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When you are about to step into what God has been preparing you for years to do, or He’s about to raise you up to a higher position because of your faithfulness to Him, it is not abnormal for spiritual opposition to come rearing its head.

And when it comes, the Lord will prepare your heart to withstand such opposition. This encouraging prophetic word calls us to be strong and determined when familiar enemies rage chaotically behind us as we move forward in obedience to Him.

And the act of trusting God to fight for us is put to the test as it was with many who have come before us.

Remain obedient within this opposition and watch God fight for you!

I’m sitting here looking at our Christmas decorations still displayed, realizing it’s the second day into the new year already. My husband and I have definitely started the new year running hard, spending the first day in January already focused on projects we let lie during the holidays. Yet, we made no time to take down the festive decor that welcomed in our Christmas. And I hear the Lord say there are some who also have neglected removing signs of their past season, trying to carry baggage that should have been released before stepping into this new season.

The problem with holding onto what happened in your previous season instead of working through it and giving it to the Lord, is that those difficult experiences or relationships can color over your new experiences and opportunities, and your judgement becomes tainted. You could miss out on what God has planned for you, trying to guard yourself from all future pain and not be willing to move forward.

And if you are noticing that not only the decor of your past season is still up, but multiple seasons are still displayed haunting you still, then it’s a wise choice to do some heart de-cluttering.

Sit down with the Lord and take those challenging things from past seasons and slowly begin to work though them one by one. You can recognize if something is still an issue and a pain in your heart when your mind continues to fall back on it. And reflecting on that time still feels very painful.

Allowing those things to be worked through and healed and released to the Lord will return to your heart healing, joy and energy needed to live your new season to its fullest.

Having studied theology in college, served on the mission field for some years with my husband and currently running my own ministry focused on faith and inner healing, there is no other topic I am most passionate about, and also I am most quiet about, than my personal call to preach His Gospel.

(video below)

I know what the Lord put in me at a young age and because of the pushback I received when I would share my calling, I ended up finding creative outlets that allowed this gift to be lived out in ways that were more acceptable by the church culture I was often in.

The Lord has done a huge work in my heart since, placed my husband and I within an amazing body of Christ and I am being challenged by Him to step further into this calling, whatever that may look like.

In hopes of encouraging other women who feel a similar call, I also share in this video biblical backing of women teaching, preaching and even being leaders within those early house churches. It’s a beautiful realization of seeing God’s heart for women to be a part of His greater mission on this earth.

May this video encourage you if you are a woman and are also called to preach!

I do share a part of an article that gives clearer understanding to the long debated 1 Timothy 2:8-15 passage. That source is cited here: https://www.fuller.edu/womeninministry/

There is a reviving of lost dreams and visions right now as we step closer to a new year. God has been and will continue to stir up desires and hopes we’ve held onto in our past but have been lost under piles of unmet expectations, hurts and loss.

The enemies rampage against God’s faithful will be met with angelic armies released from His Kingdom. God has specific plans and a timeline He has set that remains solid and firm in His hands. This is His goodness, His faithfulness and His sovereignty put on display.

For some this will be a reviving of pursuits dropped off years ago, years long forgotten where your young heart dared to dream big and grand. Despair and hopelessness has settled too comfortably in some of our hearts and God is challenging those mindsets to change towards hope and optimism once again.

(Prophetic Word In Video Format)

 

God gave me a dream, a vision, and resurfaced for me an older worship song where I had once allowed its words to set my heart ablaze with full child like faith and hope in Him. The dream revealed a more youthful part of me receiving heart surgery from all of the heartache I endured in a short time span. God showed me how He is not only healing those wounds, but restoring a part of me that I lost over twenty years ago. God is wanting and willing to piece back together our broken hearts and souls.

I woke up this very morning with a vision from the Lord once again sharing how many of the prophetic words and promises He’s spoken to my heart are in motion and will be fulfilled soon. I feel a burning in my heart and spirit right now as I prepare this word for you.

I hear the Lord say to hope and dream again, to dare to dream big and dare to trust Him with failed desires, to allow Him to set you and your heart apart for Him alone, leaving altars of gods never meant for your attention and worship.

I have wondered, after having the dream where a part of me received heart surgery, what that would mean for my heart’s desires and wishes. What have I forgotten that were God given desires in my heart long ago? How did I used to see this world before all the hurt and despair came in? Where have I settled for less in my life because I began to believe lies of the enemy?

And with your heart, if God did heart surgery in you what would that look like and what revived dreams would return for you?

In order to partake in this renewing of dreams, your heart has to believe and trust Him with them again. Walk boldly into where He’s leading you and rejoice in the fact that a reviving of a lost and hopeful part of who you are is indeed returning.

