Are You Standing in Stinky Water?

Luke 6:38 -  Give, and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you. (AMP)

How is the flow in your house? Is there a flow or is there a standstill? Earlier this week as I was fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit in my quiet time, thanking Him for several things, He filled me in with some interesting insights.

Sow into the Kingdom. People need to be a distribution channel & not a reservoir of money & blessings. The great thing about a channel & stream & river is there is a CONTINUAL FLOW!!! A reservoir of water often gets stinky & also in dry times can completely dry up! You always want to stay in the FLOW!!

When we hoard money, time, our gifts, when we keep to ourself what God meant for us to sow, we get out of the FLOW. Just as oxygen & carbon dioxide are essential to the breathing and the life flow, giving (sowing) is essential to the receiving flow. The following excerpt may explain a bit of what a "non-sower" could experience:

Pools of standing or slow-flowing water provide a breeding ground for many insects, including mosquitoes that can transmit diseases. These mosquitoes are known as vectors. Different species of mosquitoes transmit different diseases, and they will also breed in different types of water collections. (World Health Organization)

When we stop the flow of giving, that is when the "stink" starts to happen in our lives. We may begin to experience lack in our lives. We may notice ourselves trending to "inward self", looking to how can "I" solve this money problem, how can "I" fix this, how can "I" provide? When we get out of the flow and stop giving of our time, money, resources, love, etc, we begin to look to ourselves for the answers. We begin to become self-reliant instead of God-reliant. Then we may eventually find ourselves standing in a pool of stinky water, infested with mosquitos. When the flow stops, the stink begins. The lack rises to the service.

Get a picture of this. When there is a continual FLOW, when we continue to give; sow money (or time or love, etc) into places we feel led (our church, ministries, people in need, etc), when we STAY IN THE FLOW an automatic result to that IS receiving. It is a natural cycle, if the giving stops, the receiving stops. If the cycle stops, it begins to breed death instead of life. When you STAY in the flow, you WILL find that you can not get away from receiving. It IS part of the cycle. You give and you receive! According to Luke 6:38, when you GIVE it shall be given back to you! Pressed down (envision packing down brown sugar in a measuring cups - these blessings will be pressed down tight so more can fit!), shaken together & running over! When you STAY in the flow, the AUTOMATIC default is to continue to be blessed! And last time I checked, God gives very good gifts! 30-60-100 fold return from God is WAY better than "keeping what we have" with a closed fist.

So friend, lets stay out of the stinky, mosquito-infested water! Let's STAY in the fresh, clean FLOW!

#136 -Get Wisdom, Get Understanding.

Good morning! Hope you are blessed on this rainy day! It's going to be a great day! Growth, productivity, walking out the calling God has placed on (your) our lives! God is good! Let's jump in the word. 

Proverbs 4:7-8, 10 - The beginning of Wisdom is: get Wisdom (skillful and godly Wisdom)! [For skillful and godly Wisdom is the principal thing.] And with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation).
    ⁸ Prize Wisdom highly and exalt her, and she will exalt and promote you; she will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
    ¹⁰ Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many.

I'm just going to talk through this. It was extremely good when I read it (still is extremely good)... and though I've read Proverbs 4 month in and month out for a long time now, I'm still getting more out of the Word. The Word is STILL alive and active! The Word still has the ability to penetrate and change me, and will change you too if you let it!


Get Wisdom. Seek out wisdom. Ask for it. Ask for your eyes to be revealed to the wisdom in the situation you are in right now. Ask for the blinders to be removed so that the Wisdom that you need to see can be revealed. As you have received wisdom, get understanding. When we embrace Wisdom, she will THEN exalt, promote & bring honor to you. 


What's the process? (1) Get Wisdom! - Where does Wisdom come from? How do you get it? Wisdom comes from the Holy Spirit. Not the "World's Wisdom", but "GOD's Wisdom!" A wisdom that may not be able to be seen with the obvious. But, when it is sought out like seeking out hidden treasure (Proverbs 2:4), your eyes will be opened to the Wisdom that you are seeking. - How do you PRIZE Wisdom? How do you exalt her? You make her "opinion" of the utmost important, above any others opinion. Once you have sought Wisdom and received Wisdom you can move to the next step. 
(2) Get Understanding! - You've got part of what you need. Now it's finishing up the equation. Answering the "Why." Understanding allows you to see the full picture. Getting "Understanding" allows you to see things not just that are in the natural, that seem obvious, but getting understanding allows you to SEE with spiritual eyes the WHY. Why your situation is the way it is. Why you need to do such & such with this person. Getting understanding allows you to DISCERN what a person needs without THEM telling you. Getting understanding allows you to DISCERN something you could not see with the eye, but you just KNOW without doubt the next step. Understanding allows you EYES to SEE what most can not. Getting understanding, acquiring this discernment allows YOU an upper advantage that most do not have. You know what only Wisdom could show you. You see on a new level. 


The rest of the story? Hear & RECEIVE! Don't just HEAR, but RECEIVE. Hear. Then dig deeper. Listen, but then look deeper. What is being said BEHIND the WORDS, what is the message to you? Whether that be a speaker speaking on a CD, whether that be words from a book, words from the Bible.... see what the words are, but allow your mind to DIG deeper into it. What is the message behind the message that is for YOU? HEAR the message & RECEIVE specifically what YOU NEED out of it. HEAR & RECEIVE!


As you GET Wisdom and GET Understanding, WATCH as She will PROMOTE you! WATCH Her do Her, because God's word DOES NOT LIE. It says GET WISDOM, GET UNDERSTANDING and SHE WILL PROMOTE YOU! 

