No Shrines This Time

A year and a half ago, I stood on the grounds of where part of the second great awakening occurred – the home of the Cane Ridge Revival, which is less than an hour from Ashbury, where the current outpouring of God’s spirit is just starting.

While walking the grounds at Cane Ridge that day, I felt like I was in two places at once. Standing by an old worn, wooden fence, I could almost see the fiery preacher standing on the mound in the middle of the cow pasture. In the center of the grounds stood an antique, 1800’s camp-meeting building which was now enshrined in a more modern structure. This revival had begun when different denominations had gathered together to pray in unity. Amazingly, the Holy Spirit fell and the flow that came from it affected the world.

More on the Cane Ridge Revival – https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-45/revival-at-cane-ridge.html

As I’ve listened to the reports of the Ashbury revival getting underway, what has stood out to me is that no one man is leading it. It is being led by Jesus. It is primarily the younger generation, multi-cultural, multi-denomination all in unity making room for the presence of the Lord in ongoing worship for ten days now. It is spreading fast like a wildfire, an outpouring like Niagara Falls (see Kathie Walter’s post about that on Facebook).

The following interview talks a little more about it and why it is significant.

Recently, when I’ve been on college campuses, in my Spirit, there has been this overwhelming anticipation of God showing up. I also just wrote about this next move coming through the younger generation here – https://blossomingheartsstudio.wordpress.com/2023/02/01/designed-with-purpose

The Lord has been saying for some time now through many voices that God’s spirit will be poured out in many places, some you would not expect, in homes, in businesses, in churches, on college campuses. It reminds me of our own journey of finding the Holy Spirit in multiple different places. From Episcopal to Methodist to Baptist to Charismatic to everything in between God’s spirit is on the move. For more of our own journey, read here. https://wholeheartedwomen.org/2019/04/27/unexpected-journey/

Back to the day we visited Cane Ridge, as I came around the corner of the building which housed the original camp-meeting structure, the Holy Spirit boomed in my spirit, “This next move of My Spirit will not become a shrine! No man will be able to put their hand on it. No man will be able to claim it and make it about them or their kingdom. I am done with man’s shrines!” No lie, as I careened around that last corner of the building and sauntered up to the locked, wooden doors, I squinted to read the words on the plaque in front of the building. There, imprinted in pewter, were the words “The Cane Ridge Shrine”. I gasped.

This next move will not have man’s hands on it. It will not be about a man or a man’s kingdom. It will be about Jesus. It will be about Jesus’s Kingdom. And it will sweep our nation and the world, beginning with our youth, like the most huge waterfall gushing rapidly.

We are entering the age of the Waterbearer (the Holy Spirit) being poured out without measure, and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roaring. The enemy can not stop that.

This, my friends, I believe, is the beginning of what we have been waiting for, longing to see our whole lives. Don’t try to control it, put a dam on it, or manipulate it in anyway. Just jump on in it!

With much love and anticipation

Designed with Purpose

The first section of this blog is the second part of the word I felt the Lord gave me at the beginning of December. (There are several parts to it, which I believe the Lord will have me release at different times.)

The words are as I heard them in quotation marks, because I want to honor God’s voice as I perceive it, and don’t want to add my own interpretation to it. Following that though, I do feel prompted to flesh it out a little. Obviously, I am human, and I may be off, and this is not the canonized scripture, but I believe it carries the heart of the scripture. I also look for outside confirmation of words, and it was immediately confirmed. This is as I heard it.

“You are truly at the brink of the greatest outpouring this world has ever seen of. My glory.  My Holy Spirit is being poured out with out measure in this last time.  There will a great wave, a great influx of soul.  Like the waves of the oceans, they will be swept into the kingdom.”

“This generation, this generation that has had identity theft coming against them, this generation though they have been turned over to the enemy for a season, this generation will be the ones to rise up and throw that Jezebel lying spirit off the balcony.  Eunuchs did it in my Word, and again those who have lost their sexual identity, these very ones will run to the Lamb of God, be forgiven of their trespasses and rebellion, they shall know their true identity in Christ, and they will cast off the Jezebel that has sought to steal their identity to cut off their generations.  That pride flag will be torn down, and a spirit of humility will sweep this nation.”

This generation has certainly had identity theft committed against them, and many, many have bought it hook, line, and sinker. I truly believe as this generation of young people have the blinders pulled off their eyes, and they begin to see that they were deceived by agendas that have sought to steal, kill, and destroy them – not just their sense of self (of their individual identity), but also to cut off their generations (families from being formed and babies from being born) – that they will rise up and throw off that lying spirit as the Eunuchs did to Jezebel in 2 King’s 9:33.

What do I mean by identity theft?

In 2022, a suspension bridge in India that had been designed and built during the British rule many decades before collapsed with 100’s of people plummeting into the river below killing over a 100 of them. The bridge had been structurally sound when built, but in recent times fallen into disrepair. Engineers had shut down the structure to repair the damage, but they did so in a hurry, and with no regard to things like weight limits. After a short few months, the bridge was reopened right before a festival. As hundreds crowded the bridge, the cables began to give way under the weight crashing into the water below.

