Encounter

Encounter

CALL HIS NAME

I want to invite you to encounter God by telling Him how you feel – I am tired, I need help, I am scared, I am overwhelmed, I am exhausted, I feel burned out, I feel like quitting, I didn’t sign up for this, I feel ill-equipped.

Tell Him what you need – I need Your help, I need tools, I need grace, I need a reboot, I need Your power, I need to hear from You, I need to know my children are going to be okay, I need to know I have not ruined them.

Psalms 56:9 – “My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side!”

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

Romans 10:13 – “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

LOOK UP

God knew life on earth would be filled with confusion, chaos, and darkness, so He sent His Son to be the way, light and truth.

John 14:6 – “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.'” I teach my children that they can never lose their balance when they look up. Jesus will show them the steps to take, how to respond with righteousness, and lead them into peace.

WAY – model and teach what is pleasing to the Father.

LIGHT – holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, grace, hope, and God’s revelation.

TRUTH – the true or actual state of a matter, conformity with fact or reality, a verified or indisputable fact.

Do not deny God’s provision in this hour. He has given us His Son as our Savior and a guide to show us the way. Look up!!

SURRENDER ENCOUNTER

It’s time to surrender our children back to the One who is ultimately the only One fully capable of keeping them safe. It’s not all up to you, and the weight of protection does not just rest on your shoulders. God is the One who knit them together. They are HIS, and we must RE-ALIGN ourselves to His role in their lives or we will come under a weight that isn’t ours to carry.

LINGER WITH JESUS

Fight to be a Mary in this loud season. Find His feet and linger there. This affects your mind and heart and brings a calm and peace your children are desperate for at this hour. They don’t want to be doing more; they want to know the peace from a mother that has gazed upon Jesus long enough to transform her.

CONVERSATIONS WITH OUR CREATOR

I encourage you to read these together as a family and strengthen your spiritual hearing together. Pray aloud, “Holy Spirit, I invite You to come and fill my heart with peace (stop for a moment and receive His gift of peace). Come teach me about the Father’s heart to communicate with me. I grant You permission to remove everything and anything acting as earmuffs blocking my ability to hear clearly. I don’t want to partner with any thoughts, beliefs, or feelings that aren’t in alignment with Jesus or Your Word. I long to have an intimate and deeply connected relationship with my Father and grant You permission to highlight things to me. Come have Your way with me and open my heart to receive all that my Father has for me. In Jesus’ name.”

John 15:5-8 (MSG) says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation 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 really hard or do umpteen good things. It says when you listen to what HE has to say! 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! The first thing each of us has to settle in our minds and hearts is this: “Does Father God speak to His children?” If He does, then you must stand in faith that it will happen. If you don’t believe His voice is for today, then you are walking in doubt, and that alone can block your ability to communicate with Him. If you do not believe that He wants to speak to you as a parent, you will have difficulty acknowledging when He is speaking to your children. Often, we expect God to scream in our faces, and THEN we will believe He speaks. While He can do anything, our faith typically allows us to experience the Kingdom. The more WE honor His voice, the more we will honor when He is speaking to us.

For today’s assignment, I encourage you to really soak in, chew on, and digest this question deeply: DOES THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE HAVE THINGS TO SAY TO ME PERSONALLY? I encourage you NOT to respond immediately but to spend the day allowing Holy Spirit to reveal to you your faith level and what you truly believe. Be at peace and allow Him to show you as you reflect on the question.

**If you are feeling stuck or have the revelation that deep down you don’t really believe He communicates today or with you personally, then we have to go back to the Word and allow it to transform our minds. It’s okay to press into this issue and allow Him to teach us. Do a Bible word search on the subject. I can teach you how to hear and widen your understanding of what it looks like, but I can’t give you faith or make you receive! That’s an inside job that each person must decide on their own. 

VALIDATION DAY

Today is VALIDATION DAY!!!!

