“I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from theLord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. Jeremiah 29:11-13 ERV

What a beautiful Word this morning. He knows the plans he has for us. Good plans! Sweet friend, did you know that our Father has nothing but good plans for your future? He wants to give you hope and a good future. He wants you to call on him, to search for him and know that he’s not elusive, hiding each time you draw near to him. No, he is a findable God. I like that. God isn’t hiding from you, he’s merely waiting for you to search for him.

I know one thing for sure, that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you’ll be saved and because you believe, he has sent his Holy Spirit to live in you, it’s the Spirit of God that lives in you so you don’t have to look far to find him, he’s right inside you. So how do I find him? I close my eyes and allow myself to be quiet before him and declare my love for him. I ask him to speak to me in whatever way I need to hear his voice today because I belong to him, therefore I desire to serve him in whatever capacity he needs me to. I ask him to allow me to express his love to others, his pure unconditional love. Then I declare his Word over my life, my home, my family, knowing that His Word will never return to him empty, it always accomplishes what He would have it do.

He always shows up, every morning. I’m never disappointed or frustrated because he said it right in Jeremiah 29:13. “You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me.” And when you know him, you trust him. You trust him with your very life. You trust him to plan your day, order your steps, keep you in peace, meet every need. You trust him in good times and bad times, when you’re feeling good or feeling bad. You trust him because you know him and he is a faithful and loving God.

Yet again, Father, I love your presence. You overwhelm me with your goodness, grace and mercy. Daily you fill me even though what I have to offer you seems so small, you exchange it for so much. May you fill me up so that I spill over onto everyone who comes across my path. It’s always an honor to be here with you but the frosting on the cake is that you NEVER leave me, you are with me always even to the ends of the earth.

2 John 1:5-6  Greetings from the Elder.

To the lady chosen by God and to her children.

I truly love all of you. And I am not the only one. All those who know the truth love you in the same way.  We love you because of the truth—the truth that lives in us. That truth will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from his Son, Jesus Christ, as we live in truth and love.  I was very happy to learn about some of your children. I am happy that they are following the way of truth, just as the Father commanded us.  And now, dear lady, I tell you: We should all love each other. This is not a new command. It is the same command we had from the beginning.  And loving means living the way he commanded us to live. And God’s command is this: that you live a life of love. You heard this command from the beginning.

This could have been written to you or me, a letter from John the beloved who simply wrote, “Greetings from the Elder.” To the ‘lady’ and her children chosen by God. That’s us right there, chosen. Chosen for what, you ask? Chosen to live a life of love. Why us and why now? Why is love so important that Paul would write about it to what seems to be a very loving and hospitable woman. I believe it was to remind us all of what our life should look like.

The dictionary defines love as; a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. The love that Jesus commanded us to walk in is unconditional, which is the picture of God as he gave his Son to die on the cross for the sins of the world, those who crucified him and those of us who were yet to be born. I don’t know about you, but I’m not there yet. I pray that I will be someday, but I don’t love like that yet.  

Why am I so stuck on love? It’s the center of the gospel, or should be. It’s the foundation of everything Christian, every principle Jesus taught, everything created, all about love.  Jesus said I’m to love and to give that love to everyone I come in contact with, even those who do me wrong, abuse me, talk about me. I’m to love sinners. Yes, Jesus was a friend of sinners. He didn’t come to save those who were safe but to put out a hand to those who were drowning. You don’t need a life jacket if you’re not in the water, right?

Love doesn’t look the other way when they see a homeless woman sitting alone on a park bench crying. Love sits next to her, holding her hand and telling her Jesus loved her enough to send you someone like me. Love stops to help an elderly woman cross the street even if it delays me getting to my own appointment on time. Love opens doors. Love allows the car to enter in front of me. Love smiles even when I don’t feel like smiling. Love pays the extra $5 needed in the grocery line. Love shares my lunch with someone who’s hungry. Love doesn’t look for the wrongs but covers them. Love gives everything away knowing that God will take care of me.

I want to live a life of love. When I stand before you, Lord, I want to hear you say, “Well done! You did what I asked, you loved.” I want my heart scrubbed clean of selfish ambition and lust for things. I want to love like you did, holding nothing back, keeping nothing for myself but leaving myself open to be filled with more love. Your love. I don’t want to over complicate what you simply said to do, “Love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.” Help me to overflow with your love as I seek your face, to be sensitive to your voice and follow your leading.

I was reading I John 4 today which I call the love chapter. I encourage you to read it in several different translations if you really want to get the picture of what’s being said here. We know that God is love and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (vs 7-8) but how about this; how can we tell we’re walking in love?

Verse 16-17  So we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love. God is love. Everyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them.  If God’s love is made perfect in us, we can be without fear on the day when God judges the world. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like Jesus.

