picturesfromheaven

Picture…The Lord gave me three different pictures involving children. The first one was of two little children walking through the woods. The picture looks more like a cartoon than an actual movie. The bare branches of the trees are hanging down almost reaching towards the earth with what appears to be goblins laying in wait. It was dark and menacing, but the two children had a lantern they used to light their way through intimidating darkness. Surprisingly, they acted like there was nothing at all with which to be concerned. They were smiling and joking, and nearly skipping along the worn path through the trees. And I asked the Lord, “Don’t they know that there is danger lurking in the darkness and the enemy is ready to attack them?” The Lord said simply, “Watch.” Sure enough, something did leap down from the trees towards the children, but an invisible protective shield stopped it. The children were in a shielding bubble of God’s grace and protection. It was evident that nothing could harm them.

Hear…the Lord say, “If you will stop looking at the difficulties, problems, struggles and even the apparent dangers in your life and focus on my light, I am going to give you sweet peace. I will protect you from all that is ’out there. It is all about your focus. Do you want to continue to focus on your struggles or do you want to focus on me. ”

Picture…the second picture was of a little girl in the midst of a violent nightmare. But the child is not alone. Upon hearing the child’s first frightened cries, the father had come into the room and was trying to comfort her. The father tried to pull the little girl into his arms, but she just kept struggling. When the little girl finally awakened and recognized that it was her dad holding her, she began to settle down and was eventually able to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

Hear…the Lord say, “Child you are struggling and fighting against various situations and people. What I want you to do is just rest in my arms. The situations are simply an illusion, something that is here now and will be gone later. I am your reality. Stop struggling, and allow me to just hold you. Everything else is just going to pass away and this situation is going to shift; it is going to change. The people are even going to be removed from your life. But if you keep your focus on these transitory things, you are going to miss the reality of my presence comforting and holding you.”

Picture…the last picture was of a child standing on a ledge and the father was down below reaching up with outstretched arms, and the little boy just leaped. Then His father said, “Come on,” he just leapt, no fear or turmoil about whether or not he would be caught. He didn’t struggle with, “Will he catch me? Will he not?” There was no struggle whatsoever; just total abandonment with giggles and outright laughter. The pair was obviously having a great time.

Hear…the Lord say, “You keep asking, ‘Is this you God or not? Is this going to work or not? Should I try this? Should I try that? I just don’t know if God is in this or not.” If you will just stop with all this mess and trust me, you and I are going to have a great time together. But you’ll have to stop struggling with worries. You have to trust me to catch you. Follow my directives with absolute abandon knowing that I would never let you fall.”

Consider: You and I need to fling ourselves with absolute abandon into the arms of our heavenly Father today. We need to step out in faith and just do whatever He asks of us. We need to trust Him. We need to rest in His arms. We absolutely must stop fretting about everything. Worrying is a behavior pattern; a behavioral trap that we keep allowing ourselves to get caught in. Maybe occasionally, we need to think of ourselves as God’s little children, and just throw ourselves into His arms. Allow God to take care of all the “bogey monsters” while you rest in sweet peace in the shelter of His arms. It’s surprisingly hard to do. The only way that I know how to do it is through prayer. So reach up and allow your Daddy to pick you up as you pray.

Pray: “Daddy, I am reaching out right now so that you can wrap your loving arms around me and hold me. I’m giving all of this nasty, scary stuff to you, so that you can deal with it. I just want to center my attention on you right now. I want to rest in shelter of your loving embrace. So I trust you with the stuff. I trust you with my family. I trust you with my finances. I trust you with my life. I believe that you are going to take care of everything on my behalf. I love you daddy. I let go of all of the circumstances into your care. I let go of all of the troubles that have been perplexing me. You deal with them. You take care of them. I’m taking my hands off right now. I am not going to struggle with this any longer. ” Would you just talk to Him as your Heavenly Father right now, using your own words? Just express your love and dependence on Him. Show Him that you are aware that He is there right beside you He is going to take care of everything.”

After preaching this weekend that, "This is War," I thought that this word about dancing, would be a good followup. I truely believe what I said this weekend, that God put His church in this world to torment and thwart the enemy. You are a child of God, a part of His army. You are put on this earth to confuse the enemy’s strategies. You are here to torment the devil!

Picture…I saw a woman dancing before the Lord with enemies all around her. She was dressed in ancient garments, and had a sword in her hand. While she was dancing, she was cutting the enemy to shreds with her sword. But it wasn’t as if she was doing it on purpose. She wasn’t really paying any attention to the enemy. Her face was uplifted and it was intent on the Lord. It was like one of those old comedies when someone keeps accidentally hitting people without realizing it. That’s how it was; the woman was just worshipping and praising God with a sword in her hand and she was cutting the enemy asunder. I thought, “That’s cool. Praising and worshipping the Lord, keeping your focus on Him destroys the enemy.” But when I looked closer at the woman I realized that her look of concentration on the Lord was strained. It looked like it was taking everything she had to hold onto the sword. It wasn’t as easy or lighthearted as it looked like from a distance. As I looked closely I could tell that it took a great deal of stamina, concentration, and determination to keep that sword in her hand.

