I have always been a driver, renovator, and high-achiever. Until I wasn’t. In 2013 I experienced a nervous breakdown. This was after over a decade of being a disciple of Jesus, reading my Bible and journaling my prayers daily, giving over and above my tithe … all the things.

Until one day I could not function. I couldn't move. It was like I was trying to walk through mud up to my waste. It did not matter what I did, what book I read, what seminar I went to, or how much I sought deliverance. Nothing was moving. 

It’s been over 12 years since that awful time in my life. Hindsight can be 2020, but only if we take the time to reflect on what we’ve been through and tell ourselves the right stories about it.

Here’s what I know: there are five reasons the best of the best get stuck, have a nervous breakdown, a mid-life crisis, a dark night of the soul–whatever you want to call the big, ugly breakdown in your life. I thought we might take a few weeks to walk through each one.

One of five reasons you are not getting what you want is if you are blaming your pain on God.

#1 You are blaming God, refusing to take ownership of where you are at.

Most of us don’t realize we blame God for, well, everything. We call it God’s sovereignty; meaning God can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants. 

But here’s the truth: God can’t do whatever He wants whenever He wants.

God set a boundary for Himself. That boundary is man’s dominion over the earth. Take a look at all the pain and suffering around you. If God was in control of everything, would the world look anything like this?

It wouldn’t. God didn’t do this. We did this.

Am I saying all of our pain is our own fault? No. Some of it is. Some of it is the result of others making evil (or just plain stupid) decisions that had a direct impact on our well-being. 

Regardless of where we are at in life, we have to take responsibility and quit putting the blame on God. Responsibility means “able to respond”.

Job blamed God in order to justify himself. It wasn’t until Job repented of blaming God for allowing all the pain in his life that God was able to restore Job to double the incredible life he had before.

When we say God is allowing pain in our lives we are accusing Him of sinning against us. 

How do I know this? It’s the system of justice God designed:

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.” Ezekiel 33:6

According to God’s own system of justice, if He were to see pain coming in our lives’ and not warn us, or refuse to help when it is in His capacity and ability to do so, He would be sinning*.

Religion tells us God allows bad things to happen to good people (Job’s bad theology) because it’s God's way of making us better people. 

I would challenge you to say that to a victim of human trafficking. I would challenge you to say that to the family who lost 11 family members to a mudslide as a result of Hurricane Helene.

And yet this is the narrative of God we give the world in hopes they will believe dedicating their lives’ to Him as a worthwhile endeavor. We don’t present Him as the Good Shepherd who is always trying to prevent danger and problems in our lives.

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:11-12

Where is this God when we are suffering? He is waiting for us to stop blaming Him for the evil in the world so He can lift us out of the pain we are in and restore to us to a greater life than we’ve ever dreamed possible. 

“Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

Your rescue plan hasn’t come because you haven't even let it enter your mind yet that quite possibly God is not the one allowing this to happen to you. He won’t violate your belief so as long as you belief He’s left you to suffer for some grand purpose, He can’t rescue you.

I know this can be a hard pill to swallow. But I also know there are many of you reading this now who don’t understand it all just yet but something in your spirit is starting to shift.

The disciples, after questioning whether or not the resurrected Jesus had just walked along the road with Him asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).

Pay attention to your inner landscape. Pay attention to the movements in your heart right now. If something is being stirred up inside of you, the breakthrough you are desperate for might be just one belief about God away.

Let me assure you that the minute I understood God didn’t send my shipwreck or let me shipwreck myself just so He could rescue me, He immediately began to move like I’d never seen before.  The pain started rolling back; the years began to be restored. Physical, financial and emotional healing came quickly.

Life began to flourish and abundance came. I no longer had to live just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I no longer had to convince myself to surrender to someone who was always out to get me. 

I know without a doubt, if you will lean into this, have a teachable spirit and an open heart, you are going to get back on the racetrack you were born for.

Check out these podcasts that will walk you through what the Bible says about this so you can stop the struggle and start healing:

Episode 17 | Profile(d): See Him As He Really Is

Episode 18 | Profile(d): Jonah, A Whale of a Tale and the Real Reason We Run

Love y’all so much!

I just wrapped up two podcast episodes called Resolved. The word resolve is one of my favorites. The Apostle Paul said, “I resolved to speak of nothing but Christ and Him crucified.” 

I love that. 

Have you ever rebranded anything? A business? A non-profit? YOU?

I spent the last six months rebranding. A few helpful resources were my guide. Laura Brand’s book, From Individual to Empire, was the driving force behind finding my brand. Bull is an expert at pulling out the authentic. So you’re not really creating a brand so much as you are stripping away everything until you uncover what was there all along.

But I struggled with my new logo. I must have gone through at least ten versions until I landed on something that made my heart pound. 

Check it out: 

Do you love it?!! If you don’t love it, don’t tell me. It took too long to get here and my hubby and daughters have given me ultimatums if I change it again. 😝

Here’s why it took so long to find my logo: at the risk of sounding overly spiritual, the truth is I hadn’t received inspiration from God yet. Until just last week. For the life of me I don’t recall what brought my inner child to mind but I remembered my favorite cartoon as a kid. It was Jem and the Holograms. 

#TrueStory

I wanted to be a rockstar long before I wanted to be an interior designer or a writer and speaker. My parents fanned the flame of my musical abilities and Jem brought out my inner rocker. I remember my dad’s first electric guitar. Jet black. Shiny. Red pinstripe.  

I actually lived my rocker dream but it wasn’t until I was in my early-thirties. And it was in a church. I was part of our music team and one of our worship leaders saw my inner rockstar. He gave me a Benjamin Gate song and asked me to sing it at a youth service. Our youth group ran at about 600 students.  

I had a chunk of hot pink in my hair, just underneath, not too obvious but still fun. They called it peek-a-boo highlights.

And we had the most ridiculous (as in amazing) base player. His name was Joe T. During the set, Joe T. went missing. Turned out he had climbed a stack of speakers. I didn’t see him until he jumped off and flipped mid-air. Totally nailed the landing. I will never understand how he did that without wrapping himself up in the cable to his amp.

Meanwhile, I shredded the microphone. 

What made the moment so epic for me was that, even though I grew up on stage, competed with traveling jazz ensembles and choirs, played the piano and could read music, took private voice lessons…all the things, my confidence a few months prior to my rockstar moment was completely destroyed. 

There were several contributing factors that would hurt others if I spilled the tea but suffice it to say, when your nerves are off the charts it can be a big challenge to control your pitch. I found myself in a season where I couldn't hit the high notes even though I was a soprano. So I stuck to alto. 

