Loved and Protected

Forgive me for not blogging the last few days, but once again I had no Internet access. If my typing seems strange, it’s because I’m also wearing a brace on my forearm and it makes keyboard work challenging.

In the last few days the Lord has shown me that we as believers have, for the most part, scarcely scratched the surface of what God intends for us. Most of us have gone through the motions, doing the same thing we’ve always done. I know I did that for many years. But that’s not good enough anymore. Can you feel the spirit breaking forth in new ways, revealing Himself in ways he never has before? Putting a new urgency and new desires in your heart?

Worldwide there’s a new revelation of God’s love and plan to pour out his spirit, and if we look around you can see him moving, refreshing, restoring, re-starting that fire in us for our first love. Only this time is different, because he’s ready to fill us with new fire, empowering us for things we’ve never dared to dream.

What is it he’s putting in your spirit to do? What is it he wants you to dream? Are you willing? Can you even stop it? Inside me it’s like a flood I cannot stop, bursting out and flowing over everything. It affects what I say, how I respond to others, and what I do with my time.

I am so encouraged, so blessed to be able to love and serve my wonderful God. He’s pouring out his spirit on me so that I can’t contain it all. In fact, it’s all I talk about these days, and if those around me don’t want to hear it, I’m sure they’ll just disappear to the fringes of my life, choosing to go another way.

But I don’t want that. I want that fire to spread to everyone I meet. There’s absolutely no reason we can’t do exactly what the New Testament disciples did, speaking in boldness, living in great expectation, living as if this was the last day of our lives, loving and ministering to others, reaching out to touch and heal and minister to those who are needy, and most important of all, seeing others the way Jesus did, with a heart of compassion.

Is the spirit stirring up something in you? Ask the Lord to reveal it. Ask him to broaden your sphere of influence, and use you to be a blessing. Ask him to wake you up and reveal your destiny, the very reason you were born. And when he reveals it, you’ll grasp the truth, that you were born for such a time as this. And when you begin walking in that destiny, you’ll never be the same; you’ll be changed, and like a fountain, merely overflow. You’ll no longer have to force yourself to witness, or stifle your irritation when things go wrong. You’ll be changed, unable to be still and when things go wrong, you’ll be able to say, “Okay, God, this is your moment to move on my behalf. What are you going to do next?”

And God will move on your behalf, as you’ve never seen him move before.
Wow, what a way to live. Let’s ask for a double anointing and see what God can do with willing vessels. It’s going to be exciting!

Because of His great love,
Nancy

I’ve just been reading a life-changing book by the late Jack Frost, called Experiencing Father’s Embrace, and in it he described me to a tee. Or perhaps I should say described “the old me” to a tee.

The reason he knew his subject so well was that he too was performance oriented, working to earn God’s love for most of his life, and as you can imagine it didn’t work out too well.

Like me, he finally realized that no matter how hard or perfectly we perform it does nothing to satisfy the empty places inside us. And instead of feeling better, we get angry when we experience a lack of control, because control, performance and perfection are the bywords of traditional religion. As if the motto was “Just do it.” As if we could. Oh, many of us try, working twenty-hour days to feel productive, all the while killing ourselves and feeling empty and exhausted, because we’ve burned out.

That isn’t God’s plan at all, but somehow until we realize how desperate we are to feel the love we don’t deserve from a God we scarcely identify with, we can’t grasp His ideal for relationship between God and man.

And even when we do get a taste of that amazing “Father love” we’ve always yearned for, it’s easy to slip back into the “performance mode” because it’s a habit, and habits die hard.

So, in order to take this relationship to the next level you and I need to “practice soaking up the love” of our Father, letting Him fill us daily with His Spirit and then go out and operate out of the overflow of that love instead of out of our flesh.

I can’t tell you how long I thought I was living in the spirit when in reality I was functioning according to my performance mode, because I had yet to realize I was already approved by God, that He had already set His love upon me, and loved me as if I were His only child. Even to this day that thought blows my mind. And it makes me love Him all the more, knowing I’m unworthy.

