Loved and Protected

The Lord just showed me something extraordinary. That a very powerful combination of attitudes actually open and move heaven on our behalf. Forgiveness and thankfulness.

Forgiveness is more powerful than we can even imagine. It’s a pivotal choice that determines whether we will give up our right to get even or hold onto it, locking ourselves in a deathgrip with bitterness. The thing about unforgiveness is that it’s like being a conjoined twin whose other half has died. We are carrying about death and, just as it would be in real life, this death is toxic and slowly poisons us, killing us as well. On the other hand, forgiveness believes God is sovereign, that He is just and will go forward to make things right, that in the end, His love wins every battle He fights for us. Forgiveness also gives up control, and says, “God, this thing is driving me crazy, making me miserable.” And it sure does. Think back to a time when you struggled to forgive. Remember how miserable you were? That’s because revenge is a consuming fire. And though it’s meant to consume the other person, it only consumes us, destroys us.

Unforgiveness, when it continues, becomes a stumblingblock, a worse sin in God’s eyes than the original offense. Why? Because it stops the move of the Holy Spirit, hindering Him for working when we need Him most.

And not only that, it produces a crack in our spiritual armor that allows the devil legal entry to mess around in our lives. Do you really want to give the devil an opportunity like that?

Perhaps forgiving seems too hard at first. When we at least let go of our right to be bitter, we give God permission to soften our hearts and for heaven to go to work on the perpetrator in its own way, convicting of sin and often bringing repentance and transformation. And that permission, my friends, frees God to move heaven on our behalf, restoring our peace and shattering turmoil. In the end, we trust God like that little child who knows Daddy will take care of everything. And at that point where we’ve let go we also carry that exquisite fragrance of innocence I mentioned the other day.

Forgiveness and thankfulness go hand in hand. Once we have forgiven, we can also choose to do what seems odd, or even impossible–being thankful to God. Not necessarily for the harm done to us; often that’s too much to ask. But being thankful to God because He loves and has saved us, is a huge step toward breaking the hardness in our hearts. As we thank God He changes us inside, and fills us up with His mercy and grace. You and I are actually changed when we thank God during hard times. When we go as far as praising God in spite of circumstances we send God first, right into the thick of the battle, to fight for us. At least that’s what Scripture says. Wow!

The thing to remember is that God has huge plans for us, that no one but us can accomplish. We are essential to the body of Christ and many things will go begging if we choose to sit on the sidelines with hard hearts and crossed arms.

God can’t do much with a hard heart. If we harden our hearts we can no longer hear Him speak to us. We can no longer feel His touch, and more importantly, we put up a stop sign that says, “Go away, God. I don’t want to hear what you have to say right now.” And so He goes away.

Do we really want that? Do we really want to feel abandoned and isolated, alone and empty without His very presence when we need Him every moment of every day? Not I. More than anything I want to be filled with His spirit, basking in His presence, and glorying in the truth, that the King of Kings loves me and His very glory fills my belly if I let it. I want to move in love, so that people who need Jesus feel His love when they’re around me. I want to move in joy unspeakable and full of glory with every breath I take.

So let’s examine ourselves and see if there are any places where bitterness resides in the tiny crannies of our hearts. Let’s choose forgive and let God move more powerfully than ever, because we are only limited by our personal choices. It’s up to us to open the doors to our hearts and tell God to clean house and fill us up to overflowing and thanksgiving. For only then will He be able to freely use us to bless a dark and dying world.

Because of His great love,
Nancy

What is “an influencer”? It’s someone who confident enough in who he is that he is not swayed by others’ opinions, nor does he back down when living in righteousness. He cannot deny or stifle the truth of the gospel when it’s the only thing that will change men’s hearts, and they’re dying for lack of it.

That’s what you and I are supposed to be. Rather than being influenced by the world, we are to be a sweet fragrance of Jesus when we come in contact with others. When you and I have been there, the place should have the lingering scent of God’s love and mercy–the fragrance of innocence. Is that what we leave behind?

