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Possibly even a few years or more ago. But you tried to step into what He asked you to do before and it did not go as you would have liked it. So you simply gave up and said to yourself that it wasn’t the Lord’s voice directing you.

 

In this season God is refreshing that call once more… asking you again to do what He wants you to do. You are confused because it didn’t work before. It didn’t go as you planned and you were discouraged. So how can He be telling you the same instructions again?

 

God never misspeaks.

 

He has plans for us to follow through with.. and He is patient in seeing those plans come to pass. He is patient with us even as we are committed fully to His plans and purposes one day, and the next day we pull back in fear or discouragement.

 

When He gets us in a place of yielding to Him once again, choosing to obey rather than to ignore or do things our own way.. then don’t be surprised that those plans you abandoned a while back begin to surface in your heart once more.

 

Pick up where you left off…

 

Don’t abandon what you know deep inside of you is Him. Don’t wait till the instructions change or a better plan comes along. God has told you what He wants of you.. He has made it clear even in this second opportunity to obey.

 

He loves us too much to NOT allow us to abandon what He has purposed for us to do. It’s not about what we want to do with our lives.. it’s falling in love with Him so passionately that we also fall in love with obeying. And our hearts will cry out to do whatever He asks of us!

 

You’ve been around this mountain before. This path is so familiar to you. You can’t seem to go higher, so as you circle around once more you quit trying to climb upwards. Climbing up means mastering the path you failed at.. and you’re tired of trying out that path.

 

But God hasn’t given up on you mastering it. He believes you can overcome in Him. He is waiting for you to revisit the obstacle you abandoned in frustration before.. waiting to give you new tools of wisdom and understanding to make it through.

 

Testing and trials are what provide you what you need to overcome. They provide you hard lessons, experience, and develop in you deeper faith and trust in the Lord.

 

He’s calling a second or third or fourth time to you. He wants you to succeed at this and cannot let you avoid it or find an easier way to pass through. He wants you stronger. Once you are through this obstacle it will show you how far you have come and how much you have grown.

 

What is that obstacle for you? What is He speaking to your heart right now? What will be different this time tackling that difficult part? Where have you added to His instructions that need to be removed? Where have you possibly misheard? Write down what He speaks to you.

 

Sometimes we think He spoke something into our hearts, but really it was our own voice. Learn to discern between your voice and His. Seek Him fiercely to know when He speaks. He will confirm His word over and over again.

 

“My sheep  listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

 

The Lord has asked you to lead a Bible study.. He has asked you to volunteer at the food pantry.. He has asked you to reach out to your neighbors or to start a Bible study at your workplace. He has asked you to connect with an old friend to share His love with them. He has asked you to redirect your ministry or your business. He has asked you to be kind to strangers. He has asked you to attend a church. He asked you to start something new. He has asked you to look for a new job. He has asked you to care for the elderly or to work with children. He has asked you to get up earlier in the morning to spend more time in His Word.

 

It doesn’t have to be a grand action to obey Him. It can be a simple step you need to take. Take that small step and the next step will be a bit more bigger and a bit more challenging than the last step. He has asked you to obey and to follow Him… and nothing is more rewarding than to do just that.

 

Be encouraged to try again. Know in your heart the testings and trials were not meant to keep you down, but to strengthen you and your walk with Him. Be strong in Him and try again.

I had a dream where I was observing a gathering of church members worshiping together. However, this large area we were all inside of was dark and eerie. Then I looked up and flying above us all were a handful of literal witches on broomsticks shouting over the crowd. I heard one yell out a new law for the church to follow and if they didn’t God would shun them. Fear broke out across this audience, but not a reverent fear. A fear that was demonically influenced and that woke me up from the dream.

 

Immediately, I heard the Spirit tell me what that dream meant. He was showing me how some in the believing church have created for themselves their own altar to a god they have in their mind. A god that is NOT the same God in our Bible. Because they have created for themselves this false altar to a false god, they have opened themselves up to witchcraft. They are in bondage to this witchcraft and live out of fear because their understanding of God is not true.