Did you catch that? Because in this world we are like Jesus. Did you know that the Father was in the Son? How could he not walk in love when Love was in him? Guess what? News flash; The Father is in us as well! He sent his Holy Spirit to live in us so that he would lead us into all truth. I’m not making this stuff up, it’s in the Bible, look it up! He loved us SO much that he gave his only son so that when we believe it him, we can be saved.

Wrapping up this love feast of a chapter, lets read verses 19-21; We love because God first loved us.  If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in his family, we are liars. If we don’t love someone we have seen, how can we love God? We have never even seen him.  God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters.

Notice the ‘brothers and sisters’ part, cause I’m pretty sure that John is talking to believers here. There’s a lot of hateful brothers and sisters walking around in the body of Christ who think that they love God but He was pretty clear in this passage of scripture, you can’t love God if you hate your own family.  I’ve seen men and women of God who get their panties in a twist because the pastor didn’t do what they thought he should and they leave the church, wagging their tongues behind them. Thats not love my friend. The way you respond to others (especially your own brothers and sisters) is the way you love God.

There are so many instances I could mention because I’ve ‘lived’ in the church since I was born, but lets stick to the point. How much do you love God and how much do you walk like Jesus? We call out, “Revival! Bring revival to our land!” but we need a revival of love toward each other. It’s going to be Love and Love alone that draws in souls, not finger pointing and the message of ‘REPENT! or you’ll go to hell.’ Read I Corinthians 13 if you want to know the fruit of love.

I believe with all my heart that the only thing that will change the world is the love of Jesus demonstrated on the earth and it starts in the church and overflows onto the work place and community. When we love like that, we will affect countless hundreds of thousands of people right where we live and we don’t have to leave our city to do it. Jesus’ greatest message was to love (Luke 10:27). Before we are a part of a great mighty revival that sweeps our land, we must first make things right with our own family in the Lord. I want to love like that!

Isaiah 43:16-19 The Lord is making roads through the sea. He is making a path for his people, even through rough waters. The Lord says, “Those who fight against me with their chariots, horses, and armies will be defeated. They will never rise again. They will be destroyed. They will be put out like the flame in a lamp.  So don’t remember what happened in earlier times. Don’t think about what happened a long time ago,  because I am doing something new! Now you will grow like a new plant. Surely you know this is true. I will even make a road in the desert, and rivers will flow through that dry land.”

We must never forget that God is not stuck in some box or limited to our thinking. God makes roads through the sea, can you do that? God takes all of our enemies who pursue us relentlessly and defeats them so that they never get up again, destroying or obliterating them. He does not, however, do things the same. He’s the same miracle working God, but each and every time, he does it differently so stop looking for the WAY he’ll do it and start looking at the GOD who’ll do it. Who is God to you? What do you expect of him? Are you willing to step aside long enough to allow him to deliver you or do you constantly step back in and try to do it yourself?

It’s right there in His Word, he will do a new thing, did you see that? AND he says we will see it and know it’s true. Wow! We need to place our trust in THAT God, the one who cares for us and delivers us. Expecting the unexpected, trusting in the unseen, believing that regardless of past experiences, we will see that God is a God of his Word and will do what he said he would do.

Perhaps you’ve been on the same path for a long time and that path seems to be circling the same rock, God’s making a new path for you. When you see the path, take it! Get off your familiar and launch out into the unfamiliar. You’ve been praying and believing God to do new things in your life so stop wondering if this is the right road. He loves and cares for you, trust him!

I leave you with this verse from Isaiah 30:20-21 The Lord might give you sorrow and pain like the bread and water you eat every day. But God is your teacher, and he will not continue to hide from you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.  If you wander from the right path, either to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, “You should go this way. Here is the right way.”

Have you ever planned an event? It all starts with someone conceiving an idea, then you locate and book a facility, find caterers, entertainment, speakers, the list is endless but my point here is, it takes a whole lot of time and a whole lot of people and a lot of hard work to pull it off. It’s not easy, but when it’s all over, so rewarding to see the fruit of your labor. Now imagine if you will, what would that event look like if someone didn’t do their part? What if those assigned to decorate were ill prepared, arrived with half the items needed? What if the musicians left their instruments at home? The event would still go on but it would reflect poorly on the facilitator, wouldn’t it.

God has planned a wedding for his son and has given us each a part to do, make disciples, so that the bride will be a perfect match for his son. Doing what Jesus did, loving like Jesus did, giving like Jesus did, focused on the Father, listening and learning, doing what He says to do, going where He says to go. Sometimes we lose sight of why we are where we are; in service to the King. We weren’t asked to cram our religious beliefs down peoples throats, we were asked to follow Jesus and in following him, He draws all men to himself. What attracted people to Jesus? Love.