Much like this bridge, God has an original design that works, and it has worked and will work for eternity. His original design is family – a man and a woman in covenant procreating children. Over time, mankind has damaged that structure, creating pain and hurt from broken covenants, abusive behavior, etc.. This has caused the need for repair. Instead of going back to the original design and restoring the bridge to what the original intent was, we have tried to in our own rebellion against God, or even with the belief that God no longer exits, made the bridge the way we wanted or to different standards, even changing the look of the bridge entirely, and as a result it doesn’t hold weight. It will eventually collapse, because the structure is not sound.

What does Jezebel have to do with it? I really don’t like throwing around the Jezebel spirit word, but Jezebel. as the person in the scriptures, was a cruel, manipulative, controlling ruler. The spirit of this age many times has those controlling and manipulative attributes. In scripture, Jezebel even intimidated the prophet Elijah who had called fire down from heaven, causing him to run, questioning his call and identity. That spirit always cause identity theft. Isn’t that the same thing happening today? People questioning their identity, their calling, floundering around not knowing who they are, why they are here, and what they are to do with their lives.

Some would look at God – the great three in one – and say well, where is the design of family in God? Yet the Trinity is actually the perfect picture of what family is supposed to look like. This may rock your thoughts a bit, but study this out for yourself. God is family. He didn’t procreate the Son. He was always already present in the Godhead, but consider this. God is three in one – God, the Father; God, the Son (Jesus); and God, the Holy Spirit (mother). Now, wait a minute. God is not female? Right?

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew pronoun for the Holy Spirit is in a feminine form, meaning the Jewish culture attribute the female qualities to the Holy Spirit. Some qualities listed about the Holy Spirit are comforter, helper, friend, wind, the dove, peace-giver, the one who hovers, gives life, and creates. Sounds like a mother to me? In Genesis, the word says that God created man and woman in His image, which is a male and female image. The Trinity represents the purest form of the perfect family structure.

I understand that some may read this and say that I’m not educated or that I’m judging people. The fact is I have several people who I love dearly who have lived alternative lifestyles. I have seen the short and long-term fruit of those who have accepted the changes in original design. In fact, I recently asked an honest question to a precious friend who had been in an alternative lifestyle for decades. My question was in all these years, have you known anyone in your circles that have had good, long lasting fruit, meaning long term peace, love, joy, happiness from it? She thought and thought. Her answer was “No. Everyone I know is still searching to fill that hole in their heart. Everyone I know is dealing with depression, suicide, drugs, alcohol, etc., and are searching for peace.”

To the opposite, I also have seen that as people have received the true love and truth about who God has created them to be as a daughter of God, that their sexual identity automatically begins to changed intended for it to be. The way they think and feel begins to change, and their lives begin to bear good, long lasting fruit, like joy, peace, love. Depression, anxiety, suicide fall away, as they live in who God created them to be. Sexual identity is almost a by-product, as they grasp their calling as a son or daughter of the living God.

I too have gone through some of those changes, because having been raised in a extremely sexually abusive environment, being female for many years did not felt safe to me. So I believed that it was safer to carry extra weight, and to dress down. This is super common among abuse survivors. Yet, as I realize more and more who God has created me to be and that I’m safe being a female, I feel more comfortable in my own skin. I desire to wear make-up and look pretty.

I don’t come from a stand point here of pointing my finger. My heart is full of compassion for the people standing on the broken bridge. In fact, a person who identified as A-sexual recently asked me why did I think I had authority to speak into this topic. My answer was pretty simple. I do understand many of the thought processes that lead to those beliefs, and I have compassion on those who don’t understand who God has created them to be, because I’m still growing in that myself. I know how strong lies,and hurts can be driven into a heart. But I know the healer of the broken heart, and I’ve seen how He can change lives around, and give people a whole new identity in Him.

I firmly believe that God created us – all of us with design – a design that was actually made after His image. Gen. 5:2, Mark 10:6 Obviously, mankind has screw that up through many things – drugs, genetic manipulation, rebellion against the original design, etc.. And sometimes, there is not a pat, easy answer to the screw ups. Mankind has sought to reinvent the bridge. It has since the beginning. Pride resulting in rebellious fists against the creator has led to many falling to their death off a broken bridge that can’t hold weight.

Yet, this is why Jesus came. He came to make a way for us to be back in a family. A real family. A way to be back in fellowship and relationship with the perfect Father, Mother, and Big Brother. And when we find our place in that family, He will show us who He has really created us to be.

I believe in this generation those blinders will come off, and this generation will be able to see truth, and they will throw off the lies and the agenda that has sought to destroy them and their generations. That will happen as they come to know the real Jesus, who loves them and cares for them like no other, and who has made the way for them to be apart of His family.

Part of this great move of God I believe will come from just this – thousands and thousands realizing their true identity in Jesus, throwing off their pride flag, and humbling themselves before God, receiving true love, so perfect that it casts out the fear and manipulation and the lies. I’ve seen it with a few. Many more are going to follow. God will raise them up, just as He did those Eunuchs, and they will overthrow the very system that has held them captive.

 

A New Hope Rising

Recently, I was at a funeral – my mom’s funeral.  As the lid of the casket closed, two of our former pastors solemnly walked through the doors to greet my sister, who they had come for.  I meandered across the room shaking hands, and receiving thoughtful glances as I made my way to greet my old friends.  Unknown bridges had been burned in the past, but we had not been the ones to light the fires to them.  Once torched, we had sought several times to rebuild, to reconcile, but to no avail.  