It should change us as children of the Most High God, to realize that though He was not obligated to love us, and that He did it with no guarantee we would ever respond, He still chose to arrange for Jesus to leave His deity behind and face life as a mere human being, so that He could identify with our struggles, even dying a cruel death in our place.

So what was the payoff for God? Relationship, relationship, relationship. He did it all because He loved us and wanted fellowship with us. As nutty and off-base as we sometimes are, He’s still crazy about us. Doesn’t that just blow your mind?

I’m just now learning how to identify with that kind of love for others, no matter how nutty or out of control they are. And it’s possible because in God, we can see those kinds of crazy and often destructive behaviors are the result of pain and unmet needs that only Jesus can remedy. So getting out there among them to show love when they did nothing to earn it is the way Jesus would do it. Don’t you agree? Then let’s do it. A word in season is like apples of silver in settings of gold, and so is love when it’s undeserved and unexpected.

Wow, what an awesome God we serve. How blessed is the man who walks with our God!

Because of His great love,
Nancy

The last few days I’ve seen some amazing things. As I was reading Patricia King’s book Light Belongs in the Darkness, I caught her vision for the prophetic. On her program, Extreme Prophetic she shares her heart on living and moving in the spirit so that God can use us at any moment to speak into the lives of unbelievers, addressing practical needs and letting them see how much Jesus loves them. She talks about making declarations in the prophetic so unbelievers can catch the vision that God has plans for them.

One thing we can say to every unbeliever is this: “God really loves you more than you could ever dream, and He created you with a purpose, to glorify God. Ask Him to reveal the purpose for which He designed you. As you step out and seek God, I promise you’ll never be the same again.”

God is moving over all the earth right now, already planting seeds and questions about eternity in the lives of every person. So this is our window of opportunity, to start looking at each one with the love of Christ, asking God for discernment and prophetic impartation so that we can see what is behind the pain in the eyes of the hurting. As we merely exalt the Lord, and get our flesh out of the way, He will use us to minister in signs and wonders and healings and miracles so that people who have always wondered if God was dead, will know that He is alive and well on Planet Earth and loves them with an everlasting love.

We dare not waste another moment waiting for the other guy to do it, because our circle is OUR assingnment, one which no one else can influence the way we can. God is challenging us to take up the banner of the gospel and simply step out in love allowing God’s Spirit to move through us.

I want to encourage you to press in to God, basking in His love and grasping the very heart of God, the vision for reaching the lost with the salvation message. For without His love you and I will be critical and judgmental for we do not understand with God’s heart of compassion.

He also showed me that this is the day He has declared that He will touch and heal our diseases and our old emotional wounds, those that have hindered us from walking in power. He is saying for us to step out and ask for what we need, for His hand is not short concerning those He cherishes. Then believe Him with unwaivering faith, and He will perform it. So pour out your heart before Him, use every minute to draw near and to listen carefully and let the spirit speak to you.

Now is the time to put away distracting things and get into the quiet where we can hear Him speak to our hearts. You are precious in His sight, and He wants to make you a powerhouse of faith, and not mere faith, but breakthrough faith that never waivers.

Our time is short before the end, and we must redeem the time for the days are evil. The harvest is white, so ask God to teach you, and be open to the Word as never before. If you want to stretch your faith and learn how to function in powerful prophetic anointing that will touch others as never before, I encourage you to get a copy of Patricia King’s book, Light Belongs in the Darkness. And if you let it, I know it will change your life, so you’ll never be the same again.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, making His face to shine upon you, and give you His peace. May He cover you with His pinions and lift you above your circumstances. May He build a ring of fire around you and all that concerns you, so that your breakthroughs are instant in the spiritual realm, giving glory to God.