Hear…the Lord say, “Dance before me. Worship me with all your heart. Think not that worship can be done as an afterthought. Think not that worship is done only in times of celebration. Worship can be a fight when you are facing adversaries, but it is at such a time that it is most effective. Although not easy, worship in times of distress is effective in destroying the strategies of the enemy that was planned against you. So dance!”

Consider: It is fairly easy to worship the Lord when you get a surprise check in the mail, a clean bill of health from the doctor or you’ve lost 5 pounds. It is not so easy when things are going terribly wrong and you don’t know how you are going to make it until tomorrow. But worship is not about us, or our present circumstances, it is about how great and mighty is our God. Remember worship is thanking God for who He is not for what He has done. Worshipping God when all hell is breaking lose in your life is not only appropriate it is needed. It is at such times that worship becomes an act of faith that will release God’s power in your life. So many people think that spiritual warfare is about binding, and cursing. Although to some extent it is, it is so much more. Warfare is not giving place to the enemy. Warfare is figuring out what the enemy wants you to do and then do the opposite so that you defeat his plans for you. Warfare is focusing on God and not giving your attention to the enemy. The enemy craves attention, to defeat him; you must withhold what he craves the most. You must do what he hates the most...God being glorified. It will not be easy. It might take every ounce of strength that you have. But then serving God isn’t for wimps is it? Neither is worship. Worship God when you feel like it and when you don’t. Worship God when you have energy and when you don’t. Worship God in victory, and worship God on your way to victory. Worship God in every situation, in every state of being. WORSHIP THE LORD!

Pray: “God you are holy, you are righteous, you are worthy and you are true. You are the almighty God, creator of the heavens and the earth. Nothing is too hard for you, including my present situation. I will praise you and worship you for you are beautiful beyond description, magnificent in power and splendor. There is no one like you, on the earth, under the earth or in the heavenly realms. You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are the reason why I get up in the morning, and the reason I can lay my head down at night in peace. Glorious is all your ways. Your way is truth and it is light. I love you, no; love is too mild a word. I adore you. I’m mad about you. Your words are light and life. They are sweet yet strong. This stuff that I am going through right now, is not about me, it is about your glory and power working through me. It’s all about you God. It’s all about you!”

Picture…I saw a businesswoman in a power suit at her desk writing down appointments in her daily planner, and things that needed to be done on her “To Do List” lying next to it. Her brow was furrowed, and there were a few unladylike drops of sweat beginning to bead on her forehead. It was obvious that she was working very hard. There were notations everywhere; actually it was quite a mess. Suddenly, a breeze came up and flipped the page. Rather than getting frustrated, the woman just started writing on the next page. Before the businesswoman could complete the notation, another breeze flipped the page and the pages started flipping pages faster and faster. The woman tried to stop the pages from turning over by holding down them down first with her hand and then her forearm. But then the wind picked up and made the pages turn so fast that they were just a blur. I totally sympathized with the woman as I watched the picture unfold before me. I thought, “This is just like my life. I can’t keep up. I can’t keep it together.”

Hear…I heard the Lord say, “Its more than just you; many people are struggling to make their lives work. They are trying to make sense of everything that is going on in their lives so that they can organize it and feel like they have some kind of control in it all. It’s obvious to them that it’s not working, but what is not apparent is the cause. They have no idea that I am the one blowing through their lives with such force that it is impossible to control. They have been blaming the enemy or thinking that it is just life in the 21st Century. They are totally unaware that much of what is going on in their lives is because I want them to take their hands off their schedule and everything that they are trying to accomplish. I want sole authority. I want governing control. I want to do the work myself.

Considering: I don’t think that the Lord is advocating laziness. Nor does he want you to ignore the problem, stick your head in the sand like an ostrich and hope it all goes away. That’s denial, and according to Proverbs, God’s not real keen on that. But God does want you to put the same intensity and effort that you have been putting into getting your life right, into seeking his face. God doesn’t have a problem with your effort; just it’s direction. You try so hard to control life when you should be surrendering it all to God. Why do you keep trying to get it all done, and done right when you know that it is impossible? Give God your calendar and checkbook; allow Him to take care of everything. But don’t surrender them just for His organizing abilities. Give them to God so that you can shift your attention to his face. Pursue God with every thing you are; body, soul and spirit. The side benefit of such a lifestyle is that it does allow God to take care of all of your stuff for you. If you focus on Him, He will manage your relationships, finances, ministry opportunities, or whatever projects you have going on in your life right now. But the real benefit is an intimate relationship the God of the universe, creator of all that was, is and is to come, your dearest friend. Nothing can beat that. Surrender the stuff that is so draining and impossible to control anyways, so that you have the mental and physical energy for a passionate pursuit of God.

Pray: “Lord, you and I both know that the harder I try, the ‘behinder’ I get. But it is obvious from my lifestyle that I forget that from time to time. I surrender it all to you, and then gradually, I take it back on my shoulders one piece at a time until everything is out of control again. So again, I give you my planner, my to-do-list, my outlook calendar and all thing things I use to try and organize my life, and get it all done. You really don’t want all of this stuff that I do for you as much as you want me. My pursuit of your face must come first and foremost. Because if it doesn’t’, I end up fitting it in odd moments while I drive or do laundry. I am really sorry that I’ve allowed that to happen again in my life. I love you. I really do. I love you more that I love anything in my life, including my life. Help me to show that by my life. In Jesus name, Amen.”