Have you ever loved so much that people were drawn to you? Have you ever purposed in your heart to do as much good as you possibly could? Have you spent so much time in the Word, worship and fellowship with God that you glow? Do the people you surround yourself with want to be like you? Are you pointing them to Jesus, our groom? It’s easy to love those who love us but how about those who don’t? Do you love them? Do you serve them? Do you point them to God without words but deeds?

I ran across a short prophetic word given by Dick Mills on January 28th, 1999 that I had tucked away in my old bible. It goes like this:

Promise: Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14

Prophecy of Exhortation: You are being groomed, conditioned and prepared for a special time in God’s calendar.  It’s more than 14 minutes of fame, it’s a long preparation for a short, quick work. (Romans 9:28)  It’s been a long time getting here but now the ‘getting ready’ time is just about over.  You’re coming into an arena for which you have been preparing for, for a long time.  Who knows if you have come to this place for such a time as this?

You’ve always known you were picked out for selective activities.  It’s not a feeling of superiority nor an elitism.  The facts are, “You have ben chosen for a special function by the Lord above.”  He’s planning His supernatural power to be distributed worldwide; You’re chosen to be one of His recipients.

He’s stirring up His gifts, getting you ready for supernatural happenings in the earth.  Compelling phenomena will be evidenced.  Multitudes will behold the power of God and be converted to Christ as a result.  This is your year, your time, your season and your day.

Potential: Mark 14:20 They went forth, the Lord working with them with supernatural signs following them everywhere they went.

So today, dress yourself in love and go out into the mission field God’s given you. Look for opportunities to serve, encourage, heal and care for, not the easy ones, but for those who are lost. 

I’ve been hearing the words ‘consistent’ and ‘prayer’ in my spirit for a few days now so I thought I’d share a couple of thoughts. First let me say that the dictionary defines consistent as; in agreement or harmony; accordant; stuck together; cohering; agreeing or accordant; compatible; not self-contradictory. So in searching the scriptures regarding consistent prayer, I found one that stood out to me found in James 5:16b AMP; The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

I’m no bible scholar by any means, but it seems to me that when we are in agreement with Gods Word, when we say what He says and keep doing, something happens.  According to James, it makes tremendous power available. Available for what? Well, if we read on to verses 17-18 we find this;  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

I feel that someone out there has grown weary in consistently doing what God has instructed them to do. It may be a missionary in a far away land that has ministered the gospel and not one soul has been saved. This is what the Lord would want you to know, “Don’t stop! Be faithful! Just because you don’t see change doesn’t mean it’s not coming. For centuries I have instructed men and women to call out and pray for their children afar off, that is you. They saw the times and seasons to come and prayed for you so that you could walk in the victory and blessing you walk in today. Don’t be discouraged because you don’t see it happen, do it because I’ve asked you to. You don’t have to understand, I simply ask you to obey.”

My heart cries out to you, Father. Strengthen the weary, those who struggle with discouragement, those with children who have wandered far from the truth. Lift them up today. Open those children’s eyes to see the truth, wake them up that they may serve you. I set my heart to obey you and consistently do what you’ve asked me to do. I don’t need to know why. I don’t need to see the results. I know that my prayers make much power available for your Kingdom to come on the earth and that’s enough for me. Raise up other worshipping warriors to carry your Words today. Make them a mighty army that the enemy trembles at the sight of them waking because their gaining ground. 

“Your spirit knows more about you rather than your mind because it is connected to God. The Holy Spirit is the one who will show you what to do.” Bill Winston Ministries

This statement led me to read John 16:13 which says; But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words. He will speak only what he hears and will tell you what will happen in the future.

We can’t predict the future but the Spirit can. We can’t discern what is truth, but the Spirit of God can. What I hear in this is that the Holy Spirit, if you allow him to, will show you the right path to take and birth in you the plans God has for your future. Ever had something stir you up, get you excited? Have you ever been praying and felt prompted to say something? I believe that is the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit to proclaim things that you don’t see in the natural yet. Faith is trusting that what you say will actually come to pass.

In John 11, we read the story of Lazarus, a friend of Jesus who became sick and died. Three days later, Jesus comes into town, goes to his grave and says, “Lazarus, come out!” What happened, Lazarus spirit responded to Jesus’ voice. Well, that was Jesus, you say. Jesus said that we would do greater things. What’s greater than raising the dead? Maybe doing it on a larger scale!

Oh how I long to declare the power of God, to command dead things back to life. Broken people whole, sick people healed, bank accounts blessed. I want to see greater miracles than water being turned into wine, I want to see springs of living water changing peoples lives. I will not be ashamed, Lord. I will speak your word over dead things in my life and the lives of those around me because you, only you have the power to give life and you’ve given that power to me. Let me walk in the authority you gave me to walk in because you, Lord will get all the glory and it will bring great revival to our land.

I love this passage from I Corinthians 2:9 GNT which states; “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him.”