It had been almost a decade since we last met.  As I approached them yet again with a welcoming hug and a greeting of genuine, “It so good to see you,” it felt like I had just hugged an icicle – hard, cold, unresponsive.  Not a word was returned. 

Later, I wrestled with all my ball of knotted up gut responses in the presence of a trusted friend.  With many tears, I talked to Jesus and encountered His presence.

I sought reconciliation still with these pastors.  “Jesus, maybe if I just write one more letter.  Maybe if I just trying explain one more time where our hearts were, why we left when did, etc., etc.?”

There are only a handful of times that I have seen Jesus truly angry, like turn over the tables in the temple angry.  Honestly, in scripture, the only time I read about Him that angry is when He encountered the religious leaders of His day.  He never seemed to be mad at the prostitutes, or the sick, or the demon-possessed, or the dishonest tax collectors, or even the Roman dictators.  But with the religious leaders He commonly said some scathing comments about them.  “White-washed tombs filled with dead men’s bone” would probably qualify as some of those type of comments.  

So, I found myself begging for reconciliation with these former pastors to Jesus, who seemed really, really angry.  The answer I got was well, not what I expected, but it went way broader than these pastors really fast.  In fact, this message is not really about these individuals at all, but they seemed to be representing church leadership in general.

He has repeated this message over the course of the past month and a half, different ways, but over and over again to me.  Even this morning, the directive has been to write this down, and share it.  There is no desire on my part to throw these particular people under the bus.  The reason I mention them at all is for context. For whatever reason, His answer to me was a firm “No,” to seeking further reconciliation.  It was more like “It’s time for me to intervene.”  

Please understand.  I’m not saying any of this as a judgment statement against all churches.  In fact, in this engagement with the Lord, I kept feeling like I needed to ask forgiveness because I got them in trouble, which was silly.  I hadn’t done anything to cause them pain, though evidently they had thought so.  I also quickly realized Jesus’s words were not just directed towards them, but the American Church in general.  Also, my family and I do meet in the corporate environment with other believers, and it is wonderful.  The following is not meant to be a blanket judgment across the American Church from me.  I have a healthy respect for the scripture that says, “Don’t judge, lest you be judged.”  I know I miss the mark all the time, so this is just a reiterating of what I have heard that He has been saying this past month, and feel now is the time to share it.  

In my mind’s eye, I saw the tip of an huge iceberg floating in the sea, and then the finger of God came and tapped the tip, flipping the entire iceberg upside down, so that huge, immense bottom was now above water and was visible for the world to see.  Then, I heard these words.

“Those who have represented my church, who have represented me, in their pride, in their arrogance, who have offered fake fire, and a puny god, who made my kingdom their kingdom, who have made their name great instead of my name, their day of judgment has come.  Only the tip of the iceberg has been shown, but I am tipping the iceberg upside down, and the world will see the giant iceberg underneath.  It must be done, or the American’s destiny will not be fulfilled.” 

“The shaking in the four walls has only begun.” 

“Exposure.  Exposure.  Exposure.”

“You have called for the judgment on the broken in this nation, you have turned your eyes away from the needy, the bleeding.  In fact, you have been disgusted by the little, hurt lambs, while instead you have fed the wolves.” 

“Enough is enough.  The tables are turning.  The tables are turning.  I will cleanse my house of this witchcraft, of this wickedness.”  

“They have misrepresented my heart.  They have caused the little ones to stumble .  The children cried for a rope to pull them out of the pits, and instead they have offered them a noose.  They have brought judgment on themselves.”  

“Don’t look to the four walls anymore.  Don’t try to be like the old structure at all.  Yes, there is some good still there. Yes. I am still using organized churches, but a shift is coming and is already here.” 

“Millions have been driven out of buildings, out of the man’s kingdom structures, and into their homes.  I am and will pour my spirit out in the homes, businesses, in the street. The enemy won’t contain my spirit behind four walls anymore.”  

“On the contrary, my ecklessia will return to her roots,  house to house, home to home, family to family, heart to heart.  I will build my true ecklessia.  Not with bricks, but with living stones, with me only as their chief corner stone.”

Yesterday, I sat in a movie theatre with tears streaming down my cheeks.  In front of me on the big screen was a church that had been partly destroyed by the Civil War.  The bell tower had been damaged with the bell itself now covered in ashes laying on the floor in the center of the shell shocked nave.  “Mama always said that the bell of the church is the voice of the church which rings out hope, but look the church has lost her voice,” said the character in the movie as he looked at the structure.  (Paraphrased)

The stark scene reflected the feelings in my heart.  “The church has lost her voice,” I repeated in my head.  And yet as the movie continued, the scenes changed to later showing the same fallen bell, covered in ashes and snow.  As the wind blew across it the words “ New Hope” appeared.  

There is no power in a church building unless the Holy Spirit resides there.  The traditional church were my mom’s funeral had been held was as empty and cold as my former friend’s hug had been.  

How many lost souls have found only condemnation, a list of do’s and don’t’s, a bar too high to jump, a noose to hang themselves on; instead of a rope to be pulled out the dark pit they have fallen into, and a gospel that is empty of good news.  

Our Hope has been, is now, and will always be found in Christ alone.  “He did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it.”  