I was a mess. Internally.  And it showed externally. 

So I put myself in voice lessons again. I got my inner rocker back; which is to say my breath support so I could do the scream-o stuff.

I made my comeback. And for whatever reason, I literally dropped the mic. I don’t recall ever doing a rock song again. Somehow that part of my life was just done. But at least I went out like a gangster. 

A few weeks later it was our 10th wedding anniversary. Rimmel surprised me and said, “Get ready. We have an appointment to get tattoos.” I had about 45 minutes to decide how I would permanently brand myself.

So I got a hot pink star outlined in black. I wanted to remember forever what comebacks feel like. I wanted to never forget that failure is miserable, but failing forward by getting back up is worth the reward. 

People are often pretty shocked to hear I have a tattoo. And maybe even more shocked to hear I had a budding rockstar career. They are even further shocked when they hear I can even rap! Yep. 

I may have been raising babies in my thirties but I was keeping it real. 

The real me. 

There is a point to this story and it’s this: I thought about Jem, I thought about the star on top of Jem’s name in the cartoon’s logo, I thought about my star tattoo, I thought about my rockstar comeback, and then I thought about Abraham. 

God took Abraham outside his tent and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:5

Abraham is often called the Father of Faith but he could just as easily be called the Father of Failing Forward. God knew Abraham was going to get off track time and time again, so He gave Abraham an exercise to keep his faith alive.

Count the stars.

Hence, the new logo. 🤩

If you’re way off track today, if you’ve lost your momentum and your confidence because you fell on your face … look up and count the stars, Abraham.

I’ve lived in Arizona for over 20 years now but I grew up in Seattle. Arizona is great for sunsets; not so much for a real starry night experience. But if you’ve seen a clear (and rare!) Seattle night, you’ve seen stars. 

Each star represents just one part of the whole God promised you. Count them. Because in doing so, you are using your faith to meditate on the promise that is coming. You are using your keys to the Kingdom to unleash your comeback. You are agreeing with God that it’s not over. You are rebranding. Rediscovering.

You are remembering you’ve been redeemed–taken back to the place of beginning. 

You are remembering who you really are and Whose you really are. 

So count the stars, Abraham.

If you’re not on this bandwagon yet, it’s time to jump on it. It’s the bandwagon of ditching mainstream theology and finally getting down to what YOU believe about God.

In my “dark night of the soul”, I had to figure out what or who was the source of my torment. Growing up in church I was told it was God allowing pain so I could be a person He could actually do something with. The problem with that messed up ideology is it makes God the abuser, defying His own laws of justice.

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“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’” Ezekiel 33:6

By God’s own decree, if you see the predator coming and don’t warn the prey, you are guilty of their blood.

Would God not hold Himself accountable to what He deems just? Would God make Himself guilty by not warning you of danger before it happens? God “will not let you stumble” (Psalm 121:3). But you might let you stumble.

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“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due [its rightful recipients], When it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:27

It is always within God’s power to do good for you. He cannot withhold it or He becomes a liar.

He is a good Father. And because of Jesus, you are the rightful recipient of good (Strong’s 2896: pleasant, agreeable to the senses). Pain isn’t good for you. It isn’t pleasant or agreeable to your senses. It is PAIN. Pain comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). It takes life from you. It has no power to give life.

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“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;” James 1:13

When we are in pain, we are never to draw a conclusion that God is testing us.

Tempt: peirazó, Strong’s #3985 - to make proof of, to attempt, test, to try, make trial of, to solicit to sin, scrutinize.

What is testing if not soliciting to sin? God never tests you. He just doesn’t do it. Period. He can’t. It’s not in His nature. Somehow the church totally missed that Jesus was tested for us. God has no need to scrutinize us or put us on trial. He did that to Jesus. You were raised up into life and righteousness. What is there to test?

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I had been a woman of prayer, studying the scriptures daily, for over 20 years when my life fell apart. I didn’t know how to dig myself out of depression from grief and loss, PTSD, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and anxiety/panic attacks. I didn’t leave God but I left the ministry. I couldn’t take another sermon that was giving me answers but no solutions.

Don’t get me wrong here. I love the church even when she’s not acting like the church. I will serve the church for the rest of my life. But the church has lost more than just the proper translation of scripture. It’s lost its ability to solve people’s real-life problems.

To say God is allowing pain to train you is an answer (also, it’s a lie). But it isn’t a solution to your pain. It won’t help you walk out of pain. It won’t help you break free from destructive cycles. All it will do is cause you to accept an untruth about God so you can cope with your most life-dominating issues. Coping is managing and it certainly isn’t healing.

And that is all Christians around the world are doing…coping. They say they are helping others in their pain because they can relate. But all they can relate to are coping mechanisms that perpetuate the lie that God is the abuser and you should make peace with your pain.

I have no need in my life to make peace with pain. Not after all Jesus died to give me. Jesus didn’t make peace with pain. He defeated it. He put it in the pit of hell where it belongs.

And we can too. But the only way to do this is to put every ideology handed down to us on trial. We do this by testing them against the full council of scripture, not scripture taken out of context like pulpits across America do daily. And we stop reading the Bible in English for cryin’ out loud! Pull out a concordance and study keywords, if not every word in every scripture. This is part of the Biblical process of meditating day and night on the Word of God. We were never just supposed to read the Bible in a year just to check it off our good-Christian to-do list.

And definitely get a mentor. For the next two weeks, I feature an interview with my Hebrew/Aramaic teacher, Chaim Bentorah. I have studied under Chaim for years. Chaim received his B.A. in Jewish Studies from Moody Bible Institute, his M.A. in Old Testament and Hebrew from Denver Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Biblical Archeology.  His Doctoral Dissertation was on the “Esoteric Structure of the Hebrew Alphabet.” But most impressive, I think, is that Chaim has spent 4-5 hours a day for the last forty years studying the Bible in its original languages. Chaim was studying under those who translated the NIV in the 70s and witnessed firsthand how truth in translating was kicked to the curb in favor of money.

Yep. It’s that bad.

But the good news is that Chaim’s thousands of hours of teaching are available on his blog, daily word study emails, Full Access membership, and in his books. His studies will take you deeper into the heart of God than you’ve ever been before.

