SPRING FORWARD

One of my favorite days of the year is the day we set our clocks forward an hour. I love daylight savings time. To me, it is a call to spring. It is the springboard to a new season. I no longer have to close my home up at 4:30 in the afternoon; drapes & doors can stay open into the evening, the weather warms up just a bit, and the sun begins to show its face to melt any loitering snow.

My heart just soars! I feel a quickening in my spirit of the pre-requisite to a ‘new thing’ as it says in Isaiah.  This year is no different. It’s been a hard winter in our little town. One we aren’t used to.  But today nature is having its own revival.  Today, our grass is practically springing up in joy, our apple trees are pushing forth their little pink buds and the forsythia has become a yellow gift overnight, framing my front door.

Revival. Webster Dictionary defines it as a "renewed attention or interest in something". Synonyms: reanimation, rebirth, regeneration, rejuvenation, renewal, resurgence, resurrection, revitalization and revivification. 

Revival gets a bad rap. They go on for a few months or years changing cities, towns, countries and even the islands only to die off leaving everyone to go back to their old lifestyle. Revival ends and we allow the doors to open once again, letting the enemy swarm our gates with 7 times the demons of before. Our nation needs a rebirth right now. The whole world needs rejuvenated. We need a resurrection in the land. 

In John 11, we read about the resurrection of Lazarus. We know Jesus didn't run to His friends immediately but waited, saying "This sickness will not end in death for Lazarus, but will bring glory and praise to God. This will reveal the greatness of the Son of God by what takes place." And "for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there, because now you have another opportunity to see who I Am so that you will learn to trust in me."  3 days later (what a beautiful shadow of what was to come) Jesus met Martha as she ran to Him. Martha said to Jesus, "My Lord, if only you had come sooner my brother wouldn't have died. But I know that if You were to ask God for anything, He would do it for You." Jesus told her, 'Your brother will rise and live.' Martha replied 'Yes, I know he will rise with everyone else on resurrection day.'" But Jesus said she didn't have to wait until then as He was the Resurrection and Life Eternal and that anyone who clings to Him in faith will live forever. Martha agreed that she believed and ran to get Mary. Jesus wept with compassion at the emotion of those around Him and "gazed into Heaven and said 'Father, thank you that you have heard my prayer, for you listen to every word I speak. ow, so that these who stand here with me will believe that you have sent me to the earth as your messenger, I will use the power You have give me.' The with a loud voice Jesus shouted with authority: 'Lazarus! Come out of the tomb!'" Lazarus hobbled out tightly wound in his grave clothes which they unbound to let him loose. "From that day forward many of those who had come to visit Mary believed in Him, for they had seen with their own eyes this amazing miracle!" (TPT)

This is such a beautiful example of revival and I believe it is time again to show the power and authority of Christ to the world. Right before this, in Chapter 10, at the Feast of Renewal, the Pharisee's tried to stone Jesus for truthfully affirming their question of whether He was the Messiah or not. As they came after Him, He told them "You stubbornly refuse to follow Me, because you are not My sheep. As I've told you before, My own sheep will hear My voice and I know each one and they will follow Me. I give to them the gift of eternal life and they will never be lost and no one has the power to snatch them out of My ads. My Father, who has given them to Me as His gift, is the mightiest of all and no one has the power to snatch them from My Father's care." (TPT) 

We are those beautifully adorned-with-the-Holy-Spirit sheep. Many have stayed in the shadows too long. Many just lost the vivre for life in His abundance. Many grew fearful of the Pharisee's responses. We may have waited, but now we have another opportunity to watch God move, to reveal the greatness of the Son of God by what takes place. No-one or nothing can snatch us from Papa's care. Even as the enemy opens the floodgates of division, hate, immortality, murder and infiltration, we are the salt!  We carry the Light of the World in our very beings. As we share the fruit of His goodness with others around us, as we bear the mandated authority to heal and deliver, as we cry out in prayer declaring freedom for the nations and decreeing God's Word over the people, we will see revival storm the globe. Beginning in the individual hearts of man and spreading across the ocean's waters the manifest presence of God will transform lives and cultures. There will be complete resurrection of life and many more will come to know the gift of the eternal and never be lost. 

Yep. I love this time of year. It brings a smile to my face as I watch the kids start playing outside again, listen to the sounds of lawn mowers and neighbors calling to each other from across the street. There is a reverberating expectancy of life as the sun frees our long-shivering winter-clad bodies. Jesus also frees. A glorification of the warmth of the Son over the Nations. It's my prayer. It's my hope. It's my Spring Forward. 

THE TOYMAKER

Proverbs 22:29

"Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men."