In this season of civil war, A New Hope is and will rise out of the ashes of the destruction of former institutions we called church.  It will be the true Bride of Christ, the true Church, the true Body of Christ arising with the real Jesus as our leader, our lover, our Bridegroom King.  He’s not done with the American Church, but He must clean house, and rebuild His true church to restore Her voice.  Only He can do this.  It may not look like we think it will, but He can and will have His Bride, His Church.  

God truly loves you.  He relentlessly is chasing after the rejected ones, the ones who have been judged, ridiculed, and left on the road side to die.  He came to seek and save those that are lost.  

A great harvest is coming, but they will come because they have met the real, true Jesus who loves them with a love, so pure, so strong, so compelling.  Our New Hope is found in the true Jesus alone.  

Ironically, when I was a child, my mom used to sing this little song about a bell ringing. “If I had a bell, I’d ring it in the morning. I’d ring it in the evening all over this land. I’d ring out justice. I’d ring out freedom. I’d ring out a love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land.” (paraphrased)

Let the bells ring out Hope again!

The movie referenced is “I Heard the Bell” by Sight and Sound Theatre 2022, and the song is “If I Had a Hammer” lyrics © T.R.O. Inc., Tratore/ Songwriters: Lee Hays / Pete Seeger.

Why “The Bride Arising”?

“This is Where You Fight From”

Often times, we become so familiar with a concept, topic, or environment that we miss the importance of it. Being the Bride of Christ is one of those concepts.

When the vision that I just wrote about in my new book, “The Bride Arising: A Vision of a Bridal Journey” occurred six years ago, I had been raised in the church my whole life. I knew about the concept of the Bride of Christ. I knew it be about the passage in Revelation 21:2, where it talks about the new Jerusalem coming down. I also knew and had heard sermons preached about Ephesians 5, where husbands are commanded to love their wives, like Christ does the church as His Bride. That it is a mystery. There is actually a lot of passages about the Bride of Christ coming and us being ready for the wedding!

When you have an experience though that is back up by the scriptures, especially one like this vision was, it takes that information and engraves it on your heart in new ways.

I hope that you will take time to go back and watch the interview I had with my special guests, because they asked some fantastic questions. I included it at the end.

One question was what has been one thing that has made a lasting impact, brought lasting fruit in my life because of this experience? Encounters with a living God should bring about lasting fruit. It should change you. As I contemplated that question, I realized that not only had this experience been one of the most profound and vivid encounters with Jesus, but also one that has had a most lasting impact.

This vision with Jesus really was the beginning of me experiencing Him in this intimate love, this holy, pure passion like I’d never experienced before. Through out this experience, Jesus kept looking at me and telling me that

“This is where you fight from. This is where you live now.”

It didn’t make as much sense then as it does now. Through the years since this experience with Him, living from that holy place of intimacy with Jesus, from under the canopy of His love, with His armor firmly fitted over my wedding attire (my new identity in Christ), it has become my life, my sustaining daily bread. When I’ve lost sight of this holy place of intimacy with Him in His heart of love for me, is when I’ve spiraled downward into confusion, darkness, and despair.

Knowing our identity in Jesus Christ as our Bridegroom, both individually and corporately, and then living from it, is how we can live an overcoming life in this crazy, dark world. This is why I wrote the book and why I feel it’s so important. It’s not just about me having this grand experience. It’s about each of us encountering the Living God of love, and dwelling there with Him, living our lives from that place of intimacy in His heart.

In the book, I give you space to have your own experience with Him. I pray others will also share as they are ready what that experience was like for them.

Consider this scripture:

“Look! It is the king’s marriage carriage— the love seat surrounded by sixty champions, the mightiest of Israel’s host, are like pillars of protection. They stand ready with swords to defend the king and his fiancée from every terror of the night. The king made this mercy seat for himself out of the finest wood that will not decay. Pillars of smoke, like silver mist—a canopy of golden glory dwells above it. The place where they sit together is sprinkled with crimson. Love and mercy cover this carriage, blanketing his tabernacle throne. The king himself has made it for those who will become his bride.” Song of Songs 7-10 TPT

Can you see it? Everyone who becomes His Bride (Which is both male and female – Refer to Chris’ encounter in the the chapter entitled “The Struggle for Men” pg. 60), have the position to sit on the mercy seat, which is covered in crimson (the blood of Jesus) under the canopy the canopy of His love (His chuppa – the wedding canopy). His banner over us is love. This is where we sit seated with Jesus Christ, surrounded by His mighty angel, warriors. It’s our place of intimacy, rest, warfare, protection. It is the marriage seat.

My friends, this is why this message is so important for us today. As we get closer and closer to the changing of the next age of the Kingdom, the full revealing of the Sons of God in the earth, to the wedding celebration of the Lamb, we must live from this place.

This book is for you to help you to begin to encounter Jesus, and all of the Trinity for yourself.

It is also timely. The Lord kept pressing me to have the book completed before the week of Sukkot, which is the Feast of Booths/ Feast of Tabernacles. It’s the feast the Jews celebrate the crossing of the desert to the promised land, where they lived in temporary dwelling, and so to celebrate would for ten days live outside in tents at this time every year. I was invited to be apart of a Sukkot celebration for the first time, and had been asked to teach a healing art class there. I felt led to do one on the bridal journey. What I had no idea of though is that in the Hebrew mindset, the journey of Sukkot is the bridal journey!

