Embrace Your Small Beginnings

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, Zechariah 4:10a

Don’t despise the days of small beginnings because that is exactly what makes you into who you will be, and leads you step by step into your destiny.  When God saves you, He has a purpose for you, and you can trust Him, that those plans are good!.

Remember, David had a slingshot. What if he had always wished he had big sword, or the King’s armor? What if he had hated his slingshot instead of embracing what God had put in his hands?   He would not have learned to kill lions or bears and eventually the giant!

What if David had complained or grumbled about being a shepherd, instead of loving those sheep, and protecting them?   When that was the very training ground God used to teach him how to be a King and watch over God’s chosen people?

What if David had resented tending those sheep all alone at night?  When that was the very place where he sang to God, and played his harp under the stars.  Just think, it led to all those psalms and prophetic songs we now enjoy!  And it was anointed too…because it would sooth the savage beast in Saul!

What if he had never been so dishonored by family?  See, honor was important to him… because as a young boy he never had it.   If he had not known dishonor, he would not have hated it.  Hated it so much so, that he would confront a giant, and then kill him because he was dishonoring his God!!  Yes, see, when no one else would stand up for God’s honor, this young boy did!

Don’t despise where you are…you are going somewhere.
I say, learn to embrace it!   Let it shape you and mold you.
Squeeze every drop of oil or wine you can get out of it.
How can we be doubtful about our future?
When it ALL has purpose, and God will use it all for good.
Trust me, He will not waste a bit of it.

Small beginnings are good beginnings!

New Wine Skin

God really wants to do a new thing…if we would just let Him. New wine, needs new skins. You can’t FIX an old skin…it has to be discarded. Lord, have YOUR way, and help us to be okay with it. Help us to find our way and place…rest in it…and not try to force anything…or hold onto the old. Just because you are not “who” you used to be in ministry does not mean you are no longer useful. You just need to accept the new place He has you and be content in it. There is a season for everything. A butterfly can never be a caterpillar again…it has died to that old place. If God has a new purpose or a place for you, He will put you there. No amount of performing, striving or trying will help. It is works, and it is sin…repent, trust and rest.

So many want to BE someone that God never ever called them to be. Or they WERE something in the past but that season is over. I am talking about a complete DYING type thing and trusting God to resurrect. Dying is dying, it is not more DOING….
It is not striving…It is just a BEING thing. Dead things don’t do anything.

If God has not opened a door for you then stop trying to open doors for yourself. Stop trying to be good enough, or copy other people. People see others with favor and they try to mimic them…it is NOT GOD. David refused Saul’s armor…because WAS not HIM. So many are tempted to try and BE like another because they want what they have. David never did that. He said, I have my slingshot, that is all I need. David was authentic, and he HONORED God by WAITING on HIM to make him King. He was anointed LONG before he took the throne.

Imagine It

When I was a child, I loved to pretend. When I pretended, I actually saw what I imagined. If I wanted my bear to talk, I just saw him come to life and talk. It was amazing!!! I still remember it. I also remember thinking, I do not want to grow up…because somehow, I knew that this gift would end. Sure enough, one day it stopped.

Sometimes, I wonder why it stopped, and I wonder why God let me be able to do that as a child. I also wonder if there is a power in imagination that we in the church have not understood. Did you know that people can imagine they are sick and sure enough, they will manifest all the symptoms of the illness? Wikipedia says “In some cases, they can seem so ‘real’ that specific physical manifestations occur such as rashes and bruises appearing on the skin, as though imagination had passed into belief or the events imagined were actually in progress.”

So I wonder, what if sick people imagined Jesus healed them, and that passed into belief, with faith like a child…would they, could they…manifest a healing?

I still think it is so amazing that I was able to “see”…and to believe it was real. I had faith as a child, THE faith of a child. When I hear about creative miracles, I wonder if this gift of imagining, seeing and believing could be used to release that.

