HE Has Overcome!

I am sad and righteously angry at the events of this past week. The fact that so many people have lost their lives makes my stomach churn and a fire burn inside of me. I cannot comprehend the thoughts in the minds of the men who have caused this time of grief and pain. But what I do know is this: the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10)... period. He has no intent of doing good. He has no desire to be helpful. And he will not preserve life. But God, in the midst of pain, sorrow and questioning offers us a light in the darkness... His name is Jesus.

John 16:33

"These things I (Jesus) have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD."

This is not a nonchalant word that the Lord just placed in scripture for no reason... this is POWER! It is release in AUTHORITY! It tells us that even though the world may seemingly be crumbling to have FAITH, for He has already taken care of it. So cling to this verse, hide it in your heart and think on it daily. And when the enemy thinks he is sly and can stir up chaos and pain, throw this verse in his big ugly face and declare: JESUS IS MY OVERCOMER!!!

  Lord, we are in a season of pain in our world... people are dying, possibly not even knowing You and Your great love for them. Families are losing loved ones. The entertainment industry is losing those who are willing to shine Your light in a dark world! BUT, You are ever faithful and You are ever true! So I ask for a special outpouring of your glory and for a dwelling of Your presence around us. When the whole earth shakes, would we remember that You are our loving Father and faithful friend. 

  I ask for visitation of Your Spirit to visit the families of those who are suffering through these tragedies. Breathe Your life in their hearts where it may feel like they don't even want to live. Let them come to know Your love for them and find comfort in Your arms. May they be surrounded by people who speak words of life and wisdom, and not words of hurt and blame. Stir up intercessors around the world that will cover them in prayer at every moment. Blessed are they that mourn!

  And Lord, I ask for Your church to rise up. That this would be a time to bless and love on the hurting. That Your light would shine through us so brightly and that all of the fleshly mindsets that the enemy would like to use to bring further pain would be broken off. We are Your salt in this earth, so help us to be just that! This is a time for love and comfort and I declare that Your bride will walk in those things! In Your Holy and Precious Name, Amen!

Truth or Lies

Can I start off by sharing that the last 2 weeks I have felt defeated? Well I have, AND I didn't even know it. It's not really the defeat like in sports where you didn't gain enough points to beat the other team... But it's the defeat that comes with words like this: "I guess this is just the way it is and will be." That melancholy, lackadaisical, no fight left kind of defeated. The enemy hasn't even won and I'm throwing up the white flag. And the scary part,  I didn't even realize it until today. BUT GOD... and I'll get to that in a minute.

Last week I went to get a CT head scan done because of the horrible migraines and headaches I've been having. I know I've shared in previous blogs that I'm in the middle of some health struggles, but the last 2 weeks have just been rough. On top of all the issues with my uterus and ovaries, I have been a mess. And everyday that I don't receive answers from tests it's like I take this mental white flag and say that this is the way I am and will be. Though I pray and pray and BEG God for healing and freedom from these things, I've not seen any progress or relief. When people ask me how I'm doing, I think to myself: "why do they even ask, it's just the same story over and over again!" And I feel completely annoying always responding with negative. And so HAS been the story of my life recently...

Today I came home pretty quickly after work to wait for a house cleaner to show up. I waited... and waited... and continued to wait. An hour after the time she was supposed to be here she still hadn't arrived so I did what most Americans do now days to waste time, I got on Facebook. After 45 minutes of wasting my life scrolling (don't even judge me... I know you've done it too! lol) I happened upon a post that was made by someone I don't know. They had tagged one of my FB friends and so it randomly popped up on my feed. It was a blog that one of the leaders from The RAMP ministry in AL  had written... I was decently over scrolling so I clicked the link to the blog and began reading.