The journey through the wilderness for the Hebrews was a bridal journey with God, where they came to Mt. Sinai to cut a marital covenant with Him. He became their covering in the desert, their protector, their provider, their lover. Obviously, they were not fully able to embrace this covenant, and eventually turned their backs on their Husband, God. (I think this would make a great follow up blog.) In short, Jesus came to cut a new marriage covenant with us. When we receive Him, we say yes, to Him as our covering, our protector, our provider, our lover, our Husband.

So, in telling me to have the book completed by this celebration, the Lord confirmed strongly His will in having this book out at just the perfect time. How fun God is!

Even if you decide not to read the book, I hope you gained more perspective on what it means to become the Bride of Christ, and how vital it is to live from that place of intimacy in His heart!

It’s time for the Bride to Arise.

“The Bride Arising: A Vision of a Bridal Journey” is now available on Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle version.

You Tube Version of “The Bride Arising” Launch Event with Special Guests: Wendy Cohen, Adena Hodges, and Lisa Meister

New Book Release: The Bride Arising: A Vision of a Bridal Journey

I’m so excited to announce that my next book, “The Bride Arising: A Vision of a Bridal Journey” is now released on Amazon.com. The Kindle version is already available, and it will be FREE from Tuesday, Nov. 16 through Friday, November 18th on Kindle. The paperback version is also available now, and will be on sale through the end of the month!

This book was birthed from a personal experience I had with Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom preparing His Bride. Along with the vision, we deep dive into what it means to be the Bride of Christ both corporately and individually. We also discuss each step in the preparation process, and have a time of personal encounter with you discovering what this means for you. Come join in the bridal journey as you make yourself ready for the greatest wedding celebration of all time!

I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity for a FREE and/or discounted book, and please share with others. Reviews on Amazon.com are also super helpful in getting the book out and are much appreciated!

To order or download your free book, just click below or visit Amazon.com.

Click Here

The Day I Danced Out Of Church

Something was wrong.  I knew it, but couldn’t put my fingers on it.  

Sure.  There were things in the natural that I saw that weren’t sitting right.  But this was something deep below the surface – something not visible – like slimy things hidden in dark places.  

As soon as anyone asked questions, tried to turn the light on, their flashlight was tossed out – X-ed out – including ours.  

Yet, the problem seemed even deeper than one place, one building, one enterprise.  It gnawed at me.  The Holy Spirit had been stirring things up in us for months.  

“When Heidi comes, you will know for sure…” the Holy Spirit whispered inside.  

Heidi Baker is someone I respect highly, and she was coming to our neck of the woods.  After an infamous talk entitled “Don’t Eat Your Family,” (a rebuke regarding Christian cannibalism – verbally tearing your family apart), she pointed towards the back doors and said, “It’s time for you to dance right out of here.”  

I turned to my husband in shocked surprise.  “I think she’s talking to us.”  It was a few weeks later, but…

Then, came the moment.

The moment I thought I’d dread.  The moment I walked out of those doors – out of the same place I had said my vows with my husband, raised my babies, walked through for the last twenty-six years of my life.  It was surreal.

Yet, the oddest thing happened.   

I caught the glance of a friend from across the auditorium, threw my arms around her neck, and instead of tears of sorrow, joy bubbles began to pop up inside me, making me laugh like a little girl.  

It was almost embarrassing, except I didn’t care.  Like I’ve heard about in the natural (because I’ve never actually been drunk) when you are drunk, you don’t care what others think.  

In fact, I could not stop laughing, not even when the well-meaning elder glumly offered his last words to me.  Heaven must have been rolling, because I could not contain myself.  

Kindly, I patted his arm, and managed to say, “It’s OK,” snicker, snicker.  “We are gonna be just fine.”  His shocked look said it all.

I held onto the pew as more laughter bellowed out.  I kind of slid across the back wall, holding myself up with my hands, and with a slight skip in my step pushed open the doors, as I met my family in the foyer.  

Does that count for dancing out?

So, why am I telling you this?  

And no, I’m not going into a church bashing session, so you can let out a deep breath now.  

It’s more about something that has been changing and is changing in me.

It’s far greater than me though.  It is a change, a shift that I believe will eventually effect us all in some way or another.

I learned a long time ago, that anyone, and I mean anyone, especially me, can go stupid.  And yes, in my opinion there was a bit of that stupidity that happened in that season at that church.  Quite honestly, since I had been in a leadership position, serving on the prayer team as a leader, I had briefly become apart of it all.  

Yet, the problems that church went through aren’t isolated issues, because of one rogue leader.

It’s a problem I’ve heard about countless times and has shut down every move of God.

I first began to see things differently when I went to hear a woman I had never heard of speak in a hotel room – well, not much bigger than one.  She was unlike anyone I had ever met before, and she carried a presence of God that demanded attention or her peels of laughter did.  It was both, actually.  

By the second meeting I went to, I was up on the front row, because I was trying to prove to myself that what I was sensing from this woman was real.  As I sat there, it was as if someone stood behind me, took off the top of my head, and poured new information in.  

The speaker wasn’t even talking about the church and church structure directly anyway.  She was just retelling lots of amazing stories of God moving in miraculous ways, but her point was that He wanted to move in everyone’s lives this way.  

