Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

Show Up

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make a differenceI’m feeling a bit nostalgic this week. The decision has been made to pull from the shelf, the Renewal Weekends I’ve been hosting for the past three years. It is simply time.

With 50 women who have participated over these three years, the weekends have been rich times of being washed with the goodness of God over our hearts and spirits.

Every single weekend was a fresh revelation of the heart of God. And every single weekend saw miracles of heart and souls and even bodies.

And I learned two primary lessons hosting these retreats. The first thing I learned was to,

1. Show Up

I started hosting these weekends during the initial and hardest years of my marriage’s separat ion. And many weekends I would come simply awash with grief and with my soul cast-down.

With little to give, a few times with literally nothing to give, I showed up, and God did the rest. I learned, really learned, that when I am at my very worst, that if I simply show up God takes over from there.

The most amazing weekends, the weekends with physical healing and the most powerful anointing, were the weekends when I came flat out broken in terms of my own person.

Which leads me to the second thing I learned.

2. It’s Not My Work

I really got it, over those weekends when I had nothing to give, that this isn’t my work. The power of the Holy Spirit to breathe through hearts and minds, spirits and bodies, is not our work.

The incredible revelations of God’s heart over every particle of who each woman is, was not my work.

I really got, It’s not our work. And this will never leave me. It is a large part of why and how I am in every aspect today. We are simply the canvas upon which God paints.

And as conduits of God’s grace and love, we simply must be available, so that the living God can blow through at a hundred miles an hour. We really are just the vessel.

Today, with the work I do, be it in Prayer Ministry on home ground, or in Ministry to dozens in Africa, I know the same is true.

As I simply show up, God does the rest.

As human beings we tend to make things so much more difficult than they are.

But it really comes down to, show up and let God do the rest.

Heading back to Uganda in less than two weeks I am expecting the same.

I’m showing up, and God will do the work.

To Hell or Not

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Jesus Christ SavesThere is a veil over this life we live at present. Colors are dimmed, understanding is narrowed, and our experiences carry a certain numbness.

When we die, we leave this world. No longer is anything dimmed, narrowed, or numb.

Rather, we are fully alive like never before.

And into that fully-alive place we experience the fullness of all we invested in during this life.

All that we have envisioned, acted on and participated, we receive back unto ourselves in full measure pressed-down running-over.

And not just about what we have done, but even more so who we have been.

That inner reality that we all carry deep within us.

The afterlife is a land where our hearts exaggerated come to full effect.

And we enter this after-life (which is more alive than anything we have ever known), either with the covering of God or not.

The land where sowing and reaping has its full impact without any covering of God in any measure whatsoever, is called…

…Hell

Imagine, for instance, the words of our mouths – the damning lashes of words that cut like knives, the ones you have thrown over the years – imagine those very same words coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Imagine, for instance, the lusts of our minds – the desire for sexual perversions, the imagination of such, the investment into such, the experiences of them – imagine those very same things coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Imagine, for instance, the fear we’ve put into others – the manipulative bullying, the condemnations and judgments of worthlessness, the crushing expectations that diminish and keep low – imagine these very same emotional and psychological attacks coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Imagine, for instance, the fears we live our lives by – the sorrows and griefs we’ve never fully processed and the resulting control measured out as a response – imagine these very same sorrows and grief and control coming back at you in thousand-fold for all eternity.

Hell – the place where the evil of this life has full permission (invitation even), to give back to us all we have either given out or imagined giving out – for all eternity in thousand-fold.

Where weeping and gnashing of teeth never ends.

Where our hearts are exaggerated and come back at us, and where more alive than ever before we are fully alive to the horrors like never before.

Where that slap we receive back a thousand fold. Where that hatred we receive back a thousand fold. The sexual abuse we meted out, the lust we participated in, where the imagined or real rape is now done to us, again and again and again. Where the murder we committed is played out back at us again and again. The licentiousness given over that won’t ever go away. With no reprieve…

No reprieve…

The only way: to accept the covering of God.

For the way of God has covered over these things. Jesus Christ is the way,

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” John 6:53

Because of the great love of God, Jesus Christ took the full responsibility for everything, “You didn’t do those things, I did” and he paid the price for them, bearing in himself the full consequence of all the horrors we can and have meted out.

We can be covered, we can be exempt from the eternal consequences, if only we will accept this covering and this work done by Jesus Christ.

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” John 5:24

The law of sowing and reaping is an inviolable law. Therefore because of the great love of God, and because there was only one way around the law, Jesus stood in the gap and declared, “I did these things, I’m taking 100% responsibility.”