Also if you read this early Tuesday, please join me in praying for Gideon Mudenyo in Kenya, as he has called the government leaders to a breakfast Wednesday morning, (which is our Tuesday afternoon), where I believe he will preach the gospel with great anointing. He had a word from a man from Tanzania that God was going to use Gideon to break strongholds and turn things around for Kenya, which confirms what I’ve been telling him. And the man told him that if Kenya doesn’t turn around in repentance, the entire continent of Africa will go the same way as Kenya with drought and famine and death. So please pray for breakthrough for this breakfast. Thanks for your fervent, faithful prayers. They avail much!

Keep looking up!

Because of His great love,
Nancy

I can’t help but marvel at the amazing revelations God wants to impart in these last days. In fact, I was ministering to a man yesterday who has been struggling with what I would call spiritual torment. I could see it in his eyes before he even said a word.

A little later I prayed, asking the Lord for discernment and a prophetic message that would address his need.

The Lord’s message to him? “You are a sweet fragrance to Me, just the way you are.” Now you need to realize that at that moment I had no idea why that message would touch his heart.

And later, as I was sharing with him, the Lord showed me that he, like me was a doer, a go-getter, a perfectionist, and that he was struggling with aging, no longer able to keep up the immense pace he had set for himself.

He even admitted it, weeping when he said, “I feel like I’m failing the Lord.” He had set up a perfomance expectation that he was no longer able to meet, and he was disappointed, believing he was no longer good enough to please God.

The Lord then continued to speak to him, “As you grow older, you will be less able to perform, but your sweet spirit, your committed love and your willingness to obey are more than enough to make up for what you used to do in the flesh. So just rest in Me, bask in My love, and let Me pour through you. Just giving a cup of cold water is more than enough if done in My name. When the devil comes to condemn you, you say ‘I refuse that message, in Jesus’ name. He says He loves me just as I am, and I bask in that love, for it will always be enough no matter how much I can or cannot do.’”

That’s a good word for all of us, isn’t it? As we age or grow less able to perform the superhuman tasks of our past, we can rest, knowing God doesn’t demand what we can no longer give. Instead He says, “Those old performance messages aren’t from Me. All I want is a heart completely yielded, who loves what I love and hates what I hate, who will obey and do as I ask and follow where I lead.” That’s it. We just say, “Yes, Father,” whenever He speaks, and the rest is up to Him. We don’t have to be the Holy Spirit or convince anyone of anything. We merely have to speak and plant the seed, or do what He tells us, and He will bring the increase. I find that so refreshing–like a cool breeze that caresses my cheek on a stifling day.

God wants to use us to speak healing and love to the hurting around us, so let’s ask for opportunities to be useful. And in the process, we will be filled to overflowing, living in power and might as never before and knowing we are making a difference, while having the time of our lives. Let’s get excited! We were born for such a time as this!

Because of His great love.

Nancy

I’ve just had another epiphany, something life-chainging, and I’m asking God to help me apply it.

Whether it looks like it from my viewpoint or not God’s spirit is working in the lives of absolutely everyone on earth. That means I need to look at them with different eyes. Now I need to see them as “on the way,” and “nearly there.” In other words they may be only one encouraging word away from seeing themselves as treasures to God, of coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus. I need to put away fear, control and worry that others aren’t doing what they’re supposed to. It’s not my job to fix them. Rather it’s God’s job merely to woo them with His amazing love and vision of their potential. What an incredible insight.

And I can trust God, both with my own growth, and the growth of others. I no longer have to worry that I’m not on track, or that others aren’t where they’re supposed to be. I can rest for the first time, simply enjoying being God’s kid and just putting one foot in front of the other, doing the next thing He shows me, while basking in His amazing love.

I can rest assured that He is in me, doing exactly what He planned, and that as I respond we will work as a single unit, in harmony, loving others and speaking a word in season. Wow. What an awesome God we serve.

And I can only thank Him.

