More on Blessings and Curses

I am amazed that I would have anything else to say on the Blessing and Curses matter but I woke up with this thought 'How amazing of God to limit the curse on us but offer a limitless blessing!' I mean, if someone HATES God - deliberately worships another god - that curse upon that family for rejecting God is over within 3 or 4 generations. Meaning by the 3rd or 4th generation - God allows the eyes of that generation to be open to Him.

How cool is that!?! So, if my grandparent's parents rejected God and chose an idol as their god alone and if they HATED God.... then by the time I came along the curse would be removed and I would have eyes to see and ears to hear. The only thing left would be for my heart to seek after God and choose to trust God and ask for His forgiveness and for me to receive Christ as my Savior. In my situation, there are still two living generations before me and so it is quite possible for them to see my choice and it is quite possible for them to choose to turn to God as well. There is an end to the curse.

But the blessing..... OH! WOW! The blessings are unending! The choice to worship God and to seek Him brings blessing for 1000 generations. That is immeasurable! That is beyond what I could imagine! That is beyond the realm of my influence! That is a merciful and compassionate God!

I know I related the scripture of Exodus 20: 4-6 with 'seeing and hearing' and that is not a direct interpretation of that scripture but I do see how living under the umbrella of a distorted truth versus living under the umbrella of THE Truth is a form of a curse in our lives. Distorted truth limits us, distorted truth binds us up in areas of our lives, distorted truths keep us from full freedom in Christ. The umbrella of Christ, THE Truth, provides real freedom in all areas of our lives.

A mindset can be a curse of sorts because it blocks us from seeing who God really is. It blinds us to understanding the heart of God. We all have mindsets that block us from seeing God truly. I know I've seen a few distorted truths shown under The Light of Truth recently, via prayer, and the great thing is once you see The Truth in the matter at hand - all it takes is for you to repent for believing the lie (distorted truth), renounce agreement with that lie, acknowledge the truth and accept The Truth and you are now free to live under The Truth umbrella in that area. No more leaning on a lie as your foundation. It's that simple. Then you must live your life by The Truth and stop your mind from wandering in the circles of thinking the old way, you must set your mind on your new found freedom.

I am sure I'm not finished seeing lies exposed in my own life. I'm not done revealing distorted truths, because they are often these little twists on The Truth and until God reveals them to you and until you have eyes to see and ears to hear.... you just may not be willing to accept your 'facts' are lies. God is so kind and generous to allow us to take one truth at a time, so that our lives become more stabilized on HIM versus giving it all to us at once and leaving us with our heads spinning. We can become free and strong in one area, live it out - time to adjust our living to Truth before revealing the next lie we are bound up in. Can you imagine if He exposed it all to us at once - how overwhelming to try to correct ALL our distorted truths at once.

Removing lies and building on His Truth in our lives IS the Christian walk. We don't just accept Christ as our Savior, repent of our sinful ways and go on. We must ask Him daily, seek Him daily to open our eyes to see anew and offer our ears to hear His voice. It takes a willing heart to walk it out. We can walk out our faith without seeking for more, but that is not living a victorious life. That's living a forgiven life - and believe me, it is not nearly as fun. I've been at the place where I wasn't seeking Truth daily or wanting to hear fresh from Him each day. I was still saved, still a Christian, but the fun of my Christian walk came when I sought Him daily - I desired to see Him and hear from Him daily. He became a daily part of my day, I still have room to grow in this, and I began to ask Him..... 'What do YOU want me to see in this situation?' I quit accessing the situation based on what my limited, human eyes could see and began asking for a glimpse of the picture from His side of the story. That has been a far more successful walk, less moments where I over step the situation and blurt out something I cannot take back. Seeking Him daily includes Him in the day and gives me a chance to choose life over and over and over and over. That's harder to do when I'm just walking out my forgiven life. How far do you want to go in your walk with Him? It is only limited by the limits we put on God, He doesn't keep us at arms length... we do that to Him. It is WAY more fun to keep Him in the daily moments of each day - He really makes life more fun than you could ever imagine. There's always more!