The blog was short, and honestly I don't remember much that it said except for the fact that it had a link to watch a clip of Karen Wheaton speaking and sharing the story of restoration with her family from the last couple of years. I knew bits and pieces of this testimony and so I thought, eh why not give it a watch? When I clicked on the link I did what I do most times I click on videos to watch... I checked how long it was. And whew it was long. I moved my finger to that little x on the top left part of the screen and I was ready to close the page when I had a quick thought, "what if this is for you?" Well, can you really ignore a thought like that, especially when you believe in the Living God that still speaks to us?

Within minutes I knew the Lord wanted to speak to me through this video. Mrs. Karen began by briefly describing the will of God and the mysteries of God. And in those simple breakdowns there was a word that really captured my heart... When you know the will of God, because His will is His word, and you are a friend of God, you have the confidence to approach the thrown room with declarations of His will... you have authority to bombard the gates of hell with the declarations that "He is willing that NONE shall perish!"... both of those things are two very deep, gut wrenching places for me right now. And so my attention was got!

I sat and watched this video for the entirety of her message. I declared over myself that I would remember my place and calling and would step in to it. I asked the Lord to forgive me for being quick to forget His word and declarations. And I thought of scriptures that stirred my faith and hope. Because the reality of the fact is what is happening in the natural is only temporary... but when His kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the natural has to come into alignment with Him... sickness has to flee!

Side note: How great of the Lord to use this time of waiting for a house cleaner who is running late and my need to fill curiosity to speak to some very tender places in my heart! He's a good God!

So I leave you with 2 things... Karen Wheaton's message I watched... do yourself a favor and watch it: click here. And with a thought: if you are struggling, with health issues or lost loved ones or anything this life could throw your way, remember that His word is alive and it is our weapon. Stand firm and do not accept the lies of the enemy that say "this is just the way it is" when that very statement contradicts the living, breathing word of the Lord! Let His will encompass you and let your relationship with Him empower you to walk boldly according to His will.

Even In the Smallest of Things

Do you ever feel like the things you do are pointless? The words you say don't matter? Or wonder if your life counts for something? I do... often. Not in a self-pity, woe is me kind of way. But in a "I'm a silly human living in a huge world that was designed and created by the giver of life Himself" kind of way... if that makes any sense?

Over the past few months I have done a lot of thinking and then praying and listening then processing and then praying some more. A lot of that looking like me saying "Lord, I'm just me and I don't see the big picture but I want to be obedient." With a lot of responses that sound like: "You are you, made in MY image (Genesis 1:26-27). You are you, filled with the SAME Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). You are you, obediently putting faith to action (James 2:17)." He reminds me that every thing that I do for His glory, whether the biggest of leaps or the smallest of crawls, if done for Him is Holy.

Take a moment and watch this clip of Heidi Baker discussing this very same thing in a clip from the documentary 'Finger of God' by Darren Wilson:

It feels like too often we are in a mode of comparison that the things the Lord has asked of us seem insignificant. But I'm hear to remind us that the thoughts that stem from comparison are not truth. They are lies that the enemy likes to use to distract us from walking obediently in what the Lord has called us to do. Though we may not be standing on a stage in front of 200,000 people, though we may not have a worship cd out, though we may not have the title of pastor, though we may not be on the mission field in Africa... none-the-less, our obedience is Holy to Him.

We learn in the Word that God delights in our obedience far more than in any sacrifice or offering we could give (1 Samuel 15:22). As lovers of Jesus we must choose to dwell in a place where if everything we achieve for the Kingdom is done in the secret place it is ok with us. No pride. No need for recognition. But true, humble obedience to the Lord's will. Even if it is the smallest of steps.

When I hear Heidi talk about sweeping floors and holding children it stirs my heart to remember that small beginnings matter to the Lord (Zechariah 4:10). That out of her humility and obedience to do the small things that most see as unwanted tasks, she is allowed to experience such wonders. It's a heart condition that eventually shows it's fruit on the outside. Not false humility trying to fool the world into placing them on a pedestal, but true humble obedience to the call of the Father's heart.

