NOTHING IS WRONG WITH YOU

NOTHING IS WRONG WITH YOU

Maybe we should stop asking, “What is wrong with me?” and begin to ask, “What is going on that You are allowing me to feel?” God allows His children to feel the atmosphere so they can be agents of change on earth. I went away for 24 hours alone and felt great. I was beaming with excitement and joy, but I felt heavy and super sad when I walked into my room. I went to sleep and had a strange dream about death. I woke up, unable to shake this heaviness. Finally, I got the sense, “this is not me, but the atmosphere.” I prayed for the OPPOSITE to come and fill the place, and immediately it shifted.

We do not need to understand every detail of what is going on for God to use us. Heaviness is not His Kingdom, and I had authority in Jesus to release it to go and invite His peace, joy, and comfort.

TIME TO THRIVE

Do we really have a choice in this hour to shrink back and allow the world to influence our children? Do you really have the luxury of depending upon others to teach, train and equip your children? It’s okay that you are overwhelmed and feel out of your league. It is okay that you are tired and exhausted day in and day out. It is okay that you do not even know where to begin. BUT it is not okay to let that become your excuse to do NOTHING. Not in this hour. Ministries like LET THE CHILDREN FLY are here to help empower you and give you the tools you need to equip your child to survive and thrive in today’s world.

DO YOU FEEL A WEIGHT ON YOU?

A while back, the Lord told me to pray for a leader who was enduring much. I went to pray for them and felt this incredible weight over them, like the shoulder pads of a football player, except they were made of steel. I know my prayers are powerful, but the weight felt so heavy it was unmovable. I went back to the Lord and asked for strategy since He is the one who told me to pray. And I heard Him say this, “You are right, Lisa, the weight is too heavy to lift it off of them, so I want you to pray that they come out from under it,” and I saw this person duck down, move to the right and stand up straight again like coming out from under a bridge. I laughed at the ease and simplicity of dealing with the weight. God ALWAYS has a strategy for dealing with a trial – always! Go ahead and give it a try.

Gather the family and talk about what burdens everyone is facing. Maybe it is a test at school, issues at work, conflict in the home, or unique circumstances. Have everyone stand and picture the weight on their shoulders. Now have them duck, turn and stand up straight again. We can move out from under the weight of what consumes us. Every time I do this, I breathe easier and lighter.

FEELING SCARED

A friend messaged me this: “Last night, our son (age 6), who can feel things in the atmosphere, said he felt scared and didn’t know why. His father explained that other people are afraid of something he doesn’t need to be afraid of. This would normally result in many discussions. But last night, he said, ‘Oh, okay. Can I talk to Jesus about it?’ To which the answer was, ‘Of course, bud!’ He got quiet, the room shifted, and he fell asleep! Yay, Jesus!”

IF A SIX-YEAR-OLD IS LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO TALK TO JESUS ABOUT FEELING SCARED, WHAT’S OUR EXCUSE? There is a KEY in this testimony. He felt it, talked to Jesus about it, and rested. It’s okay to feel, but we must bring it to Jesus for the rest to come.

PASSING FEAR ON TO OUR CHILDREN

Ask any adult who grew up in Minnesota in the ’80s who Jacob Wetterling is, and they will tell you. He was an 11-year-old boy who was abducted while riding his bike home, and his body was not found for 27 years. It left a bone-chilling fear in parents that the same thing could happen to their child. Parents kept their children safe by not letting them go out at night or roam the neighborhood like they once did. Countless parents partnered with FEAR over what happened to Jacob, and it shaped their parenting. The children watched their responses and learned how to handle uncertainty and danger. As a mother now myself, I get it, but what happened is that it taught a generation in that region about fear and feeling unsafe. Those kids, myself included, grew up with an undying fear that something terrible could happen. It was nearly 30 years later that I broke agreement with the fear and learned that I was safe at night.

How you respond to current events NOW has the potential to shape your child and how they respond to future crises. Are you teaching and modeling for them how to walk in fear and panic or confidence and faith? They are watching you and are learning how to respond in times of crisis.  If you are partnering with fear and want to be free from it, let’s talk about it. We have got to realign our children so that they do not grow up being afraid and managing fear. There is a difference between truth-based concern that should move us into wisdom vs. creating a demonic stronghold.

SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO

God ministered so deeply to my heart over an event that left some residue that needed some attention. My heart had forgiven, my soul was at peace, and my mind was clear, but there was something deep inside of me that wanted to play it safe. I was talking about it with my mentor, and as a good mentor does, she asked the right question, which led to a pocket of tears. She asked if I needed to ask God something, and I wanted to know why He left me in the fire for so long. I honestly thought at the time that I was being taken out and was not sure I would rise again. If I had to give a word picture, it felt like driving down the road and, out of nowhere, encountering a mob of 50 men with clubs and baseball bats. The spiritual warfare was something that I had never experienced before. I instantly got a picture of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and my mind wandered off of the story. Do we think they came out of the furnace celebrating? Cheering? High fiving? I am not sure. They were being put to death for not bowing down to the king’s operating system of worship. They stood their ground, and it was going to cost them their lives. They did not go through the fire knowing Jesus was going to walk with them and keep them safe and that their testimony would go down in the Word of God for all generations to see. They went into it willing to die for their convictions. It was a traumatic experience. They endured the fire with their mind, their body, and their spirit. I think they came out weeping over the heat of the furnace, seeing the face of death and the reality that if God didn’t show up, it would have killed them. My mentor felt led to break off a spirit of trauma that was lingering over the event. A spirit of trauma likes to attach itself to real events, but once the event is over, it creates fear or unrest that it will happen again, so the believer shrinks back and plays it safe. If you have endured an “If-God-doesn’t-show-up-I-am-going-to-die” testimony and sense there is greater freedom from the events, ask Jesus to show you if a spirit of trauma needs to be dealt with.

I COMMAND

I had the privilege of ministering to a group of moms in an 18-month rehab program for drugs and alcohol. I wasn’t sure exactly how it would go when I said yes, but I have to say these mamas have stolen my heart, and I have fallen in love with them. They are so hungry for change and transformation. One precious mom sobbed the week before telling me of her daughter’s outbursts and anger. She would get so triggered by her daughter she would have to leave the room. I gave her tools and taught her how to partner with Holy Spirit in her parenting. The next week, she was so excited to tell me that her daughter had another meltdown, and while she was leaving the room, she could see her daughter NEEDING her (before all she could see was the anger), so she went back to her and just held her. She said out loud, “Spirit of rejection, I command you to leave my daughter,” and her daughter went limp and said, “Mommy, what did you just do to me?” OH my goodness! She walked in her God-given authority over the spirit tormenting her daughter and got free. Jesus!

STOP FIGHTING NOW!

I had a dream that literally shifted something so deep I will never be the same. I was with the kids, and we had just parked our vehicle in a driveway of a home for sale. We lived in our car, but it didn’t feel like homelessness or lack. We were happy, content, and had more than enough space. The kids remained in the car while I went to see the home. Upon walking out with the real estate agent, I noticed my eldest and youngest daughter were quarreling. I was a tad frustrated that I had to interrupt the transaction of paying CASH and signing the contract to deal with their argument. When I came to the back seat of the car, I saw the look on my eldest daughter’s face. She was raging red, and her hair was matted down with sweat as she and my baby were not just a little miffed but playing for blood. I have never in all my years of parenting seen my kids so violent and in rage against each other and it scared me. I knew my words would not get their attention, so I grabbed my youngest, who was closest to me and had to pull her out by her head. She fell to the driveway and went limp. She was in serious pain and physically hurt from fighting with her big sister. I woke up at 4am with every fiber in my body alert. I had to go touch them physically just to make sure they were both okay. I sat in my chair in the middle of the night asking the Lord to show me what just happened. Instantly He began to show me that my vehicle represented my calling/ministry, and while we were content where we were, I am about to receive an upgrade (3 level house). I have already sown into the increase and was ready to pay cash for it and move in. But the transaction/upgrade was interrupted by the fighting. I heard the Lord say, “The fighting has to stop NOW!” He said it with a loving, yet stern voice of a father who was serious. He began to show me that my eldest daughter represented my current self, and my youngest daughter presented my younger (wounded) self. They were at WAR! Even though my eldest is nearly double in size, my youngest was holding her own and causing just as much damage to her big sister. He showed me that before the transaction/upgrade could occur, the fighting must stop! What was the fight over? The little girl kept telling her big sister that she was dismissed. Constantly hearing, “You are dismissed and unworthy” prevented the big sister from being able to receive love even though she longed for it. While the big sister represented my current self, the part of me that was still hurt from my past, kept telling me I wasn’t worth it. Both girls were so strong and out to ‘kill’ the other because it was impossible to live in peace with both present.

Friends, the war within ourselves must cease in order to experience all that God has planned for us.

FEELING DEPRESSED?

Do not be so quick to assume something is wrong with you. Depression is a chemical imbalance in your brain. The only way to resolve depression is through medicine. Oppression is a spiritual weight that we can come under when the enemy is trying to take ground in an area. The only way to resolve oppression is through your authority. Both look, sound, and feel the same. How do you know? Walk in your authority and see if it shifts. 

“I command all heaviness to leave me now in Jesus’ name. I break all assignments against me by the blood of Jesus. I invite You, Holy Spirit, to come and fill my mind, emotions, body, and atmosphere with Your peace, power, love, and clear mind in Jesus’ name.”

FLIP OF A SWITCH

If you have a child who can ‘flip like a switch’ out of nowhere, it could be that they are very sensitive to the atmospheres around them. I was this way as a child, and it brought about a lot of conflict because no one, including myself, understood why I could be perfectly fine one moment and angry or filled with anxiety the next. In my mind, nothing was bothering me, but it was like something had come over me. Once I realized I was coming into an atmosphere of ‘stuff,’ I began to learn how to take authority over it and flip it.