Blessings and Curses

Tonight I was enjoying an unexpected discussion regarding blessings and curses and was challenged to look more into the topic. I recalled a scripture mentioning that the curses were limited to the 3rd or 4th generation but the blessings went much farther. I wanted to say for 1000 generations but that sounded like such a LONG time and I wasn't sure. The conversation led to seeking the scripture out for ourselves to glean more. (All scripture is from the Amplified translation.)

When I arrived home I opened my Bible and began the search. I found many scriptures discussing blessings and curses and finally landed on the one I was thinking of. Exodus 20:4-6 "You shall not make yourself any graven image {to worship it} or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Then I read this note: 'Idols on our heart block worship; idols are there because we believe in lies.' So, anything we believe and live by that is opposed to God's truth is an idol. Any idol we bow down to (ie buy into the lie) produces a curse in our lives. Interesting, I love aha moments! As I was reading and flipping through my Bible I saw the following scriptures jump out at me:

John 8:32 "And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
John 8: 36 "So if the Son liberates you, then you are really and unquestionably free."
John 8:43 "Why do you misunderstand what I say? It is because you are unable to hear what I am saying. {You cannot bear to listen to My message; your ears are shut to My teaching.}
John 8:47 "Whoever is of God listens to God. {Those who belong to God hear the words of God.} This is the reason you do not listen {to those words, to Me}: because you do not belong to God and are not of God or in harmony with Him."

So, if we choose to look at, or base our perspective off of, something that is opposed to God's word then we are buying into a lie. The lie produces an idol that blocks us from receiving further truth. But if we welcome His Truth then the Truth will set us free and we are free without doubt! We must choose to seek THE Truth and not be found looking for our truth to be confirmed. If we desire to see Him and what He sees, then we will accept His truth with open arms. His truth can only produce life in our lives. But we do have the choice to truly hear The Truth or reject it.

Here is an example of rejecting the truth before their eyes: In these scriptures, the Pharisees did not see Jesus for who He Was but as a sinner. Jesus had just healed the blind man and they were questioning "who is this fellow?". Can't you just hear the tone in that question?!

John 9: 29-30 "We know for certain that God spoke with Moses, but as for this Fellow, we know nothing about where He hails from. The man replied, Well, this is astonishing! Here a Man has opened my eyes and yet you do not know where He comes from."

John 9:39 "Then Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment {as a Separator, in order that there may be separation between those who believe on Me and those who reject Me}, to make the sightless see and to make those who see become blind."

John 9:41 "Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but because you now claim to have sight, your sin remains. {If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but because you insist, We do see clearly, you are unable to escape your guilt.}"

John 10:10 "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

So the blind man didn't sin, he was blind. Being blind is not a sin. The Pharisees thought they knew it all and were convinced that they knew the real truth and they were looking to judge and condemn Christ because He didn't fit into their perfect little box. Their confidence in their own sight was their sin, they were not open to The Truth that stood before them. They boldly and confidently rejected what was obvious - the Truth! Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy - to rob us of any and all Truth. The more distorted truth we base our lives off of is a distraction from THE Truth. To live by a distorted truth is to make an idol - to say "I can depend on me - no one else" is a distorted truth and THE Truth is "Blessed is the man who trusts in You {leaning and believing on you, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving}!" Psalm 84:12

John 10:24 - 30 "So the Jews surrounded Him and began asking Him, How long are You going to keep us in doubt and suspense? If You are really the Christ (the Messiah), tell us so plainly and openly. Jesus answered them, I have told you so, yet you do not believe Me {you do not trust Me and rely on Me}. The very works that I do by the power of My Father and in My Father's name bear witness concerning Me {they are My credentials and evidence in support of Me}. But you do not believe and trust and rely on Me because you do not belong to My fold {you are not sheep of Mine}. The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages. {To all eternity they shall never by any means be destroyed.} And no one is able to snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all {else}; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are One."