 

The Lord then reminded me of an experience I had one time worshiping Him at an altar during a retreat I was attending. He reminded me of another lady who was literally sitting beside me in worship, but was being attacked with condemnation and lies. I comforted her and corrected what was being thrown at her. It was strange to me because I was feeling the presence of God powerfully and she was being attacked so horribly. How could that be? How could two different dynamics take place in the same place?

 

God showed me that even though we were at the same altar in the natural worshiping Him, and because of her idea of who He was from false teaching she had received, she was at another altar in her heart that was not the true altar of Him. Therefore she was under attack.

 

This is a hard word to share. It’s convicting and also alarming. I know.

 

 

God sees these false altars created by man to make themselves feel comfortable and feel not convicted of their sin. He also sees other false altars created through a religious spirit that pushes people away from Him bringing guilt and condemnation. And then there are those false altars made for profit by so called preachers and prophets that seek their own gain and hurt the church on their way to fame. There are too many false altars to name here.

 

How do you know you are at a false altar?

 

When you step away from the altar there is no real change in you and your heart. Others see no change and that speaks against the true nature of God and His work.

 

You go to the altar out of fear and not out of love and devotion to God. You do your duty and you go on with life.. no real change takes place.

 

The frightening part is that witchcraft rules over your heart.. not the Lord Jesus. You are ruled by religion and it’s laws instead of God and His word. You are constantly being deceived at this false altar and it shows in your life and choices.

 

Some have sadly walked away from who they thought God was.. but they just walked away from a man built alter to a fake god.. an idol.. a deception. You thought God would respond to your prayers the way you wanted Him to. You treated Him like a genie in a bottle and never came to Him just to be in His presence. He didn’t meet your expectations and you walked away. But you walked away from a false altar. You’ve never learned of His True Nature and Character. You depended on church leaders to show you who God is rather than pursuing God for yourself and now you have a corrupted view of who He is. You have worshipped at a false altar.

 

Therefore the Lord is declaring judgement on these false altars. He is destroying them and calling people to Himself. But He wants you to find Him apart from going to church and from listening to influencing voices.. He wants you to come to Him in private first.. behind closed doors, where the altar is for Him and Him alone.

 

No longer will He allow growth in churches that tolerate such idolatry.. with leaders that allow these false altars to be made, some sadly building up altars for themselves instead. If you walk away from any service confused or conflicted in your spirit.. ask the Lord why. He will tell you, but you have to go to Him and be willing to hear the truth.

 

Churches are not gathering right now in buildings. They are empty and hollow.. but have they been empty and hollow all along? Have we been doing church and remained busy without the pursuit of God? Have we allowed ourselves to be humbled and repentant of our sins? Or are we allowing the altar of complacency to take seat in our hearts?

 

“The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the Lord; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.” Jeremiah 10:21

 

God is a jealous God and for good reason. He will not tolerate for long the worship of idols where He belongs. We need to recommit to Him and get rid of the Asherah poles.. get rid of these false places of worship and put Him on the throne of our hearts.

 

“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.”

Jeremiah 10: 11-14

 

It was night. And I was watching a great mass of water rising next to a building, an important and old building.

 

Once the water reached the threshold, I immediately understood that the water represented masses of people and the water rising were all the votes for Trump being counted in his favor for President.

 

And then I heard the words within me, “the scales have tipped.”

 

Next I saw fire 🔥 appear onto the floor inside this old important building that looked like a rather large house. I tried to stamp out this small fire foolishly and I was unsuccessful, as well as, ignorant of what the fire actually was.

 

I saw this fire 🔥 move ahead of me a little and then something shifted from seeing reality to now seeing the situation spiritually.

 

 

Now the fire was much larger and more intense within the spirit realm. I then felt a fear come over me, but not a fear that comes from the enemy. It was a fear of God’s fiery judgement that was released on earth.

