Beauty for Ashes

Today, I want to share with you this conversation I had with God. It has always helped me to reset my thinking and focus when I am going through life's struggles and adversities. It has also helped me learn to walk patiently through these hardships with the peace of mind knowing that with Faith and with my eyes set on Jesus--and on the faithfulness of our Father in heaven--God is creating something beautiful with my life, that I will yet see. So I expectantly wait for a better tomorrow. And that time of beauty always comes, sometimes much later than I expected; but it has never failed to show up.

May this conversation with God encourage and bless you today!

Our Conversation Begins

Joy:

"Lord, what do You want to speak to me about today? What do You want to share with me today that is important to Your heart? And where shall we meet today?"

As I am waiting on the Lord, I begin to wonder--Will He want to speak to me about world hunger? Maybe about the suffering people go through in this world?

I started by visualizing myself on a peaceful beach. Lord Jesus and I were sitting next to each other on chairs, looking a calm ocean. It was late afternoon, not yet sunset, and we had the beach all to ourselves. We were enjoying the beautiful colors of the late afternoon clouds in the sky, smelling the ocean breeze, and hearing the ocean sounds and the sounds of the palm trees praising God as the gentle breeze blew. We enjoyed that for a little while.

Holy Spirit Vision:

Then suddenly, we were on a different beach and enjoyed that. Then, suddenly we were sitting on the veranda of a house on a small hill overlooking trees and houses in the valley, and a different ocean in the distance. The view was beautiful. But I was not allowed to look behind me at the ugly side. (I had visited this place in this physical world, in the past, and the house itself was not much--but the view was fabulous!) Then suddenly, we were in the Galilee, in Israel, on a mountain, looking over fields in the valley, and over the Sea of Galilee in the distance. (I had been here as well, in the past.) Again, I was only allowed to look at the most beautiful sides--not at the plain, dull, less attractive sides.

Joy:

"What are you trying to show me, Lord? What does this mean?"

Holy Spirit:

"When you, my child, are facing difficult, ugly situations, I always have places of stunning beauty to alleviate the stress or the pain and to bring moments of hope, joy, and peace to your heart. I want you, who are called by My name, to focus your spiritual eyes on the beauty that is available to you in the Spirit, and not so much on the difficulty of your struggle in the physical world. When you focus only on the ugliness, it becomes difficult to hold on to hope. When there is no beauty around you, I am the beauty in front of you. Set your mind on the beauty of My faithfulness. Since My Spirit lives inside of you, when you focus on Me, I can transport you from beauty to beauty in a second. Suddenly and immediately! When you fix your spirit eyes on Me, you can always be in a place of beauty, inner peace, and joy even in the midst of serious problems."

Joy:

"My Lord, of all the things in the world, is This what is most important for you to tell me right now?" (I was expecting something more important than me focusing on beauty.)

Holy Spirit:

"Yes."

Joy:

"Why? Can you help me see the importance?"

Holy Spirit:

"You are born into an imperfect world of suffering, ugliness, and pain. Most of it is illegal activity in your life coming from the enemy of your soul; meaning, it is not assigned or approved by Me to harm you. This is why Jesus paid the price for your deliverance, healing, and victory over Satan. You have My Word and the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of you to counter any attack of the kingdom of darkness in your life.

But sometimes, I will allow an attack, to succeed only because I have a secret plan that will allow you to experience My miracle power and fill your life with unbelievable joy. No one is exempt. Even Jesus who is the Son of the Living God had to go through this.

Joy, a lifetime of only struggle and hopelessness is Not my plan nor my will for any of my children. Know that any painful situations I allow into your life are but temporary and come with a beautiful side that outweighs every difficulty and challenge you will have to face. So, while weeping may endure for a night, joy will come in the morning. Of this you can be certain.