Having a preconceived idea of how things will be or should be does alter our ability to truly trust and see what God wants us to see. The Jews expected Christ to be more royal and grand - this ordinary Christ was not what they were looking for, and that is why many missed Him. They had a picture of Him before He came. He didn't fit their plan for Christ and so they were blinded to Him when He was performing the miraculous all around them. A curse can be as simple as not having eyes to see Him and ears to hear Him. The good news is that all that is required to break this curse is to see Him as He IS in your situation and accept Him. Then you are under the umbrella of 1000 generations (not years) of blessings. How? You open the door of hearing and seeing to your household in every area that you choose to see Him in. You must be open to Him and ask to see Him, He wants You to seek Him and you will find Him. He loves you and wants you to love Him. If you ask Him to show you what He wants you to see in the situation at hand, He will show you and you will find the Truth has set you free! Free Indeed!

Hear Us From Heaven

Lord, hear our cry
Come heal our land
Breath life into these dry and thirsty souls
Lord, hear our prayer
Forgive our sin
And as we call on your name
Would you make this a place
For your glory to dwell

Chorus:
Open the blind eyes
Unlock the deaf ears
Come to your people
As we draw near
Hear us from heaven
Touch our generation
We are your people
Crying out in desperation

Bridge:
Hear us from heaven,
Hear us from heaven,
Hear us from heaven (4x)

This is my personal heart cry for our nation right now. Lord, hear our prayer!!!!

Blessed Be Your Name

A friend shared this link on her blog and I thought it was worth passing on. I hope you enjoy it.

And Baby Makes 5

We are finally expecting baby number 3! It has been almost 3 years of wanting another baby but the long delay seems like nothing since we now have our good news. The fun part of this is that our kids are both old enough to care. They ask me every.single.day if they can see if my belly is fat now. They are excited and can't wait to meet their new sibling.

It has been fun to see this experience through their eyes and with their fun questions. I bought a pregnancy journal yesterday and began filling in the pages of our experience thus far. After filling in the first few pages I decided to pull out the journals from my first 2 pregnancies to reminisce.

Pregnancy 1 was full of details and the tone of the journal was more of a diary to me. I shared things I was going through personally. There were many entries and not all were about the pregnancy. Some details about what was going on in life as well as many details about the pregnancy. So many details I've now forgotten. I had no idea that my pregnancy with Pumpkin began with heartburn and this third pregnancy did too. MUCH heartburn actually!

With Buddy's journal there were fewer details about life in general. Life was full of a distracting toddler so my entries were almost every other week and the life details were omitted. Fewer personal details and written more to Buddy and less as a diary for me.

Journal three was well on it's way before reading the first two and I see how it is a mix of both. It is written to me and to baby, mostly pregnancy details with some personal life details. I cannot wait to see how things move along. A little comparison thus far shows:

Pregnancy 1 - began with heartburn
Pregnancy 2 - began with nausea and no appetite
Pregnancy 3 - heartburn

Should I guess that I may be having another girl? Too soon to tell but so far that would be a good assumption. Who knows - every pregnancy is as different as every child from what I hear. We are just so excited and are looking forward to see how this sweet baby will add to our family. We are full of joy and enjoying every day along the way.

His Grace IS Sufficient!!

The puzzle pieces of my life are coming together lately. Many 'aha' moments. This morning I read the following in an email: "My grace is sufficient for the demands of today. Take one moment at a time and one step at a time and trust Me with all of your heart. Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

As I read this email and the scripture it jumped out at me again. "God's sufficiency in the midst of insufficiency." If you've read my last two posts you will easily notice what I saw. I will explain the connection but first I must add another detail to this whole story.

There was a time in my life where I felt I had done things as I should. I was that girl. The one who obeyed all the rules and didn't notice how much of a gift that was to myself. I had my eyes focused on other things as an indicator for a successful life. I saw the fun my friends had, I saw how they lacked the guilt meter within their head that kept me from the 'fun' I saw them readily enjoying. I wanted to be brave enough to live it up too. I wanted to stop feeling like life was passing me by while I sat on the side lines watching all the fun. I didn't see how this gift of keeping myself from these sort of pleasures was truly a gift to myself. Shoulda, coulda, woulda told that girl to keep on keepin' on but... my eyes were off course and I followed the fun.