Now, I “knew” that, but I guess I’d not really “seen” that, and what I had been experiencing in our church situation had become more of a pyramid structure of performance.  

All of a sudden, in front of me, instead of pyramids, either right side up or upside down, I saw a level playing field.  Yes, each person had an important position to play and everyone used their gifts in unity for the winning score for the team, but there was only one coach, and it wasn’t the charismatic leader in the front.  It was Jesus.  He was calling the plays.

This rocked my world, so much so that without even saying a word about any of it, I was kindly dismissed from the leadership role I had held.  I don’t think it was coincidental, but probably providential.

God wasn’t done though shifting my mindsets.  And still isn’t for that matter.

Shortly after this, we were on vacation.  On my morning stroll with, I was having a little talk with Jesus, and I was telling Him all about our troubles.  I began to ask Him what the structure of the church was supposed to look like, what was His intentions.  All I could see was the mess men through the ages had made of it.  

It was like God would begin to move and pour out His Spirit, and bam, someone would grab the glory and move of God and try to make it their own.  That is a very simplified way of looking at things, but basically that what seems to happen over and over and over again.  

Kathie Walters says as soon as someone says God is moving HERE, in US, like WE have anything to do with, it’s done.  God will move somewhere else, because He refuses to have men’s hands on it.  He knows what men will do with it.  Make it their own.  

So, I digress.  

I was having a hard time seeing things through a positive frame at that time of kicking sand.  So, again, I was asking, “What’s it supposed to look like?”

As I shuffled my feet near the ocean’s edge, I had a matrix moment.  I didn’t see numbers break through scrolling in front of my face, but as I asked the Lord what His idea of what His church should look like, I began to see something very different in my mind’s eye.  

At first, I saw what looked like bubbles or circles.  Then, as it clarified more it was like cells, lots of them, interlocking, exchanging energy, living, breathing, growing.  Honestly, I was stunned.  What did this mean?  

I pondered the cell image, and as I began to ask questions, the Lord began to speak about it.  

It wasn’t about a certain church building or land that the Lord wanted to pour His Spirit on.

It wasn’t about a man’s kingdom or enterprise at all.  It was about His body, His Bride.  

All the cells were comprised of families of people, believers from all over the world, functioning together as one body, in unity, answering to the head, Jesus.  It was and is an ever moving, growing, expanding, beautiful body of Jesus.  

What we had become involved in was seemingly a one man show, an enterprise as it was put to us.  

The move of God had morphed into a man building his kingdom, because he claimed the move of God as his.  He took off the gloves of humility that the Lord had instructed him to keep on, and touch the Holy, held onto the glory, and made it his own.  

What the leadership had wanted was a charismatic leader who would take their God-given dream to make it a reality.  Though I believe their original intent was good, in my opinion, it cost a lot of people a lot of pain, as building any man-made kingdom usually does.  

Some structure is good.  Throwing off all restraint is not.  That leads to chaotic anarchy.  This is not some rebellious attitude that all forms of leadership are bad and should be over-thrown.  That’s fascism.  

Yes, even family needs structure.  There are relational lines and some rules laid down by the law of love that we abide by, and as we mature and grow, we should all be flourishing in a culture of honor, in mutual submission, not lording over each other.

The parents want their children to out grow them, to excel and succeed in life.  It is an ever growing, living, thriving unit.  

When one hurts, we all hurt.  When one celebrates, we all celebrate.  When one falls, we all go down to help the one who is hurting.  

There are boundaries and consequences in family –  in learning to grow up.  In fact, if we lovingly held people to some consequences and did not look the other way, we might have a healthier family unit, and abuse would not thrive.   

This is what it was meant to be, what it was meant to look like  – a lot like love. A lot like washing feet.  A lot like lifting one another’s burdens.  It’s what Jesus said would make us irresistible to the world – the way we love each other.  

After I danced out, the Lord took us on a six or so month journey of going to almost every denomination and some non-denominations.  

You know what we experienced?  

His Spirit alive and moving in them all.  All of them had a piece, a beautiful color to weave into the master design.  All of them…. 

So, whether you go to St. Such and Such or Bedside Assembly as we used to call it in college, or whether you have believers in your home or meet at a coffee shop, the Holy Spirit desires to be poured out through all of us, for all of us to be the living, breathing, growing thriving body of Christ.  

It’s not about the four walls, the great programs, the charismatic apostle, the amazing sermon, or the women’s luncheons.  Those can be good things, as long as it doesn’t become a self-gratifying social club, and those things aren’t stealing your focus from Jesus, your time from true intimacy with Him and others?  

These days, I still find myself seeing the Kingdom from a much broader, life giving view.  

We fellowship on a regular basis with other believers, because it’s important.  Isolation is not a healthy course in the long run.  We need each other.  We need accountability.  I know I do.  

You are a king under King Jesus.  You are priest under His Priesthood.  There is no Junior Holy Spirit.  We all get to play on the same field together.  

Until we come together as one body, as one Bride, I don’t really think we can accomplish the full mission that we are here to do.  

Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus and let Him pour His Spirit out on all of us, not just the church leadership.  When we are looking to them instead of Christ, it is a lot of expectation and pressure to put on them anyway.