You and I have a great responsibility, which means we dare not sit back with our arms folded and let the world saturate our circle of influence. We don’t have to be pushy or crass. Jesus wasn’t like that, at least not to the people on the street. But when you and I are forced to decide whether to break the law of man to preach the gospel, we will stand up and be the first ones to go to jail, where we will preach even more passionately that Jesus is Lord.

If you’ve been with me any length of time you’ve heard me mention Gideon, a dear pastor/evangelist friend in Kenya. Well, the laws in Kenya have now made it illegal to preach the gospel using a sound system of any kind. So Gideon and his fellow pastors got together and prayed and decided that they will notify the local police that they will be preaching the gospel. And if they have to go to jail, someone will take their place to continue to preach. Praise God for men who are influencers, and who will not back down when the mandate of Scripture demands that they speak the truth in love.

What about you? Are you an influencer or do you back down when things get tough? We will be judged for our stand on this matter. God will look at us, and say, “He who denies me, him will my Father in heaven also deny.” Read the Bible. It’s in there.

You and I had better decide which side of the fence we’re going to be on, because, before long, the fence will be twenty feet high, and no longer will we be able to straddle it. And if we’re not strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, we’ll toss away our salvation like a hot potato, because it’s too dangerous, too risky, too scary to be a believer anymore.

You and I are to be light and salt on the earth, and when the salt has lost its savor, Scripture says it’s tossed underfoot and trampled, good for nothing. Which are you?

Be an influencer for Jesus Christ! There’s no more profound way to live and make an impact on a lost and dying world! Ask the Lord how He wants to use you, then step out in faith and obey–leaving a lingering fragrance that cannot be denied. You’ll never be the same again.

Because of His great love,
Nancy

Scripture says that in the last days men’s hearts will grow cold. They will lack natural affection for those they should love. If you look around you can see it happening already. Parents killing their children or spouses killing spouses for the insurance money, children killing their elderly parents who are too much of a burden to love anymore.

But what about us? What about Christians? What should we be like in these last days? Scripture says they will know us by our love.

But what happens if the one you love betrays you so that the pain is so enormous that you feel like you want to die? The hurt from such a wound cannot be denied–the pain is gigantic and can fester for years if not submitted to God. And that’s exactly the way the devil wants it. That’s also the way the world responds to injury. The Christian can only be healed as he lets go of the need for revenge and dumps out that hurt, weeping and grieving and praying before the throne until the load is lifted.

Does forgiveness mean giving that person license to sin again? Absolutely not. It means that person will be forgiven but kept accountable so that trust can be restored. For the offender true repentance means turning around to go the other direction, dying to the old sin and being delivered from the chains that have bound us. But it means giving God the chance to change the other person.

What if the pain is so great after such betrayal that you feel you can never trust again? Well, that’s something that must be continuously dumped in God’s lap. Remember, though, that our enemy the devil will keep throwing it in our faces to keep the old pain stirred up and prevent healing. He’ll keep whispering that revenge is sweet and that you’ll never be able to trust that person again. God, however, says otherwise. He can turn around for good what the enemy has meant for harm when we choose to trust Him. He can restore relationships, making them better than new if we let Him.

The thing to remember here is that God says He won’t forgive us if we refuse to forgive others, because it nullifies the work of the cross, essentially slapping God in the face, after His incredible redemptive sacrifice. It means we will no longer be forgiven if we harden our hearts and seek the hurt of the one who hurt us.

God hates betrayal. It’s wrong, and terribly painful and wreaks havoc every time. But the greatest test of all is whether we can choose to let go of our need for revenge to allow God to soften our hearts. The heart that is hard toward a person is also hardening itself against God–a very dangerous and precarious situation, indeed.

Unforgiveness, in the end, is no smaller sin than the original offense in God’s eyes, and it can prevent God from working in us, doing marvelous things He has planned, even short-circuiting our destiny if we let it. Ultimately it will steal our joy and make us the most miserable people on earth, by our own choice.