While on my trip down 'fun' lane, God began chasing me down. What happened was every.single.time I turned on the TV or radio or anything really - there would be a Pastor on TV preaching on the scripture passage of Matthew 6:33-34. It wasn't like every channel had it on but it would not fail that if I couldn't find something to watch on TV, my channel flipping would find a Pastor reading that scripture at the moment I 'tuned in'. It took several instances of this before I began to stop and listen, out of curiosity that EVERY Pastor was preaching on this scripture. The thing is I knew God all my life and I KNEW that this wasn't a coincidence. I finally began listening when I was channel flipping.

After some time I went home to visit my parents and I agreed to attend a church service with them. I grew up going to church but went my own way for about 3 years before this chase surfaced. I had a friend from high school call me and tell me of nightmares she was having about me and many other weird things. So, I go to church with my parents and on my way to church (I drove separate b/c they were in choir and Sunday School so I went alone) my tire went flat. I drove on my rim for too long because I knew I had no one to call to help me. All my connections were in my new community and I lost all contact back home. So I drove as far as I felt I could and then walked to church. I had this overwhelming fear come over me and I began to have anxiety as I almost ran to church. My Mom saw me walk in the door from the choir loft - she saw the panic on my face and came to see if I was OK.

Would you believe..... the Pastor got on stage and he said "Would you open your Bible's to Matthew 6:33-36?". O.M.G.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew God was at the point of this 'chase' after me that things were about to change. I was about to get back on the road I lived all my life. The three year sabbatical was over - time to get back on THE right track again. I relented and I said yes to Christ again and life began changing little by little.

Here I am today, reading a simple email, with the understanding of my latest adventure in life WITH God and finding His message to me has been the same all along. "MY grace is sufficient for thee!" "MY grace is enough!" "I AM enough!"

It's no coincidence on this day that my 222 moment and my return to the Lord moment have the same message. Everything around me is insufficient - to some degree - but HE is NEVER insufficient. It is only when I take my eyes off of Him and put them on the issue at hand that I minimize His abilities. Just like Peter, when my eyes are in full focus on Him - I'm well cared for. When I let my eyes wonder to the luxuries of life or the cares of this world - then I'm sinking before I know it. Gotta keep my eyes on Him. Gotta KNOW that He IS enough! He is sufficient and if I keep that at the center of my life then I will not ride the roller coaster of emotions; I will remain steady in the palm of His hand while chaos surrounds me. Now THAT is the kind of security I want!

Oh How He Whispers!

Last summer I reunited with some friends and they mentioned a retreat they were going to attend. I knew the ministry leader was great and I was so hungry for a God moment. I know God had been ministering to me 1 on 1 and that was EXCITING!!!! The only thing was I had a taste of the deepness of God, while under this ministry leader before, and I had not found anything like it since. To say I was excited and thrilled about this retreat was a slight understatement.

The plans were set - things were in order - I was looking forward to our time together and then... Hurricane Gustav hit. This meant that if there was severe damage to the area where we were staying the retreat was cancelled. Gustav arrived on September 1, 2008 and our retreat was on September 4, 2008, we found out that our retreat location was not affected but everyone attending the retreat was affected. They were without power, fuel and the after affects seemed to be on going for sometime. The retreat wasn't cancelled because the facilities would not allow us to postpone or refund money so... the show must go on.

We arrived and boy was it a great time of refreshing and much teaching that was truly life changing. Thankfully my husband saw the personal benefit this time was for me and when they announced their retreat in May 2009, I was able to go. Then I just returned from our retreat that was September 10, 2009. Each retreat has been life-changing for me and I am so glad to have reconnected to this source of ministry again.

I said all of that to say, every retreat there has been a unique thing that has happened on my ride home. I ALWAYS see an abundance of yellow butterflies. How crazy is that?! I know they are around before and after retreat but for whatever reason - they are everywhere I look as I drive home. I thought it unique and yet wondered if there could be more to this 'coincidence'. I believe that God is always trying to speak to us - He uses His creation as He likes to accomplish that. Whether it be a recurring number (222 for me - see last post) or a yellow butterfly.