Photo: https://unsplash.com/@priscilladupreez

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It’s Christmas time and I’ve been thinking about the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus, born as a human, came to establish a new kind of kingdom. But what is fascinating is that after all these centuries since Jesus was laid in a manger, the overwhelming majority of Believers have no idea what the Kingdom of Heaven is. It isn’t taught from pulpits. It is completely ignored. And yet it was the thing Jesus talked about the most. Every parable and every miracle was supposed to teach us the laws of this new kingdom and how to establish it on earth. If we are living by priority, Kingdom Living should be our first pursuit.

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“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:25-33

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The thing about lilies and birds is they don’t bother asking for what they already know they have.

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God wrote Matthew 6:33 on my heart twenty-three years ago and I’m saddened to say that for more than half that time I had no idea what it meant. I thought to seek the kingdom first meant putting the spreading of the gospel above anything else. And while that is certainly part of our mandate as Believers, it is the byproduct of Kingdom Living. In our pursuit of the kingdom, people won’t help but notice we live by a different set of rules.

The Kingdom of Heaven is a realm. It is the realm in which God is king (ruler) and all of His resources are available to us. Because God already knows we need food, shelter, and clothing we don’t have to ask for it. In God’s reality, in His kingdom realm, these needs have already been met. God is already looking out for our provision.

When Jesus taught us to pray, He taught us to confess what was already true. It was already true that God’s name was holy (hallowed) above every other name. It was already true that His kingdom had come and His will could now be done on earth as it is in heaven. He already gives us our daily bread, just as He does the lilies and the birds. He has already forgiven our trespasses and debts. He never leads us into temptation (James 1:13). He is always trying to deliver us from evil. And His IS the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever!

So why ask God to do what He has already done? First, Jesus didn’t say to pray. Nope. “He said to them, “When you pray, SAY…”. Jesus didn’t say to ask God to do these things. He said to say (confess, say the same thing God says) He has already done these things. In fact, the word say is a pretty powerful word. It means to put an argument to rest, bring a message to closure, or move to a conclusion. There isn’t any asking in saying.

There is good reason for that. The problem with asking God to do something He has already done is you are telling yourself two things. One, that He hasn’t done it yet, and two, you don’t have it. The only thing you accomplish by asking God to do things He has already done is to confess your sense of lack and unbelief.

In Aramaic, Jesus’ native tongue, the word prayer is tselutha. It comes from the root word tesla. A tesla is a dry leather skin used for covering the body, a table, or a bed. The word tesla also carries the idea of sinking into the depths and being totally covered, as the leather skin totally covers you like clothing, bedding, or a tablecloth.* It kind of reminds me of the beloved weighted blanket I sleep with every night. I feel completely covered, enveloped, and engrossed in its warmth and weight.

Prayer should always and ONLY be about reminding ourselves of what God has already accomplished for us. Focusing on the daily cares of this world will make us forget what is already done in heaven and strive for it on earth. But confessing daily that we already have everything we need for life and Godliness (2 Peter 1:3) moves our hearts into the realities of the kingdom realm and out of the realities of the world’s system.

Jesus knew we would want to spy out the land even though God said to go straight in (Deuteronomy 1:21-22). He knew we would look at the waves (Matthew 14:30) and number our army (2 Samuel 24). He instructed us to confess the kingdom reality with our mouths daily in order to write in on our hearts. He told us to look at kingdom resources and not natural resources until only the kingdom reality is real to us. We can only fulfill our mission to share the gospel by word and deed (Col. 3:17) when the kingdom reality is our only reality. Only then will be living by priority.

*https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2021/06/aramaic-word-study-pray-tselutha-%D7%A6%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%90/

Did you know that the most pervasive gospel taught in America is anti-Christ doctrine? True story. According to 2 John 1:7, any doctrine that denies Jesus came in the flesh is anti-Christ doctrine. This doesn’t mean it is pro the anti-christ that is to come. It means it denies Christ as a man.

"For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an antichrist."
2 John 1:7

Most of us have read this and assumed it means those who deny Jesus ever came at all are anti-Christ deceivers. But that’s not what this verse is saying. It is a lie to say Jesus never came to Earth at all, but it’s not enough to say Jesus simply came to earth in human form. The key to avoiding anti-Christ doctrine is acknowledging that Jesus left His God-form in Heaven.

“He who, while he was in the form of God, did not esteem this as a prize, that he was the equal of God, But he stripped
himself and took the form of a Servant and was in the form of the children of men, and was found in fashion as a man.”
Philippians 2:6-7

Jesus didn't consider it necessary to be equal to God while on earth. What does that mean? Let’s look at some Greek definitions:

• The word stripped means to make empty, to abase, neutralize, he laid aside equality with and the form of God and took the form of man (Strong’s 2758).

• Form doesn’t simply mean a human body. It means a form (outward expression) that embodies essential (inner) substance so that the form is in complete harmony with the inner essence (Strong’s 3444).

• Prize means to claim for oneself eagerly (726).

In order for Jesus to have emptied Himself and taken on human form, His inner human form had to be in harmony with His outer human form. Said this way—Jesus was God, but He didn’t have God’s essential inner substance while on earth. He made no effort to take it with Him to earth; He didn’t consider it necessary to accomplish His miracles and mission on Earth.

Jesus came to earth as a human and was filled with the Holy Spirit to show us what a human filled with the Holy Spirit is capable of. Jesus was trying to show us how a human could experience Kingdom living right here on earth.

THIS. IS. HUGE.

Why? Because if you believe Jesus was able to do everything He did because He still had His inner God essence on earth, you have NO BASIS for believing you can do the things Jesus did, or even greater things than He did (John 14:12). You are not God. I am not God. If it takes being God to perform the miracles Jesus performed then we have no hope of ever doing them ourselves.

Jesus didn’t tell us to ask Him to heal people. He said, “You heal them.” Jesus didn’t say, “Ask Me to move your mountain.” He said, “Tell your mountain to move.” Over and over again Jesus said He did what He did as the Son of Man and that is why we can do the same.

We were given dominion over what happens on earth (Genesis 1:26). This is why Jesus had to come as a man—only man had dominion on earth. This is also why Jesus said, after His resurrection, “All power in Heaven and Earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus defeated death and the curse, taking back the power that man had given up. He was the only human in history who held power in BOTH Heaven and Earth.

And then He gave us the authority to use His authority. We have the keys of the Kingdom realm. Whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18). The decision we have to make is whether or not we will loose God’s will on earth or our own will. God’s will isn’t automatic on earth and He won’t violate our free will. The world would look nothing like it does today if God had all the control. God gave us the same autonomy He has. He only has control to the degree we give it to Him.