It’s time to examine our hearts and see if there is unforgiveness holding us back from soaring with God, for He cannot use us if we harbor sin in our lives. In fact, Christmas is the perfect time to let Him give us a heart of flesh for our heart of stone. It’s the perfect time for healing and restoration of relationships. It’s the perfect gift to give the God who has everything…

Because of His great love,
Nancy

When I used to think of holiness I always thought of the unattainable, the unreachable, and to be honest I was frustrated. God was up there and I was down here and, in regard to performance, it was obvious that never the twain would meet. I remember going to church for years and weeping over my lack of perfection, so vividly displayed every day of every year. We humans can be “nice,” as I was, but still know we haven’t “met the mark.” And that, if you recall, is the very definition of sin. So how was I to live in holiness when I couldn’t even make it one day without failing God?

When I learned the answer I was flabbergasted. The truth is God never expected perfection from a fallen human race. He knew before the beginning of time that we would choose sin and need a sacrifice to cover and redeem us. We can’t just try to wipe off sin and put clean clothes on our old, dead man, and expect to be holy. In reality, many of us try to do that, but it fails every time.

Now I knew all that in theory, but hadn’t put these two concepts together to form a cohesive solution. The answer is:

Holiness only comes as we continue to get on the cross, die to sin, and exalt Jesus rather than our own flesh, our own will. When we love Him and live for Him, instead of doing our own thing, when we let His will be our pleasure and privilege, knowing He is changing us from glory to glory–that is the essence of holiness. It’s putting on Christ, putting on the mind of Christ, and asking for His perspective, asking for His direction, and then walking in obedience to the revelation He gives.

You may think this sounds like gobbledygook, but I’ll tell you, the difference is stark–remarkable.

Here is the difference in me when I walk this way. I am tenderhearted toward God and weep at the drop of a hat, when He touches me. My heart breaks when I do something that hurts Him. I am grateful, grateful, grateful for everything that comes from His hand. And I want to move to minister to others. I want them saved, set free, healed, encouraged and, let me tell you, that compassion doesn’t come from mere flesh. Only God moving in us makes us want to touch others.

Now no one but you and I knows what is in our hearts. Except God. He knows. Never forget that. You and I can walk around and speak Christianese with the best of them and even do good works in His name, even testify and minister, but for what reason? If we’re doing it to show off how great we are, or to make a name for ourselves, perhaps no one will know but us and God. But those motives are sin, and sin will be judged, so that even if we give our bodies to be burned, it will be for nothing, according to God’s Word.

That kind of living has gotten us the kind of reputation we have today. That’s why Christianity is a joke to many people who have seen us in action. If Jesus isn’t our focus, and walking in the supernatural isn’t our goal, to win and heal and minister in love, we actually leave a stench in the world’s eyes. Isn’t that tragic? What should be the most amazing, incredible, miraculous thing the world has ever seen becomes ineffective and is tainted and disgusting unless you and I are walking in the spirit instead of in the flesh.

We love Him because He first loved us, or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be. Do you love Him with everything in you, knowing He took your place, tortured on a cruel cross? Does it move you to tears to realize what you’ve been saved from? Honey, eternity is a very long time to spend in hell, separated from God’s love, and everything good, tormented, alone, with no hope of an end. Hell never ends. That is what you’ve been saved from.

Time is short until Jesus comes, and Scripture talks about the “great falling away.” A time in which those who say they love God grow cold and no longer care what He thinks. It should scare us to death to think we might be in that crowd, because those people will abandon salvation and choose hell. And they will suffer more than others who’ve never known. Why? Because they tasted the goodness of God and tossed it on the trash heap.

Now is the time to ask the Lord to stir up the fire in us, so that we are consumed with passion for Jesus! Today is the day of salvation, and as incredible as it sounds, He entrusted you with making a free choice. Which one will you choose?

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Because of His great love,
Nancy

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
I was brought up in a church that preached that once we’re saved, we’re always saved. And to one extent that’s true. No one can snatch us from God’s hand. But we ourselves have fallen for what I call “easy believism…” “Just say repeat this prayer after me and you’re in.” That kind of thing must be such a stench in God’s nostrils.