I know we have all been through a lot these past years. We each have walked through our own circumstances and hardships and have had to find our way. For me, it meant transitioning across the country, not once, but twice, living out of a suitcase for a year (it was the biggest blessing but also not home), having four kids home full time needing my time and attention, plus trying to run a full-time ministry, keeping up with travel schedule and appointments, remaining on the front lines helping so many families in despair and heartbreak, continuing to walk out my own journey, being there for the children and their needs, etc. It has been hard at times. I have felt stretched beyond the familiar. I have had to hold my ground with my YES, as well as my NO. I have had to stay uber-intentional and focused. And yet here I am nearly two years later, and 3 of the kids are off IN school full time. This morning is the day I have had my eyes set upon – the day things would go back to somewhat normal, and I could find some breathing room (don’t get me wrong, I would rather have my kids home full time all the time, but it isn’t normal or practical to do it all). Orphans have pity parties and feel sorry for them that life is so hard. They feel overwhelmed by being a victim. As a Daughter, I don’t give in to the pity party of one, but I do host VALIDATION PARTIES where I sit and validate myself. I give my journey, the hardship, the demands, and the cost a voice. I put my hand on my heart and say, “You may not have done that perfectly, but girl, you did it, and I am so proud of you. I see how hard that was, and you stayed in the game. It makes me sad you had to carry so much, but you found a deeper pocket of His grace, and you did it – together.” I love myself in my journey because, at the end of the day, I am doing the best job I know how to do for myself, my family, and the mandate on my life.

YOU deserve a party too. Why not grab your journal and write yourself a sweet note of grace and validation?

STAY HUNGRY

Hunger for more is the biggest key to experiencing more. Hungry people just have a way of finding Him.

THOUGHTS OF DEATH

Moms and Dads, we have some important work to do today. I was on a prayer call with some mama bears and God had me go after this hard with them. A few messaged me immediately afterwards saying this was for their child.

There is a spirit of hopelessness, death, and suicide being released in waves to the Body of Christ in this hour. Many adults have heard the whisper themselves, catching them off guard.

It is one thing to have a mature adult brain and hear that spirit whisper lies of hopelessness, and it is another to be a child with a brain that isn’t fully developed to try and process what they are hearing. Children naturally assume anything they hear inside their head is them when in reality, part of it can be a spirit.

Yes, some children are so overwhelmed by life, lack of coping skills, and the trauma they have endured that they are partnering with death as a way to escape. They need legitimate help and care as they process their pain.

That is not what I am talking about here. I am talking about a demonic spirit of death that has whispered an invitation to end life. I am talking about helping children discern that this spirit is not them. I am talking about the enemy’s lies in this hour to get people to partner with him in his agenda to take us off course.

I want to give you the steps to help them. They need to know you are there to help them fight this lying spirit off of them.

First, confess to Jesus if you have heard, entertained, or come under the power of this lie-based invitation to end it. “Jesus, I confess that I have…”

Second, break agreement with it. “I break agreement with the lie of suicide. I break its hold on me and influence over me in Jesus’ name.”

Third, invite Holy Spirit to come and fill your mind, body, and spirit with His peace. Ask Him to wash your mind, eyes, ears, and words with His truth. Let Him saturate you with His perfect love.

I encourage you to partner with Holy Spirit on how to move forward with your child. I suggest doing this 1:1 or as a family meeting.

You don’t have to start out using the words suicide, death, or killing yourself. You can approach it more gently.

Be led by the Holy Spirit in the conversation. He will guide you as you yield to Him.

I suggest filling their love tanks first and affirming your love and care for them. I would use language such as, “Sweetie, some people are sharing that they just feel like life isn’t worth it anymore, or they don’t want to be around anymore. Have you ever thought that or felt that? It is okay if you have and you haven’t done anything wrong, but I want to help you with that if you have.”

Just speaking about it loosens the enemy’s grip. You can invite them to write you a letter if they need to share anything with you but don’t feel comfortable telling you directly.