#133 -FREE FROM DOUBT!

Good morning! :) I pray that you are having a blessed morning and week so far! It's kind of like a Monday to me since I had my Day or Rest yesterday. Praise God for a day to rest! To get rejuvenated, refreshed, a time to reflect even take a nap! Love it!


We're going to veer off the normal "schedule" today... primarily because I'm going to share a big revelation that I received this weekend. A revelation that has set me free. A revelation which has released me to now go BE who I was created to be! What amazing FREEDOM!!!!

James 1:6-8 - But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

2 Cor. 10:4-5 - The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

OK... are you ready? Buckle in for this! Buckle in! For some, this may ROCK your world! For some, maybe it will just be like another "good Word", or "devotion".... but, I do believe that this revelation can & will set some other people free like it did me! 


We had a life-changing night Thursday. Our "special invite" to a special meeting really rocked our world... but Friday morning as I was reviewing some notes, Tyler and I started talking and I just started bawling. I was bawling like a baby! My sobs were making my body shake.  It was quite pathetic really. And sad. I told Tyler of some of the revelations I had received, but the one thing that I felt that was left lingering in my heart was "doubt." I knew God had created me to do really really great things... but I was crying because I didn't know how to get rid of the doubt that I was experiencing in my heart. The doubt that said, "You aren't capable." The doubt that said, "You can't help people." The doubt that said, "You will reach your goal one day.... but that one day was no where in sight." The doubt that every day, for the last eight years kept me in a place of bondage. Sure, I've done good things, and made some strides along the way... but I was prisoner to doubt. After my bawling episode... maybe 30 minutes.... I had to move on with the morning and get the boy ready to go to the babysitter for our leadership meeting that we would be attending downtown. 


I went the series of leadership meetings looking for one thing, looking for the CLICK that I needed to really become the ME that God created me to be. To become the me that was ROCK SOLID! The me that wasn't scared. The me that could confidently help people. The me that could pursue my FULL calling with reckless abandon. I was expectant. I didn't know what the 'click' would be, but I was expectant! As I sat, soaking in all that I was hearing, writing page after page of notes... my mind was being renewed.... and then, there it was. The click. The missing piece to the puzzle. The revelation that I had been needing and waiting for. James 1:6-8 ~ If you DOUBT, you are unstable, like a wave tossed to and fro in the sea! If you DOUBT, because of that doubt, you can not even expect ANYTHING from the Lord!!! ANYTHING! If you have doubt in your heart, don't expect to receive from the Lord! WHAT?! WHAT?! So... here I had had this doubt in my heart for 8 years! You mean because of that doubt, I can not expect anything from the Lord?! In the past, I had recognized it a little bit... more just as fear or insecurity, but I had known it was there all along. But THIS, THIS was different!!! Before, I would do what the man in the Bible did when he doubted, he said, "Lord, please help me with my unbelief." I had done that a lot. But this time it was different. Immediately in my spirit I knew exactly what to do with doubt. Tyler and I do it ALL the time with other things! If you were a fly on our wall, you would hear it randomly come out of our mouths, "I take that thought captive and put it under the obedience of Christ Jesus!" Maybe we had a thought of fear or lust, or temptation. So you will often hear us saying that verse out-loud. If we are in public, we still say it out-loud, maybe just a little under our breath. 


So... what did I do? I FINALLY recognized what was happening. The enemy had planted a seed. That seed had been holding me captive because I listened to the subtle comments and suggestions! The enemy, Satan, demons, whatever you want to call them, had been just ever so subtly sitting right behind my ear and whenever I would think about or begin to pursue to help someone or do something in the direction of my calling he would talk to me, "Oh, don't even try it. You won't be able to help that person. Don't even pursue it." - "You've never helped anyone do that before, what makes you think you can do it this time?" And on and on they would go, until I caved in to the voices. At the time they were UN-RECOGNIZABLE by me, but the voice was that of the enemy. I didn't recognize it as the enemy. But I now know it WAS the enemy! 


NOW, guess what I KNOW to do?!?! I KNOW that when I recognize that fear or doubt, I only need to do ONE thing, TAKE THAT THOUGHT CAPTIVE AND PUT IT UNDER THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST JESUS! Put that NON-SENSE under my feet! Where it belongs. And then AGGRESSIVELY pursue it because I can EXPECT to receive from the Lord!!! And because I have taken the thought captive, thrown it down, the Lord will even show out even more because I have been obedient! I can expect the LORD to do the work through me AND it be a success! 


I HAVE NO FEAR! I AM FREE! DOUBT is no longer controlling my thoughts, emotions and actions! I know what to do, I take the thought captive and then LAUGH in the face of my enemy! I have FINALLY WON and the enemy has been caught! I recognize the subtle drops of doubt and fear, and because I finally recognize them for what they are, I can take authority of them because I AM A CHILD OF GOD AND I HAVE AUTHORITY! 

What is it for you? Have you been hearing subtle drops of doubt about starting a business? "You can't do it. You don't have the experience. You don't have the finances. You don't have the knowledge." Have you been caving in to that voice and putting aside what you really desire to do? Have you been hearing the voice saying, "You can't lose that weight. You've never done it before. It always comes back. Don't even try this time." 

BUT... THIS TIME could be THE TIME! "This time" could be the "the time" you have been waiting for. The time where you really experience the breakthrough once and for all! FREE YOURSELF from DOUBT! Take those thoughts captive and experience your breakthrough!




Have a blessed day! Receive what you need today!