Who knows?  Maybe you’ll find yourself dancing out of some pyramid one day to healthy family cell outside of traditional structure or maybe you’ll find your family cells within more of a structured environment?  

The point is we are all the body, the Bride of Christ.  He is our head, and we answer to Him.  

We walk in love, honor, and mutual submission with all our brothers and sisters, honoring and developing the gifts in each one we meet.  That’s family, and a Kingdom Family is what we are called to be.

What’s Behind the Curtain

I don’t usually post others dreams, but this one really seemed important and was told me by a teenager who I’m close to. Discern for yourself if this from the Lord.

8/29/21

There was a big red and gold room with a lot of people in it giving money to someone hidden, but they did not know what they were giving too. There was a ginormous red curtain, and all the people wanted to see what was behind it. But they only showed two people standing at a booth behind a small portion of the curtain. Then a person was walking through the room. He seemed like Jesus to me. I saw in like holograms, gold coins, and as he walked through they pored in representing the money the people were giving. Then he got to the curtain, and then roared, and a big wind blew back the curtain. I saw half of a Buddhist statue. Later all the people came together again and the man was standing on a gong and swung it, and the statues’s head came off and fell in front of the people, and they were all terrified.

The Uprooting

I have been prompted for the last few days to share a small portion of a prayer event that happened on March 15, 2020, the day before our state shut down because of the pandemic, the day before the world seemingly screeched to a halt.  

The Lord’s timing is often very different than ours, and in writing this, I am not going to try to interpret it.  Some of it seems clear.  For other parts, the meaning is still obscure.

 
I serve on a prayer team for my state, and we have been prompted to pray over certain cities in our state at different times for specific reasons.  I don’t feel led to share all of those details, but here is what I can share.   

On February 21, 2020, I awoke from a dream of being in a large church that had a huge pipe underneath that was tiled with white ceramic tile.  I kept trying to see something else, but kept being led back to this pipe.  

After I woke up, I heard “Prayer walk by starting at the church, then go the slave market, and end at the port.”

I asked, “Which church?” 

I heard, “The Episcopal”.

I knew in my spirit it was the oldest church in Charleston, with Charleston itself being one of the oldest port cities in our nation (The city was founded in 1670).  I immediately looked it up, and the church is St. Michael’s, and is located at the corner of Broad Street and Meeting Street on one of the four corners of what they call the “Four Corners of the Law”.  The court house is across the street, City Hall to the right, and what was the Postal Service, but now the Federal Court building diagonal.

I heard, “Take salt and sprinkle at each site as symbol of purifying the land.”

Salt is commonly used in the Bible symbolically for different ceremonies, etc…

 
On the day of the event, my husband and I arrived before the rest of our team, and felt led to walk the route in reverse order, noticing several landmarks that we had not known would be on the route.  The first being a gentleman’s club on a back street, and then the original property of the first masonic lodge in Charleston, which is now a bank.  We continued onto St. Michael’s, but waited in a city park across the street, which was adjacent to City Hall.

 
In the middle of the park stands an Egyptian Obelisk as the center point.  Then to the left, a large statue of George Washington on which is a plaque to honor him that lists on the bottom our first President’s membership in the masonic lodge, as well as another society club.  All this is history, but all seemed very connected.

 
There were huge, ancient oak trees lining the walkways.  These were the kind with moss draped over the branches that reach out in all directions touching the ground in some places – fantastic climbing trees.  Those trees had seen a lot in the history of that city.

 
As we walked the path between the trees back out to the gate to sit on a bench to wait, I began to see an open vision and hear in the Spirit a chant. The chant began low, like to a drum beat, and grew in strength.  It seemed as if the trees themselves were chanting.  “Pride.  Honor.  Dignity.  Pride.  Honor.  Dignity.”  It repeated over and over and had strong feeling of “Elitism”.  It seemed to represent the city and our country even in some ways.  It wasn’t a good feeling, yet the chant continued.

All of a sudden, as if I could see an overlay over the trees, I saw a huge hand reach from heaven and grab each tree, yanking them up by the roots and flip them up side down. 

Immediately, I heard, “Everything is getting ready to get flipped upside down.  I have to go to the roots in this country and uproot the evil that has been present from the beginning for this nation to survive.  I have to go to the foundations.  For this country to fulfill her destiny, I must uproot the things that have been here from the beginning.”

 
To say the least, I was a bit shaken at what I had just witnessed.

 
As my husband and I left to walk across the street to meet the rest of the team, the trees were in full bloom next to the gate – an early, first sign of spring.  I took a picture, which is the picture I used for this post. 

As we passed it, I heard, “I will keep my promises for this country.  Its destiny will be fulfilled.  This is a sign that I will fulfill my promises.”

To my surprise, the trees blooming are Crabapple trees, which have long been associated with marriage, love, and fertility. The beautiful confirmation this brings is for this entire prayer assignment the Lord was emphasizing that He is married to our land.

 
At the front of the church we meet the team by four, prominent pillars.  Again, I heard the chant begin, yet added to it was “elitism”.

 
Then I heard, “Rename the pillars.”  So, I simply declared the opposite of what I had heard in the chant and put salt at the base of each.  “Humility.  Love.  Peace.  Joy. “

My husband read out loud the scripture from Isaiah 62:4  “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land be called Desolate any more.  But you shall be called Hephzibah (My delight is in her), and your land be called Beulah (married); for the Lord delights in you, and your land be married (owned and protected by the Lord).

