over our lives. And it's everywhere. Makes me absolutely nauseous. It's in the church, it's in our Bible studies, it's in our praying, it's in our talking, our walking, our decision-making ... It just shows up wherever the opportunity presents itself. And sometimes, y'all - We invite it there ourselves! (Gasp.) Don't believe me? Do any of the following sound vaguely familiar?

God has forgotten me.
This situation will never change.
I guess this is just 'God's will' ...
I'm not spiritual enough to be blessed by God.
Some things never change.
This isn't what I prefer, but I'll just settle.
God doesn't care about a detail this small.
What? Like He has a road map for my life?
He could never use me like that.

Gross. Rebuke comments that resemble those above as quickly as they cross your mind! They are worthless. Meant to do nothing but destroy and downplay your faith in Jesus. Rather, fix your attention on such Truths:

"...So that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." (1 Corinthians 2:5)

"'My righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." (Hebrews 10:38-19)

"See to it, (sisters), that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." (Hebrews 3:12)

God wants to unshackle us, sisters. He wants to lead us along a journey, taking time to personally walk us through our issues, and turning them into "spiritual stops." Mile markers of His faithfulness, of His touch, of His presence in our lives.

21 spiritual stops later, I can honestly, humbly, and hooray-ishly say ... I am unshackled. (And yes, I know hooray-ishly is not a word ... but how else do I describe this new found revelation, this new found place of freedom!?) The Lord Himself has freed me up to believe Him. And He desperately wants to do the same for you.

Alright, I'm off to believe God for all He's asking me to believe Him for. Want to join me?

Let's ask God to remove our shackles.

That we might be freed up to believe Him ...

to take Him at His Word.

A Morning Psalm

"My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up." (Psalm 5:3, NKJV)

What a wonderful perspective to have this March morning.

In the morning I will direct it to You ... I will direct my requests, my desires, the cries of my heart ...

And once I have directed it to You, Lord ... I will look up. I will spend the rest of my day looking up at my Savior, my Satisfier, my God.

May we have an Upward perspective today, girls.

From Mundane to Magnificent

"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush." (Exodus 3:1-2a)

All too often I find myself belittling the average day-to-day tasks. Driving to and from work, sitting at my desk doing paperwork, going to the grocery store, working out, doing laundry, cleaning the house - All things I tend to view as average, mundane, uneventful tasks.

Let's take a look at Moses: Here he was ... In the process of accomplishing his average, most likely mundane, day-to-day responsibility. He was not sitting in a church pew or attending a city-wide revival. He was not on a mission trip or standing at the pulpit preaching. Nope. On the contrary, he was just doing his thing. He was doing what Moses did best - tending to the flock he was assigned.

In the midst of the mundane, our God Magnificent shows up to Moses. The Lord says to Moses: "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey ... So now, go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:7-8, 10).

Can't you just picture Moses? Well, I was just tending the flock ... when all of a sudden, the LORD showed up in a burning bush!

I want to expect my God to show up in the mundane places of my life. In the daily tasks that I am just faithfully and obediently carrying out, because they're expected of me. I was just folding some clothes ... when all of a sudden, I heard from the Lord! I was just driving down the road ... when all of a sudden, the Lord spoke to my heart! I was just mundanely doing some work at my desk ... when all of a sudden, my God Magnificent gave me a word ... answered a prayer ... fulfilled a promise.

I want more of the Magnificent in my mundane. Don't you?

Father God, We praise Your Name, for Your Name alone is exalted. May we expect to see Your Magnificence in our day-to-day. That You, our Creator God, would care enough to show up in our ordinary lives is beyond our comprehension. May our mundane moments be an invitation for Your Magnificence. In the Mighty Name of Jesus, Amen.

It's a Waging War out there!

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

I love The Message paraphrase of this particular passage of Scripture: "The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way - never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity."

To demolish: to break to pieces, to smash; to do away with, to destroy; to strip of any merit or credence.

Lurking around every corner is an opportunity to take the road to obedience, or to fall into the trap of disobedience. Sometimes it's a simple decision to obey - it comes to us easily, with little effort. Other times, it's nearly excruciating to move forward in obedience - our flesh wants what our spirit is waging against. When we've found ourselves in a downright spiritual battle, we know it. We feel our spirit and our flesh waging against one another, and we are fighting with all our might. We have entered onto battleground soil.

When we find ourselves on the battleground, we must grab hold of the divinely powerful weapons we have through Christ. It is those very God-Powered weapons that have the ability to smash and to destroy our strongholds, our temptations, our failures and our defeat. We must claim Victory in Jesus over the enemy.

Listening to CeCe Winans gets me pumped up. She is the reason (the only reason) I can stay on the elliptical machine at the gym for 45 minutes at a time ...

When I find myself in a battle, I crank this song up on my iPod. It makes me want to plow right over the enemy. He has no place in our lives, sisters!

Waging War, CeCe Winans

Anoint my head, Anoint my feet
Send your angels raining down, here on the battleground
For your glory, we're taking territory
Fighting unseen enemies like never before
We're waging war

I’m tired of principalities messing with me
I’m tired of the devil stealing from me
I promise he won’t get one more thing
I’m taking it back, taking territory
I’m ready for the battle, I’m ready to win
My weapon of power, He lives within
I can't be defeated, the enemy's gotta flee
I’m taking it back, taking territory

Be my sword, Be my shield
As we claim the victory over the enemy
In your name, You rule and reign
Never being defeated anymore
We're waging war

Fire by night, Cloud by day
A strong tower, Send the latter rain
Lion of Judah, Lord, God, Mighty in battle
Since you did it back then
We know you’ll do it again

May we take hold of our God-Powered weapons ...

