Just Breathe- Inhale

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Trying to stay warm on a blistery wet winter day in South Africa, Patty and I covered ourselves with blankets, consumed hot coffee, and distracted our minds with good books. Patty was reading about the importance of correct breathing for your health and wanted me to practice with her. I paused my reading and gave it a try. A deep Inhale through your nose and exhale through pursed lips, repeating this 3 to 10 times. The goal was to relax the body from stress and help me sleep.

Ironically in my current book, I just finished a chapter entitled “Breathe” highlighting spiritual breathing. The author talked about the vital necessity of followers of Christ to daily inhale the Word of God and exhale prayer. After practicing the breathing exercise  and my recent reading and I found myself reflecting on spiritual breathing and the fact that the Holy Spirit uses the Word and Prayer to oxygenate our spiritual lungs.

Just as we need to inhale and exhale to live so too with the Word and Prayer, both work together imparting spiritual oxygen for us to thrive spiritually. Today’s focus is on the importance of daily inhaling the precious Word of God and next week I will touch the how prayer is spiritual exhaling.

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is start the coffee. I know-perhaps I have a problem. But for me sipping a hot mug of coffee with a jolt of caffeine helps shift my brain into gear. As I sit in my favorite spot keeping the coffee close I pick up my Bible and INHALE my Psalm for the day. For me reading a Psalm opens my mouth to breathe in the spiritual oxygen needed to start my day. If I miss this sacred time I can sense it throughout the rest of the day.

Please note, this is not meant to be a legalistic practice that I must do to receive a star on my chart or to persuade the Father to love me more. I just really need His voice to get my heart filled with the breath of heaven to prepare me for the day. The Father’s voice must be the first one I hear before all the other voices begin to make noise.

As I listen for His voice in the Psalms I always look for Jesus His gift of saving love. From Genesis to Revelation we have this Good News, that the Father has had a plan before the creation of the world to show us the full extent of His love through His very own Son Jesus. Every Word in the Old Testament points to Jesus and in the New Testament the Word becomes flesh and we see in Jesus the perfect love of the Father for His lost sons and daughters (See John 1:1-18).

Today more than ever we need to breathe in the Good News of the gift of Jesus Christ. The Word from Abba Father who tells us we are forgiven, we are healed, we are son’s and daughters of His Kingdom, and we are completely and forever loved through the life, death, resurrection and reign of Jesus Christ.

I challenge you to take time today to breathe in the Word of love to you from your Good, Good Father!

“Remember what you were taught from your childhood from the Holy Scrolls which can impart to you wisdom to experience everlasting life through the faith of Jesus, the Anointed One! God has transmitted His very substance into every Scripture, for it is God-breathed. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfill any assignment God gives you.” 2 Timothy 3:15-17 TPT

 

 

“Come into My Heart”

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Have you ever had a song stuck in your head that won’t go away? For the past week I keep singing over and over a song I learned years ago in Sunday school:

“Come into my heart, come into to my heart, come into my heart Lord Jesus, come in today come in to stay come into my heart Lord Jesus..”

Do you remember that song? What prompted me to think about it and sing my own version of it was meditating on Matthew 11:28-29:

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.”

This verse it is about Jesus inviting us into His heart. A heart that is “gentle and humble,” a heart like no other, the only heart in all the world that can give us true rest.

Recently I finished a book for the second time called “Gentle and Lowly,” by Dane Ortlund. The book is centered on Matthew 11: 28-29 and highlights the heart of Jesus. In this powerful book Ortlund, states that “this is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus describes His heart.” His heart is full of mercy and grace, His heart continually calls us to come and experience a healing, forgiving home of love.

The enemy will do all in his power to keep us from the heart of Jesus. His lies include: you are not worthy, you’re too sinful, you have blown it way too many times. Too often we listen to these lies and run elsewhere to find relief from our guilt and shame. The problem is all the things we run to never give us peace and rest. There is not enough money, drugs, sex, pleasure, entertainment, relationships, political power etc. that can satisfy our heart’s deepest longings.

At this very moment Jesus calls out to us in the midst of all our brokenness, failures, weakness, and the shame of our darkest secrets and says come to My heart full of mercy and grace. It is like He is standing in front of a cozy home inviting you in out of a raging storm where you are dirty from slushing through the mud and muck. Jesus offers a warm shower, fresh cloths, and the best chicken noodle soup you ever tasted. And this greatest gift is unconditional love which He freely lavishes upon you. No judgment, no shame, just a forgiving heart that will never let you go.

How we need to encounter His heart. Why would we choose to stay outside striving to find relief in life’s storms and wallow in the mud and muck starving for true love. Listen again to His glorious invitation to you to come to His glorious loving heart.

