MAY YOU BECOME MORE LIKE HIM

MAY YOU BECOME MORE LIKE HIM

  • Encountering the Father, Whole Parent

MAY YOU BECOME MORE LIKE HIM

My goal is to take your hand and place it in Jesus’ hand so that you walk this together out with Him. He is the One who sees, knows, and holds the keys to your freedom. He is the One who purchased your forgiveness, healing, and wholeness. He is the One able to heal, redeem and restore. He is the One who loves you far beyond what your mind can grasp. He is the One who understands. Jesus is your friend, Holy Spirit is your guide, and Father God is your anchor.

Before you begin, start off by inviting Him. “Holy Spirit, I welcome You to come and reveal whatever it is You want to show me. I ask for an increase of Your peace and presence. Open my eyes to see what You see. Open my ears to hear what You have to say. Open my heart so that I can receive all that You have for me. In Jesus’ name.” 

I have a few keys for you:

Journal – I encourage you to get a journal and be intentional about spending time writing and processing whatever He is revealing to you. Sometimes we can process things better on paper, and it serves as a great reflection to go back and see how the Lord is leading us step by step. 

Worship – Increase your worship. I know you are all busy, but this is like charging your batteries, so you aren’t running on empty. Worship fills you with His presence and envelopes you in His love. Worship aligns, alters, and shifts things inside of us without our minds and bodies being aware. Worship puts the focus back on Him and increases our faith. You can have an intentional time of worship, play your favorite set while making dinner, find worship channels on YouTube, or listen while you are driving, taking a shower, or while the kids are playing. Listen to it while falling asleep or be intentional to take a five-minute break on the floor and saturate yourself in His presence. The goal is not to see how little you can do, but the truth is, a little bit of His presence changes everything. 

Community – While your struggle might have a different name, the truth is we all have our areas of weakness, triggers, and make messes. Invite a friend to a park date and have the kids play while you talk about the posts and what God is revealing to you. Ask them over for coffee or plan an informal mom’s night out to bring it up in discussion. You will be surprised just how much others long to be seen in their parenting. Be the one who breaks the ice and creates space for them to be seen and grow. 

2 Corinthians 3:16-18, (MSG) says, “Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” 

May He be revealed to you deeply, and may you become more like Him!

LET’S ASK JESUS

Call to your mind when your firstborn baby was born, and you held them in your arms for the first time. Visit that memory for a bit.

Then ask, “Jesus, will You show me a picture of how BIG Your Father is in relation to the baby?” Now picture YOU as that little newborn baby.

Next, gather as a family in the living room, in the car, at the dinner table, or at bedtime, and ask Jesus together. This is empowering for children because they witness how God communicates with you, which increases their faith, and together you get to encounter Him. Spiritual hearing is a muscle that is strengthened by worshiping and praying. The more you do it, the stronger you become at it.

MIND VS. SPIRIT

All the wisdom in the world doesn’t change a person’s heart. When I speak words of wisdom, they go from my mind to your mind; but when Holy Spirit speaks, it goes into your spirit, and that is where the real transformation occurs. One word from Jesus can change more inside of you than a 12-week course. This is why it is so crucial that we often bring our children to the Lord’s presence to ask Him what He thinks. This is creating an encounter for our children. Instead of wisdom alone guiding them, they are learning they have a relationship with the living God, who wants to help them in all situations.

WHAT HAS HE DONE?

This season has been hard. Does anyone relate? It feels like we are waiting and stewarding everything new without our normal joys and connections. I felt the Lord inviting me to find JOY. I gathered the kids, and we made a list of all the things the Lord IS DOING or HAS DONE for us in this season. WOW. We cried when we realized that God’s hand had been so near and active. It shifted our perspective and lightened our hearts.

How about you? Why not gather the family and make a list of all the ways you have seen, heard, experienced, witnessed, or encountered God’s hand IN this season?

LET’S ASK JESUS

Ask, “Jesus, if You could write a letter to my child, what would it say?”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ME RIGHT NOW?

I encourage you to set an alarm on your phone, and every time it goes off, no matter where you are and what you are doing, ask yourself, “Jesus, how do You feel about me right now?” You will be surprised by what He has to say at that very moment.

PRAY FOR GOD TO ENCOUNTER THEM

I came to my spiritual mentor crying over the choices of someone else. I was enduring suffering at the hands of their brokenness. I will never forget his response to me. He said, “Lisa, turn all that emotion into prayers that God would encounter them because one encounter with Jesus can heal their heart, align their mind and restore what is broken inside them.” At first, I couldn’t do it. I was too hurt to love them ‘that much.’ I then began to see that deep down, they weren’t trying to hurt me, but their brokenness was hurting not only me but them as well. It positioned me to intercede for them in a whole new way. Sometimes we get hurt because there is stuff in our hearts that God wants to heal and restore. Other times we get hurt because those around us need freedom.