So where does this leave us? It leaves us with the responsibility of doing the greater things Jesus said we would do. We have authority (dominion) just because we are here and we are human. But what keeps us using our dominion to loose on Earth what God has already approved in Heaven? The Providential God doctrine has convinced us that Jesus didn’t come in human flesh and that God is in ultimate control of every outcome. It has caused us to stop seeking the miraculous and live by fatalism. If God is in ultimate control and pulling all the strings, you wouldn’t need faith and your authority would be meaningless. This is why healing crusades and miracles are prevalent throughout other countries but we don’t see them in America. We are convinced God is the ultimate decision-maker and in doing so we have abdicated our dominion.

On the podcast this week we begin a new series that will help you get over that thing you haven’t been able to overcome yet. Whatever habit, addiction, fear, or limiting belief is keeping you stuck can be unstuck when we understand how Jesus was able to accomplish so much and how to use His authority to do the same!

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So many Believers are asking: "Why can't I get free??? I'm saved, I'm a Believer, but this habit, addiction, depression, etc. keeps haunting me!" We come to Jesus and receive salvation and yet, most Believers don't look any different than non-Believers when it comes to cycles of self-destruction.

In this new series, we will break it down and find the path to freedom. And we will start by taking a look at common behaviors and beliefs that drive our inability to find freedom.

Ref: "Grace: The Power to Change" by Dr. Jim Richards, Dr. James B. Richards, Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study

It’s Advent time. And with the addition of our now 22-month-old, we are thinking about new traditions. If we’re to be honest, we are those parents who let the church teach our oldest two about Christmas while we overworked ourselves. I was always busy planning massive Christmas events for mega-churches. So while the girls did have some fun times, we could have used a lot more family time surrounding the holidays. And we could have done a much better job talking about and preparing for the birth of Christ at home.

I also didn’t take very good care of myself in those days. I remember visiting with a pastor I worked with a few months after resigning from full-time ministry. He asked how I was doing and I said, “I went to the nail salon for the first time in three years!” He looked at me with a mix of shock but I could also detect some sorrow. He knew how hard I worked but I never showed how little I did for myself. Probably the worst part is that my self-neglect wasn’t out of necessity either. I chose it. Whatever it was in me that needed to be needed so badly (call it what it is: my codependency) and was driving my performance-based identity just didn’t want me time.

Talk about messed-up priorities.

I’ll never forget asking Rimmel how we should spend one particular afternoon together a few years after leaving vocational ministry. He said, “Taking a nap by the pool.” and I thought, “People actually do that?”

I am older and wiser now. So no excuses.

I’ve been thinking about the various things I would do this December to remember the birth of Jesus and somehow the privilege (and necessity) of rest comes to mind. So while we will develop an Advent tradition for our second-time-around family, I’ll develop an Advent of my own.

One of these days we will break down the scene of the first communion, but for the purposes of this blog post, I will just tell you this: I’ve never been in a church that has taken communion according to scripture. Communion is to be a time of gratitude and celebration for the reality of our new man in Christ. It was never supposed to be an accounting of our sins since the last time we took communion. The church created a ceremony of condemnation rather than the celebration of gratitude for new life it should be.

My Advent will be something like communion. As I am slowing down to rest, I will reflect on the One who is my ultimate rest. I will fan the flame of gratitude in my heart that because He lives, I can face not only tomorrow but anything and I will overcome. I will call to mind that all of my tomorrow’s are in His hand and He is able to guard and protect whatever I entrust to Him (1 Tim. 1:12).

The first thing I will entrust to Him is me. He is my oxygen and I have to have my own oxygen mask on before I can help anyone else.

Here are some ideas for a self-care Advent:

• Spend my quiet time on the front porch with candles, a blanket, and a cup of coffee.

• Read my magazines when they come in (also to be done on the porch) instead of tossing them in a pile.

• Actually use my giant soaking tub and bath tray with its book and wine holder that one of my besties gave me because she knew I needed it.

• Decorate for Christmas (because design is not only my trade but my hobby too!) but slow it down with Christmas hymns playing and Rimmel’s homemade eggnog. We always seem to rush through it like it’s some big chore.

• Swap out the wine at bath time with the eggnog (spiked of course) and swap the book for the magazines.

• Take a brisk jog through the neighborhood at night when the Christmas lights are on.

• Find a new cookie recipe, bake them with my favorite organic flour and maple sugar (no refined sugars) in the afternoon, and enjoy them hot out of the oven while Charlie naps, Hallmark Channel on, with my Jim’s Organic, decaf dark roast coffee. (I don’t get paid to promote these items. These are my favorite, feel-good baking/coffee companies.)

• Take the therapist’s advice and set the boundaries around Rimmel, myself, and Charlie so the trauma and grief of the last year can start melting away and becoming a faint memory.

• Refuse to feel guilty about setting those boundaries. Maybe even have a little celebration after doing it! I have a FANTASTIC roast chicken recipe for that!

• And a girl’s night out. At the wine bar. In Scottsdale. Cuz we can.

I’m sure more ideas will come. I hope you’ll start your own December Self-Care Advent with Jesus. If there’s one thing I know about Him, He loves it when you rest in Him.

And be sure to check out part two of my two-part series, Women Can Do All The Things on the Podcast! I break down the purpose of a woman from the greatest Hebrew teacher I know!! Trust me… you didn’t learn this in church!

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Can women do everything men can do? Of course they can. It's an age-old debate amongst theologians and it's popping up again as a trending topic. Let's put the debate to rest. The truth is, it's a moot point and this podcast episode will show you why. We will break down the most controversial scriptures in the Bible's original language so you can see for yourself how God planned for women to have a greater impact than the church has ever given us. You are going to LOVE this conversation that includes in-depth word studies from THE authority on Biblical language, Chaim Benotorah!

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We don’t listen to our hearts enough. As soon as you tell Christians to listen to their hearts they melt down. It’s the result of a lot of bad teaching on the heart.“I don’t listen to my heart! The heart is wicked!” Well, maybe. But not the new heart that Jesus gave you.

The number one way God relates to us is through the heart. When you received salvation, God put a new heart in you. He didn’t leave you with the old one because it was wicked. But your new heart can be trusted… as long as you write the truth on it and don’t let it become like the old one.

Jesus came to “heal the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1). A broken heart is a heart that has been crushed and trampled on. To be broken-hearted quite literally means that someone or some circumstance has walked all over your heart, leaving you with a fractured sense of identity. A trampled heart will believe lies and make judgments that become so real it will no longer recognize the truth. When we see our lives through the lens of a broken heart, we will find evidence to prove the lies and judgments we’ve accepted.