Needless to say, I began searching for meaning behind yellow butterflies. I found that yellow represents Gift. "A gift (with feeling); gift from or of God; marriage; family; honor. Welcome home (as in "a yellow ribbon") The scripture reference for yellow:

Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove [spiritual] covered with silver [knowledge], and her feather with yellow gold [spirit of wisdom and the glory of God] Psalm 68:13

Butterfly represents freedom. "Flighty (flitting about); fragile" There were scripture references to transformation which often refers to butterflies.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind... Romans 12:2

So can I deduce that the wisdom gleaned at retreat is a fragile gift of God that produces freedom as I bring these truths home? I don't see why it can't represent that or it could just be about walking in the freedom attained during that time away. Either way - I'm taking it! He may even have a more personal reason than that, one I've yet to discover but that's what I love most about my God. He is ever revealing a new glimpse of truth of Himself to me. He keeps me on this adventure of my life - this chase of sorts. He chases me down with His goodness, I'm often too busy to recognize His gentle whispers toward me. If nothing else I am encouraged to see that I'm now awake to Him. I see a pattern, and yes it may take 3 times before I put things together, and I look for what He may want me to see in that silly or truly heavy situation.

He does the same when I am weary and fighting a battle too. Just yesterday I was wavering in an issue I've had to take a stand in lately. I had the urge to respond opposite how He has been leading me to respond. I was battling this thought - the just get it over with and move on feeling - when I decided to talk with a friend. I so want it to be over! It was clear to me that my friend confirmed what I already knew - it isn't time to move on. I hated that this meant this battle is not over yet. But OH how my want to was distracting me with the desire for the ease of getting this over with.

I picked up my Beth Moore Esther study and read "Sometimes God is more aware than we of just how much He requires of us. He knows how hard it's going to be for us." and then I read (in reference to Mordecai standing at the king's gate) "Mordecai's unwillingness to bow in 5:9 recalls his refusal in 3:2, but with one huge difference. This time Mordecai not only refused to bow but even to stand. Any time He calls us to die, His purpose is to reveal larger life." OK, I thought, I get it. I know when I studied chapter 3 of Esther God revealed a call 'to stand' to me. Then here I am wavering with standing, by wanting to remove this issue and move on, to only be reminded again the significance of standing when no one knows why in the world you dare to stand.

Fast forward to later that day when a fellow blogger stopped in for a visit and said hello. She shared that she felt the urge to come 'see me' after reading a comment I shared on another blog. She read it yesterday but I wrote it almost a month ago. I went back to that comment - out of curiosity and wouldn't you know it. I was sharing my revelation of needing to stand with this friend and by no strange coincidence - I reminded myself of the depth of truth God showed me back when I first posted that comment. Then I went to that person's blog to say thank you and her post was on 'Time to Take a Stand'. See.. even when things seem painful God uses multiple ways to get to us. To nudge us, to encourage us, to talk to us, to love us! He is our pursuer!! I think we miss his pursuits more than we notice!

My heart cry today is "I have eyes to see, I have ears to hear, I have a heart to know you God. Please heighten my seeing, my hearing and my knowing! I don't want to miss another whisper from You!"

Rend Your Heart

"Even now," declares the Lord,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing --
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.

Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is there God?' "
Joel 2: 12-17
****************************************

When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai,
he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because
you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews
will escape. For if you remain silent at this time,
relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from
another place, but you and your father's family
will perish. And WHO KNOWS but that you have
come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Then Esther sent this replay to Mordecai: "Go,
gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and
fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days,
night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do.
When this is done, I will go to the king, even though
it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

So Mordecai went away and carried out all of
Esthers' instructions.
Esther 4:12-17
*************************************

"Beloved, in the times of greatest struggle when you
make the Godward decision over convenience, earthly
comfort, or carnal pleasure, you too have come to a
critical moment in the fulfillment of your destiny. A
defining moment. A war is being waged over your head
in the unseen realm, and a great cloud of witnesses is
cheering you on. You have no idea what's at stake."
Beth Moore ~ Esther Study

A Time to.....

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

What time are you in?