 
Each person with us carried an important piece to the prayers we prayed that day, and there were many more details to this prayer walk that are not apart of what I am supposed to share, so I will save that for another time.

 
As we were leaving the city around 5:15 pm, we heard on the radio that an earthquake was felt north of Charleston.  We later found out there were several more that evening that began in Centerville, SC then to Mulberry, NC to Flat Rock, NC to Newbern, NC, and finally to Mascot, NC.  The one in Mulberry especially caught my attention, as it is a tree that was brought here from China in the early 1700 to help silkworms produce silk. George Washington was said to have bought its fruit from Prince’s nursery.

 
The following day, our state shut down for the pandemic, and the world as we knew it has changed.

 
There have been many times in the last year and a half that the Lord has reminded me of the things He showed me during this prayer walk.

The most impactful thing for me was seeing that hand grab the trees and just yank them up.
The process our country and really the world at large is in this shaking of the foundations, this great hand reaching down, grabbing those trees by the roots, and flipping them over to expose the corruption that’s been in the foundation, so that it can be dealt with, so that we can fulfill our destiny in this country.

 
I just don’t believe that He is done with us yet.

 
Yes, it is going to continue to get messy.  Evil doesn’t like exposure and will fight like hell (excuse the pun) to stay rooted.  Yet this is the Lord of the Angel Armies that is allowing this process to happen.  And He promises He will prevail.

 
He will keep His promises to and over our country, as He uncovers and uproots evil systems that have been in place as it seems since the beginning of our country.  So take heart.  Keep your eyes on the Lord.

 
We triumph through the finished work of the cross and the word of our testimony.  He already has won, and He already knows the future, so no matter how messy it gets, we can trust that what He is at work doing is ultimately for our good, to fulfill His good plans and purpose for us.  

The Womb of God

“Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord. Isaiah 54:1 NASB

Several months ago, while spending some time with the Lord, I suddenly saw this image of the Holy Spirit with a womb.  Inside the womb was the universe – everything ever created.  

As I questioned the Lord about what I was seeing, I heard “Everything is birthed in and through the Holy Spirit.” 

Still, I found it hard to picture the Holy Spirit with a womb.  

Until the following day… 

Randomly, I popped into a conference for a session at a friend’s invitation.  The first thing rolling off the teacher’s lips were “The universe is in the womb of the Holy Spirit.” I went bug-eyed for a few minutes.  

The painting above has invoked a lot of different responses.  Some hate it, some think it’s making some kind of political statement, others think it depicts “Mother Earth” giving birth, and still others find it moving, life-giving, profound.  Art is supposed to do that I suppose.  For me, I was compelled to paint to the best of my ability what I saw, except what I saw didn’t include the image of the baby.  

When I began to paint, I kept seeing the image of an infant, an unborn fetus overlapping the universe.  I honestly fought it.  I tried multiple times to paint it the way I wanted to, but each time I met failure, until I went with what the Spirit was leading me toward.  Even the placement of the womb seemed to high for me, but then came the whisper, “I birth things from My heart.”

So, it’s been almost two months since I was compelled to paint it.  Yet, last month, the God of the Universe seemed quiet about it all.  Crickets, really.  Like He was just enjoying the wait, the watching.  

Until yesterday morning… 

I was preparing to go to a friend’s to pray over some land.  I heard distinctly, play “Isaiah’s Song”, so I did.  

As I was listening, the words played over and over. “What was a barren season is giving birth right now.”  Then, immediately I heard to share that with a specific friend who has gone through a painful season.  “Ok?  That was pretty strong,” I thought.

A few minutes later, I found myself texting a friend – just a “How are you?” kind of text.  I looked down at the phone.  The time read 11:11, which to me are alignment numbers, and those very same words were playing again.

At the prayer event, we took turns reading scripture.  It’s our second time being apart of this group. The first time was towards the beginning of this year.  As my husband and I walk into the room the readers were were finishing up Song of Songs and beginning to read Isaiah.

“Lord, if you have me read about the barren woman giving birth, I may burst.”

People came into read, we add an extra, another person is randomly skipped, and my turn comes around.  I begin to read Isaiah 53, and as the words regarding Messiah leave my lips, I flashed back to several months prior.  I had read the exact same passage.  

I flipped the thin page. “Shout for joy, oh barren one,” I choked up, but tried to hold it together. “For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman.”

So, what does all this mean?  

I’ve learned NOT to try to figure out visions or prophetic words, especially timing and how things will all work out, because quite honestly I’ve got about a 5% accuracy rate.  😊

Yet, this what I do sense the Holy Spirit is saying.  All things created are birthed through the Holy Spirit.  We are in a new season.  The season of barrenness is over.  The season of birthing is here.  

Birthing involves a lot of things.  Travail.  Transitions.  Water Breaking.  Pushing.  Baby breaking forth.  Hope.  Promises fulfilled.  Beautiful new life.  New dreams for the future.

This is the season I believe we are in as the body of Christ.  The Lord of Host is birthing His plans and purposes in the Earth right now, and they will not be thwarted or delayed.  It’s not us doing it.  It is by His strength and ability that this new season and new birthing will occur.

“Shout for joy.” The birthing season is finally here.