Said another way, the heart will do whatever it takes to make our limiting beliefs real—more real than the Kingdom of Heaven to us. The Kingdom of Heaven is the realm we access through the heart in which all of God’s resources are available to us to solve any problem. We can’t enter into the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven—into Kingdom living, through a heart that has been diseased by lies.

Complicated? Maybe at first. But join me on the podcast this week as we journey to learn about the heart. You’ll learn how it has brought you to the place you are now and how to change course with a healed heart.

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What we believe about God determines how well we function under pressure. And really, the root of all emotional stability starts from this same place. Who we believe God is and what we believe He is willing to do for us will determine our next move when we feel backed into a corner.

There is a very interesting exchange between Jesus and a blind man in the book of Mark:

“And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” Mark 10:46-52

We can be assured Jesus knew the man was blind. And yet Jesus still asks him, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” In other words, what are you willing for me to do for you? Belief in God’s ability is rarely a problem for the Believer. The problem is we are not sure what He is willing to do for us.

And that begs the question: if it is impossible to please God without faith, but we don’t know what God is willing to do for us in our given situation, then how can we pray a prayer of faith for the outcome?

The answer is, we can’t.

The only way to pray a prayer of faith is to be absolutely certain what God’s preferred outcome is.

Which begs the next question: how can you always know God’s preferred outcome for your situation? Join me for this podcast episode where we learn how to become certain of God’s character, intentions, and will toward us. Once you know His desired outcome for your problem you will have to decide if you are willing for God to do it for you. If you know His will, and you are willing to agree with Heaven, you can pray the prayer of faith and experience miraculous results!

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Y’all. FINALLY.

Many have asked me, “Why don’t you have a podcast?” To which I would say, “I will get one done. In my free time.” But that free time never came about until two things happened:

1. I stopped wavering (being double-minded) on this issue and determined I would do it. Decisions in life never come down to “I would if I could”. God-given destinies are “I could if I would”.

2. I became a stay-at-home-mom to a 20-month-old.

I raised a now 22-year-old and 21-year-old. The 20-month-old was so out of the blue there are days I am still in total shock. At a time when I had planned to be pursuing the dreams I had put off until my biological girls were raised I was suddenly a mom to a toddler all over again. I would be lying if I said my emotions up front knew it was all going to work out and I would still live my dreams of full-time ministry, writing, and speaking. Quite the opposite. The truth was I felt like life was over. I knew that wasn’t true in my mind but my emotions tried to tell me differently. I had to build up the belief in my heart and not determine my fate based on circumstances.

This podcast is all about Getting Life to Work. I share my personal journey from the dark night of the soul to taking the limits off God to putting my life back together according to Jesus’ model for a great life.

Take a listen, give me a 5-star rating to help others find it, and share it with a friend!

I have 5 episodes already loaded for you so you can dive right in!

For your heart today…

Colossians 3:1-3 reminds us that, having been raised with Christ, we are hidden in Him.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

We can set our minds on things above when we believe the truth in our hearts. When God gives us a promise and a mission nothing can stop the fulfillment other than our unbelief.

“As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:15-19)

It is rarely ever God’s timing or God flat-out saying, “No, not now.” that keeps us stuck where we are. These are merely justifications for our unbelief. Our unbelief in God’s willingness to keep His promise no matter how unlikely the circumstances appear leads to fear. Our fear keeps us from obedience. And because “faith without works is dead”(James 2:26) our disobedience keeps us from seeing our desires fulfilled (Prov. 13:12).

But everything is possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). The key is our belief. It has always been the key. Yes, there are times when man’s free will delays God’s ability to allow us to step into a Divine moment. But we can always be on our way through preparation. Preparation looks like adding necessary skills that will help us fulfill our destiny. It also includes prayers that avail much (James 5:16). In my private mentorship group, I am putting together a study on how to pray effective prayers and activate a faith that moves mountains. Sadly, the way we’ve been taught to pray is exactly the opposite of how Jesus taught us to pray. And we definitely haven’t been trained in operating faith for miracles.

I hope you will join my mentorship group! It is a deeper dive into discipleship and the best way you can support this ministry on a monthly basis. I have learned I cannot do what God sent me to do to the scale He wants to do it without your partnership. All proceeds go to spreading the gospel and feeding a 20-month-old. ;)

So whatever you are facing today know that “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable”. (Romans 11:29). This means He never takes them back. He doesn’t “give and take away” (Job 1:21). That is something Job said in his arrogance and ignorance and God corrected him for it.

But we can forfeit the gift and the call (fail to activate or receive it, thereby frustrating grace Gal. 2:21) by believing it’s over and our circumstances are insurmountable. Build up your belief today by meditating on the truth that nothing is impossible for you if you would only believe and then obey.

I’ve read the book of Proverbs several times but during this fall-to-winter season, I determined to take a deep dive into it. This transition in my life is like nothing I’ve experienced before so I find myself in great need of wisdom. There are a million ways I could handle this life-altering change. I could run. I could completely freak out. I could willfully bury my head in the sand and let it pass me by. I could repeat old patterns of self-abasement, self-neglect, codependency, or narcissism.

In short, this is an opportunity to really screw up my life or an opportunity to walk in the protection that comes from practicing wisdom.

“The path of life leads upward for the wise.” Proverbs 15:24

The benefits of wisdom are pretty astounding: life, health, length of days, favor, rich rewards, protection, and more. Wisdom has everything I want in this season and it is available to me right now. But what I want most that wisdom provides is life. Real life. Abundant life.

I did a word study on life and I think you’ll find it as desirable as I do. The word life comes from a Hebrew word that goes far behind just existing. It is a word that means welfare and happiness. It is an earthly bliss combined with spiritual blessing. I want me some of that!

When Christians can’t explain the hardship they are experiencing or others around them are experiencing they often say, “Well, God never promised us a good life!” or “God never said it was going to be easy!”

Hmmm…

It’s true we were never promised we wouldn’t experience hardship or persecution. But we were promised wisdom to guide us on a path to always winning. Always winning doesn’t mean other people have to lose to us. It means that in the end, whenever circumstances shake out, we can come out whole or better than before.

Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah 29:11 promises a future and a hope which looks to the future?

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11

It’s because God is trying to put the path to welfare in our hands but He can’t show us what that future looks like until we choose it for ourselves. It’s not automatic. So often we determine our only possible outcome is evil (lack, limitation, our detriment) instead of looking for the good outcome God promises.

