God is not cheap but rather expensive. We are expensive as well as it cost Him the life of His Son Jesus. Although our salvation is a "free gift" there is a price to following Jesus. After all, Jesus told us that anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom. Luke 9:62 "But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." What do we have here? What we see is the difference between being saved and being a disciple.
God has been highlighting the number 614 to me. It would show up repeatedly in unexpected places. As I pressed into it, it started to make more sense, and I think it's a word in season. In Strong's Concordance 614 is correlated with the Greek word "apokruphos" which means "hidden away, secret, stored up". This is the same hidden used in Luke 8:17: "For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open."
You feel as if life is spiraling out of control. Sickness has a strong grip on you. It's dominating the direction of your life. You wonder when you will be able to stop scraping the bottom of the barrel just to make ends meet. Let's not forget your children are rebelling against their godly upbringing. You don't know where to turn, and you don't know what you should do. The right thing to do is to get down on your knees and send Him a dispatch for help. His Word tells us that He will hear when we call out to Him (see Ps. 4:3). You read these words and think to yourself, "I am doing this, and still He doesn't respond." Second Corinthians 10:5 teaches us to take every thought into captivity. And then we need to be still, quiet ourselves and learn to listen.
You only need one enemy. Before digging into this, let me begin with clarifying: an ENEMY is NOT the same thing as a detractor, or a hater, or an antagonist. These all have their role as well, but an enemy is different, because an enemy can change your entire life's trajectory. I know that this notion flies directly in the face of traditional thought. We are taught to focus on the enemy, or that an enemy is a bad thing. We are told to "keep our friends close, but our enemies closer." What ends up happening is we focus so much on the enemy that we never see the opportunity. You might be wondering what possible opportunity there could be when an enemy shows up on the scene. Let's dissect this.
What are your first memories of money? What a strange question! But to me, it is important because I think your first encounters with money affect your life. It is the beginning of a relationship, like a first date with your spouse or memories of meeting your best friend. And that relationship continues. Many people have an adversarial relationship with money. They need it, but regard it as a necessary evil or they resent anyone who has more of it than they do. Likewise they may "covet" what others have or look down upon those who have less.
I was in prayer recently as the Lord was revealing there is going to be a shaking coming, a spiritual shaking. I could see that what the Lord was showing me was specifically for Christians. I could see they were going to experience a trembling within them, a fear of the Lord coming upon them. I saw a natural correlation between people running around disgruntled. It appeared as chaos on the earth, but what the Lord was showing me is that there is chaos within their souls and spiritual lives. As I continued to pray about the unsettledness that was happening, I heard the Lord say the word "holiness."
We called him Uncle Willie. A little old man who sat near the front of the church so he could hear the worship and the message. At times, the Spirit of the Lord would come upon Uncle Willie, causing his frail body to shake and his eyes to weep. Uncle Willie's glass eye intrigued everyone. I'm convinced some came to church just to see it. When He began to shake and weep, his glass eye would often pop out, and if you watched closely, you could see him catching it in his hands. He would then tilt his head back as though nothing unusual had happened and roll the glass eye back into place.
If it feels like things are shaking all around you, then be encouraged and trust that the shaking is also breaking open new things. "The breaker [the Messiah, who opens the way] shall go up before them [liberating them]. They will break out, pass through the gate and go out; So their King goes on before them, The Lord at their head." Micah 2:13 AMP The Lord is going before you right now with new power to break things open for you. God spoke this to me last month and said the key to this is to keep moving forward and don't stop or look back.
"He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him." Psalm 91:15 We have a God who wants us to run to Him. And the moment we do, He has promised that He will answer us. Not "might," or "perhaps," but a definite "will." And He does not stop at merely assuring us that He will answer us. He goes on record for all eternity, saying, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him." Do you know why we can have the assurance that when we call on Him, He will answer us? It's because of the divine exchange that took place at the cross, where our Lord Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46).
When I was a young girl, I had some visitations from God that were so strong in Him but no one I knew could understand or relate to it, so I never even shared it. That's a big deal for me, because I like to share when I can. (Performing is another matter.) I used to go to a nearby local park then and swing and sing to God for days and hours, just by myself. I used to go to my church about 8 blocks over and just hang around it, in the presence, in the sanctuary, just me, reading the hymnals and sometimes singing there. (I am not a performance singer either.)
Follow Up