I love you, Lord, for you are worthy of all my praise. Help me to let go of the weighty things that need to be dumped in your lap. Let me rise with a new lightness of spirit, free from all cares, because you are completely trustworthy and I am secure in my identity in you. Just let me adore you, and then use me to lift up and bless those who need to see your love. Thank you for loving me. In Jesus’ name, amen!

Because of His great love,

Nancy

Do you know that no matter how big your “daddy” dreams are, God is all of those dreams rolled into one?

Maybe your dad was there, but not connected to you emotionally. Maybe he was absent or you never knew him. Maybe he was loving but didn’t defend you when you needed him to. Perhaps he was abusive in some way.

If that’s the case it’s often hard to view God as someone trustworthy. Sometimes the wounds from our childhood leave us feeling vulnerable and unable to trust God or anyone else not to hurt us.

Well, if this describes you, I have good news for you. Our God is love. Most of us can’t even relate with that word, because it’s tossed about so freely in our day. But our God is amazing! The word “love” actually defines His very character.

First of all it’s important to remember that, (and I’ve mentioned this before), He and Jesus and the Holy Spirit got together before the creation of the world, and God said He wanted to create others to fellowship with, others upon whom He could pour out love.

And in His mind He planned for each one of us to be His dearly beloved children. When Adam and Eve fell, however, sin shattered the fellowship between God and man, forever leaving us with unmet “daddy” needs.

Deep inside each one of us is a longing to be known just as we are and loved completely in spite of our weakness. Well, guess what? God does exactly that. Because He created us, He understands how we think, how we feel, and how our minds work. He understands how we tick, why we come to the conclusions we do, and yet He wants us to get this truth into our spirits.

This truth is so vital: He loved us from the beginning of time, and nothing, but nothing can separate us from that love.

Scripture says so, in Romans 8:35. “Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? V. 38 says: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, principalities, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Those daddy needs can only be met in one way, by spending time basking in the love of the Father, letting Him pour into us the revelation of that love. Just being in His presence has the power to heal, to restore and to transform who we are, so that we rise above the old things that hinder us and are able to love with that same kind of love.

Unbelievers will stop and take notice when we finally get this down. They won’t be able to take their eyes off those who are “Jesus with skin on,” those who reach out in love to a desperate and dying world to meet practical needs.

I challenge you to reach out to God and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. To let you bask in His love, to transform your heart’s daddy needs. To heal you.

Once your daddy needs are met, you’ll be full to overflowing, like a volcano that can’t be stopped, full of the Holy Spirit, all because of Jesus. He’s done it all.

I’m going to pray. Lord, right now I pray for the body of Christ, for my precious brothers and sisters. That You would open the windows of heaven and impart the revelation we so desperately need. Take the scales from our eyes and unstop our ears, so we can see deep into the vision You have for us. So we can live above mere tradition and emptiness, into the fullness of Your glory. Let us be filled to overflowing, hungry for all You have for us, so that we can reach out and reflect the love of Jesus to the desperate souls around us. Change us, Lord, and we will simply give You all the praise, in Jesus’ most wonderful name. Amen.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

I’m so excited. God just showed me how I need to be praying, not just to break the power of the enemy but to declare things that need to happen in places of power and influence.

Instead of seeing ourselves as merely able to cope with the status quo, we can change it if we dare!

God didn’t put us here just to ‘grin and bear it’, but rather to be engineers of change, those who can listen to God and move according to His plan, praying and speaking into being the things that are not as though they were, and watching as God honors our obedience.

For instance, consider the godly men and women serving in Congress and the Senate, and in the executive and judiciary branches of government. I can’t even imagine how desperate and lonely it is to be on the side of righteousness working among those who have lost the vision God has for ruling a nation such as ours.

But they shouldn’t be up there alone, sticking their necks out without the support of godly people who say, “I’m praying. I’ve got your back.”

Then we should pray, instead of just grieving what’s happened. We don’t have to let things go this way, not if we really believe “Prayer changes things.”