And everyone, anyone, who welcomes Christ’s offering is exempt and is covered.

Simple and beautiful as that.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NLT

“Jesus Christ I welcome the exemption you offer me today,

Thank-you.”

Forever more, alongside God, alongside Jesus Christ,

Living unto life and no more death.

Amen and amen,

Thanks Jesus

Capturing God’s Heart – Redemption – Volume 7

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Redemption

That place where God comes down and makes everything right

That place where we are redeemed.

In the old Testament we find redemption in the book of Ruth

The story of Naomi and Ruth is a beautiful story. One woman was older and the mother of sons, the other younger and married to one of her sons.

And the sons die, leaving no recourse for the women.

Continue reading →

The Veil

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P1080387 compressedIn coaching we are quite aware that just behind our knowing, just beyond our understanding, are answers and solutions and provision that we are not yet aware of.

As a coach my role is to facilitate a client in seeing what they could not see before.

Again and again I’ve seen and experienced this, where there seemed to be no answers, and then voila, answers begin falling into place.

When we are blind we cannot see what is right at hand yet just out of reach.

It is the same for ourselves in virtually every area of life.

We see dimly or not at all, and meanwhile a myriad of good things are right at hand, we simply don’t know it!

A week-plus ago I lost my keys. For an entire weeks time I’ve been unable to open my mail-box; mail has been arriving I could not access it, and had no idea what was there.

Meanwhile I’ve been nearing another trip to Uganda. Over the last few weeks since saying out loud, “Yes, this trip appears that it will happen.” each day has been an exercise in waiting on some things, putting action to other things, and simply, almost hourly, laying my fear out before the Lord.

“I am so freaking out right now God!”

Part of the waiting has been the full financial provision for the trip. Then its been wanting someone to stay at my home and with my kids while I am away, and a ton of other little things as well that all needed to be arranged and acquired.

With hundreds of people waiting on me in Uganda, with promises made that I am arriving and these are the weeks and here is the agenda…

And yet with no plane ticket bought, it would seem many moments of insanity,

If it wasn’t so clearly a trip of faith.

(But man has my faith been stretched!)

Every single day has been a day of waiting expectation…

Waiting for just that sense that ‘Yes’, time to buy a ticket…

Waiting for enough money to say spring into action…

Knowing it’ll be there…

Waiting…

Praying…

Continuing on in action in every other way… waiting…

Monday morning I woke with a clear sense of ‘Today I need to finish packing my bag.’

Still no ticket bought…

Packing…

As the early morning turned into mid-morning it became apparent that it was time to buy that ticket, and so it’s been purchased and I’m leaving on Wednesday.

Many of you will in fact be reading this while I am in flight.

With the ticket bought, confirmations back to Uganda made regarding my time of arrival, with my bag packed, I received a replacement key to my mailbox near the end of the day.

And right there, sitting for over a week’s time, right there but not known about, a cheque for over $2000.

I am reminded of the veil.

We are told in the Bible that when Jesus died on the cross that the veil in the temple was ripped in two. The veil being the division between human beings and God. This veil, hiding the secret things of God, was removed through the work of Christ.

Jesus’ coming ripped that veil in two, making a way to know God intimately. God is right there, but we haven’t always seen or perceived or understood.

And along with God comes the provisions and answers and solutions of our lives.

It is all right there.

All the answers.

All the solutions.

All the provision.

Even if we cannot see it, even if we cannot perceive it, even if…

It is all right there, just at hands reach, if only we could see.

A walk of faith is simply walking forward in the midst of NOT seeing the full answers, while simultaneously having the living God open our eyes to see provision and receive understanding in increasing fashion.

My own last weeks of faith walking have felt pretty brutal in a lot of ways. I’ve been stretched and pulled and pushed in ways I never would have chosen.

And yet I know that a walk of faith simply boils down to putting action to conviction, and so I’ve been busy about putting some action in every single day in order to be ready.

And while it all seems upside down (doesn’t one buy a ticket and then get ready instead of getting 100% ready and then buying a ticket!), in the realm of the supernatural where faith walks happen, it makes perfect sense.

For the answers that we cannot yet see, are right there; just behind the veil, just behind our perception, just outside our paradigms and beyond our understanding, but there nonetheless.

If we will only allow our minds and hearts to see in a different way.

A favorite verse of mine, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

A relationship with the living God removes the veils from our faces. We understand things of the spirit that we had beforehand never even imagined.

Christ removed the veil between us and God, and now God removes the veil between us and the provision and answers for our lives.