 

The scales tipping represented God’s timeline of judgement. Once they tipped in one direction heavily with sin and evil, God was moved to bring His judgement.

 

Then the fire 🔥 began to pull me towards it and I knew it meant to plummet me into a fiery lake below and beyond sight. But before that could happen I was awakened from the dream.

 

I literally could not move for a minute, though it felt like many minutes, from the real fear of God’s great judgement that I had just witnessed.

 

His glory was within this judgement. And the fear did not come from the fire itself or the thought of destruction in the fiery lake, but rather the fear came purely from an awareness of this glory of God that makes one tremble with fear.

 

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

 

In processing this dream, the Spirit helped me understand how God was now bringing judgement against the great evil in our nation and in our world. Their souls will have to face this fiery judgement of God and it will be terrifying for them.

 

God has seen the heart of the people in our nation. How they are exhausted from the corruption in our nation’s leadership. Our move to put in a leader that desires to fight against this evil has been seen by our God. This action on our part as believers in Christ, along with the constant evils being done by those corrupt and perverted in their thinking has caused the scales to tip and has brought this timeline to a close.

 

Look for God’s hand of judgement against great evils and rejoice that He is acting on our behalf and His.

 

 

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”  Matthew 12:33

 

In this trying hour, where many are confused and disoriented by what we see in our nation and world, there is still a godly wisdom we can gain and use to help us discern the voices around us.

 

Who is telling the truth, who is deceiving their audiences and who is only telling half-truths, which is also a great deception?

 

I used to listen to a preacher for a season and attended a two week training he hosted. But something strange was happening at this event.

 

The other attendees around me began feeling confused and hurt. We all felt an onslaught of spiritual attacks during our stay at this event.

 

Soon some of the attendees began turning on one another in the midst of the confusion, and competing for approval from this leader was strong.

 

I left this training having met the Lord there by His mercy, but with an awful aftertaste of the experiences I had with some of the others and this leader. It was baffling to me and I continued to pray for clarity and discernment.

 

I prayed for several years after this event, asking the Lord for help and insight as to what had occurred spiritually during that event. He kept telling me to look at the fruit that was produced from it and from this specific leader.

 

So I watched carefully with a heart to recognize what type of fruit was being produced.

 

It began with the leadership directly under this particular leader. Several soon left his ministry and one even publicly repented without specifics of what happened and when, but I and a few others knew what he was referencing. Another leader that had walked away shared publicly her pain from what appeared to be betrayal of leadership she had to leave behind.

 

And then the confusion of those that attended this event alongside of me never fully lifted for us until a couple of years later. Some of us were able to help one another bring understanding, others we never heard from again.

 

The fruit was clearly bad and the fruit did not lie. It produced strife within that ministry, wounds to those that trusted this ministry, and even pushed others to walk away from their faith. It was terribly sad to see the aftermath and the product of a leader that was not to be trusted.

 

I continued to ask the Lord why He led me to this event. I was certain without any doubt that He wanted me to be there. And as I processed what had happened, the Lord revealed to me that the multiple lessons I had personally gained was His intent. He wanted me to learn how to recognize who to trust by looking at the fruit they produced.

 

He also revealed to me other reasons He had me there, but I want to focus on the valuable lesson of discerning fruit.

 

Jesus taught us in the New Testament that there would be wolves amongst us walking around in sheep’s clothing. That should make us aware that there are those that are bad who will not be easily detected. They know how to blend in, they know how to appear as one of us, but they are not of us.

 

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”  Matthew 7:15

 

For these it will be by their actions and not necessarily their words that will tell on them. 

 

Whenever we find ourselves confused about a certain individual we can always go back on these basic truths from our Lord. Let us look at the fruit they produce and ask the Spirit of God to confirm what kind of fruit it is. And let us be wise in who we allow ourselves to trust to listen to.

 

 

I made a hard decision recently to step away from specific social media platforms that were censoring voices.

 

This hits hard with me because of my own personal experiences with feeling and being silenced by others in my life. And no doubt the hand of the enemy was and is constantly in the shadows encouraging such behavior.