In essence, the ball is in our court. It’s up to us. Are we just going to watch it all go to the dogs, or are we going to believe God and say, “I’m in this battle, and I’m not going to take no for an answer.”

And just like Elijah who stood before the 400 prophets of Baal, or like David who faced the giant, you and I were born for such a time as this, to take our authority and use it to pray in godly changes.

So today we’re going to do just that. Pray together. Agree with me, will you?

Lord, right now we join hearts and confess that we have been apathetic and dull of hearing. We have not taken our places as Your people, willing to stand for truth, praying in righteousness and godliness in our nation’s capitol or in our states, cities and towns.

Forgive us, Lord, for not seeing these things before, but wake us up, helping us to discern spirits, and see visions, clearly understanding the problems and seeking Your wisdom for answers.

Father, the truth is we are desperate for a mighty move of heaven on our behalf, for we are at the precipice, the very edge of extinction, unless You run to our aid. Pour out Your spirit, Lord, on those of us who love You. Awaken us with a new hunger for righeousness, shattering fear and doubt, giving us the gift of faith to see what can happen when we finally choose to get a backbone and stand.

Help us, Father, to pray for our godly leaders, never forgetting for a moment the heartache they face, as if pagan giants have taken over leadership of our land.

We pray for our godly leaders, asking for renewed hope as they press in to You, Lord, as they choose to please God rather than men, and no longer worry who they will offend if they declare that righeousness exalts a nation, while sin destroys it.

Give them Holy Spirit unction, Father, empowering them with boldness and daring that will stun those around them. And let them stand en masse saying, “We will no longer sit and let evil prevail, but we will speak truth and wisdom. We will declare the works and words of the Lord, and believe that the Holy Spirit will move.”

Father, fill them with power and glory, girding them with strength, new hope, and courage to speak when You say to speak. Let them not worry about offenses, because Your Word is an offense, the stone of stumbling which can no longer be denied.

But Your wisdom is unimpeachable and powerful for the breaking down of strongholds, and we demand that Satan let go of our halls of government. They were built on righteousness and godliness and we’re taking them back in Jesus’ name. Pour out on our righteous leaders, and bless them, Lord, encouraging their hearts, knowing that heaven and the angels are cheering them on. Lift them up, like hinds’ feet on high places, placing their feet on the Rock, Christ Jesus, where nothing can touch them.

Fill them with grace and peace, and let the love of God shine like a stunning light in the bleak, black darkness. And turn around for good, Father, what the enemy means for our harm, as only You can. Convict foolish leaders of sin, righteousness and judgment, Lord, and show them their end, for to whom much is given, much is required. Show them that they will stand in the judgment and be required to account for what they did with their power. Let them bow their hearts before the Lord, that revival would hit our government like a whirlwind, and evil hearts would be broken over power-madness, greed and sin. Let them not eat or sleep or have any rest in their souls until they bow before the Lord God, Jehovah, and we will simply give You all the praise. In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.

It’s up to us, to stand behind our godly leaders and speak into them confidence, anointing, and a steel backbone that will not back down no matter what the cost.

It’s up to us to believe God for change for as we’ve recently learned, absolutely NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL WE PRAY.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

Last night I was listening to Bill Johnson on GodTV and he said some remarkable things. He said that the phrase “He must increase and I must decrease” was incorrect. That certainly took me by surprise, because I’ve been praying that for a long time.

He said that God created us each a one of a kind, and He loves us and wants to use our personalities, our minds, our particular sparkle to imprint the gospel with flavor and life as only we can. I have never heard that before, and I found it stunning, wonderful news. He actually wants to use what’s different about us to impact the world.

Rather than decreasing, He wants us to soak and saturate ourselves with His love, in that secret place so that we are filled to overflowing with His presence and are able to hear His voice and simply do what He tells us–to move as He speaks. Each of us must let everything in us awaken to the presence of God, so that no matter what we are doing, we are usable to the kingdom.