Hardship and joy are interlaced like two sides of a beautiful area rug. Ugliness is part of this fallen world, but by My grace, I am always releasing beauty into your life. Yet still, you will not see this beauty at once. And you may not see it for a little while because the beauty side is only revealed when the thing that God is developing in you has reached maturity. When I allow something difficult or painful into your life, know that it is only because I have prepared for you a reward of surpassing value and beauty that cannot be acquired any other way. All the sorrows and struggles you have had to endure will pale in comparison. And you will experience victory and great joy in its time when the work in you is complete."

"Consider this, when have you ever gone through a terrible situation that did not eventually end in beauty?"

Joy:

"Never, my Lord, because even in the most hopeless situations, you worked miracles!"

Holy Spirit:

"Exactly. And my miracles only happened after you had determined to stand strong in the midst of the trial and began to look at things from a different perspective. You began to pursue heaven's perspective, be transformed, and then you rose above the situation. And that's when you began to get a glimpse of the beauty that lay ahead. You can only see this when you ascend to look down from a higher place, from Mt. Zion in heaven above. You must be able to rise to the top of this spiritual mountain, to be able to see the pathway to beauty and find peace and joyful hope in the midst of your difficulties. This means that, when going through hardships, you have to station yourself, spiritually, in heaven. Everything you do, do from heaven's perspective, trusting in God's promises that Messiah Jesus secured for you. 

Stationing yourself in heaven means that you are to approach every one of life's hardships always from the position of faith, not fear; and not trusting in your carnal feelings or worldly reasoning but in My word--Trust in My word (Psalm 3:5-6). This way you will always be able to find yourself, spiritually, in a place of beauty, peace, and joy, and you will be able to bring these spiritual blessings into your earthly life by faith. Remember that what is seen is not made out of what is visible (Hebrews 11:3.) Everything is first created in the heavenly realm. Victory is first spiritual and then physical. This understanding is foundational. Make sure you never lose sight of how important this is. I am bringing this up today because I want you to realize how very important this is to you living a victorious life on earth. 

Make sure that stationing yourself in heaven is permanently locked-in as your first course of action, as the way you handle life's challenges and adversities. Do not lose sight of this.

Where ever I have used pain and ugliness to mature my children, there is beauty in the making, on the reverse side, for those who love Me. When you walk in heaven's perspective, you will always walk in victory. 

My plan is to build you up, strengthen you, and establish you for success as you do My will. Fix your eyes on Me, not on the situation, and I will take you to the place of beauty I have prepared for you. I will give you beauty for ashes.

Keeping your eyes focused on Me is the foundation of everything we have done and will do in the future. This is the solution to the world's problems. If human-beings would only fix their eyes on their Creator, who loves them with a Father's love, there would be no hunger, suffering, or wars in the earth. Trauma, pain, fear, worry, selfishness, and greed drives people who harm others. A victim or an observer has to choose what they will become--a perpetrator or a protector. It all depends on what the victim or the observer focuses on--heaven or earth, good or evil, hope or hurt, faith or fear.

I am the only one who can give beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, and a spirit of praise for a spirit of despair. I am the only one who can transform life's situations. I will provide for my grieving children who set their eyes on Me and put their trust in Me. They will first enjoy spiritual beauty, joy, and peace (in spite of their circumstances) and this will open up the portals of heaven for blessing and renewal to be released into their earthly lives. And they will be transformed and become robust oaks of righteousness displaying My splendor (Isaiah 61:1,3)."

End of Conversation

 

 

Powerful Recommended Reading:

1. Suffering and the Heart of God: How Trauma Destroys and Christ Restores by Diane Landberg. Equipping the body of Christ to help people who have suffered through deep trauma.
2. Blindsided by God: Disappointment, Suffering, and the Untamable Goodness of God by Peter Chin. Powerful, personal ways we can understand and even redeem the suffering we all experience in our lives.
3. Torn to Heal: God's Good Purpose in Suffering by Mike Leake. God is radically dedicated to our ongoing growth in spiritual maturity and holiness.

 

God, Please Change Me!

Every so often, my focus shifts to the keen awareness that nothing I do is really good enough to present to the Lord as a gift. During these times, I wonder, how much of what I do today as I serve my God and fellow mankind, will actually survive God's Quality-Control-Test by fire as described in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15?

