Recently my husband was sharing with me some things he heard from God, and well it was just too good not to share. So here is some of what he shared with me.

Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV

⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

The Lord’s prayer, easy enough to say, right? It takes, at most, a couple minutes to say. This is how Jesus taught His disciples, and us, to pray. Not simply, but sincerely. Just before He teaches them this prayer he tells them, “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:7-8 NASB. What we get out of that is that God doesn’t want to hear us praying just so that we can say we pray for an hour everyday.

In the Gospels we notice a theme. Almost every time the disciples ask Jesus a question, Jesus answers with an example we call a parable. These questions and parables make up most of the Disciples’ relationship with Jesus. The red letters make up most of the Gospels. So why should our prayer life be any different?

Jesus wants a relationship, a relationship is a two way street. Jesus has SO much more to teach us than we have to teach Him. He knows what we need before we tell Him. So why would we spend an hour talking and only 15 minutes listening. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

The revelation we can get from God in these times is amazing.
Now here’s something really good, especially if you feel like God wouldn’t tell you a really good revelation or maybe not as good as something He tells someone who has known Him longer.

Keep reading…

John 2 New King James Version (NKJV)
2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. ³ And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
⁶ Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. ⁷ Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. ¹⁰ And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

It takes years for wine to mature into good wine. Bottles of champagne over 100 years old sell for thousands of dollars. Yet, the wine Jesus made was at least a little bit newer than the wine they served at the beginning and it was the better wine. Also, I feel it’s worth mentioning that the waterpots it talks about were used by people to wash their feet.

Jesus doesn’t need some Bible scholar that’s 100 years old to teach people. He doesn’t need a Pastor who spends an hour a week preparing a sermon to preach for 30 minutes. He needs a vessel that listens and is willing to be used. Someone that’s been saved for 5 minutes can receive revelation just as much as someone who has led a church for 50 years. and they can both learn from each other.

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Luke 18:17 NASB.

David said, “From out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of your adversaries, to make the enemy and revengeful cease.” Psalms 8:2 NASB

I think it’s time we take fresh wine from Jesus and stop judging the vessel it comes from.

Luke 3:16
16 John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (NASB)

Matthew 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (NASB)

I’ve heard many times throughout the bible references to the fire of God that comes inside of us and us being a light. As someone who loves fire I love this idea… I love reading the scriptures that talk about this.
There’s a lot about fire that I love. I love the sound it makes while it burns, the smell, how it looks, the heat it gives off… all of it. I do love it. I get the woodwick candles for my home because when you light them they crackle like a good fire should.

So this whole light of the world thing isn’t a new thing for me to know. I’ve heard Matthew 5:14-16 since I was in like 4th grade. There’s even a cheesy song that comes to mind still to this day… which now that I think about it is good on whoever made that song… too catchy.  

I always looked at that scripture and my takeaway was, I need to have so much of God in me that it lights up the darkness around me and I need to let God do that. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shiiiiiiiiiine. Oh wait that’s the song again.

The other day I was watching the movie, Mockingjay Part 2 with my husband when God brought that scripture into a whole new light (light… get it… pun)  inside me.

Many times in my life I’ve been dealing with something. Maybe it’s worrying about finances or struggling with a breakthrough within myself or someone else or something going on with my relationships around me, or problems with parenting or many other things and it feels like I’m getting nowhere. Or at least that it’s taking… For…..ev…..er…

I pray about it, when I was younger I mostly whined to God about things. Somethings I pray more than others. Sometimes I just wait for it to get better, thinking well if it’s God it will happen.

Well. Here’s what God showed me.

If we are a light, a fire, then that fire can be dampened… suffocated. Who would want to do that? The enemy. And more times than not we don’t realize he’s doing it. When things aren’t growing in our life or getting harder what are we missing?

What does a fire need to grow? Oxygen, breath. When we speak life into our situations, speak the word over our situations the fire grows. When we speak and bind the enemy, the suffocation has to stop. Don’t think the enemy won’t try to come back and start suffocating you again, he will but the word of God, God’s breath will bind him and his suffocation.

Revelation is God’s breath. His word (the bible), His breath. Speaking out loud over your situation, breath. All is the oxygen that grows your fire, your light. It will not only break whatever basket the enemy has tried to cover you with, it will also grow your light. You will see the breakthrough in the situations around you.

Don’t be fooled by the enemy. Don’t be bound by the enemy. Don’t bind yourself.

Let your light shine.

Genesis 50:20
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (NKJV)

I came across this scripture today during my bible study. I was reading from Lisa Bevere’s book, Without Rival. I completely recommend that book btw.

I really love this scripture, it was the first time I’ve ever read it.

Many times we (me) like to play the victim card or just get through it card whenever we face trials and people that make things hard.

In Lisa Bevere’s book she talks about, who better to make us stronger than someone or something that challenges us?

I have struggled a lot in my life with Rivals. I had a super bad habit where I would compare myself to everyone around me and find every place I thought I came up short and let that bind me so I no longer did the things I thought I was lacking in compared to them. That was not of God.

Since God showed me that I did that, I’ve worked hard with Him to undo the bondage that I put myself in. Yay God.

Today I had a perspective change.

There were legit rivals in my life, outside of the ones I created for myself. Instead of taking them as a challenge to be better, to grow, give God the situation and have Him teach me… I chose to not only not get better but honestly be worse. It was a little sad revelation but what I was more filled with was the excitement of the next rival in my life!

One thing I’ve learned in my life since God started the journey of healing and freeing me from depression and bad anxiety (around age 15 or 16) is I do love a good challenge. 

Thank God for perspective change! Thank God for rivals!