There is always an element of surprise with God. Life with Him was never meant to be boring or predictable, but filled with wonder and awe. Everyday we should come expecting to learn something new about him, something more about his will and ways for us. God is not boring and he doesn’t live in churches, he resides within each of us who call him Lord and follow hard after him. In the middle of your mess you can whisper his sweet name, Jesus, and the rush of his presence fills you deeply. 

What if I were to tell you that God is ready to spice things up in your life, would you be ready for it? Would you be willing to take a wild ride with the King? To do something you’ve never done for the Kingdom of God, to allow the glory and presence of God to spill over onto people and circumstances until everything around you is changed? Would you do that? What would that look like if we were all totally yielded to God.

Let your imagination blow out the walls of limitation. Let God be God, let him rule you and reign in you. Worship him with complete abandon, leaping and dancing. Be a David who cast off his kingly garments to be undignified before the people to celebrate his God. If you’ll do that, He’ll do the unexpected, unpredictable things in your life that you’ve been longing to see. Don’t put God in a box to show and tell, let Him be God and do whatever he wants with you and watch your world change.

Father, be big in me today; so big that I explode onto everyone and everything around me. May your love and glory be so magnified that just being around me will bring people to repentance and healing. May I not allow others to cripple me and keep me bound with cords of religious teaching or restraint, but keep me free for it’s for that reason Christ made me free. I’m forever grateful and willing to go on this exciting ride with you. I’m hanging on for dear life while you whisk me off my feet. I’m hanging on!

My Dear Friend,

I’ve been wanting to talk with you but with all that’s happening in your life, it’s hard to get you alone long enough. I don’t want to add one more thing to your plate but it’s already February and I really need to tell you somethings.

I understand you’ve been going through some very tough times and all I’ve wanted to do is tell you how often you’re on my mind. Somedays I’d like to whisk you away from it all and sit by a cozy fire with a cup of coffee talking until we run out of words. You mean so much to me and my Kingdom and I just can’t imagine you not being a part of it.  I miss you running to me when you’re in trouble and I thought you’d run to me this time, but you seem to be distracted of late, running to this thing and that thing but never to me.

Have I done something to offend you? I feel like you’re avoiding me. You’d rather spend time with anyone and anything other than me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to add one more thing to your plate, I’m actually trying to lift your load because I never intended for you to carry all of that.  I wrote a whole book of letters to you will all the answers to the questions you’ve been asking but you won’t pick it up to read it. You read the cards others send you and I’ve even seen you cry over them, but you’ve yet to cry over the love letters I’ve written, some of them with the blood of my son.

I’ve heard you say you love me, but I’m not feeling the love because you spend time with the ones you love the most and you just seem to avoid me.  Remember when you cried the other day because your long time friend ignored you, how it broke your heart and you wondered what you did wrong? That’s how I’ve been feeling. I just wanted you to know. I haven’t done anything wrong but you still won’t come. Your spirit even cries out to me but your flesh stands in the way. Hear me calling to you and come away with me.

Song of Solomon 2:14 My dove, hiding in the caves high on the cliff, hidden here on the mountain, let me see you, let me hear your voice. Your voice is so pleasant and you are so beautiful!

Isaiah 62:10 “Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway! Take out the stones, lift up a banner for the peoples!”

Are obstacles keeping you from going where you need to go? God has prepared a way for you and just because there are stones in the path doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go that way. When a highway is built, there are those who survey, those who clear the way and those who build the road. Many people will travel that road once it’s completed, but if no one steps up to prepare, no one will benefit from the highway.

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry. He announced his coming and readied people to receive the word of the Lord. Now it’s our turn. We are to be those who prepare the way for the return of Christ. Us, the blood bought ones, those he commanded to make disciples of all men, we are the ones who are to prepare the way. He didn’t call us to sit in our comfortable pews, to make an appearance and look nice. He said to follow him and I seem to remember that he moved around a lot, going and doing what his Father told him to do. 

When was the last time you picked up a stone of hindrance from the path you were on so that those who followed behind you wouldn’t stumble and fall. That could mean just dealing with issues in your life that may cause someone else to sin. It could mean, stop complaining about how nothing good ever happens to you, or simply learning to trust in God and loving others. What are you doing to prepare the way? Do you love like Jesus? Do you point people in the way they should go but make a U turn because the road gets too rough for you to travel? 

Where is God leading you and what’s keeping you from going? He said we are to love him more than anything or anyone; that’s jobs, family, friends, churches, ministry, EVERYTHING! There should be NOTHING that holds you back from showing others the way to Jesus and no one that comes between you and him. Father, examine our hearts, show us where the stones are and how to give you access to people, places and things that stand in the way. We love you and want others to know that love as well, not selfishly keep it for ourselves. Father, your gift of love was never made to hold onto, it was made to give away so we make more room to receive.