When we are stuck in the "does my life count?" mindset, let's remember to humble ourselves before the Lord and ask Him to give us the tasks that will stir His heart. And let's take time invite His Spirit to be involved even in the smallest beginnings... For Heidi said it well:

"Everything we do is Holy unto Him"

So let us remind ourselves that it doesn't mater what the person's gifts over there look like and remember that as we declare His holiness in all we do with a heart of humility, that He will honor it and it WILL make a difference in this world... and be ok if that difference is big or small.

When The Earth Shakes

I learn lessons from so many random places... today it happened to be my nail salon. As most of the country knows, California is earth quake central. We often feel quakes happen and after a few minutes of "did you feel that?" being passed around the room or now days on social media, we move on with disregard. It's exciting / scary for a second but once the hype settles it's almost as if it never even happened. Today when our 2.9 quake hit, I saw a comparison and was stirred to remember something that I would like to share with you.

As I sat at the manicure table in my nail salon dozing while getting my neck massaged, I could feel a very content feeling in the room. Women were relaxed and still as they were being pampered and pretty much keeping to themselves. When my massage was over (which, by the way, is always the worst part... they could never massage long enough) I was sitting there soaking my hands in some warm water getting prepared for my nail lady to come work her magic. All of a sudden the chair and desk shook quickly. It was so quick that I thought it must have been a semi driving by. Within seconds the room jumped out of its stillness; and what started as whispers about a possible quake soon became bold reactions thanks to a confirmed news report on the tv. 

At first I joined the other women in the "excitement" but I quickly felt a stirring to just sit back and listen. The women talked about how big they thought this quake was and asked each what was the biggest quake they had ever experienced. One lady shared about how a 7.6 quake she experienced really changed her life and caused her to stop smoking. Another shared about her child being involved in relief work in other countries that had experienced major earth quakes. All of a sudden the ground shaking became a common ground and the popular topic of the room... It brought people together. 

After 5 minutes or so, and honestly after a little snooze on my part, my nail lady came over and started working on my nails. I looked around and everyone had gone right back to their own content spaces. It was quiet again in the room. My heart started to stir, and I even got a little emotional as I felt the Lord say, "this is the nature of man... that the earth will shake with my glory but when things settle man just returns to the contentment he knows." 

"Wow Lord, I was just trying to relax and get my nails done", is what my flesh thought, but my spirit was stirred up. 

I then thought of all the amazing revivals and moves of the Lord I had experienced in my life and heard about and studied in college. Why did these moves end? What causes us to return to the comfortable and become content with it? Jesus even had to deal with this with His disciples in Matthew 26 as He called them to pray, but they slept instead. He warned them: 

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 

We desire for the Lord to move, we desire to be connected to Him, but our flesh wants the opposite... wants the "easy". So why even try then, right? Why try to make ourselves something we're not? Why not just find a hole and sit in it? Because He, the One who sacrificed everything for our salvation, freedom and healing is so beyond worth it! And, He has made a way for us to overcome our flesh... we don't even have to figure it out on our own, He gave us directions! The Bible tells us in Luke 9:23 to deny ourselves (flesh) and pick up our cross (sacrifice) daily. In doing this we make the conscious decision to see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). And that is the kind of decisions I want my life to count for. 

When the Kingdom of heaven shakes this earth and when His glory surrounds us it is so much more powerful and life changing than any earth quake could ever be. So as His church, as His bride let us not grow content in the mundane of this world. Let us not find solace in the flesh. But let us run the race set before us (Hebrews 12) shining His light and bringing glory to His name. Because if the earth shaking in the natural can cause a woman to change her life, cause a young man to give of himself to help others and can stir a group of women to unite and care about each other within seconds, imagine the transformation our world would embrace from the Spirit of God shaking everything that can be shaken.

Will you join me in praying for a mighty earth shake? 

"To Heavenly Minded For Earthly Good"

Today I had a moment of revelation and freedom and I want to share it...