 

I wrote a book about my voice being silenced.

“Silenced: Discovering My Voice Within Life’s Valleys” by Tabitha Crusoe (my pen name for this book)

https://www.westbowpress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/750712-Silenced

 

My struggle to be heard and to feel like I was being heard began as a child.

 

Coming up against several different authority figures in my life in order to voice my opinion or my concerns, or even my disapproval of a matter was often met with a devaluing of what I had to say.

 

Yet, through the years I have learned to speak more boldly by His Spirit and with confidence in situations where I felt my voice needed to be heard.

 

I feel so strongly against this censorship because I see the trajectory of where it leads and that frightens me. Many of you know that my husband and I have lived in nations that were controlled heavily by government and I have reaped the fruit of these evils personally.

 

I have regretfully built my online ministry on the backs of these corrupted giants, and now will have to begin all over again.

 

But for me it is worth it.

 

I wanted to document on my website the post I shared on social media before leaving specific platforms. Below is the post I shared.

 

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Voices Silenced

 

I have had many dreams about the season we are currently in over the past months.

 

Dreams that go against what the story is told consistently on the mainstream media and what is allowed to be posted on these big social media platforms.

 

And I have wrestled with sharing these revelations.

 

To stand for what you know the Lord is speaking is to be brave in this season. For surely people will grow angry and quickly spew criticism in the comments section without once looking at their own pride and biased views.

 

People are calling the hand of God in something, when it is not His hand. People are rejoicing in a judgment that is not His judgement. And people are willfully believing lies because it caters to their wants and desires.

 

But God has a plan that will not be thwarted. And when He moves, though many will still respond in anger and disbelief, others will rejoice.

 

We should humble ourselves, remove the loud noise of newscasters and certain leaders, and seek the truth from the Lord ourselves.

 

My heart has been grieved by the silencing of thousands of voices on platforms boasting of free speech. And all because they have chosen to support a certain political candidate.

 

Voices silenced not because they were encouraging violence, but speaking their mind and heart on issues that are important to them.

 

For these bigger social media platforms to work together to allow only one opinion to be heard should be alarming to us.

 

My husband and I have lived under controlled speech abroad, along with observing strong pushes of propaganda to form one way to think.

 

And this behavior, sadly, is in our nation as well.

 

Silencing opinions you do not agree with is not right. And a greater agenda, that will undoubtedly be pushed, is to silence all believers one day.

 

You may feel justified in your boast of what has happened to those you disagree with, but those same evil powers are not your friends either. Be careful who you trust and believe.

 

Some may cry that the silencing is for those that have hate speech and it’s right to do so. But when and how did this vocabulary word of hate speech enter our culture?

 

I’ve seen plenty of hate speech on all sides.. but only voices not flowing in this culturally acceptable narrative are deemed hateful while other voiced hateful words are often overlooked.

 

And it was through the mainstream media that we now have such terminology that gives permission to cancel out voices we do not like or agree with.

 

I do not agree with a lot of things shared on social media, but I would rather people have the freedom to speak than to be silenced.

 

I had a dream back in the summer, where the Lord clearly showed me a stream of poison flowing out of the television set when the news broadcast was on.

 

There was a frustrating moment where I knew I shouldn’t watch the news, and yet I wanted to know what was going on in our nation. So I decided to watch the news in small and fewer times slots.

 

And even limiting myself as I did, I still felt the disgust of the poison. It was awful.

 

If you have yet to have eyes to see and ears to hear how our nation is being manipulated and coerced into believing an agenda that is not at all godly, then I pray the Lord reveals this to you.

 

Hypocrisy rings loud everywhere these days.. on every political platform.. ..with every television broadcast and with believers and nonbelievers alike.

 

So this is my signing off.. I can no longer be a part of or watch the strong hand of these platforms controlling our speech and therefore our opinions and thoughts.

 

And I greatly value our freedoms we have in this nation.. may the Lord protect them.