So I took the song above and begun to sing it as if Jesus was singing it to me:

“Tim, come into My heart, come into My heart, come in today, come in and stay, Tim come into My heart, your friend the Lord Jesus!”

Listen to Jesus sing this song to you, don’t wait outside any longer, run, walk, crawl if you must, but come, come into His heart today.

What is Jesus doing right now?

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I know this is going to sound funny but take a moment and lift both of your hands in the air. Maybe you’re in a coffee shop, or checking emails at work, possibly in bed or out on your patio with a cup of coffee. Did you do it, how did you feel?

The other evening I went for a walk and felt prompted to lift both of my hands in the air. Before I did it I looked around hoping not too many people were on the path before I stretched my hands upward. I did so because it was a reminder to me of what Jesus is doing right this very moment.

Jesus is working in the heavenly realm and one of His main jobs is lifting up our spiritual hands in prayer before the Father to assure victory over all our spiritual enemies.

Listen to a couple of Scriptures, which describe this most powerful work:

“Who then is left to condemn us? Certainly not Jesus, the Anointed One! For He gave His life for us, and even more than that, He has conquered death and is now risen, exalted and enthroned by God at His right hand. So how could He possibly condemn us since He is continually praying for our triumph.” Romans 8:34

“So He is able to save fully from now throughout eternity. Everyone who comes to God through Him, because He lives to pray continually for them.” Hebrews 7:25

The book of Hebrew’s reminds us that we have this Great High Priest who is moment by moment praying for our every need before the Father.

Do you every get overwhelmed by the stress and strain of life? When the news that you have cancer, or a close friend just found out about a brain tumor; sometimes life gets way too much to bear. The financial pressures, the adult child that walked away from the faith, that sin you felt you conquered beat you up again and left you spiritually dead. We have all been in positions where it seems impossible to fight on in prayer and our holy hands fall limp to our side.

This is when Jesus is at His best, as the text above says, “He is continually praying for our triumph!” There is a great story in Exodus 17 that demonstrates what Jesus is doing this very moment for us.

A fierce enemy of the children of Israel was the Amalekites. These just freed slaves who didn’t know how to fight were being attacked and were out matched in this battle. So Moses goes to the top of a mountain to pray and lift up his hands to God. As long as he prayed with hands held high Israel prevailed. But when his hands grew weary and tired the Israelites began to lose.

So Aaron, the high priest, and Hur joined Moses and lifted up his arms until sunset and Israel’s enemy was defeated (vs. 8-15).

We like Moses have encountered this battle raging all around and become weary, but take heart we have a great High Priest! Jesus takes our spiritual hands and lifts them up for us with a mighty and powerful prayer before the Father. But it is not only Jesus, but also the Holy Spirit joining in to give us strength to continue the battle…. praying on our behalf 24/7 for victory (Rom. 8:27). We cannot lose the battle as we put our trust in His powerful prayers.

So go ahead, lift up your arms, as a tangible reminder that through the interceding prayer of Christ and the Holy Spirit at this very moment He is with you. These prayers go before the Father and we know that those who are in Christ are able to triumph over the enemy.

 

Fight with Beauty

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One of my favorite places to do spiritual warfare is Elise’s Peak pictured above. Chances are if you have visited us in South Africa you have done the hike and you know why. For me it is a place of sheer beauty where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean currents collide.

As I sit on my favorite rock and gaze at the beauty around me I’m pulled away from the pain of plumbing issues, people problems, and the pounding attacks of the enemy in my own mind.

Reflecting back on the dream I had last month and the call to fight against a powerful foe using Revelation 12:11. We have seen a conquering victorious spirit come through His Blood, His Supernatural testimony, and I want to add His Beauty. Read the verse again:

“The conquered him completely through the blood of the Lamb and the powerful word of His testimony. They triumphed because they did not love and cling to their own lives, even when faced with death.”

One of people’s greatest fears-if not the greatest is death. But not these warriors, “They triumphed” even over losing their own lives, because they lived in the Beauty of another world. They saw the Jesus in Revelation, who is not just ultimate power, but also perfect beauty. A Beauty so beyond understanding all of heaven continues to sing new songs of worship to try to capture what is beyond words.

Who beside Jesus was the greatest warrior in the Bible? I would vote David, whom Jesus’ humanity descended from. King David was also a great worshiper. In Psalm 27  this Warrior/Worshiper was fearless because He focused on The Beauty.