He said you and I are to be heavenly brokers, intentionally imparting the power and glory of God, by declaring God’s vision for a city, a person, or whatever He says to do.
Our senses must be trained to recognize the move of the spirit so that we simply flow with it, and move accordingly.

He also said something else astounding: The power of heaven is in the hands. He said we don’t simply lay hands on people to comfort them. But laying on hands actually imparts the glory of God to another person. Wow! Isn’t that an incredible concept?

He said we must get to be be so comfortable with moving in the spirit that we don’t question what God has said, but that we simply do it. That’s tough to do, isn’t it?

The point he was trying to make is that when we’ve spent time basking in God’s great love we come out anointed. When we put God first and have died to our own will and are seeking only His, we can move in power we’ve never seen or even dreamed of before.

If God speaks to us to declare something over a person, then we need to believe God knows what He’s talking about even though we don’t have a clue in the natural. This, my friends, is how God wants to move, far and above the natural.

It’s our choice. We can stay in our old stuff, or we can move out of the natural and into the supernatural. If God puts something in our spirits, we don’t have to pray about it. We just need to do it.

We are joint heirs with Christ, and Scripture says we will do greater things than Moses, and Elijah, Joshua, David, and even Jesus, if we allow God to move through us.
But if you’re like me, you may struggle with self-doubt, wondering how on earth God could use you like that.

The key is to let go of all self-interest and self-promotion, and allow ourselves to promote God alone. Once we have no other agenda but God’s we can move in dunamous power.

Johnson said something else amazing. He said he was shopping at a store one day for a cell phone, not even thinking about spiritual things while a clerk was helping a woman not far away. And suddenly the woman fell under the power. She looked up at the clerk and said, “I fell on the floor.” And it was merely because of Johnson’s presence. He didn’t do or say a word, and wasn’t even intentionally functioning in the spirit, but the spirit moved exactly as it did in New Testament days when Peter’s shadow healed the sick. Johnson didn’t do a thing to cause it and he didn’t do anything in response. He just went about his business, but he knew God was moving. I want to live like that.

God is calling us right now to die to self and live to God, and I, for one, am blown away to be part of such an incredible move of God. He’s trying to awaken us to our destiny, people, but it’s up to us to respond to the call of God and say yes.

As I’ve said a thousand times before, Jesus is coming soon, but before He does, He wants to move in signs and wonders and miracles, meeting ordinary needs in extraordinary ways to demonstrate that He’s alive and well on Planet Earth, to demonstrate His glory, so that people will see Him and respond to the gospel. But because He stepped back at creation, He must use ordinary people to accomplish His will–that’s you and me.

So what are we going to do about it? Step out and seek God. Ask Him to reveal how He wants to use your most individual talents and gifts. This is only the beginning. The best is yet to come!

Because of His great love.
Nancy

A few days ago I was listening to an English evangelist on Godtv and he said something I didn’t get in its entirety. I hope the Lord will make it possible for me to hear it again.

He said that  generally, the body of Christ has mother and daddy issues that are holding us back from being all that God destined us to be.

Evidently we struggle to feel God’s love because our parents and our own heartaches, prevent us from feeling and believing the incredible love of God.

I can testify to the truth of this notion, because I have struggled, praying for all I was worth, to get everything God has for me, because I want to be a useful vessel. And while He has done amazing things and healed me in many areas, there were a few little obstacles I could feel that remained, so yesterday I went to be prayed for by a dear woman of God who has a deliverance ministry.

It’s not like I’ve been possessed, because once the Holy Spirit comes into a person, demonic spirits must flee, unable to occupy the same space with God’s Spirit.

But because of old hurts, things I was told by my church and others when I was small, I carried around feelings of condemnation and guilt from which I could not free myself. And the devil used them against me. These things hindered me from being freely used by God, and they had to go.

I’m excited to say that as of the moment of her prayer, I am a new woman, able to rest, peaceful in my spirit, and those things were rendered harmless to haunt me anymore.