With unveiled faces, from glory to glory

‘Jesus thank-you so much for removing the barrier between me and God. I accept this work done on my behalf, something I could not do myself, and I welcome your work and presence into my life. God thank-you for making a way that I can see and know and understand all you have for me. I invite your knowing into my life. Teach me to see beyond the veil.’

Jesus Christ: the original coach, opening our paradigms and understanding every single day!

I’m interested in what lays just beyond my understanding, beyond the way I naturally go about life, beyond what I can come up with on my own,

What about you?

Capturing God’s Heart – Forgiveness – Volume 3

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Forgiveness is Gospel 

I would say that forgiveness is the primary point of the gospel.  Forgiveness is gospel.  It is the good news of Jesus Christ over and for and through our lives. 

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14  ESV

“He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.”  Psalm 103:10  ESV

“He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins — and not only our sins but the sins of all the whole world.” 1 John 2:2  NLT

Forgiveness flows from the heart of God.  It has always been there for both you and I and the entire world.  Forgiveness is not for sale.  You cannot buy it.  You cannot earn it.  Forgiveness is a free gift of God to the world, to all humanity. 

It takes humility to stand in this forgiveness.  It is vast and deep.  In response to God’s forgiveness we must put down our striving to make ourselves right with God.  This is sin.  Because, forgiveness is an act of God unto us and it is Jesus as Salvation, that makes us right with God.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

 Forgiveness is the way and manner of God.  Long before we even knew we needed it.  Jesus Christ is our salvation.  The cross is evidence of God’s great love poured out on our behalf. 

In John 3:16 we read, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Then, in John 3:17 we read,  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

In the incarnation of Jesus Christ (his life, death, and resurrection) God committed to co-suffering with us.  God brings no condemnation.  God is good news.  To all of us!  This Good News is better than we have even imagined. 

Consider the story of the adulterous woman found in John 8:1-11.  In this story we see:  

  1. The religious leaders were eager to condemn her.  And eager to kill her even, for her sin. 
  2. But Jesus shows us God’s way,  “Then neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.” 

This, is the gospel.  Sweet and simple. 

Have your eyes and understanding been opened to the forgiveness of God, freely given you? 

  • Or, are you still trying to earn your way to God? 
  • Are you still trying to make yourself right with God? 
  • Are you believing that forgiveness is something given you if you do good? 

Then, you have missed the message and life of Jesus Christ. 

“Rather I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down… so I died to the law — I stopped trying to meet all its requirements — so that I might live for God.  My old self has been crucified with Christ.  It  is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So I live in this earthy body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Galatians 2:18-20

  • Have you missed this great gift to the world?  
  • Are you selling the gospel, selling forgiveness in any way? 

Then you have missed the message and life of Jesus Christ.  We are called to agree with the Lord.  You see, in this verse in Revelation, that it is the Spirit AND the Bride who say, 

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” Revelation 22:17

Forgiveness is freely given.  Forgiveness is not a transaction.  There is nothing you can do to earn it.  You cannot buy it.  Forgiveness is not for sale.  The Gospel is not for purchase.  It is a gift.  Give it freely. 

Forgiveness Works Across Time 

Of course, it takes humility and courage to stand in forgiveness.  We must put down our striving to make ourselves right with God.  We must stop demanding that others make themselves right with God.  Forgiveness is an act of God unto us and makes us right with God, before we even knew we needed such a thing.  The writer of Psalms, long before Jesus’ coming, knew of the Lord’s forgiveness:

“But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Psalm 130:4 ESV

And Daniel proclaimed:

“To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him”  Daniel 9:9 ESV

The incarnation of Jesus Christ (life, death, and resurrection) is not bound by time.  Salvation is a continuous present tense occurrence.  We do not have to work for our forgiveness.  We cannot work for our forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a done deal, accomplished some 2000 years ago on a cross.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:23 ESV

Forgiveness is present regardless of our response.  It’s about the Lord. 

“For the sin of this one man,  Adam, brought death to many.  But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his fight of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. … Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. “ Romans 5:15b & 18

Let’s say this again, “Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.” 

I don’t know about you.  But I need to really get this.  God’s love reaches to all of us.  *footnote at the bottom of the page

Forgiveness is a Way of Life 

Too often though, as humans we have tried to organize and manage this thing of God that is forgiveness and that is salvation, and what is the good news of Christ.

Our organized religion would take this free gift of God and pander it to people, like sellers on a street bartering sweet buns, or tomatoes, or rice.  We sometimes play games of who deserves it or who doesn’t.  We make divisions in our thinking about whom this is for and whom it is not for. 