Luke 18:17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Matthew 18:3 And said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Faith to Fly

One time when I was little, I thought I could fly. I had seen Peter Pan, and they said I could, if only I BELIEVED!  I had been practicing, in my sleep…and I’d gotten REALLY good at it.

So one day I decided I was ready! I told my sister to come and watch me. I climbed onto my dad’s car and prepared to take off. I can still see my little sister’s face looking up at me, saying…”I don’t think you should do that.”

…..and….guess what? She was right! lol

I think we definitely have to use wisdom,
especially with the stuff we see and believe.

Thank God for brothers and sisters with wisdom, and the Word to keep us… um…….grounded…and….humble………….lol…!!!!

Do you See what I See?

Do you see what I see?

This painting ministers to me…because seeing in the Spirit is very similar.   Sometimes I see an image superimposed over my surroundings in the natural, other times I see a completely different image in the spirit.

And, when it happens, I often wonder, am I making this up, or is it just my imagination?

But God has been teaching me to “doubt my doubts” and trust the eyes He has given me to see.

AND, like a good Father, He will almost always confirm my visions…

to build and strengthen my faith, encouraging me to step out more and more.

Faith is giving up the right to see…so others can!

 

06/08/2011

 

Recently, I planted some herb seeds that I had purchased early this spring.  Before I planted them, a friend and I watched a movie, “Faith Like Potatoes”.  The story is about a farmer that gets saved, becomes an evangelist, and then takes a huge step of faith, on a word from the Lord, and plants potatoes in the middle of a drought.  That was unheard of because potatoes need a lot of water and because you cannot “watch” them grow, you have to have faith that they are there and thriving.  The decision could make or break him.  But…of course because the Lord told him to, it MADE him.  It ended up being a huge harvest and an amazing testimony as he traveled and shared the gospel with other farmers.When I planted my seeds, I was thinking about faith, how placing those seeds underground requires us to give up the right to “see” and so does becoming a Christian, the word even says, “…we live by faith, not by sight.”  It also says that unless the seed “falls to the ground and dies” it can’t become a plant and produce fruit.  See, the seeds are found in the fruit and I have heard it said, you usually know about how many seeds are in a piece of fruit, but do you know how many pieces of fruit are in the one seed?”  Great potential!!!

Before I could plant them, I realized the first thing I would need is a good soil.  Soil that is well tilled and rich, soil that can hold water.   That would be a good place for the plants to rest, grow and be fed.  A rocky soil wouldn’t do, then the plants would have not nutrients and their little fragile roots would dry out quickly.

The next thing they would need to have is water.  Water is what causes the seed to swell so it can burst and germinate, then begin to send it’s roots down into the soil and be fed.  The seeds would have to be watched and watered regularly though,  so that when they did start growing they would not dry out in the sun’s light.

While I was writing this, I thought, hmmm, I should go out and water my little seeds, and guess what I found?   The baby basils had broken through and were now receiving the sun’s energy.

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As I was watering the baby plants, the sun was behind me and I caught it’s reflection in the mist of the water.  Then, I saw a beautiful rainbow!  God always surprises me with them and usually speaks to me when He does.  As I meditated on it I realized that the rainbow was always there, that the water had just revealed it.Just like Jesus, the Light of the World, He is always there, whether we can see Him or not.  Same with the tiny seeds, all the potential is already there under that ground and just waiting to germinate.

So, that is what Faith really is…believing He is there…believing we have a purpose even when we can’t see it.

Like these tiny little seeds, each one of us holds a harvest inside of us.  We need to first find a soil or church family rich with nutrients, tilled by prayer…a place where we can lay down and die.  There must be worship, letting the water of His presence cover and soak us, so we can germinate.  And once we are grown, the Son will illuminate His purpose and give us energy for the work of producing fruit!

So then, WE, like individual little drops of water will work together to reveal Him, the Rainbow, to those that can’t see Him…yet!

Have FAITH!!!!