I woke up one morning having trouble emotionally. My alarm didn’t go off as planned so I woke up with my husband’s alarm. I reluctantly got out of bed remembering an awful and triggering dream I had in the night that brought on a sense of hopelessness as a result. But with my morning habits built in my brain I walked out each step of my routine by sheer discipline. When I sat down to take in my morning coffee while attempting my time with the Lord, I still had this strong negative emotion I was struggling with.

Pressing on I played a worship song on my phone that was waiting in the wings of another song I just listened to. When I played the video I saw the scene of a beach cove and heard significant lyrics that reminded me that I belong to God. The words rang out beautifully, “I am Yours and You are mine.” The beach scenery warmed my heart as well because when I converse with the Lord I always imagine us on a beach cove with cliffs hanging above us. It’s my safe space I created during the days I went through trauma therapy.

I immediately knew this song was put into my rotation by the Lord. I felt comforted by Him and loved, and the hopelessness and shame I was feeling fled. God saw the enemy coming against me in my sleep, but He had my time with Him in the morning planned to bring me comfort and healing. He was steps ahead of the enemy, guarding our time together and using His comfort to help me align with Him.

The Lord sees it all. He sees what the enemy is up to and faithfully counteracts those evil plans with His own.

Twice in my life I have been told that I am a warrior for the Lord by individuals who did not know me, but saw it in the spirit once they laid eyes on me. I share this because not only is it true, but it makes complete sense why I love learning about and teaching on the subject of spiritual warfare.

In this video, I will be sharing a hugely impactful tool we can use against the attacks of the enemy. I use this tool often in my own life and have seen victory upon victory in Him.

I have more tools to share in the future, but sharing with you as I am led by the Lord. Some of these tools may be obvious to some, but it is always good to be refreshed with our awareness of them and reminded to use them often.

May this Christmas season bring you joy and may your spiritual battles be won quickly in the Lord!

These words, “be strong and very courageous”, were given to Joshua after the Israelites lost Moses. God chose Joshua to lead His people into the land He had promised them. He was directed to be their new leader. As exciting as that possibly was for Joshua it had to also be daunting.

He was tasked to not only lead the children of God into their promised territories, but to lead them to first take possession of this land. God knew how this act of obedience by Joshua would bring the Israelites face to face with more danger and evil. Repeating Himself three times to Joshua with being strong and courageous, God also encouraged him to not be afraid. He then promised He will be with him wherever he went.

When the Lord chose to encourage Joshua like this it meant the task before him required strength and courage. And it also required the Lord to be with him in it.

I clearly hear these words to be strong and courageous being spoken over some in His church right now. This also means that what task He’s putting before us will require us to not only remain close to Him and fully dependent on Him, but also to step into strength and courage.

Whenever I hear the Lord encourage me to be courageous and strong, I know this will mean that what is coming in my direction as a result of my obedience will have the potential to tempt me to want to retreat and fall back in fear. And in order for that to not happen, I also know that I will need to lean into the Lord more so so that I will have what I need to do what He is placing before me to do.

More often than not, when God puts an assignment before us it will require us to walk outside of what feels comfortable for us. And in venturing into the unfamiliar and/or the uncomfortable we need to choose to have a heart that the Lord encouraged Joshua to have, a heart full of strength and courage. We can choose these attributes knowing that God promises to be with us in it.

Obedience to God is not always the easy path. It does not always produce the results we prefer to have. Just look at the path of obedience our Lord walked down. His obedience led to His death and resurrection as was foretold in the Old Testament, yet it pleased God to provide us salvation from His Son’s obedience.

Sometimes obedience to the Lord, like with Joshua and the Israelites, stirs up old enemies and surfaces new ones. And it can be hard to see what God is doing within that task or what He desires from our obedience. Yet, because God has led us down this path, He remains with us in it and will see to it that we will be victorious.

Those seasons of my life that required more from me in order to be obedient to God and to face whatever that heartfelt obedience brought with it, were also the sweetest seasons that brought me the joy of being closer to Him and more of an understanding of His ways.

I have set the Lord always before me;
because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Psalm 16:8

If you hear these same words, be strong and courageous, then trust Him fully to be close to you as you walk out faithfully and obediently what He’s placed before you to do. Don’t retreat, don’t give up and in time you will see how He is using your obedience for your good and His glory.

Releasing this video this Thanksgiving week because I am truly thankful for God’s faithfulness in my life and work, and for His healing and redemptive nature that He has allowed me to experience so deeply (including in this testimony).

This is not an easy story to share, but it is an experience I’ve learned from that I want others to gain from as well. My hope is that this will bring freedom to individuals that have allowed lies from false teaching to enter their hearts. And for others to learn from my example and be more careful, walking in His discernment and wisdom, than I was in this broken season.