Jesus makes some wild declarations, maybe the wildest being that He came to give us not only life, but abundant life. No matter how you try to translate the definition of abundant it always comes back to being over and above, more than is necessary, more than enough, preeminence and the advantage in every (all-around, continuously) situation, superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon, and more! There are never any exceptions, only the prerequisite… you choose to take hold of it and have faith for it until you see it materialize.

God has a way to work all things together for the good of those who love Him, are called, and are in pursuit of His purposes. And one of His purposes for you is a great life, life to the fullest!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

If you are under pressure today, look for the way out. Every time we are tempted to solve our problems on our own or by our flesh (our five senses) God always has a way out that leads to abundant life. Believe that He has that for you, ask Him to show you the path, then use wisdom to get there. Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge or the truth. And truth alone cannot set you free. Truth has to be applied and acted upon in order to bring you to freedom.

And what is freedom? Well, it probably looks a lot like the life that comes from walking in wisdom—welfare and happiness, earthly bliss combined with spiritual blessing.

And what about the whole easy life thing? Well, circumstances and people in life might not be easy on us, but God’s instructions are easy and light. Yoke up with Him and you’ll walk right into your victory.

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My Bible teaching centers around one fundamental truth that isn’t very popular. In the Kingdom of Heaven (the realm in which all of God’s resources are available to us), pain is never gain. Pain is pain. Pain comes to steal, kill and destroy. Always. Every time. No exceptions.

And that is why God never uses it to get a desired response from us.

I know. Saying this doesn’t always win me more friends. In fact, it makes a lot of people really mad. But the truth is the truth.

I’ve said over and over that pain has no ability to teach you, train you, or make you a better person. It is only your response to pain that can do that. And that is why God doesn’t use pain to train you.

And He doesn’t even allow it in your life. Man allows it.

Here is where people start freaking out and their heads start blowing up. People will do anything to protect the bad doctrine they’ve used to reconcile the pain that came into their lives.

How can I say God doesn’t allow pain? Because He doesn’t. And those who teach otherwise have to contend with thousands of Bible verses that don’t support their ‘no pain, no gain’ narrative, all of Psalm 121 being just a few of them. Check it out:

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from ALL harm—
    he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.” Psalm 121

I’m not sure how much clearer the Psalmist can be. God KEEPS you from ALL harm. If we find ourselves suffering it’s the result of a fallen world and/or we didn’t heed God’s warning. It was man’s free will that got us here.

God is only in control of our outcomes to the degree
we choose to take responsibility
and refuse to hold Him accountable for our pain.

If God allowed pain even when He could relieve it, He would be in violation of His own system of justice.

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.” Ezekiel 33:6

“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.” Proverbs 3:27

God holds those accountable who see evil coming and do nothing when it is within their power to act. God always sees down the line and it is always within His power to act. Would He not require the same justice of Himself?

The man who is overcome by the sword is overcome because of his own sin. Sin comes in many forms. Sin is not limited to simply violating the 10 commandments. In fact, there are 33 different words for sin in the New Testament. Sin is any form of unbelief in the goodness of God, missing the mark, or living below the standard of the abundant life Jesus modeled for us.

By giving us free will, God has OBLIGATED Himself to hand us over to our desires and beliefs. If we believe He is causing our pain, allowing our pain, or using our pain, we won’t recognize His warning to avoid the pain or take hold of His way out of the pain.

God is always trying to prevent our pain. And when we find ourselves in pain He is always trying to show us how to overcome it. He isn’t using the pain to teach us a lesson. God uses His word and the Holy Spirit to teach and train us. It is a fool that learns through pain alone. It is the wise that heed the warnings of wisdom and learn from instruction.

In my book, Prosperity to Providence, I use Biblical evidence to make the case for the failure of American Christianity, an extrapolated doctrine that taught us to blame God or blame satan for everything that happens in our lives. In all cases, whether we caused our pain, someone else caused it, or Adam’s original sin caused it, we are responsible… we are able to make a response that gets us out of pain. I’ll show you how to get the pain to stop by viewing pain through the lens of the finished work of Jesus. Download a copy today and learn how to get back on the racetrack you were born for!

Think you can’t limit God? Think again. The Israelites were famous for it.

‘“How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.” Psalm 78:41 (NKJV)

What God can do for you is limited to what you are willing to believe about Him and then walk out in obedience. The words hearing and obeying in the original Hebrew language of the Bible are nearly the same words. We only hear what we are willing to obey.

And having ears to hear is synonymous with having eyes to see.

In other words, we only hear what we want to hear and we only see what we want to see.

So what are you willing to see?

We limit God when we decide a positive or miraculous outcome in our situation isn’t possible. We limit God when we decide we will only get the outcome He wants us to have. We limit God when we refuse to see the possibility of an outcome that is in alignment with the finished work of Jesus.

God wants you to have whatever Jesus died to give you. But He can only give you what you are willing to hear and obey.

And here’s the good news: You can know the perfect will of God (His desired outcome) for any circumstance by testing it against what Jesus completed on the cross.

This expert from my book, Prosperity to Providence: Why American Christianity Isn’t Working and How to Get Back on the Racetrack We Were Made For, will help frame this up for us:

God’s preferred outcome for any given circumstance in your life is:

•       You are not poor, destitute, inadequate, or ill-equipped for life.

•       You have a mended heart, where unexplained failures or cycles of self-destruction have ceased. 

•       Your circumstances have zero power to hold you.

•       You are healed from all sickness and disease, in this life, on this side of heaven.

•       You have the faith of God to move your mountains.

•      You are not stuck. Your emotional debt and physical pain have been paid for.

How do I know this? The authority of scripture:

“Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, and our pains -- he hath carried them…” Isaiah 53:4a (Young’s Literal Translation)

“And evening having come, they brought to him many demoniacs, and he did cast out the spirits with a word, and did heal all who were ill, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'Himself took our infirmities, and the sicknesses he did bear.'” Matthew 8:16-17

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

And by the way, you have all these benefits, today, in this life. Because “…as He is in this world, so are we”. 1 John 4:17

Everything Jesus did, you can do too—and then some!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do…” John 14:12

The key to getting God’s preferred outcome in your life is to not limit Him by accepting a lower standard of living than what Jesus died to give you.

Your will and your belief are one and the same
and God won’t violate either one.

He cannot give you what you are unwilling to believe He wants to do for you.