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This was my last and final post on the “bigger social media platforms “.

 

I am now embarking on a new journey on more hopeful censor free platforms that are not waging war against voices they do not like. I will be sharing those new platforms with you in the future, as well as, the direction this ministry is heading in.

 

Make sure you sign up for my E-Letter here to be informed of all that is happening here:

https://linktr.ee/amandareneebarbe

 

 

Listening to a wounded heart well can be learned. 

 

An individual that is trying to open up to you about a hurt they received is important for you to take notice. 

 

They are choosing to trust you with their pain. They regard you as a trustworthy individual that they can turn to for help.

 

A lot of us are intimidated to be that individual that a hurting person turns to for help, and that is because we do not understand what they really need and we feel inadequate to know how to help them.

 

More often than not, these hurting individuals want to be heard. They want their pain to be validated and they want someone to share in their grief with them.

 

Romans 12:15 tells us we are to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.

 

However, if we do not know how to mourn with those that are mourning, then we are unable to step into this truth.

 

I strongly believe that a huge part of mourning with those who are mourning or are grieving, is learning to listen to them and to sit with them.

 

There is not a lot for us to do when we sit with a wounded heart. The fixing of their heart is not our responsibility, that is the burden of the Lord.

 

When listening to this individual, listen intently and with compassion and empathy. 

 

Do not allow yourself to be distracted as they are speaking with you. And do not hurry them as they share with you.

 

If time is not on your side, set a specific time with them where you are able to give them your full attention and time. And share that with them. This will show them that you truly care about them and what they have to share with you.

 

Listening does not involve offering up your opinion or a solution. 

 

It does involve caring and loving this person and finding a love for them that comes from the Lord.

 

I try and remind myself when I have the opportunity to listen to someone else’s story, how others have listened to me and shown me great love. 

 

If culturally appropriate, make eye contact while they are sharing with you. And repeat to them what you have heard from them, in order to make sure you are hearing them correctly. 

 

And if you are asked for your opinion or advice, this is your invitation to provide that, yet do not be pressured to have an answer for them. It is okay not to know an answer. 

 

Always offer to pray with this individual, bringing them before the Lord and their pain as well and asking God to heal them. 

 

 

Prayer is building a relationship with our God with no strict rules we need to follow.

 

Our prayer times we set aside for a habitual practice to seek after the Lord, should be seen as a springboard into the rest of our day with Him. Praying in the morning puts our eyes and hearts on God.

 

We then go throughout our busy day, and because we have already begun a conversation with God, the pulling from the Spirit to gather our attention again is more apt to happen.

 

Our hearts are more sensitive to His voice and we can discern easier when He is speaking to us after already having spent time with Him in the early hours of the day.

 

 

Building a habit of prayer in our lives takes an effort to be intentional to do so.

 

What is not so wise, however, is when believers give up on speaking with God if they have missed out on their morning devotionals and prayer time. They feel they have missed the mark for the day and approaching Him would be pointless.

 

Let me encourage you to not fall into this “works based” trap. If you wake up late in the morning, or for several mornings, just choose to find another time in your day to meet with Him. God is not upset or disappointed in you.

 

We might be upset with ourselves, but He is not.

 

True, it is beneficial to start your day speaking with the Lord, but it is not a set rule in stone. Come to Him when you can and as often as you have time for. As your relationship with the Lord grows, so will your discipline of spending that time with Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How does being creative help improve the health of your mind?

 

Being creative brings us emotional joy and happiness. Working on your garden, dancing a jig, writing a story, or putting together a piece of artwork are all creative activities that bring us positive emotions.

 

When we find ourselves in our creative zone, a space that some psychologists call “the flow”, this pulls us from multitasking and having our attention divided, to a moment of full focus on our work in front of us. 

 

We forget our worries, our fears, our sadness.

 

We feel hope and inspiration rising within us while in our creative flow, as our actual brain waves slow down and the critical part of our brain, our prefrontal cortex, has been quieted.