 "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have--Jesus Christ. Anyone who build on that foundation may use a variety of materials--gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames." (NLT)

The times I have brought this concern to the Lord, He has always lovingly and faithfully encourages me. Today, I wanted share with you a compilation of my conversations with God about this concern. My hope is that His words of loving-kindness will strengthen, encourage and help refocus anyone else who is having the same concern and give hope to those who are looking for help and for a solution.

My Prayer:

"Heavenly Father, I come before Your great presence in the name of Jesus Christ, to place a concern at Your feet. Father in heaven, I am concerned for the state of my heart. I am aware of my inner flaws and am concerned that what comes out of my heart may infect the service I do in Your name.

"My heart (mind and emotions) can at times be an ugly place. It can be fearful, prideful, selfish, self-deceiving, judgmental, self-serving, manipulative, frustrated, disappointed, taking offense, resentful, impatient, self-protecting, and downright lacking in trust/faith. Though my words and behavior are usually in line with my faith in Christ, I feel like I am constantly struggling with the sin nature to bring it under submission to Christ. It's an everyday battle with myself. I need to be changed even more than I already have because I want Messiah Jesus and the Holy Spirit to feel at home in my heart.

"At times I fail because I'm exhausted from my activities, or confused by switching situations, or surprised by the unexpected, or just lack the strength to follow through. I know you love me and accept me but I also know that my heart is just not good enough. It hungers and thirsts after holiness and inner righteousness. In every situation, it wants to be filled with thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8-9.)  I desire to have the heart of Christ! A heart that's faithful and true. Any good works that proceed from such a heart will make it through the trial by fire on that Day when our works are judged.

"Lord, I need a changed heart! Please transform me so that Messiah Jesus can fully and freely rule in my life without any interference from the sin in my heart. I want to change to allow Messiah to rule in all my thoughts, plans, emotions and perspectives. I hunger for a much deeper walk with Messiah. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."

The Vision:

As I finished the prayer, I saw a heart shaped bubble and I had the knowledge it was in my chest. and Christ, my Savior was sitting on the throne that was at the center of the bubble and He was smiling joyfully. Something a little like this...

God's Holy Spirit:

"My grace is sufficient for you. I know you by name. I see your heart. I know your concerns. But you forget that I did not choose you for your perfection. I chose you in your disgrace while you were still in sin. I extended my hand to you and you responded by accepting My gift of salvation, grace and peace in Messiah Jesus: Salvation from the punishment for sin, grace for a life of victory, and peace to have a personal relationship with God the Father who is in heaven. This grace is My favor. I favor you, because you love me. And in spite of your shortcomings and failures, you are determined to deny your flesh, take up your cross, and to follow me. I know you inside and out--And I love you. I am pleased with you. Haven't I always stepped in and graciously helped you find your way back into My plans? You have consecrated yourself to Me and have never turned back. Now you are Mine. I will never forsake you. I will never abandon you. In that Day when you receive your resurrected, new body, you will also have a blameless heart. Every good thing that you pray for now, if you do not receive it in this life, you will receive then. So, what often seems like a "No" to you, is in reality a "Not yet."

"But just as Jesus had to live a life facing temptation, so must you. As he conquered by obeying Me, so will you because he lives inside of you. You are not fighting these flaws alone. So, do not be too discouraged by them. Atonement has already been made for you. Your mistakes have all been covered by the blood of the Lamb. And you will overcome, in Christ Jesus, by My Holy Spirit.  