And because God uses all things for His glory, both good and bad, and for the good of those who love Him.. I am able to take this bad experience I went through and be grateful for what I learned and gained from it.

This is a longer video, so maybe play it in the background while you prep for Thanksgiving or grab a nice cup of coffee or tea.

I promise it will bless you and help better protect your heart from false teachers!

God gave me a dream in the night that revealed how some in the body of Christ were choosing to skip out on learning fundamental basics of our faith, in order to quickly advance their own selves to achieve their ambitions in life. Mind you I had this dream two years ago, but in this season He is bringing this dream to mind.

In the dream I found myself attending a school for spiritual growth and biblical understanding alongside other students. Then a young lady walks into the classroom and tells the teacher, who was a pastor representing Jesus within the dream, that she will be attending another school. She walks out and I, simultaneously, heard it spoken in my spirit  that she was attending her own school she made for herself. She had it in mind that she would advance faster on her own.

The teacher turned to us and said no one would be able to advance themselves without attending the right school. Let me be clear that this school in the dream did not represent any school here on earth, but rather a school in the spirit realm. The Lord spoke to my heart and said many in this age are seeking advancement in His Kingdom by their own ways and strength. Yet, how they define advancement resembles how the world does. They believe that to possess giftings, talents, acknowledgement of man and even power equates to success and advancement.

These children of God have lost sight, blinding themselves with wrong motives and intentions. Refusing to obediently walk as the Lord leads them they have marked out a path for themselves, but in vain. The Lord has lessons He wants us to learn and trials He allows us to endure in order to bring us growth both personally and spiritually. He wants us to find growth as we consistently hold onto spiritual disciplines and learn how to walk with Him.

Trying to cut corners by refusing to remain humble and teachable, refusing to allow more mature believers to speak into your life and refusing to develop a genuine and deep relationship with God never has a good outcome. Trying to do life our own way never leads to true joy and peace. And because God loves even these ones doing their own walk, He will use the consequences of their choices to bring them an understanding that His ways do in fact work best.

We’ve all tried to cut corners, choosing a path absent of Him; but recognizing our error and humbly returning to His process for each of us is a step towards growth. You might have seen others gain much in this life knowing they refused to be worked on by their Maker in order to gain quicker advancement, but without the growth they need to sustain what they’ve accomplished they potentially can lose it all.

Without obediently walking through the process He has set before us, we will find ourselves circling the same mountain again and again without progress. And we can sadly miss out on those things our hearts truly yearn for in our attempt to seek out things not in His plan for us.

“Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”

Luke 12:31

I had a prophetic dream used to show me how I was settling for a smaller vision with my ministry compared to God’s vision and plans for it.

In the dream I found myself with packed boxes and filled suitcases right past the front door threshold of our old apartment. They were either stacked up or gathered close to the front door, but definitely on the outside of the apartment.

(Prophetic Word In Video Format)

I saw myself re-organize and push around some of the boxes with the intent of moving them to our next place, but then I got distracted with something and had to leave that apartment. I looked down and grabbed a pair of old shoes I knew I had grown out of and put them on.

They, of course, were too small but I hadn’t yet bought myself a new pair. I remember thinking to myself within the dream to make a better effort to purchase new shoes soon. Then I left the old apartment in the “too small for me” shoes and went to minister to a good friend.

So much to unpack here.. pun intended. Shoes in dreams normally represent ministry, like vehicles do, and in my dream the Lord was revealing to me that it was time for me to release an old vision I had for my ministry that was no longer “fitting” me and to gain a larger shoe size, a larger vision instead.

The packed boxes and suitcases revealed how I haven’t fully embraced the next part of my ministry as I was in a stand still with my transition. I was willing to pack up my belongings, but not ready to make the move and that’s why I allowed myself to be distracted.

Wearing my old shoes and remaining in my old apartment feels comfortable. So does remaining in a mindset and vision for my life and ministry that I know I’ve grown out of. God has definitely began a push forward with my ministry and life this past year.

I’ve been gaining more understanding, education, resources and connections. I’ve been growing in my faith, trust and courage. And I’ve had to revisit experiences in the present that look similar to painful experiences in my past, pushing through my fears and rebuilding more of my ability and desire to trust God in these hard things again.

The Lord told me that He’s doing the pushing and nudging with many right now. He’s revealing to you that your shoes won’t fit anymore either. That’s because you’ve outgrown your old ways, your old vision and dreams and you see a new pair of shoes He’s placed in front of you.

It’s time to upgrade how you think, how you believe and how you trust God. Don’t allow the things around you to distract you from what God has for you. Be tunnel visioned for the plans God has placed within you and be brave. Step out of your comfort zone and allow God to use you and your life in a powerful way.