All you had to do was give it to Me

It has been awhile since I've written a post that is one part confession and one part exhortation:) I pray the Father speaks to you through this personal revelation.

My husband and I joined a small group. It met for the first time last night. This isn't your typical "new" small group because many of us were already in covenant relationship with each other. This level of intimacy allowed us to skip over the formalities and awkwardness of getting to know one another and get right to business. We each were asked to share up to three prayer requests.

As I listened to those who went before me I was thinking of what my requests would be. My thoughts went to several on going prayer needs within my family, but I knew none of these were what the Lord was wanting me to share with the group. He wanted me to get personal and share my heart.

Ironically, it took me awhile to realize what the concern of my heart was. I didn't go to the meeting thinking anything was weighing heavy on my heart. In hindsight I realized I couldn't have been more wrong!

My turn to share came and out of my mouth came an earnest desire of my heart. It was a mama's cry. I can not share the details, but just know it was a burden, one I didn't fully realize the weight of...

We had a time of prayer and left agreeing to lift one another up in the days and weeks ahead.

As I was driving my younger daughter to school this morning I noticed a shift. The very thing I had shared in my request was different this morning. Hmmm? I thought to myself. It was then I heard His voice, "all you had to do was give it to Me." Ding, ding, DUH!

For a brief moment I entertained the condemning thought, "how could you miss that, Amy?" I was quick to go back to the revelation my Daddy had given me...

"All YOU had to do was give it to Me."

"All you had to DO was give it to Me."

"All you had to do was GIVE it to Me. "

" All- you- had- to- do- was- give- it- to- Me."

I consider myself an intercessor. I love to pray. I love to listen for His heartbeat; the heartbeat of heaven and release what I hear the Father say into the environment around me. I love to intercede on the behalf of others. But what I had missed was a personal need. What I realized is I had tried to "fix" it myself. Trying to cope in my strength. How I know this doesn't work! DUH! "All you had to do was give it to Me."

It wasn't that I didn't think God cared about this need, or that He was too busy...it just wasn't on my radar until I spoke it out...when I heard my voice admit to the group this issue was robbing me of peace I knew the gravity of the issue. Living in a place of His peace is something I jealously guard and voraciously treasure. "All you had to do was give it to Me."

In my heart I know the prayer is answered, it's a done deal. The situation is back in His capable hands because I have removed mySELF out of the equation. The burden is where it was meant to be all along...at His feet. He gave me His easy yoke in exchange for my weighty burden! (Matthew 11:28-30)

Perhaps you are reading this and He has brought an issue, situation or need to your mind. Have you given it to Him? Maybe you have given it to Him only to pick it back up? Hopefully you are able to lay it down and leave it at the foot of the cross, remembering there is no limit to how many times you can do so. If you feel like it's been a seemingly never ending cycle, shake off any condemnation and lay it down again...and leave it there. "All you had to do was give it to Me."

Papa, I thank You. I thank You for being accessible 24/7/365. I thank You for longing for me to come to You with the heaviest of burdens and the smallest of burdens, because in Your eyes they are equally important. I thank You for placing me in a community who generally cares about my well being. I thank You I was designed to live in community where transparency brings healing. You are a good and loving Father. You long for me to depend on You, trust in You and come to You. My Soul Sings because all I had to do was give it to YOU!

*If you are personally struggling with a burden and want a safe place to share, I would love to pray for you. You can send me a private message by Facebook:)

I've got the POWER!

In my last post I promised a second post that would take a look at how we empower the enemy to wreck havoc in our lives. As with all my posts I take a look at the subject from my experience with it. This isn't a complete look at spiritual warfare, nor is it a complex one.

If you haven't read the previous post I recommend you start there, because I will refer to it.

In review: Adam and Eve relinquished authority when they chose to sin in the garden. Notice I said chose. Yes, they were given a choice, just like you and I are given choices everyday. Jesus came to fulfill the law, died and was resurrected which gave us back all authority.

Short and sweet, every victory we will ever need on this earth has been purchased by His death on the cross....EVERYTHING! If you deny this, you are denying the finished work of the cross!

If we have been given the power to defeat Satan and his minions why is it the body of Christ isn't walking in greater victory? There are many answers to this question and I'm only going to cover a couple of what I believe to be some valid answers.

First, I believe the body of Christ doesn't understand and fully take advantage of her identity in Christ. Instead of believing and acting upon the truth we are over comers in Christ, we walk around as if Satan is always nipping at our tails. Romans 8:37 tells us we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!

Matthew 28:18 Jesus tells us all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him. Jesus gives us the kingdom His Father conferred on Him in Luke 22:29. He gave us the keys to the kingdom in Matthew 16:19. Our weapons of warfare in II Corinthians 10:4 have divine power to demolish strongholds. In Ephesians 6:10-18 we are instructed about the full armor of God. Bottom line, friends, we are powerful and we are protected in and by the name and blood of Jesus Christ!