"Actually, I am very pleased that you hate, renounce and reject any sin you see in yourself while still acknowledging My love for you and how precious you are to Me. You don't justify your own sin, or make excuses for it, or give in to it, or seek support to continue in it. On the contrary, you do your part battling the sin nature bravely and faithfully every day, instead of fighting with or blaming others. You never give up. You try and try, over and over again, gaining more and more insight and power, until you achieve victory. I see the hope, comfort, wisdom and joy you bring from your experiences to those around you. You are My child, a citizen of My kingdom, and these flaws are really no longer a part of you. You know that you are a new being and that as such, those flaws do not reflect who you have become. They are merely roots of old things that are vanishing--They are waging a losing war. I love what I see in you. So, be encouraged, keep up the good fight; the blood of My Lamb has made you free to become more than a conqueror. Continue running the race to win. It pleases Me every day to see your victories. They are the highlight of My day. Don't worry about the minor battles you have lost. They just help you develop better, more effective strategies for the next time. Haven't you noticed that every time you fight the same flaw you gain more self-control? That with every battle it becomes weaker and you become stronger? Focus on the big war you are winning. So, be at peace my daughter--Rejoice! I am proud of you and I delight in you."

Encouragement from Joy:

Now, my beloved brothers and sisters, I pray this fills all of you who know Christ, and who are getting to know Him more and more every day, with renewed joy and peace. 

And, for anyone else thinking...

I Want To Change My Life -- I Need Change In My Life

You might be asking yourself if this change is possible for you too. Yes it is!--It is for anyone and everyone who wants it! 

Do not feel discouraged because of all the failures you see in yourself. We all sin, every day. And no one can fix themselves on their own. It is futile to try to fix yourself before coming to Jesus. Christ did not come and died and rose to life again to condemn us. He did it to save us from our sin and from the punishment for sin, to help us live a life pleasing to God overcoming our flesh, and for us to be able to have a son/daughter relationship with Father God. We are weak but Christ is strong. He is the solution, the antidote to our sin.

We do not have the kind of ability or level of self-control needed to fix ourselves. Sure, there are tons of techniques out there we can learn to help us cope with and control much of our toxic behaviors. But only Jesus Christ can bring true, complete and lasting transformation from deep within our soul. If we surrender our will and our lives to him, he will transform us from within and this will empower us to change our behavior. We need Jesus to give us the kind of ability and self-control that we need to help us conquer sin. When Christ rules in us, his spirit produces life in us and everything inside of us begins to change. As we grow, the situations around us also begin to change.

All our sin does not go away all at once. Our struggle with sin is a daily matter. By living inside of us, Jesus Christ gives us the ability and power to be victorious as we daily battle the different areas of sin in our lives. He sets us free from being slaves to sin. A slave is a prisoner. In Christ, we are freed from the imprisonment of sin so we can victoriously grow into who God created us to be. It happens progressively--not all at once, but one day at a time. 

When I look back at who I used to be and consider how far Christ has brought me, I am amazed and I feel so blessed and happy! You too can start today on this same new path of victory in Christ and begin to experience everyday miracles and see change! When Jesus lives in you, you walk in victory!

Click here to invite Christ to change your life!

Has this blessed you? Please let me know how, in the comments below.

The Resurrection

Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday and as I was meditating on the wonderful things Jesus did and achieved for us, I felt sad that so many Christians do not fully understand the most important amazing thing our Savior accomplished for us. I remember having to explain it to quite a few Christians to help them realize it. Too many Christians imagine that we will live as ethereal, unbodied beings in eternity--spirits..

So, as I was thinking about all these things the Holy Spirit lead me to put this study together that I felt I should share with you. (All scriptures quoted are from the NIV.)

Jesus said to Martha after Lazarus died, “Your brother will rise again.” 
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live [again], even though they die." ~John 11:23-25

"The apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead." ~ Acts 4;2
There are many good churches. But since few of them teach about the nature of the resurrection as described in the Bible, most people do not know or understand much about this.

Jesus also said, "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man." ~ John 5:24-27

The apostle Paul says, "...Christ has indeed been raised from the dead... since death came through a man [Adam], the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man [Jesus Christ]... For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive... But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' ...The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;" ~1 Corinthians 15: 20-22,35,41-43.
Paul is saying: We will have new physical bodies that will be of a different type than these earthly bodies. Our bodies will be like Jesus' after he rose from the dead. We will be able to defy gravity, ascend to heaven and come back to earth. We will shine with the glory of God. Also, these new bodies will not get sick, weak, or die. We were created to live in the earth. We will live in the new earth for eternity and God will live in our midst (Revelation 21.) 
 