I want to change this world! I have always had a desire to do something big and it benefit the world. I think I'm not alone though; Michael Jackson said it so well in "Man in The Mirror":

I'm gonna make a change
For once in my life
It's gonna feel real good
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right

 That is my dream... to make a difference and to make my life count. I have high aspirations of seeing what is so called "normal" shifted and redirected. But Michael also makes an even greater point later on in his song:

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearerIf you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

If I want to see a difference made, then I need to make sure that change is evident in me. Not only do I need to make sure it's evident, but that it has dug itself way down to the depths of my very being and taken root in my core. How do I do that? How do I prepare myself for such change? How do I make this world a better place? These are the questions and ponders I met the Lord with today.

I've heard it said, "Nikki, don't get so caught up in the spiritual that you miss what's going on down here on earth." In other words, don't be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good. Have you ever been on the receiving end of that statement? Have you ever thought twice about it? I hadn't until today.

This afternoon as I sat in the chapel of my church worshiping and praying, the presence of the Lord was so sweet and peaceful. I was feeling so refreshed and just enjoying my time with Him that I had the thought "why can't it always be like this?" I quickly felt the Lord respond with "it can" in the most gentle way imaginable. Then I was flooded with the memories of all the conversations I'd had with people (in the church and out) who had told me in essence to not be to heavenly minded. It's interesting how all this time I had been storing those memories inside of me and holding on to them as if they were truth. This moment quickly turned into a lesson...

What does heavenly minded look like? What does earthly good look like? Were the disciples any earthly good because they loved Jesus and spent every moment possible with Him. And because they spent so much time with Him they learned how to love people and how to release healing and freedom. That sounds like some world changers to me. They weren't perfect people but their time with Jesus was evident in the way they impacted the world.

Why have we as the church, the body of Christ, myself, allowed this lie of needing to have something the world can relate to in order to make a difference to so impact us? It is not truth! People are searching for truth! They are searching for love! For freedom and healing! They are not looking for something they can relate to because they already have that. But what they don't have, we do.

The Father. Jesus. Holy Spirit.

The revelation I had today was that I want to be so heavenly minded that everything I do reflects the Father and releases Heaven on earth... that'd be a pretty big change for the world!

No more hiding behind religion. No more trying to walk the line of politically correct and loving Jesus (side note, Jesus was often not politically correct)! I want to spend my life so engulfed in Him, in His presence that He permeates out of my very being. Not afraid of how I may look to the world. Because if I allow Him fill me up He will give me the wisdom, the right things to say, the love to give. All of those things stem from being with Him, not by distancing myself from His presence.

I want to leave you with this... His presence is all we need! Here are some (just a few) verses that remind us of that:

Rest - Exodus 33:14

Love - 1 John 4:16

Power - Acts 2

Joy - Psalm 16:11

Strength - Joshua 1:9

Protection - Psalm 31:20, Psalm 23:4

Provision - John 15:5

Just as I was encouraged by this today, I pray that you will be as well. I pray that you will choose to break off the lies of religion that try to hide themselves in our minds and in place of that seek Jesus. Seek His heart and be confident to know that in Him this world WILL be changed!

You Make All Things New

"You make all things new, when You walk into the room.

Would You walk into the room?"

(Colors [Spontaneous] by Bethel)

We live our lives so selfishly. Always thinking of us first... it's the way of our flesh. We spend our lives searching for things to fill voids in our minds, in our hearts, in our spirits. We try and when that doesn't work then we try again... it's the way of our world. We are convinced our voids will be filled and problems will be solved with money, sex, titles, things... it's the way of our culture. To the world these things are the way... but I long for something new! 

I am filled with a longing for a new normal. A desire for a new satisfaction. That my yearnings would match up with what makes me complete and whole not what just stirs up endorphins for a second. And I have found that in Jesus. You see, when Jesus showed up in Jerusalem the normal for them was to sacrifice, to make the temple a common market place, to judge everyone around them... it was the way of that time. But Jesus came and He challenged every 'normal' thought they had. He challenged them not for the sake of drama, but because He knew He was there to make all things new. He became their sacrifice; He re-instilled holiness; He brought grace! He was the new!