I sit washed in tears & surrounded by love. 600 hand designed wooden toys parade around me jostling for their turn to travel the world. They weren’t dropped off down the chimney, weren’t made by a team of elves or led by Rudolf; no these little gems were made by one man intent on blessing children all over the world through the hands of missionaries. Tirelessly bent over his workbench carving truck after truck, adding wheels that turn, a window & varnish wrapping each in plastic with a salvation message tucked inside. And then there are the beautiful barrettes for the girls! Wood tones beaming lustrously.

I’ve never met Steve in person, but I speak on the phone with him.  Long conversations focused on our love for the Lord, the missionaries and all they sacrifice to bring the ‘one’ to Christ.  I was blessed to be introduced to his generosity through another missionary. Steve’s heart is just pure.  He asks for no title; just an opportunity to share his gift of woodwork with children. He will stand before kings.

The But-for-God Generation

While I was praying this morning, this Ah-Ha came to me. Now, it may be no big life changing idea for you, but for me it was one of those times I suck in my breath and ask God to reveal even more. A moment when I realize there is more coming that will change my way of observing life around me. I don't even know how I came to this point but here is what provoked me to thought today:

When we are in another country or even just visiting someone we know, we adapt to the culture, food and ways of 'their' lives because we know that it is temporary; we will go 'home' soon to the security of our own ways. We laugh at their humor, listen openly to their political views and their life's drama because, well, it's not our life. We will return to our own comfort zone, the friends who share our beliefs and value systems and wolf down a plain old peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

It occurs to me (that we could be inclined to) roam this earth that same way; settle in, become resolute - in a disconcerting way - with the politics, the religiousness, the poverty, pain, disease, illness and hopelessness of the people we read about or surround ourselves with. It could become sort of normal day to day stuff.  

Yet, we are the light, the hope & the glory of the Lord sent down to be the salt of the earth. We are sanctified & set apart (being Holy and living a Holy, righteous life) for such a time as this; to awaken people to the Truth and the Light of the world. We are the BUT for GOD generation that sees what's going on, yet recognizes our God is bigger than all of this. 

Knowing we are seated in the "Heavenlies" (Eph 2:6), we ought to live our life here on earth significantly, knowing that we go HOME after our time here is done. The here and now is temporary and then we return to the Kingdom of whence we came. Back to the place we can breathe freely and easily. No tension, no pain and no tears. No power hungry people fighting for top billing for there is no doubt Who is seated on the Throne. 

With that knowledge arming us, we can then become the Elisha's to the next generations asking that God open their eyes to see there are more for them than against them. (2 Kings 6:16) We are the Deborah's, the Esther's, the Joshua's and the Isaiah's; we are the Paul's, the Peter's, the John's, the Anna's and the Mary's. We are the ones who will step out for Christ's sake; who will boldly speak His name without concern of what other's will say or think. We are unafraid to teach those younger than us that all good things come down from the Father of Lights (James 1:17) and that we hold high the Name of Jesus without fear of death.  

As we strain toward the High calling, changing into the image of Christ, our interest in the things of the world become less and less. It is the devil's playground really (the media, politics…the 7 mountains as Lance Wallnau calls it) and we do not want to engage in the activities the world promotes or maintain its corruption; we are physically present in the world, but not of it. (John 17:14-15)  We commit ourselves to the transforming of the mind; to the thoughts and ways of Christ. 

Blessed to enjoy the physical beauty of the world God created for us, we do not have to immerse ourselves in worldly values but rather lend ourselves to the worship of God, decreeing light into the darkness and pointing others toward our true Home. Our final destination. 

So, that's the thought I started out my day with....

Valentine’s Day

Sunbeams illumine our room

filtering through the dusky morning

to fall on the face of my beloved.

How beautifully have You assigned my life,

Oh Lord.

and what rapture my heart feels

as I look upon my lover.

All of Heaven surely erupts in a sweet song;

a melodious joining of voices.

-Angels raising the rooftops-

A future of promise lies

in the hand I hold.

What wonderful knowledge.

What divine tenderness.

What extraordinary love.

It’s Valentine’s Day. I used to shudder a bit, put on a brave face and march through the day. After my late husband died I was adamant I would not marry again. I had things to do for God. I had plans. Anyway, who could take the place of one you had matured with, found the Lord with and muddled through all the ‘growth’ pains with?

But God.

When the Lord told me I would marry again & introduced me to the handsome man I would spend the senior years of my life with I was intrigued but stubborn. What about my plans, God? Trust Me.  What about Africa? Trust Me. But, I just bought a home & new furniture…But, But, But… Trust Me.

I found out that God does not ‘replace’ but ‘enhances’ love. Today I stand next to this incredible person, shrouded in the Holy Spirit, so full of life and love and tenderness; so thankful I said yes to God and yes to Roy. Appreciative of their patience as I inhale a joy I haven’t known in a very long time.  After many years of battling grief, I stand next to my hunk-a-burnin’-love and face the future with my hand securely in His knowing that whatever God has for us we will have an adventure in running after it. 

Trust Me. 

Oh, I am so thankful I did.