I highly recommend studying the scriptures above and testing your circumstance against them. Download my book where I expand more on miraculous outcomes I have personally experienced because I stood on the promise of what Jesus died to give me instead of limiting God to what I could see in the natural or what I was afraid of.

The best outcome is possible for you, but if you limit God you’ll limit His grace (His ability and empowerment) needed to get a miraculous outcome—you’ll be left with only what is possible in your strength.

At a crossroads? Me too. In a world with nearly endless possibilities and paths to take it seems crossroads appear daily. Negative circumstances outside of our control can force us into decision-making time. We might see multiple opportunities to overcome our challenge but are torn as to which one to take.

Do I turn left or right? Do I get on or off? Do I go straight or take the detour? Do I take the quick-fix opportunity or a longer route with greater potential gain? Or should I hold out for a third option?

Can I have my cake and eat it too? Decision-making time. We all face it.

The question I find most helpful in times like these might surprise you. It’s not, “Is this God’s will for my life?” This question is disempowering right out of the gate because what we are really saying is, “If I do this, will God show up for me?” We express and reinforce our lack of belief in God and His character every time we ask this question.

Maybe a better question to ask is, “Will this opportunity bring peace or strain to other areas of my life that I value?”

The Bible says, “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22.

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22.

The Hebrew word for rich is ‘ashar. It means to go straight on, advance, to lead on, to set right, righten, to pronounce happy, call blessed, to be advanced, be led on, to be made happy, be blessed.

The path to victory that God chooses for you won’t add sorrow (toil, pain, hurt, or hardship) to other areas of your life. You might want a higher-paying job but it requires 60 hours a week at the expense of your family and your health. But you need the money. So the temptation is to believe it is your only option instead of standing on the promise of Proverbs 10:22.

So maybe the second most important question you should ask is, “What else is possible?” If what looks like my only out is going to remove peace and add toil to other areas of my life that are valuable to me and a priority to God, what else is possible? As soon as you start asking yourself this, your mind will start mapping out other possibilities. Keep asking, keep searching, and keep knocking until you find the solution that fits God’s description of what He calls blessed. This is using your faith in His promise to gather evidence that supports God’s preferred outcome for you.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

And trust the process. Give the solution time to come. When you let patience do its work you will find a solution that leaves you whole and complete in all areas and lacking nothing.

“But patience will have a complete work for itself that you would be perfected and complete, and that you would be lacking nothing.” James 1:4 (ABPE)

It will be worth the wait. He promised.

In my quiet time yesterday, I put on a worship song. If I’m honest, worship music that I can bare to listen to is hard to come by these days. So much of our Christian music tends to put our focus on guilt, shame, and inability (the old man) instead of the new man that is already alive in us. I have found that if I continue to reuminate about my failures I forget about my authority.

But that’s a whole other blog post. ;)

A particular line in one song stood out to me. It said, “My anchor holds within the veil.” It comes from this verse in Hebrews: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV)

Every time I think of hope I think of this scripture: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

When you put the two verses together they seem to contradict each other. Is hope an anchor or does it make your heart sick? And hope in what? Just hope for the sake of hoping?

God never wanted us to live in the hope deferred condition. He wants us to live with desires fulfilled. The key is putting your hope in the right thing. The answer to what we must put our hope in is found in the verses that precede Hebrews 6:19.

“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath. Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.” Hebrews 6:16-18

There are two immutable things to put your hope in:

1. God doesn’t lie.

2. He guaranteed your inheritance of all the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven and sealed it with an oath by the sacrifice of Jesus.

I’m feelin’ like that is a pretty great place to anchor yourself.

Keep renewing your mind in everything Jesus died to give you. I say this all the time because I do it all the time. When I’m overwhelmed, frustrated, scared, sick, in grief, lack, or pain I recount what is already mine; what has already been done for me.

Here’s my list straight outta scripture:

·       I have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything I need to complete my mission and fill my purpose is already here.

·       Every promise God ever made to anyone is yes and amen for me because I am in Jesus.

·       All things can work together for a victorious outcome if I will allow the Kingdom of Heaven to be my only reality.

·       I can always be the head. I don’t have to be the tail.

·       I can always be above. I don’t have to be beneath.

·       God is always FOR me. He is NEVER against me.

·       I am saved, healed, delivered, prospered, protected, anointed, set apart, holy, and righteous.

·       This isn’t God testing me. He tested Jesus for me.

·       Jesus won the victory and gave me the keys to the same authority over death and decay that He has.

Once you’ve renewed your mind to these realities your heart will begin to anchor itself in the right thing and you will begin to see desires fulfilled.

But if you keep hoping in “maybe God will help me” or “God can do whatever He wants whenever He wants so it’s up to Him what happens to me now” you’ll never have the faith to see what you’re hoping for through to fruition. God exercised His free will to give you authority, dominion, and the right to choose whether to partner with Him for your outcome or partner with chance.

In and of itself, hope has no power to anchor you.

Hope for the sake of hoping is not an anchor for the soul. Hope in the finished work of Jesus is an anchor for the soul.

Hoping with fingers crossed that God will do something will make your heart sick with fear of the unknown, longing, and desperation. But hope in the knowledge that the victory for what you’re facing has already been loosed for you in Heaven will anchor you. It will cause you to be immovable and unwavering about the outcome.

In a word, anchored.

And it’s the one who is anchored, immovable, and unwavering that is able to receive what they need from God.

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” James 1:6-7 (NIV)

A friend told me yesterday her (now ex) pastor said, “You can’t manifest anything.”

Wow.

Maybe he was trying to speak into the “manifesting” fad that is trending on social media and use a shock statement to get attention. Or maybe he wanted people to fear God as the ultimate authority and make man out to be a puppet on His strings. Regardless of the motivation, he was wrong.

Here’s how I know: what one might call manifesting the Bible calls sowing and reaping. To say we can’t manifest anything because God is the ultimate decision maker is to have a very fatalistic view of God and to ignore every scripture that says He gave man authority, dominion, autonomy, and freewill.

Several years ago, when the book The Secret came out, Christians lost their minds. And recently a movie and documentary have come out, with Christians losing their minds all over again.

Meanwhile, non-Christians all over the world are successfully using the law of sowing and reaping that God wrote into the universe and not even knowing they’re doing it. And yet both the Bible and science (particularly quantum physics) back it up. We may not all use the same terminology, and The Secret may get some details wrong here and there, but manifesting is the Bible, whether we want it to be or not.