And as Jesus accepted every lash of the whip, every thorn from he crown, and as He carried His cross along that dirt road lined with people celebrating His pain... He kept us in His mind. He knew this would change the world, but more importantly He knew it would change our hearts. For God so loved us that He sent Him... it was the way of the Kingdom.

On this Good Friday I am saying to the One who bore my sin and shame, who shed His blood for my healing, that I want all things new! Transform my earthly mind that is stuck in the way of my flesh, the way of my world and the way of my culture and in it's place fill me with the things of Your kingdom Lord! Fill me with the fruit of Your Spirit and the power of Your love... make me new! 

Lord, I know that when You enter a room we can't help but be changed by You being there. So I invite You, I ask You, please come and make all things new!

Smell

I close my eyes and take a deep breath in... that smell! I allow it to settle. My mind immediately associates the pictures from past adventures and all I want is to be back in that chapter of my story with the characters who have helped shape the story line. It doesn't just trigger a memory, it triggers a smile, a tear, a laugh... it triggers my heart.

I'm certain you've experienced the same, right? You can probably even faintly smell the smell you're thinking of, or picture the memories that go along with it. It's funny how a thing so small, such as our nose, can completely remove us from the present and take us back to memories past. But I'm thankful that the Lord created us to work this way.

I have been fortunate in my life to be able to travel to many places and countries. And in doing so I have attached many memories to smells around the world. The smell of charcoal bbq on a warm night immediately brings me back to the streets of El Salvador. I can picture the kids chasing dogs and kicking balls around in their bare feet. I can feel the warmth of the air on my face. And I feel every emotion connected to what I felt in that country. Then there is the smell of dirt that takes me right back to South Africa. I feel like I am right back in tent revival services seeing women worship with abandoned all while 2 little ones are held close to their bodies with beautiful wraps. I can feel the presence of the Lord so strongly when this memory is stirred up!

There are also memories from my college days... one that often makes me laugh because of how silly I was, the smell of sweet pea lotion. I immediately feel myself back at the dorm bathroom after washing my hair and taking dabs of that sweet pea lotion in my hands and scrunching my hair. My curls were beautiful but I didn't think I'd ever be able to get rid of that scent! lol

Or the smell of old carpet! Whew, this one! Many a nights spent on my face before the Lord in a room of 20 or so people crying out for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done! There is just nothing like old, dusty carpet!

Every spring when the calla lilies bloom and I smell their sweet aroma I am immediately transported back to Easter as a child! We would go to church that morning and then head over to my grandparent's. My grammy would create this feast of amazing food and all the older cousins would go hide the eggs for us littles to go find. We would spend the entire day laughing and spending time with one another... It was the way the world was supposed to be!

But one of my favorite smells was that of fresh cut grass! One of my favorite people in the world always smelt of grass! Even in his Sunday best he just could not escape this smell. My grandpa was a man that loved to use his hands and when his days as a blacksmith were over and it was time for retirement he decided to take up yard work as a side job. When I smell that grassy smell I remember the many days he would pick me up from school and the ridiculous conversations we would have about the most non-sensical things. Or I laugh with the thought of him asking me to trim his eyebrows because they were so out of control (side note: this is probably why I have an obsession with keeping my eyebrows nicely groomed! lol). Or the many, MANY grocery store runs we would go on just so he could get out of the house. Man, those are some simply sweet pieces of my heart!

It amazes me how deeply rooted smells are in our memories. But I am so grateful to have them. Because even when the chapter is finished, and some of the characters have gone I am still able to reminisce of the part they played in my story. It also reminds me to take every moment in. There is no need to rush through everything I do or disregard the small moments that take place in life, because who knows where the next memory will come from!