When we believe that way it’s as if we’ve been given a license to live as we want and will not be answerable for it. But the truth is much different. Nowhere does Scripture say that a Christian can live a loose life and do his own thing. Nowhere does it say we are our own. Rather it says we are bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus, and real Christianity demands that we sell out to Christ, hook, line and sinker, and either be all His, or forget it altogether.

He’s tired (and so am I) of lukewarm Christianity, where we think we’re safe from judgement. In fact, I think many of us are going to be stunned and shocked when we get to the judgement and He said, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” We’re going to argue, “But Lord, didn’t I…” And He’s going to wave His hand and dismiss us from the doors of heaven. A stunning thought, isn’t it?

In fact, you and I need to be examining ourselves everyday to see if there is anything–any sin, bad attitudes or anything displeasing standing between us and God. Answer this: How long has it been since you were convicted and wept over sin, running down th aisle to the altar to get things right with God? How long?

We need to fall in love with Him, yearn after Him, hating the things He hates and loving the things He loves. We should be saying, “What kind of Christian am I if I don’t care what He thinks, if I don’t consult Him, or worry when I break His heart with my gossip or my critical attitudes, (etc.)?” What kind of Christian am I if I can stay in my seat with my arms crossed and say, “He’s preaching to someone else. As for me, I’m okay.”

That, my friends, is the devil’s lie. You and I can walk away from our wonderful God at any moment and end up in hell. We just don’t see it because our enemy the devil has us hoodwinked, bamboozled, flimflammed and deceived, to where we believe we’re a shoe-in. Nothing can be further from the truth.

If we can’t rejoice and dance and get as excited about Jesus as we do about a football game, we’re out of sync with God’s will, and we’re going to be separated from Him for all eternity because we’ve gone our own way instead of His. What we want is more important than what He wants. That’s the key right there.

This kind of preaching isn’t going to win me any popularity contests, but I don’t care. If even one person sees himself and repents, drawing near to God, it’s worth it. So don’t write me and say I’m too closed-minded, because you know what? God is, too.

In our day and age we have tainted the gospel, adulterated the pure Word of God, and painted the invitation to seem pleasing and attractive, as if we can have our cake and eat it too. But the truth is, we aren’t preaching the true gospel. Inside we are cold, hard-hearted, and empty, lukewarm, sitting with our arms crossed in rebellion, saying, “You can’t say that to me.” Well, I am saying it, and if you want to escape hell, you’d better listen up now! Jesus is coming for a bride whose garments are white, unstained by the world, and completely in love with her groom. Does that describe you?

If we can’t get back our first love, we are lost. Get mad at me! I don’t care! The truth will save you from eternal hell, so your anger doesn’t bother me in the least. If we don’t love our brothers, love the lost and feel the urgency to win them to Christ, if we don’t forgive and yearn for truth and righteousness, if we do not wash our own garments and run, run, run to the altars in deep repentance, we are…I repeat, we are…in danger of hell, my friends.

And because you are so precious to God and to me, I once again shout it from the rooftops. Jesus is coming! Examine your own hearts, you who think you are His, and ask Him to show you the truth. Saturate yourself in the Word, and let Him open your eyes to your real status, and ask yourself, “Would I die for the cause of Christ?” Most of us won’t even walk across the street or across the room to show love to other people. And if that’s how we act, we are lost, lost, lost.

My heart breaks at how my presumed brothers and sisters reject this message. Time is short! If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?

Let a word to the wise be sufficient!

Because of His great love,
Nancy

What does it mean to have a servant’s heart? It’s a lot more complicated than it looks, and yet at the same time it’s as simple as it gets.

Why is that? Because it means drawing near to God, pressing in and living in His glory, with no agenda of our own, esteeming God and His people more than ourselves, and finally, listening and obeying His voice.

It means doing what needs to be done even if it costs us. It sounds complicated, doesn’t it? But it’s actually simple once we get the ‘agenda’ thing right. Once we figure out that it’s all about God and giving Him His rightful place, and we do that, it becomes very easy to hear His voice and open our hands to those who need to feel His hand extended.