Now please don’t write me and say it’s too bad I couldn’t get past these things on my own. If it had been humanly possible, I would’ve done it.

However, God showed me that if I was willing He would complete the work in me, and heal all the wounds that hindered me. And He did. And eveb before that He had already been demonstrating His endless, tender love for me in a million ways, and it’s changed and transformed our relationship.

He’s also shown me that once I can live in that love, I can demolish the walls I’ve built so that no one could ever hurt me again. And I can let Him erect a tower in the spirit to protect me, so I can be free to love, even loving my enemies. How cool is that?

I can’t even imagine how wonderful it will be to fear nothing and no one, especially since an underlying fear controlled my entire life to one degree or another, and hindered me in so many ways.

You know how, once someone hurts you, you want to walk on the other side of the street so they’ll never be able to hurt you again–because you feel vulnerable and want to avoid exposing yourself to anything even remotely threatening? Well, God says, “Not anymore. My people are, by the power of My love, going to be healed, empowered, and anointed to reach out to even threatening people, because I am their Protector, and their rear guard. And My love will be able to shine through like a beacon in the darkness. But this will only happen if they step out, let go of their cocoons and let Me address their issues.”

So what do you say? Are you going to hold on to your comfy cocoon or let God and truly let God move on your life? He wants to transform us, equipping us to move in power, but He won’t force it on us. It’s our choice whether or not we want to be included in the last days move of the Spirit, but if we stay behind, we must remember, God will not be there with us. He will have moved on.

Let’s get serious about dealing with our issues so God can truly use us.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

The Lord has shown me another revelation that was really an epiphany for me. I don’t know why I hadn’t really “gotten it” before, because the Word says, “Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

What I saw was this. The reason most of us haven’t seen stunning and immediate answers to prayer is that we have not truly put Him first, making Him Lord over our lives. Rather we’ve been satisfied with a poor replica of the real thing that has no power to change anyone’s life. Is that the way we want to live, or will we exchange that for the fire of God?

In most of us, instead of making Him the center of our lives He is somewhere on the periphery, reachable during emergencies and when we have time to pay attention. When the Bible says, “Delight thyself,” it’s talking about making Him the center around which our lives revolve. Putting Him first, making Him Lord.

When we actually move Him from the periphery of our lives onto center stage, something amazing happens. Scripture becomes real, and it becomes alive as never before, because those answers, those promises in Scripture only apply to those who have put Him first.

At the point we do that, we can relax and no longer “sweat it,” because God has our back in every way, and in every situation.

Isn’t that an incredible thought? He’s got it all covered for those who are totally sold out to Him. In fact, my Kenyan pastor/evangelist friend, Gideon can now testify that Jesus is powerful enough to bring water gushing from the rock, and make crops keep coming until the famine ends. Once we sell out completely to Christ, nothing is impossible if we stand in faith.

I heard something the other day that really hit a chord in my heart. You and I can only walk in power if we are tightly connected to the Holy Spirit, because our flesh is just as weak and wayward as it was before salvation. Our flesh does not get better with time, it only gets more depraved. Scripture backs that up when it says the flesh waxes worse and worse.

Our ability to minister, to prophesy, to pray with fervency, to believe with great faith, to live above temptation and to glorify God are directly commensurate to the point we’ve made Jesus Christ the center of our attention–the pivot point around which our lives revolve. It’s no wonder, then that we have fallen flat on our faces, when for most of our lives, we who call ourselves Christians merely went to church and sang the songs, but were no longer madly in love with Christ. We had lost our first love.

The truth is, if we can’t jump up and down and go crazy worshiping our God, then we’re serving the wrong god entirely.

Let’s fall in love with Jesus all over again, making Him the end all and be all of our existence, and watch in awe the incredible things He can do as we line up with His plan for our lives.

Lord, help us today to decrease, so you can increase, so that when people see us, they say, “You’ve been with Jesus.” Let our lights so shine that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven…

Because of His great love,

Nancy