Secondly, because we undermine our God given power and, inadvertently, deny our identity in Christ, we base our beliefs on what circumstances and situations look like in this fallen world. I call this eyes on the natural. When we do this we can't help but pick up some ungodly beliefs (aka, lies) along the way. Lies about our identity, lies about the work of the cross, lies about God, etc...It is here we get into what is referred to as "open sin doors."

An open sin door is referring to ways we open the door to the enemy to work in our life. Now, most of us don't purposefully open the door when we are choosing to live for Christ. When many think of open doors to the enemy they think of blatant rebellion towards God such as a lifestyle of drugs, sexual promiscuity, stealing, witchcraft, pornography, etc. Christians don't normally like to think of ways they commonly open the door to Satan through such sins as fear, worry, stress, anxiety (to name a few.)

For the sake of this post we will use fear as an example of an open sin door.

Let's use Job for our example. Most people refer to Job as a man of God, living a life of holiness, blessing and righteousness. What we miss is one little verse in Job 3:25. In all my years of "church" and hearing the story of Job it wasn't until a few years ago I caught this. Job 3:25, "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me." If we read by it too quickly we miss the fact that Job opened the door to the enemy through his sin of fear. Yes, fear is sin. All throughout the Bible we are told to fear not...it is obviously important.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile you will know one of my favorite verses is I John 4:18. I don't pass up an opportunity to use it, so here goes: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

As Danny Silk says often in his "Loving Our Kids On Purpose" curriculum, "fear is the mortal enemy of love." Just as fear displaces love, love displaces fear. Fear is not from God! As His children we were not created to fear anything or anybody other than God!

I could probably write a book on ways many Christians (myself included) open the door to the enemy through fear, worry, stress and anxiety. I hope my point has been made clear in this brief example of using fear as the open door.

When we walk in fear we empower the enemy by believing lies such as: "I am not safe. God will not protect me. I am not worthy of protection. I deserve the bad in my life." Any time we place our circumstances above the truth of God's character we are opening ourselves up for trouble. God is either who He says He is or He isn't. What or who are you choosing to empower?

*You may be asking where do I start? You start with your thinking. A renewed mind (Romans 12:2) is key to your success in walking out your God given destiny. Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you beliefs you have that do not line up with His truth. Break agreement with those lies and ask Him to tell you what His truth is, then declare that truth over yourself, write it down, journal it, study scripture that backs it up. Meditate on Truth, the promises of God and who God says you are until the truths He shows you are deeply rooted in your heart.

When faced with lies or negative thoughts cast them down (II Cor. 10:5) and go back and feed yourself on the Truth. Do you see the cycle? I can assure you after years of believing so many lies I continually have to go back and remind my heart of the truth, say the truth, sing the truth, pray the truth and declare the truth. To encourage you I must admit this has worked marvelously well, but it has been a lifestyle for me, not just something I do in times of crisis! You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free (John 8:32.)

I saw a quote on Twitter recently that basically said, "as a believer you can know you are doing something good for God when you sense the enemy at your door." I disagree with this statement, emphatically! Yes, the enemy is looking for opportunity, but you first have to open the door to him.

One such way you could in the scenario of doing good work for the Lord is to allow yourself to become puffed up with pride. Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." The open door here would be pride. Let's also not forget false humility/self abasement is also pride, because it is still focus on self. If I am doing something good for the Lord I don't want to be focused on Satan, but the glory of my awesome God! Satan isn't worthy of our time or attention!!!!!

If you sense the enemy, stop and ask the Lord to show you the open door, then close it and choose to keep it closed!!!! Sensing the enemy at work isn't something to fear either...the Lord will allow Satan to trigger issues and situations in your life He is wanting to address and HEAL! I think sometimes it is easier to wallow in the mire of "being attacked" then it is to take a hard look at issues and pain in your heart the Lord is wanting to talk about so He can bring healing. From experience I can tell you it is hard, but the other side of "doing kingdom business" with Jesus is beautiful and free!

As always, it is not my desire to change your thinking or to debate theology, but to give you something to think about and search out with the Lord on your own:)

Living a life with Satan under my feet and basking in a life filled with a glorious abundance of love, freedom and grace in my Abba Daddy truly makes My Soul Sing!

*If you are having trouble knowing how to begin this process and are near the Chattanooga, TN area, Growing in Grace Ministries can help you. GGM is where I minister in the area of inner healing. You can go here and check out our Sozo ministry. We can teach you how to hear the voice of God and live a life replacing lies with truth, walking in greater victory and deeper intimacy with the Father. Check us out!