If a child admits they have heard the thoughts to harm themselves, I encourage you to #1. Keep your peace. #2. Don’t assume they are moving into acting on it. There is a difference between being suicidal and hearing the lies about it. #3. They are overcoming and defeating it by confessing it. Praise them for being honest and bringing it into the light. Ask them, “I am sure hearing that thought to harm yourself was scary. Is that something you desire to do, or was it an unwanted thought?”

If they admit they desire to act on it, it is time to get them additional direct help. If they express it was an unwanted thought, the following will be helpful.

Explain to them the difference between throwing up and being sneezed on. Throwing up is something sick inside of you that needs to get out. But being sneezed on is being slimed by someone else who is sick. Hearing a random unwanted thought is being sneezed upon. It is important to realize it is coming ON you and not from WITHIN you.

You can confidently speak when you tell them it wasn’t from Jesus, and therefore they can reject it. Read together 2 Corinthians 10:5-7 – “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Tell them they can cast down that thought.

You cast it down by confessing it, declaring it is a lie and that you do not accept it, telling it to go, and asking Jesus to fight for you.

Moms and Dads, I would pray over your children, ask for a hedge of protection, and invite the angels to shield them from this demonic spirit. This is part of your spiritual covering over them.

Give your child permission to come and tattle-tell on the enemy when they hear these thoughts and that you will always help them win the battle.

This one stirs my heart, and I want you to know that there is hope and VICTORY in the name of Jesus.

YOU DID IT

God gave me the most breathtaking vision, and I believe it is for all of us. I saw myself standing on top of a mountain, and the sun was kissing my face. I stood there all day as the sun danced around my face from the early morning sunrise to evening sundown. Then the snow came and covered me head to toe. Soon the rain poured down. The entire time in the vision, I did not move my feet. I heard God say, “How many days old are you?” Unsure of the answer, I brought out my calculator and tallied my age times 365. He said, “For _____ days, you have stood and endured life.” I got this overwhelming feeling of victory, confidence, and resilience. Life has not always been easy, but 1,000’s of days later, I can look back and declare I DID IT, God is good, and I am an overcomer… so can YOU. Go do the math!

ARE YOU FEELING RESISTANCE?

We had a Let the Children Fly team meeting and I sensed many people were dealing with spiritual resistance (the refusal to accept or comply with something, the attempt to prevent something by action or argument). As I was sharing my own experience, I saw this picture of workout resistance bands wrapped around one’s legs. They can still walk, but it takes more effort with every step because there is resistance set up to oppose their steps. I got the idea to grab rubber bands and put them between our fingers to feel the resistance. I put on some worship music, and we just spent time aligning our hearts with His. During worship, God reminded me of a story where a man came up against great resistance, but it was God who put up the block for his training and development. When the challenging season was over, he knew his anointing had doubled. I began to process that some resistance is good and from the Father’s hand to develop us more like Jesus. But then I saw this picture of the enemy using resistance and disguising it as being from Him. And that is when God showed me the strategy. Many people are experiencing resistance and simply accepting it, going low, and submitting to the Father when in reality, it is something that needs to be dealt with in the spiritual realm. The more they partnered with the resistance saying, “Well, it is just for my development” or “It comes with the territory of breakthrough,” they were actually partnering with the enemy who was bringing the wrong kind of resistance against them, their minds, calling, assignments and relationships. What’s the difference? Your level of peace! God’s training, character development, increasing our capacity, and seasons of refinement are not always pleasant, but they come with a layer of peace. Only God can discipline you in a way that still somehow feels loving and protective. If the resistance you are experiencing leads you to feel uneasy, unsettled, full of lack, discouragement, or hopelessness, then perhaps it is not more patience that you need but a revelation of your authority to resist the resistance and watch it flee. I gave each team member scissors, and we stretched the rubber bands between our fingers to feel the resistance and then cut it. The bands went flying everywhere, and joy broke out. We all felt lighter and restored to hope and confidence that He will complete the work in us and fulfill the promises over us in His way and in His timing.