They are given to us for the battleground!

Believing for the Extraordinary

"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about 100 years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God has power to do what He had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness." (Romans 4:19-22)

Believing God. Sounds so simple. One of my most favorite quotes comes from Jim Cymbala's book Fresh Faith, where he writes this simple, yet profound truth: "There is no excuse to not believe in the Lord Jesus." If the God of the Universe speaks a word over me through His Holy Scripture, declares that He will fulfill a certain something in my life, gives me a promise to claim - then I better get to believin'! The longer I wait, the harder I resist, the more I contemplate - the greater the chance for me to funnel into the vicious cycle of unbelief.

Unbelief is paralyzing. Take it from me. I spent much of my walk with the Lord believing Him for the wrong things. Believing Him to heal that particular dating relationship ... when it wasn't meant to be healed. Believing Him to provide that one performance opportunity ... when I was meant to be focused on performing. The time eventually came when God began asking that I commit to believing Him for the holy desires He had placed it my heart. Immediately, I needed His assurance that I was not going to be disappointed. If I put my heart out there to believe again, I selfishly wanted God to come through. I could not stomach any more defeat. I was paralyzed by unbelief.

Here this loud and clear: When God puts something in our hearts to believe Him for, and it lines up with Scripture - when it is congruent with the Word of God - then we must by all means, BELIEVE HIM for that very thing.

I am currently being challenged to believe my God for some pretty big things. I'm just going to be honest here - Some of the things He is asking me to believe Him for, are far-fetched in all human standards. As I thought and prayed through this today, I began to recall all the times in the Bible where normal ordinary people were challenged to believe God for big extraordinary things.

God summons Abraham's belief in Him. He is requesting his full, unwavering belief. And what does Abraham do? He obediently, unwaveringly, undoubtedly commits ... to believing God. A normal ordinary person, challenged to believe his God for big extraordinary (even miraculous) things.

In Genesis 18, the Lord appears to Abraham to broadcast the news that Sarah is going to have a child - at the ripe old age of 90. No, not 19 ... 90. Abraham is outside the tent, while Sarah who is inside the tent, overhears this conversation. To no surprise, she begins to laugh to herself: "Me! Ha! That has to be the funniest thing I have ever heard! What a joke - Meee becoming a mother ... at 90 years old!" The Lord does not find it quite as amusing. In fact, he's insulted. The Lord says to Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son" (Gen. 18:13-14).

Let's take a look at the above Scripture (Romans 4:19-22), breaking down the main facts:

1. He did not weaken in his faith.
2. He faced the fact that in all human standards, it was impossible.
3. He did not waver in unbelief regarding the promise of God.
4. He was strengthened in his faith.
5. He gave glory to God.
6. He was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised.
7. It was credited to him as righteousness.

When we waver, when we downplay or disregard the things God is asking us to believe Him for, when we laugh in the face of God's plans for us ... We are insulting our Creator God. Ouch. Perhaps that in itself is the antidote to that paralyzing bondage known as unbelief.

What big extraordinary thing is God asking you to commit to believing Him for? Write it down. Underneath it, write the following using Romans 4:19-22 as your guide:

1. I will not weaken in my faith.
2. I have faced the fact that in all human standards, this is impossible.
3. I will not waver in unbelief regarding the promises of God.
4. I will be strengthened in my faith.
5. I will give glory to God.
6. I am fully persuaded that God has the power to do what He has promised.
7. It will be credited to me as righteousness.

We must commit to believing Him. We absolutely must. After all ... We have no excuse.

"Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

~ Luke 1:45 ~

Shiloh Praise Report!

“May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests.”
~ Psalm 20:3-5 ~

Dearest Shiloh Sisters,

What a joy and privilege it was to serve in your midst this past weekend. We all have those certain things that just make our hearts leap for joy. For me, a room full of women with their Bibles open on their laps, a pen in hand and an open heart – That does it for me. I have chills just thinking about it! To know that we serve a God who speaks profoundly and personally to us through His Word, is just too much for me to handle. O Lord, “what is man that You are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4)

A short list of my highlighted praises for the weekend:

Beautiful Blessings on Friday Night: Gripping onto one another, believing God for miracles and victory in each others lives – I loved watching you all bless each other in the Name of Jesus. May we adopt that biblical example as a daily practice.

Sacred Surrender on Saturday Morning: My eyes welled up with tears as that first piece of paper went through the shredder. I believe it was Stephanie’s. I wanted to shout Hallelujah! (I refrained, as I thought it might be slightly distracting in the midst of the quiet and reflective mood Amanda had so perfectly set …) May we continue to surrender, to see ourselves as God sees us, to believe Him for big answers, and to commit to His plans.

Precious Sharing on Saturday Night: Allison shared a few verses from our Saturday morning devotion - Psalm 145:15-16: “The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” I loved listening to you share your victories. And as both Tricia and Trisha confirmed during that same sharing time, our God really does give us what we need, when we need it – Doesn’t He? He satisfies us … at the proper time. May we cling to that. He is our Supplier … Our Satisfier.

And of course … The games, the talking, the laughing, the eating, the setting up and the tearing down, and the delirious moments (most of which were shared amidst my roommates for the weekend) … Completely irreplaceable.

I adore each one of you. Thank you for your partnership in advancing the Gospel of Jesus. I am having an absolute blast loving Him with you.

May you continue to find Joy in Surrender … and Victory in the Lord.

Straight from my heart,

Heather