Journey Thus Far
Friends, welcome to the vineyard of God’s grace and glory! Wow, we’ve come a long way and I am thrilled to be walking on this journey alongside you. Initially we’ve discussed how conflicts are a “normal” part of life and that we must discover how to work through the furnace of afflictions properly, co-laboring as partnerswith our spouse, for our struggle is not against each other as humans, not against flesh and blood. We’re invited to keep pressing into Him: our Creator, Lord, and Lover; to grow in intimacy and let go of all fears (of change and loss of control), ultimately understanding that our God’s enemy has a singular goal: “to disrupt our intimacy with God and each other”.

We’ve discussed our call to encourage and comfort each other in our deep inner longings for God, via loving one another, realizing the fact that getting married was only the beginning of a journey in which two souls are joined in love and are called to adapt a new (heavenly) perspective and language, keeping our sight only on the Lord’s truth which establishes true peace, joy, and an abundant lifestyle!

 

The Unprecedented Intention
We dove deeper into God’s heart remembering the original plan, where the “Husband and wife are called to venture into the great unknown; their hands, voices, and hearts interwoven in order to express the love of their Creator within each of them”, realizing the original intent of marriage: created and designed to “enrich one another”, to ultimately express God’s beauty, emotional power, and conceptual thought of relationship and union, defined as holiness, in the institution of marriage, between one man and one woman, uniting them both as ONE!

But as we lost sight of the original plan, we therefore go through the journey of the wilderness and must go through a healing process where we get back to understanding Father’s heart as we heal and become delivered from all orphan mindsets and issues. Growing in the understanding that the true call for responsibility is to become mature Sons and Daughters, we comprehend the Lord’s invitation to each and every one of us – to wake up from our slumber, open our hearts back up to Him, and steadfastly keep our gaze set upon Him in order to achieve ultimate satisfaction of true intimacy. God’s intent always was and forever will be to grow and enlarge each of us through this union with Him and with one other, making us individually and jointly more fruitful and productive in all things.

 

Heavens Way to Blessings
How does God perform His great work in this realm called “time”?

• The call to Ladies is to “Be good wives to their husbands, responsive to their man’s heart and needs, doing so in an unanxious and unintimidated manner.”
• The call to Husbands is to “Be good husbands, honoring the wife, delighting in and treating her as equals (in value) so that your prayers wouldn’t be hindered, since God won’t answer your prayers if you don’t learn how to lay your life down first, not trying to fix her, but instead learning how to listen to her empathetically and connect with her heart.”
• We’re BOTH called to “serve one another in the FEAR of the Lord” in order to “grow wholesome and healthy” together.

Obedience to God in this manner is the earmark of His pleasure in us! Only then does He “reveal thesecrets of His heart to those who fear Him, are humble, and become His true friend.” 

 

Mystery of Marriage Revealed
God gave us marriage and family to show the world the true desire of His heart, calling us to be sensitiveto one another, because a relationship is an ongoing, living, and an organic interaction between two beings. We discussed how sex was given as a form of enjoying our partner and how it is as much a spiritual mystery as a physical fact when the two become ONE, and live in each other’s trust.

But we must be aware of the deceitfulness, treachery, and betrayal of adultery, which stems from the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. Scripture commands to abstain from all sin and unrighteousness, putting an extra heavy focus on purity, commanding each one of us to Flee sexual immorality (viewing, reading, or imagining sexual content), to Run in terror, because it has the extremely high potential and intention to destroy your holy union and life! 

 

Generational God
We found that all of God’s promises line up with the purposes of heaven and that He will be glorified! There’s nothing stopping Him. The question we are individually asked is: “would we like to participate in this Glory with Him, together as a holy and influential power couple in today’s age”? Yes, and again I say “Yes! You both are born for such a time as this! Do you believe it? Will you believe it?!

In Psalm 112 we read the Lord’s proclamation over our lives, over our marriages, and over the next generations: “Hallelujah! Blessed be the man, blessed be the woman, who fear God, who cherish and relish His commandments. Their children are robust and vigorous on the earth, and the homes of the upright are extremely blessed! Their houses brim with wealth and a generosity that never runs dry.”

 

Strongholds & Identity Maturity
In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 we read that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”.

Friends, today we’ll continue our discussion and growth into maturity with further clarification of our call, identity, and purpose, exploring how to stay in a victorious posture, waging a good fight, and advancing the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth.

Here’s a brain teaser and an interestingly deep thought to consider: demons come and leave quickly, but strongholds are broken down slowly. Demons are cast out, while strongholds are cast down. Demons come out through the anointing of Holy Spirit, but strongholds are torn down through the holy scriptures, as well as through being in the community, through developing habits of worship, through training (disciplining) your thought-life, turning all earthly thoughts over to God and to work with your own mind (soul).

 

Mystery
Mind management is the most important thing for a believer because our success starts from the Inside! “Pray that you be in good health and prosper as your mind/soul prospers” says Paul. It is extremely important for us to understand and keep in proper focus the reality and truth of the God we serve, and how His kingdom operates.