We tell people they have to perform some sort of ritual prayer or repentant process in order to be forgiven.  And while prayer and repentance are both gifts to us and in us, they are not necessary for forgiveness to happen.  Forgiveness originates in the heart of God.  

  • We are invited into the great mercy and grace of God for each other and for this earth and world. 
  • It is this great mercy and grace and remittance of sins that we are all healed. 
  • It’s an invitation to the remittance of sins and to the goodness of God poured out upon the world.

For God is love (1 John 4:7-21) and love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).   The Bible speaks much of forgiveness.  It is the entire weave of the good news.  And our response matters.  

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  Ephesians 4:31-32

Like all things in the Kingdom of Heaven, forgiveness comes alive in us as it runs through our lives.  As it flows through us to others it becomes even more alive within us.

Imagine even.  “Love your enemies!  Do good to them.  Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be eating as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.  You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” Luke 6:35-36

We breath this in our everyday interactions with a hurting world.  We declare, 

“God loves you with an everlasting love.  Jesus Christ died on a cross in co-suffering love to take on your sin and to overcome death.  I simply tell you about this today.  Become alive in Christ. The work has been accomplished.  There is nothing you need add to it.  Christ is all-sufficient unto your healing and wholeness from the inside out.  The very foundation of your life is better than you have even imagined.  God loves you more than you will ever know.  Be alive in Christ.”

This is the good news of the gospel.  It is our privilege to now tell folks about this. 

God has forgiven you.  This has always been God’s heart for you.  Jesus lived this when he was on earth for you and I.  We are forgiven in God even before we know it. 

As Jesus said to the adulterous woman, “I do not condemn you.  Now, go and sin no more.”

Footnote:

“Every person who has ever been conceived was included in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension in Jesus.  When Jesus was lifted up, God ‘dragged’ all human beings to Himself (John 12:32) and that Jesus is the Savior of all humankind, (I Tim 4:10).  Further, every single human being is in Christ and Christ is in them, and Christ is in the Father (John 14:20).  When Christ died—the Creator in whom the cosmos was created—we all died.  When Christ rose, we rose (II Cor. 5).

The context of salvation involves three dimensions. First, prior to the foundation of the world we were all included.  Saved in eternity (II Tim 1:9).  Second, in the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus we were all included (II Cor 5:19).  Third, within the context of our own experience a present tense on-going active participation to work out what God has worked in (Phil 2:12-13).  Although we didn’t do anything in the accomplishment of our salvation (except to kill Jesus), our participation in the working out of this salvation is essential.  Our ongoing choices matter.”  

Quote by Paul Young, as referenced in this article by Brad Jersak. https://www.ptm.org/are-you-saved

In a Nutshell

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P1230460 compressedThirty years ago I was given a picture in my mind’s eye of speaking the heart of God and praying freedom for people in Africa.

It’s been thirty years of preparation,

Thirty years of lessons, deep heart-aches, experiencing deep poverty of my own heart and soul and finding through it all a deep knowledge of God’s heart and of provision that supersedes anything I could figure out on my own.

God is alive and well and deeply interested in our realities and in entering into the mix of our lives with deep encouragements and touches from his heart to ours, and through our hearts to others and back again.

This is the knowing, and the message, that I took to Uganda.

Simply put: touched by God we are transformed forever.

It constantly amazes me how easy it is to bless each other. If I had never opened my mouth, there would have still been a profound ministry of God to the people of Madudu and Jinja and Inganga simply because a white woman came (alone) and stayed awhile.

This simple act of getting on a plane and flying half-way around the world spoke its own message. I don’t completely get it, may never fully understand it, but I saw it, was told it, and am humbled that my simple obedience can be such an empowering thing for those I met and stayed with.

One of my first days we took some simple medicines and prayer to the elderly in the outlying areas of Madudu, and in one humble home, lying on his bed unable to get up any longer, was one beautiful old man.

I could not speak his language, and he could not speak mine, but I prayed over him, blessing his strength and beauty of soul that poured through his eyes and countenance.

He then spoke to my companion, the translation:

“If a white woman has come to Madudu then God must be real, and I am ready to accept Jesus Christ now.”

I simply had to show up and in this a message of God was spoken to him.

And isn’t that simply it, really and all the time,

We show up,

We engage,

We honour,

We bless,

By our very manner, we say ‘Thank-you for living and for your contribution to the world’,

Simply by the space we hold for others,

The common places of joy and pain where we meet heart to heart, regardless of age, regardless of gender, regardless of space and time, of circumstance or surroundings…

We are simply all the same, and as we get into each others spaces we bless and are blessed.

This, in a nutshell, is our ministry around the world.