“Yahweh is my revelation-light and the source of my salvation. I fear no one! I’ll never turn back and run, for you, Yahweh, surround and protect me. When evil ones come to destroy me, they will be the ones who turn back. My heart will not fear even if an army rises to attack I will not be shaken, even if war is imminent.” (vs. 1-3).

 This sounds like the triumphant ones in Rev. 12:11. Note why David was fearless in battle:

“Here’s the one thing I crave from Yahweh, the one thing I seek above all else: I want to live with Him every moment in His house, beholding the marvelous beauty of Yahweh, filled with awe, delighting in His glory and grace.” (vs. 4).

 It was the “Beauty” of Yahweh, the Beauty that would come to this world through Jesus for all to see, which was the source of his victory. David made it his priority to stay transfixed on the Beauty of the Lord.

The book of Revelation was given to us by the Holy Spirit, encouraging us to turn our focus away from the fears of this world and to the Beautiful One. It is when we focus on Him and His beautiful LOVE that fears vanish and victory follows. We are not even fearful of losing our lives in the battle because we of the eternal beauty awaiting us.

When I’m on Elise’s Peak I encounter the beautiful work of the Creator. That beauty begins to lift my focus heavenward to the Lion and the Lamb on the throne. As my spiritual eyes dwell on the beauty of His love, the dark battle below begins to fade in the light of His spectacular salvation.

So today find a beautiful place and as the old song says:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely deem in the light of His glory and grace.”

Fight – Supernaturally

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Abba Father knows exactly how to speak to us. It is no wonder that the dream I experienced earlier this month highlighted two passions of mine, the church and football. So when the dream switched scenes from a church service to a football field making the same point my spiritual senses were being stirred.

As I was walking across the field in my dream the head coach pulled me aside to tell me the team was facing a far superior opponent. The opponents were bigger, faster, more experienced, and far more athletic than our team. He told me to come up with a game plan and go into the locker room and tell the team to “fight.”

I stood on the field trying to rack my brain on ways to overcome what seemed like impossible odds. Yes, I could go into the locker room and pump them up and tell them to “fight” but how?  Shortly after that moment I woke up, went to my Bible and journal and started to write.

As I was unpacking Revelation 12:11, the text I was to preach in my dream church, I found the strategy on how to “fight” on the spiritual football field in order to overcome a far more talented team. Look at verse 11 again in the Passion translation:

“They conquered him completely through the blood of the Lamb and the powerful word of His testimony. They triumphed because they did not love and cling to their own lives, even when faced with death.”

Over the last several weeks the blog has focussed on the “the blood of the Lamb” as the foundation of victory. What I plan to unpack in the next blogs is found in the 2nd half of Revelation 12:11 and it is vital for conquering the enemy.

For years I have read this verse with these words, “…the word of their testimony.” But notice the Passion translation, which takes it from the Aramaic, the spoken language of the day, “the powerful word of His testimony.” 

In the wee hours of the morning this jumped out at me. “Wait! it is not my testimony that overcomes the enemy but Jesus’ testimony, His supernatural work.”  Or you could say, it is Christ in me! The victory comes when I acknowledges I’m is far too weak to overcome the beast within and without-I need the testimony of Jesus.

A few weeks ago I was talking and praying with a young man who spent some time in Africa recently. He was sharing how encountering the supernatural power of Christ has changed the whole course of his life. We talked about the time when we were in a preschool classroom praying over someone when a demonic spirit began to manifest. Just stepping foot into that area the heavy darkness and bondage was in the atmosphere, before we knew it we we were all on our knees crying out to Jesus for help. After what seemed like an eternity, Jesus showed up in His glorious power and set a captive free.

I’ll  never forget what he said right after the encounter, “I feel like I’m living in the book of Acts!” Each of us in the room felt humbled  and overwhelmed by the power of Christ Jesus. I know I felt weak going into the fight vastly outmatched. All we could do was call on the name of Jesus believing He had the power to intervene and heal.

Whether in the classroom, the church, work or on the field, the advice my football coaches taught holds true. The goal was to always tackle an opponent by going low. In the same way spiritually as believers we overcome the enemy by going low. Realizing our own weakness over our enemy we fall before King Jesus and ask for His supernatural help. Our secret weapon over a superior enemy is the powerful testimony of Jesus.

We claim His death and the power of His perfect blood to forgive us of all sin.

We claim His resurrection power living in us making us new.

And we claim His sovereign rule and authority to over come all attacks of the enemy,

When we line up against what looks like an overwhelming, unbeatable force of fear, habitual sin, unforgiveness, hate, demonic strongholds, or whatever is overwhelming you at the moment remember Fight – Supernaturally- Go Low-Bend the Knee-Claim HIS testimony.