In 1 Corinthians 15:16, before all this, Paul makes a very important statement. One that is vital for us to grasp how our body on earth connects with our eternal body. Paul says, "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies." 

This is a statement about nature, something we see everywhere around us that helps us understand how our bodies will change. A plant exists in two states: pre-germination (seed, spore, bulb) and post-germination (tree, moss, plant.) Each state has distinct characteristics. This change in state of a plant is the best representation of how we will be changed. This means that our earthly bodies are the "seeds" from which our resurrected bodies will come forth!! Just as a seed has to die to be able to produce a plant or a tree, so our current body has to die to be able to bring forth our resurrected body! Isn't this exciting?
The Holy Spirit opened my heart to understand that seeds waiting to be planted represent our lives before conception--We existed in the mind of God. His Word is seed. He called us into existence, from the foundations of the earth, before our lives here on this planet even began. Each life was spoken into being to produce fruit for the Kingdom of God. Our souls awaited the time they are finally sown into the earth, like seeds in a sack.

Now, how does God sow us into this life? He places each of us, a seed, into earth. Mankind is but dust. Our physical bodies are made of earth. We are sown into a body made of earth--into a womb. From the moment we have been sown into a womb, the germination process begins. As we live our lives, we go through the various stages of the germination process, the final being when we die. Our body is buried in the earth, but we show up in eternity. This life is truly just preparation for the next.

So, everyone's life today is but the germinating seed that sprouts their next life. The death of our "seed" body is called the first death, because it is the type of death we experience first. Practically, everyone has to go through it because we will all be resurrected. We will all receive a "tree" (resurrected) body. A tree is better than a seed. But the seed is the hope for a tree. Those who live for Jesus will not experience the second death. They will live with God forever!

"Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years." ~Revelation 20:6. The first resurrection is called "the resurrection of the righteous" in Luke 14:14.

First? Second? Huh!??

"There will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." ~ Acts 24:15
Yes. Really! 

Both will rise (be resurrected) but they won't share the same eternal destiny. Jesus said, “...a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned."  ~ John 5:28,2.
 
Resurrection. Those who remained faithful to Jesus, will be resurrected first and will reign with Christ, in the earth, for 1,000 years. Those who did not choose Christ, will only be resurrected after the 1,000 years are over. At that time, all the people who are still dead will now be resurrected to appear before the Judge seated on the great white throne (Rev. 20:4-5, 11-13.) So, one resurrection is into eternal life and the other into eternal condemnation. 

Death. The first death, is the death of the physical body. Everyone must die. It's the part of life when the body changes from one state to another. 

The second death is what happens in eternity. But in eternity nothing dies as we know it. Earthly death does not exist in eternity. Eternal death is worse that earthly death, it is eternal condemnation. Eternal condemnation means being banned from God's presence forever: no love, no light, no hope, no peace, no rest, no joy, no kindness, no friendship, nothing good because there was no repentance from sin and no sacrifice to cover those sins and redeem that life. 

There are only two elemental forces: light and darkness. God and good are light. Satan and evil are darkness. God's home is in heaven. Satan's home is in hell, the place of his (Satan's) condemnation. Hell was made to punish Satan, it was not intended for people. But Satan has managed to deceive many to be with him. Those who've lived lives that disqualified them from heaven, will only have one other place to go. So death in eternity is eternal separation from God because that raised body cannot die as we know death in this earth. It is "imperishable." (1 Cor. 15:42) That eternal body needs God's light, and love to live, but won't have it. Instead, it will be joining into Satan's punishment. Thus the torment.

Life. Jesus Christ came to give us eternal life. People, we will have new bodies that will be strong, youthful and vibrant--forever! Nothing like our present earthly bodies. Eternal life means to live in God's presence because God is fullness of life! All good and beautiful things come from God. 

These are the things the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart as I meditated on the Resurrection. Since this life prepares us for the next, and we have the promise of the resurrection, let us pursue becoming everyday more and more like Christ who empowers us to live wholeheartedly for our God!