We serve a King who became a slave. We’re called to be servants if we want to be leaders. We must go down if we want to go up, must lose in order to gain. Notice a pattern here? We’re called to hide in Him and do it in secret if we want to be seen. Our soul’s Lover is a true mystery, very intriguing, like poetry, like a parable – a rhyme or a riddle, just waiting to be discovered.

He’s calling us to search Him out, and we must therefore start on the inside if we are ever to expect it to manifest here on earth. “It’s the glory of God to hide a matter, it’s the glory of a King to search it out” says Proverbs 25:2. We’re a garden enclosed, a locked garden, where life takes place behind the face – where God and I are alone in this garden, no longer wasting life on the outside, but growing more intimate on the inside! We’re no longer our own, but His garden! He tends to it. He cares, nourishes, and strengthens. He matures our souls to live generously from the inside out.

 

Gratitude
How then, do we suppose to bring the hidden to light (to manifestation)? How do we bring that inner life to the earthly plane? Here’s a thought: when we begin to give thanks, there’s a heightened sensitivity within our gates, to begin to access that which has been provided within the finished work of Christ. Physiologically it’s been proven over and over again in studies and real-life experiences, that whenever people give thanks, give gratitude, and are grateful – then their blood pressure lowers, stress lowers, stress response changes, and the nervous system shifts its state of being. Thanksgiving therefore accelerates wound healing as the person shifts into gratitude, and thus the process of the body to heal itself therefore quickens.

Gratitude opens up the realm of heaven around us so that our physical body begins to benefit from the gates that are opening all around us on the invisible plane. As we give gratitude, our soul (wounds, issues, traumas, and gnarly situations of life that we haven’t fully processed yet) are accelerated in healing. Why are we bringing this up? Friends, learn to give thanks for the people who come against me and you. This is foundational in our faith; this forms strength and resilience in us. This is what opens the heavenly gates so that the words that follow (through prayer, intercession, or prophesy) stand tall before our Father and our Lord, for “only through thanksgiving can we enter and stand boldly before the Throne of Grace” (Ephesians 3:12).

 

No Coincidences
Dear one, nothing, I repeat – Nothing happens without God’s consent. Nor by accident. All that takes place is to fulfill His will, which is to shape us into Jesus’s image and likeness – into complete mature Sons and Daughters. Our response, therefore, reflects what we truly believe in our hearts.

Others may say ‘Why the mourning? Why the hunger? Why the thirst? Drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die!’ Yet our souls cry out “take me to the place where You satisfy me God, take me to the river! Draw us deeper Lord, let the deep call out unto deep. Be gracious Lord, cause Your face to shine upon me.”

We see plenty of wealthy people around us who aren’t blessed. They’re hurting, they’re longing for true satisfaction of soul. For the true blessing impacts our marriages, our children, our purpose, our daily surroundings. Why do we feel the way we do? Why is the world around us constantly seeking pleasure, seeking joy, seeking fulfillment and meaning of life?

 

Perspective of Joy vs Fear
Scripture talks about nation going against nations (community against community), the choice we face daily ‘for me or against me’ making people choose sides. Kingdom against kingdom. Famines, pestilence, earthquakes (birth pains, sorrows), crises’, etc. As we surround ourselves with these toxic perspectives, it’s no wonder that men’s hearts fail them from the fear and expectations (Luke 21:26)

Notice that it’s not something occurring, but it’s the fear of it coming true, the expectations, anticipation, hopeless expectancies. When people’s hearts fail them, they do things they never dreamed to do: they cave in cowardliness, they abandon people, slander, bring about division. They don’t stay true to their hearts – this is why so many people need a heart exchange, because our stony hearts fail us, thus God gives us a new heart, a heart of flesh, so that we can have empathy without having crisis fatigue, enabling us to have compassion and empathy, to understand that other people are hurting too.

Then Jesus gives clear instruction how to respond saying “when these things begin to occur, stand tall and lift up your heads in joy…” (Luke 21:28 AMP). Joy is not conditional to circumstances! Joy is an inward force. With joy we draw from the wells of salvation. We’re called to be the gate keepers of our hearts, to monitor and guard all that we are allowing into it – to consciously allow more of the Spirit of God and His perspective to come in rather than the media’s, government’s, or “friend’s” voices.

 

Response in Such a Time as Today
Jesus instructs us not to be REACTIONARY to what’s happening around us. In Mark chapter 4 He warns us that “the cares of this world will enter into us and choke the Word out! But ‘my word will Never fail’ even as heaven and earth pass away, but My Word will stand forever!” We (believers) are a people that are supposed to stand out, who are to be filled and full of light and life, even when the world is full of anticipation, fear, and darkness.

One of the goals of the antichrist spirit is to pull us away from Christs words, thus “wearing out the saints” (crises after crises). Despair and discouragement are the enemies tools to get the children of God to give up, but the truth is we were born and made for this time!! We must go to the Bible as it refers to a Hero (the godly), who ask: “Father, what are You doing in such a time period as this?”