RIVER OF LIFE

The Bible teaches us there is a RIVER OF LIFE flowing from the throne of God. Gather everyone in the family room and read together: Revelations 22:1 – “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb.” Have everyone stand in the same direction with your back facing the throne of God. Picture the river water rising and moving past you as if it were removing things off of you like shame, guilt, worry, fear, sin, temptations, strife, etc. Stand in the river for as long as you need and allow the River of Life to move in, on, and around you. Removing whatever needs to be taken care of, let go, washed, or aligned. Now collectively, turn around facing the same direction with the throne of God in front of you. Picture the River of Life releasing the things of heaven, such as peace, joy, identity, forgiveness, acceptance, belonging, faith, etc. Grab them, pick them up and hold onto them. They are yours!

Read Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” I came down for my quiet time with Jesus one morning and so badly wanted to encounter His love, but a nagging issue was demanding my attention. It was heavy and consuming. I so wanted to let it go but couldn’t seem to find my way to peace about it. I was reminded of this encounter (above) that I had years ago and stood with my back facing the throne and allowed the River of Life to wash this demanding issue off of me, to consume me with His presence. Then I turned around and received the flowing gifts of peace, joy, and alignment to His power! It was breathtaking, life-giving, and so freeing.

Give it a try! The River of Life is waiting for you to encounter the throne of your Living God.

WHY DOES GOD SPEAK?

How many people would like to have coffee with Jesus in the flesh for just for one hour? Could you imagine how that encounter would change your life? I am not sure I would do much talking but would be ALL ears to whatever He had to say. But listen to what Jesus Himself says in John 16:4-7 – “I didn’t tell you this earlier because I was with you every day. But now I am on my way to the One who sent me. Not one of you has asked, ‘Where are you going?’ Instead, the longer I’ve talked, the sadder you’ve become. So let me say it again, this truth: It’s better for you that I leave. If I don’t leave, the Friend won’t come. But if I go, I’ll send him to you.” Jesus is saying someone is coming that is BETTER than being able to sit with Him 1:1. The Friend, the Holy Spirit of God, comes to and for us.

Look what is stated in Matthew 13:16-17 – “But you have God-blessed eyes – eyes that see! And God-blessed ears – ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.” They never had the chance because the Friend, the Helper, the Holy Spirit had not yet come.

I just assumed that all believers heard God speaking the way I did; after all, that IS what the Word says – “His sheep will know His voice.” I vividly recall talking to a friend one day about hearing God, and while she loved the Lord, she said she had never heard Him speak. That blew me away. It opened my eyes to the fact that so few children hear their Father’s voice. I started teaching classes, and it has been a life mission of mine to help connect young and old to hearing their Father’s voice. Jesus says He loves us, and we are to bank our entire being around that; but how can we really know that love unless we experience and hear it?

John 15:5 (MSG) says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relationship is intimate and organic, and the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing that will last. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is – when you produce grapes when you mature as my disciples.”

Did you catch that? When you make room to hear what HE has to say, the harvest is abundant. It doesn’t say when you labor hard or do umpteen good things. It says when you listen to what HE has to say! Do you want your works to fall away someday or last forever in eternity? The key is doing what you hear the Father telling you to do, not what religion, the Jones’, or fear of your mother-in-law tells you to do.

Romans 8:14 shares, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” The goal isn’t to be FILLED with the Spirit; the goal is to be LED by His Spirit.

Mind vs. Spirit – All the wisdom in the world doesn’t change a person’s heart. When I speak wisdom, it goes from my mind to your mind. But when Holy Spirit speaks, it goes into your spirit, and that is where the real transformation occurs. One word from Jesus can change more than a 12-week course. This is why it is so crucial that we are often bringing our children to the Lord’s presence to ask Him what HE thinks. This is creating an encounter for our children. Instead of ‘wisdom’ alone guiding them, they are learning they have a relationship with the living God who wants to help them in all situations.

Jeremiah 33:3 – “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Why does the Creator of the universe speak to us? Because He sent His Son to die so that we could have connection with His heart because He wants to fulfill His assignments on earth through us because we are no longer orphans, but Sons and Daughters. He speaks to comfort, lead, reveal, heal, redeem, lavish, provide and love us.

Think about what life would be like if you went mute and had to try to teach, train, and love on your children without words. Seriously, think about how many times a day you use your words to guide your children to teach and train them, encourage them, cheer them on and help them. How often do you use your words to lavish love all over them and tell them how precious and beautiful they are to you? Now, how many times a day do you let your Father speak to you?

TEACH ME

What is your number one parenting question right now? Ask Jesus and learn how to partner with Him in parenting your child – together! He alone knows what they need more than 100 earthly wise men. So give it a try, and then spend the next 18 years strengthening your partnership with their Creator.