Wow, what a way to live! To see Him moving and transforming hearts in response to His loving outreach. There’s absolutely nothing like it. And it can’t help but make our faith grow like crazy as we see how utterly incomparable His love really shows through in blessing others. It makes us more grateful than ever, knowing He cares about the little things, because we can see Him using us as tools to address those very things. And when people know God is alive and that He really does care, they are touched, healed and encouraged toward maturity in their faith. Their confidence flourishes and they are empowered to ‘pay it forward’ as well, living out the Great Commission in their own little corners of the world.

And it’s all about Thanksgiving, too, in its own way. Thanksgiving is giving back with a heart attitude of love, and if you think about it, the concept of ‘paying it forward’ was actually God’s idea long before the movie ever made it to the screen. Jesus, in fact, is our model of that very thing. He gave up His life in our place on a cross, and made a way for salvation, blessing, redemption, eternity in heaven and a host of other things, when we least deserved it. And if you and I can have a tiny part in doing that for others, we will be blessed, because in giving our lives away, we will be filled up, more than we can ever know, in just following His humble example.

The thought for today: What kind of a place would this world be if we all looked for ways to bless others without expecting anything in return? Can you even imagine!

Sounds like heaven to me!

Because of His great love,
Nancy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have you ever noticed how many times Scripture speaks of gratitude? The words, “O, give thanks unto the Lord,” appear repeatedly, especially in the Book of Psalms, and for good reason. Gratitude is a very accurate gauge of the attitude of the heart.

So what do we have to be grateful for? As we count our blessings, naming them one by one, we find they are endless. And even if America faces judgment and we lose our freedoms, there will always be amazing ways God ministers to the needs of His people. If we sell out to God, hook, line and sinker, we will find ourselves smack in the middle of a powerful move of the spirit.

In fact, as believers you and I should be the most grateful people on earth. We should be the most upbeat people, courteous, kind, helpful and most of all, grateful for anything others do for us.

And when things get darker and men’s hearts grow cold and ungrateful, our love and grateful hearts will be highly visible, like dazzling light in thick, black darkness. And those qualities wil draw others like flies to honey.

It’s up to us to cultivate thankfulness to God and men. So let’s start today, thanking the Lord at every opportunity, and letting our light so shine before men so they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Because of His great love,
Nancy

Did you know that the one thing every human has in common is the desire to be fully known and loved?

Isn’t that amazing? You and I may never admit it but we have a deep yearning inside us that longs to be fully known by someone who can appreciate us for who we are. So who does that?

God does. He knows us–indeed, He created us and therefore He knows the details of our lives, the secrets, even the shameful things, the things that make us loathe ourselves. And yet He loves us. He loves us!

You and I need not hide from God. In fact, the only time we as believers feel the need to hide from God is when we have sinned. Exactly like it was in Adam and Eve’s case, you and I run from God when we feel separated from him by sin. And that self-loathing we feel–it comes from hidden sin that condemns us.

That’s when we despair. We may try to kill or deaden the despair inside us, but it’s there, tormenting us, because we feel abandoned, isolated and targeted by the enemy, even when we cause it. So what’s the answer to that yearning for closeness?

The answer is: Stay in touch with God, and if there’s anything between the two of you, ask God to reveal it then repent and put it under the blood. Then you can take the authority you have and tell the devil to take a hike and take his tormenting spirits with him. You and I actually open cracks in our armor through which the devil has a legal right to enter and harass us when we have unconfessed sin in our lives–when we have walked away from the Holy Spirit’s conviction and said, “Not interested.” Until we turn around and repent, running toward God and closing the cracks in our armor, we are, of all men, most miserable. And the devil has every right to make our lives miserable.

This isn’t rocket science. We all know the drill. We act, doing something questionable, and the Holy Spirit says, “Repent.” And we either repent and patch things up between us, or we remain alone, vulnerable, and seemingly abandoned, though we’ve chosen to leave God, rather than Him leaving us. In fact, He’s standing off to the side, as the gentleman He is, waiting for us to run back into His arms.