The truth is, made in the image of God, we are creators (Gen. 1:27, Psalm 82:6). We create futures. Our lives are the sum total of our past and present belief systems. We are daily reaping what we have sown (2 Cor. 9:6, Matt. 18:18). If we sow in fear we will reap more fear. If we sow lack, we will keep coming up short and even what we do have will disappear (Matt. 25:29).

In the same way, if we believe we have everything we need in the present, even when it doesn’t look like it (Luke 9:16, 2 Peter 1:3. Matt. 25:29), even more will come to us.

Some call it the Law of Attraction, others call it the Law of Belief. I personally lean toward the latter. When we believe there is a way out, we will find one (Matt. 7:8). When we believe we have everything we need to solve any problem (2 Peter 1:3) the solution will come, followed by the steps to get there. When we start with the basic belief that God is for us and not against us (Romans 8:31) and that He always provides a way out when we’re under duress (1 Cor. 10:13) we are sowing a seed. We are sowing a seed that begins with the truth and it will reap a harvest.

But as a seed, it only, ever, bears after its own kind (Gen. 1:11). It won’t bear anything else.

God has given you the ability to choose what you will sow and thereby choose what you will reap. All throughout scripture, He puts the responsibility back on man to decide what the outcome of any given situation will be.

Unfortunately, we miss endless possibilities of a great outcome because we think God is in control.

Nope.

He used His authority to give us authority. And He doesn’t lie or change His mind.

God is only in control to the degree that man gives Him control. And history proves time and time again (as does the present and as will the future) that man does a very poor job at giving God control.

BUT this is all incredible news for you today and every day after if you’ll let this sink in and put it to the test!

Here is my personal process of choosing my own outcome:

1. Look at the finished work of Jesus and decide what He died to give me:

   • Abundant life (John 10:10)

   • A healed heart and every wound relieved (Psalm 147:3 and Strong’s 2280, Isaiah 61:1)

   • Salvation from affliction (Isaiah 61:1 and Strong’s 1319)

   • Set free by any stronghold (limiting or lying pattern of thought/belief) holding me captive (Isaiah 61:1, 2 Cor. 10:3-5, Jonah 2:8)

   • An opening when I am trapped, bound, backed into a corner, or surrounded (Isaiah 61:1)

   • Healing from sickness and disease (Isaiah 53:4, Matt. 8:17)

   • A way out when I am tempted to fear or cave, have a fatalistic mindset about my situation, or tempted to sin in any way (1 Cor. 10:13)

   • “Yes” to all the promises above (2 Cor. 1:20)

2. Recognize God won’t violate my freewill (Jonah 2:7-8)

3. Confess (say the same thing) God has already said about my situation (review step #1) until I see His preferred outcome (for His preferred outcome see step #1) materialize in the natural.

There’s your manifesting folks. And it works if we decide to work with God to see it through to fulfillment, no matter how long it takes and no matter how bad things appear in the natural.

So happy manifesting friends!

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.”
1 Kings 4:29 (KJV)

“Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” Isaiah 60:5 (KVJ)

Enlarged: רָחַב | rachab: to be widened, enlarged, relieved, and expanded with joy (BDB)

“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b (NKJV)

I recently shared with my private Facebook group, Getting Life to Work, that I am in the research and study phase for a future book to be called Profile(d). The book will break down the misconceptions in character profiles of some major players in the Bible and reveal how, through our misunderstanding of their lives, God Himself has been mischaracterized or profiled throughout the centuries as a result.

One of the key Bible characters this book will cover is King Solomon. We have this great misconception that God miraculously made King Solomon the wisest man who ever lived. Like, “Poof Solomon! You get to be wise but everyone else who asks for wisdom has to learn the hard way.”

Praise God that’s not quite the case.

When Solomon asked God for wisdom, God responded by showing King Solomon he already possessed the very thing he desired most… a foundation for the Spirit of Wisdom to be the guiding factor in his life.

“Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” 1 Kings 3:12 (KJV)

The Hebrew word for “behold” is “hinneh”. It means look, after all, lo, here, or indeed. It’s the same word God used in Job when He acknowledged that Job had already handed his own life over to the scrutiny of the enemy. When God says behold He is saying, “Take a look! This is already so.”

At the young age of twelve, King Solomon had already been trained in wisdom by his father, King David, whom he saw make both good and bad decisions. Solomon’s love for God and wisdom to rule is the reason he was chosen to be king. He already had the foundation required to rule justly, he simply needed to set his intention to continually grow in wisdom.

Because to him who has, even more will be given. (Matthew 25:29)

And even Jesus had to grow in wisdom and stature.

Because Solomon feared and loved God, he had the capacity to receive more and more supernatural wisdom. To fear God is to fear doing anything that would break the heart of God. In addition to having the capacity to contain wisdom and understanding, Solomon had the ability to have the boundaries of his heart enlarged. The word enlarged not only means to have the thickness of the walls of the heart enlarged but to have a heart that is specifically enlarged by joy.

How does joy enlarge the heart? When the joy of the Lord is your strength, your heart expands in its capacity to walk in faith-righteousness.

Nehemiah, in an attempt to encourage God’s chosen people after they failed to follow God and their city came to ruins as a result, said to them, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

I’ve met many a Christian who tried to muster up enough joy in difficult circumstances in order to gain more strength. That’s hard to do when life has knocked the wind out of you. Especially if you believe God was the one who orchestrated your difficult circumstances. Even worse are the times we come to realize we were our own undoing.

We are told to just sing worship songs until we feel the joy of the Lord. We convince ourselves if we’ll just get excited about God we will have all the strength we need.

But that’s not what Nehemiah was getting at. Nehemiah is telling the people to allow themselves to call to mind the limitless joy and sheer pleasure God takes in them to receive strength. It is the knowledge of this pleasure apart from performance God takes in you that has the power to strengthen you from the inside out, if you do not allow your own heart to condemn you (1 John 3:20), creating boundaries and barriers of false beliefs you can never break through.

Both King Solomon and Nehemiah had incredibly high leadership lids. Everything they put their hands to came to fruition and the people they led flourished in their work for God! Rather than look at their lack (lack of years of experience, lack of resources, etc.) they looked to a God who took exceedingly GREAT JOY in them. They meditated on the joy of the Lord rather than on their shortcomings.

SO!!! Let the knowledge that God takes GREAT PLEASURE in you strengthen you for whatever you’re facing today! Mediate on that pleasure until it becomes real inside you and all self-condemnation melts away. THEN you’ll be able to receive the wisdom of King Solomon and the leadership ability of Nehemiah.