 

Community and Communion
We must learn to control the controllable and not give into the rest of circumstances. Be there for the people that we actually DO meet on a daily basis. This will make us FEEL like we have some kind of power, be there for them. When we connect with those people in a constructive healthy way, when I get outside of myself and say “How are you doing? What can I do for you? How can I help or bring peace to your life? Do you want to be part of a prayer meeting or bible study?” then the true exchange and transfer of power occurs.

Why connect? Why bother? Because the tension on the outside of our life is something that we all can survive, as long as there’s no storm on the inside of our heart and our home (family). How can we keep peace in our own lives and homes? ..thus in our state and country? Keep digging. Keep diving deeper and deeper into His love. The word of Christ must RICHLY dwell in me. Be in TUNE with the spirit of God and speak to the people around you what is to minister to their hearts, what is to uplift them and encourage them!

 

Practical Walk of Life
Friend, I charge you to not be like the 90% of folks who read this article, and go about their merry(?) way, not allowing their hearts or lifestyles to be impacted. I charge you to surround yourselves with a like-minded community of Faith, who can hold you up. Surround yourself with a prayer group who is outside of you and your self-focus. Then you will find freedom from the daily fatigue that we all sense in today’s age. Pray for peace of earth. Pray against the heaviness that weighs us down. Let’s lift our voices and heads towards heaven and pray the Word of God upon our lives and those around us, so that it has preeminence to counteract the crises fatigue that surrounds us in media, in peoples chatter, and in our thoughts and feelings.

 

Goals 
Set a goal to become a leader, a mentor, a coach, a friend – someone who can lift and edify your neighbors daily. Setting a goal is a sure way to internalize what you’re learning along your journey here on earth. If you have a certain goal you want to reach then working hard towards it is a breeze. For you can study (obtain knowledge) all you want, but it’s pointless if you can’t put it to practical use (experience).

When you are moving towards an objective, it is very important to pay attention to the road, for it is the road that teaches us the best way to get to the destination, and the road enriches us as we walk its length. You can compare it to a sexual relationship, the caresses of foreplay determine the intensity of the orgasm. Everyone knows that (or should). Thus, it is the same when we have an objective in our life, for it will turn out to be better or worse depending on the route we choose to reach it, and the way in which we negotiate that route.

Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be, and wherever your heart is, there will be the cradle of the second coming of Christ. The pilgrim (me and you in the flesh) is only an outer layer, and when that layer of life is broken, True Life appears, and that Life is comprised of Agape (God’s pure Love).

 

Heavenly Vision
Friends, we wrap up tonight’s session with a reminder of our call in this earthly realm, which is to align our sight with the invisible, heavenly realm. The eye is the lamp of our body, therefore seeing correctly is an absolutely critical approach if we are willing to succeed.

Here are 4 key thoughts to keep before you as you walk out this next week:

1. God is a giver. He gives us all things for life and godliness. He gives us life and gives it to the full.
2. God has more for me. He’s always good, more than our imaginations can fathom.
3. God always blesses us in His way, in His timing. Don’t rush the ecstasy, it’ll come and be most enjoyable when it has reached its climax/peak.
4. God blesses others through us, His body, His church. Don’t keep back the seed. Whatever bread you have, share it. Whatever seed you carry, sow it.

We are all called to be good stewards. In 2 Cor. 9:10-11 we read the following concept that “He (God) who supplies seed and bread, will enlarge you and your impact for the Kingdom of God, so that we can be generous in every occasion, resulting in thanksgiving and glory to God (by others).”

This doesn’t just apply to our finances, as I hear some of you thinking. God is the owner of all things; we just manage and steward His stuff. Because He owns it, His voice and perspective are what truly matter. Remember, where our treasure is our heart follows. Our starting point is giving God what’s His, whether that is finances through tithing (so that there is food in Gods house to feed others), whether that is our time, our love, our words, or any other resource, item, or way that we can serve our neighbor – strengthening, encouraging, and empowering them to carry their light further in this dark world.

In Luke 12:13-21 we also hear a warning which summarized says that “we should be on guard, watch out for that “more” monster, (which is greed), for who will inherit what you store up? Be rich towards God!”

 

Kindness of God
The ultimate goal is to be rich in generosity as our God is. Generosity always has a name on it, and people see Jesus’ name on it if we steward it well, and thus He blesses us even more. So I bless you, as you walk out this week, go and serve the people around you in whatever gift, talent, or blessing that you have – whether it’s a good word, gesture, or simple smile or wave.

Remember, it’s the kindness of God that brought us out of darkness in our own time. Let’s allow that generous kindness to live on and multiply. Get over any offense that lingers in your heart, life is too short to be dragged down to such low levels. Give it up to the Lord and He’ll deal with those issues as needed. Allow the Lord to deal with your spouse, your family work, or whatever giant you face. You, my friend, are called to sit on your true throne, reigning as a King (or Queen)! Let’s keep that true Light shining. Till next time fellow sojourner.

 

“Maturity in the Christian life is measured by only one test: How much closer to God’s character have we become?” -Elyse Fitzpatrick

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