So what are we waiting for?

Because of His great love,
Nancy

Have you ever been around a brand new infant? They have their own sweet fragrance and smell fresh and new, as if untainted by the world.

That’s how the fragrance of innocense smells.

And as believers that’s how we should smell–untainted by the world. If you and I say we love Jesus with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, and we have confessed our sins, repenting of all that does not please God, to the world we will smell like the fragrance of innocence. A very rare and precious fragrance indeed.

Without that, we are tainted, polluted and have nothing to show to the world but what they have seen before, and it’s not very attractive. It smells nothing like Jesus.

God is looking for those who want to go all the way. He’s tired of halfway Christians who do one thing on Sunday but live like the devil and go their own way the rest of the time. God wants passionate people who will live like there’s no tomorrow, loving others and doing whatever God asks them to do. Who have no other agenda but His, knowing it’s trustworthy and counts for eternity.

He’s searching the world over to find out who is really His. And it’s not hard to tell. Right now He’s pouring out His spirit on all who will receive it. What about you? Will you be one who’s anxiously yearning to please God, who doesn’t care if others like it or not? Will you be one whose fragrance God can sense from a mile off and follow it to your door? Will you be one who can’t wait to find out what God has for you to do next? Who you will minister to, pray for, touch with healing prayer, or simply listen to and love?

Jesus is coming soon, and in my spirit I strongly believe that if we’re still middle of the road, straddling the fence we will grow cold and fall away. If He can’t sense the smell of innocence and repentance He will pass by on His search. More than anything else I want Him to be able to sense that fragrance in me and stop the search at my very door. What about you?

Because of His great love,
Nancy

What does it mean to walk in love? It means we love our brothers and sisters, overlooking their shortcomings and, like Jesus, envisioning the best for them and their future.

Last night the Lord gave me a vision of a small tick crawling on my forearm, and He said this: “Backbiting and criticism have no place in my body. Just as a tick crawls up your arm and burrows his head in and bites you, sucking lifeblood from you, jealousy and criticism, misjudging and gossiping steal the lifeblood of my church, my bride. In fact these things break My heart and grieve Me no end. I am returning for a spotless bride, one who loves with the tender mercies of Christ, and I will no longer countenance evil spoken against my people. Judgement will come on My church if these things continue. Each of my children is precious, a product of his life circumstances, and each needs an extra-gentle healing touch. Today is the day to judge yourselves and repent of these things. Choose to be silent when you see faults in your brothers and sisters. Choose to pray and envision healing and power for them instead of majoring on their weaknesses. Declare unto them the anointing God has on their lives. Declare healing for their bodies, minds and spirits. Declare their freedom and deliverance and I will make it so. You have the power in your hands and voice, to declare life rather than death to My members, so choose life, and purify yourselves. Weep and grieve over your sins, lest they consume you. Time is short, and My return is drawing very near, so wash your garments and love the brethren with the tender love of the Lord. Pull out the tick from your skin and refuse to let it in. Allowing backbiting and evil speaking against each other causes a crack in your armor through which the enemy has a legal right to enter. Close the cracks with the powerful weld of the love of Christ that the enemy may not hinder you. Make it your goal to out-love each other, out-serve each other; pray for one another, lift each other up, and encourage each other, for then will the world see, for the very first time, that you are My disciples.”

I had to repent of not loving my brothers and sisters with the kind of love God intends, and I believe that love will transform the body, the way godly love can minister healing to those who need it. In fact, we all need it.

I’m convinced that those who refuse to walk in love will grow cold and fall away in the great falling away Revelations talks about. I pray it won’t be so with us, for we are to be gentle, with tender compassion one toward another, forgiving each other and blessing each other with the love of the Lord who loves each of us individually as if we were the only one.

I pray the Lord will give us new hearts of love for each other, so we are the kind of bride the groom is awaiting.

Because of His great love,
Nancy