Tag: Emotions

Ramping Up

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What if Holy Spirit isn’t dependent on your energy level? What if He’s not limited by your abilities? What if your soundness of mind or spirals of thought can’t ruin His day? What if your level of momentum at this present moment cannot stall out His unstoppable forward movement? What if He’s not as impressed with your shortcomings as you are? What if you became more impressed with His ability than your inability? And . . .

What if Holy Spirit is RAMPING UP His work in your life and your world? I could answer all those questions for you, but you know the answer. I want to challenge you to KNOW the answer (so deep in your soul that’s it’s unshakeable in your heart, words and actions). How do you get there? Meditate on God’s ability in you and your world. You may feel like you’re stuck, or drowning, or moving backwards, but know this – Jesus completely understands AND He is, in NO way, stuck or drowning, or moving backwards! Every real transformation, real breakthrough, every miracle – Holy Spirit did it AND He remembers how to do it. He doesn’t have amnesia and He’s ramping up His work in your life and in your world. That’s God’s word for you.

One challenge – read back through the above questions and statements as many times as it takes to get them deep in your spirit! “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6 NIV)

2 HUGE Reasons Rahab’s Scarlet Ribbon Matters to You

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I hear the word “Scarlet” and almost immediately think of “The Scarlet Letter” the famous book by Nathaniel Hawthorne that used a bright, red, letter “A” to brand someone’s sin. Yikes! That color needs redeemed for sure, and Rahab’s story goes a long way to exactly that . . .

Rahab’s scarlet cord out of the window of her house on the wall of Jericho was a statement of faith in God and faith that God’s people Israel would keep their word. It meant salvation not just for her, but for her whole family! It parallels the red blood of the lamb that was on the doorposts of houses so that the angel of death would Passover the houses. Because of her scarlet cord the army passed by her house, and what’s more God Himself designated her for salvation, even preserving her house in destruction of the wall. The scarlet cord parallels the blood of Jesus, which now washes your sin and my sin so that eternal death passes us over and instead we’re marked for salvation. This is why this matters for you . . .

  1. The blood of Jesus that washes sin is NOT a disgrace for you – it is your source of hope, cleansing and salvation. Just like Rahab’s cord, the scarlet blood of Jesus is a symbol of God’s goodness in your life. When spiritual death looks at you, it sees His blood and has to pass over!
  2. When you demonstrate your faith, by carrying a Bible, marking your house with Scripture, wearing Christian shirts, listening to the Bible and Christian music, talking about God’s goodness to you – you are telling the enemy he has no claim on you and inviting the work of God in your life!

So redeem the image of the blood of Jesus in your heart right now. Realize His hope, cleansing and salvation again. Also, boldly make plans to demonstrate your faith today.

Do you feel God?

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Snot everywhere, tears spitting out with the convulsions of grief, joy, hope and embrace that filled my soul and that was just at the “box of chocolates” line in Forrest Gump – haha. Sometimes our feelings can get triggered by the silliest things, and then don’t get triggered when they should, and we feel like a lifeless robot. For better or worse lifelessness is life without feelings. God created us to experience life with our five senses (six, if you count sense of direction – but mine left the moment GPS came around – haha), and our emotions. Our bodies are wired for compassion and elation, for anger, sadness and profound contentment.

So, when was the last time you felt God? I sense (haha) a couple of you tensing up just reading that J. Here are some thoughts as to why that is, and how we let God win in our senses . . .

God is not a feeling. God is love (love isn’t feeling either – haha), but He’s bigger than love – love serves God’s desires. Therefore our feelings also submit to God and His Word. Feelings can be deceptive (Jer 17:9).

God is greater than your feelings. John 3:20 – it’s a thing. God owns that area too and He will operate in our feelings areas more when we align ourselves with His purpose there.

God works in your feelings. You’ve experienced God before in this way – there was a rush of happy tears for freedom or sorrow for sin or joy that caused you to move out of your emotional box with [insert response – laughing, shouting, jumping, clapping, dancing]. These kinds of responses are normal all over the Bible – Jesus had them, the apostles had them, and everyone who interacted with them did. Feelings can provide a gateway for God to work (Prov 21:2, Phil 4:7).

When we don’t feel God that doesn’t mean He’s not around, and when we do feel Him that doesn’t mean we’re super Christians. So open your whole being to God and you will feel Him. He’ll prove that He’s here, that He’s on your side, that He’s love, and if you ask He’ll probably give you words and marching orders that move you beyond feelings. So open your whole being to God right now, quiet your mind, ask Holy Spirit to come, and stay there until you’re ready to take Him with you.