 

Without all the distractions of life bombarding us, we are able to think more clearly and creatively. And good chemicals are released in abundance in our brains!

 

Using your creativity will help in de-stressing, lessen anxiety and depression symptoms and improve your immune system. 

 

God made us creative beings. 

 

His creativity is always on display in His creation around us and with us. We are His creation. 

 

And it is no wonder that when we put our own hands to the activity of creating, that it brings us peace, healing and happiness. 

 

I believe it is God’s intent to use the act of creating in our lives to quiet us, in order for us to hear Him. 

 

When we remove stress and distractions and noise, there is a space we find ourselves in, this creative flow, that gives room for us to hear our Creator. 

 

Next time you choose to be creative, use it as a time for you and the Lord to create together!

 

Why are you procrastinating?

 

When I came across this question in my latest research on procrastination, I paused for a moment, realizing I had never thought to ask myself of why I was procrastinating with something.

 

I always summed up procrastination to being just a bad habit. And I still agree that it is a bad habit that needs to be broken and worked on, but getting to the root of why we are procrastinating in the first place intrigued me.

 

I thought over the possible reasons why I personally procrastinate. And I came up with reasons I had no idea were holding me back.

 

Reasons we procrastinate can include the following:  having abstract goals, the reward is far off in the future, feeling overwhelmed, anxiety, depression, fear of failure.. and this list definitely can go on and on.

 

Why we procrastinate can be answered as we look at each individual situation where we are procrastinating, and choose to dive into what is keeping us from accomplishing that goal, project, or activity.

 

The reason we procrastinate with doing the dishes, for example, versus the reason we are not getting our workout in could be different.

 

If we put out there in general why we procrastinate, then we could be avoiding the harder issues we are not facing. 

 

You not doing the dishes has nothing in common with your fear of failure with a work project. This avoidance of a chore could easily fall into a habit you created with procrastination, while the work project is another deeper issue altogether.

 

As you go throughout your week, I encourage you to ask yourself why you are procrastinating with each task you find yourself delaying to do. 

 

Process your answers and allow yourself time to figure out what is truly holding you back. 

 

Once you discover the problem or problems, then you can create a plan to work on them and move forward. 

 

 

 

Not taking things so personally can be done when we learn to be secure in who we are. 

 

When we realize our own value and worth, we will not allow others to degrade us. Sure, they might treat us bad, but we can choose to not allow their ill treatment of us to impact what we know about who we truly are.

 

 

I listened to a talk on YouTube a couple of weeks back and an illustration was made that has stuck well with me.

 

The speaker took out a bill. I do not recall how much the bill was, but it was a nice amount. Then he asked the audience if they would like to have the bill. They of course responded as we would expect them to with a resounding yes.

 

Then he did something that I would not advise anyone to do for sanitary reasons.

 

He crumpled up the bill and put it in his mouth. Next, he spat it out onto the stage where he was speaking from.

 

He then picked it up and asked the audience the same question. 

 

And the audience still agreed with the speaker that the bill had value. The same value it was worth prior to him treating it as he did.

 

He then made his point that we are like that bill. We also get treated bad much like the bill that was wadded up, chewed on and spat out.

 

However, even though we sometimes take the ill treatment from others as a sure sign that we must be a sort of person that deserves that treatment, the speaker reminded the audience that we are still highly valuable. 

 

The brain will get us to believe the lie that how we are treated defines who we are.

 

We need to correct this thinking. We need to know who we are, our value and our importance. We need to stop allowing how others treat us to define us. 

 

We need to recognize that just like a bill that was trashed and stepped on and still retains its’ value, we, too, retain ours. 

 

The next time someone mistreats you for any reason, remember that they do not have the privilege to shape your identity and sense of worth. 

 

The individual doing the mistreatment often times has the problem, not us. They need to change, we do not.

 

We have a responsibility to respond in a righteous way, however. We must forgive and show grace and mercy to those that do us harm. This if for our own good and keeps us free from bitterness and unforgiveness.