Revive Me

 Lately I’ve been feeling revival stirring. It’s been stirring all around me. Conversations with other believers, opportunities for evangelism, sermons at church…it’s in the air. And it’s exciting! But to be completely honest, it’s scary as well. Reviving isn’t an easy process. At least not for the individual being revived.

Have you ever watched someone on the verge of death receiving cpr? It can be horrifying. The process of reviving can even cause damage to the ribs that protect our most important organs. Yet, it’s necessary in order to reach deep enough to pump the heart hard enough to spark the blood to start flowing again.

To revive means:

• regain life, consciousness, or strength.
• give new strength or energy to.

How many of us need to regain our spiritual energy and strength? How many of us need to regain life or even a greater spiritual consciousness?

Look at this photo:

God gave me such a beautiful vision of revival. I saw a body laying on the ground, heart stopped, no breath in the lungs…lifeless. And then I saw my Heavenly Father leaning over the lifeless body and pressing in pumping the heart and breathing into the lungs. With each compression of the heart ribs were cracking but the flow of blood began pumping through the arteries again. Jesus’s blood began cleaning out the stopped up arteries. The very breath of Yahweh filled the lungs! 

The person being revived does NOTHING! They just have to allow the work to be done. Quit trying so hard to make it happen. Just allow God to do his work in you!

As I thought about the ribs, that protect the heart, lungs, and other vital organs, God gave me such a beautiful insight. After a revival, Satan comes in to try to steal our life again, because he knows our protective cage has been broken. He knows we are vulnerable. Why would God allow us to be so vulnerable just after reviving us?

You see, ribs can be broken after preforming cpr because in order to go deep enough to reach the depths of our heart to get blood to start flowing again… sometimes we have to be broken to reach the depths of our spiritual heart to allow Jesus to freely flow in our lives again. And although our protective bones are broken, it allows God to heal us more perfectly in his timing. And although Satan feels we are unprotected, we are able to fight him more effectively because of the better flow of Jesus in our life.

Satan doesn’t want revival because it brings us life. Instead of having a physical cpr… we experience a spiritual cpr. Christ’s Power Revives…CPR.

If you are feeling dead spiritually, take a moment and ask for an awakening of the power of Jesus in your life.

More Mercies

 

I love the scripture that tells us, “His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.” For me, it gives me a sense of new beginnings and hope in all those times of failure. 

As we are at the start of another new year, I find myself fighting not to focus on all the areas where I’ve failed over the years and be hopeful of the new progress I want to make. It’s especially hard when I look at things like this blog and the neglected ministry opportunities I may have missed through the years of inconsistency. 

Maybe, for me, the scripture should read, “More are His mercies. Great is His faithfulness.” At times I feel like I’m asking God to forgive me for the same things over and over. His mercies haven’t changed where they need to be new… I just need more because it happens again and again. It’s easy to feel defeated and wonder if there’s been any growth at all over the years.

Then, it rings out in a beautiful anthem… “GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS!” It’s not about my faithfulness. It’s not about my failures. Whether His mercy is new each day or He just gives more and more each day, one thing remains. Great is His faithfulness!

Hopefully you won’t have to wait another 5+ years to see another post on here from me. Hopefully this time I can find discipline to be constant in my encouragement. Hopefully today will be a new era in my spiritual growth. Hopefully today will be a new beginning for SHINE to become the ministry God birthed over 15 years ago. Hopefully I will see God’s calling come to fruition. But no matter what, Great is His faithfulness and I will trust in His timing and mercy.

Good Courage

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord." -Psalm 27:14

Courage is word we associate with bravery and action. We don't often think of courage and bravery in waiting. How can standing still be a sign of strength and bravery?

I Believe, Help My Unbelief

There is great power in words. Do you prayers start off like this? "Dear Lord, if you can..." or "Heavenly Father if you will..."

No Shadows

Interesting thought...Light doesn't have a shadow. 

Reflex Spiritual Dystrophy

My son has a very rare nerve disease. It is called RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy). He has had it since a wrestling injury his seventh grade year of middle school. Long story short, it attacks the nervous system after some type of trauma and fools the brain by sending constant pain signals from an injury that has technically healed. The pain signals grow to become hundreds of times worse than the actual injury could cause. It conditions the body to feel pain in extreme amounts over the smallest of stimuli. There is no known cure. Medications do not work. He is constantly fatigued, experiences chronic pain, and the acute pain comes and goes with even the slightest of agitation. The disease sends a false message to the brain and the brain is conditioned to believe it, therefore cause the experience of REAL pain. To onlookers, he seems to be a healthy, strong, and vibrant young man, but internally…his pain is more extreme and debilitating that anyone could ever imagine.

I have been evaluating my own spiritual life and literally falling at the altar praying over the fatigue and frustration I have been dealing with from the recent, actually ongoing over the last several years, attacks of Satan. The Holy Spirit sweetly enlightened me to the tools Satan has been using in my life. I have had several “traumas” over my adult life that Satan has tried to injure and cripple me with. God has graciously given me strength to recognize these tactics and kept me safe from actually breaking, BUT….

Satan is crafty. He has secretly been poking at me for years.

3 am honesty...

3 am honesty... In the moments of silence, back hurting-not sure if it's indigestion or anxiety, because it's piercing through my chest and ribs- I'm trying not to feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. 

All I really want right now is relief...

Is Fear Your Idol?

Is fear your idol? As ridiculous as that sounds, many of us are unknowingly allowing fear to become idols in our life.

I sit looking at a list of bills that are bigger than I am. My days have been full of worry, frustration, and pure exhaustion from try to

Revelation Dance

Your DAILY shine has ended up more like a 'ONCE IN A BLUE MOON' shine. Between a new marriage that turned into being abandoned by the man I though would be my knight in shining armor to going back to school to pursue my bachelors degree to just the demand of being a working, single mother of three teenagers...pick your excuse.

One thing has remained consistent and faithful even in my lack thereof...God and His faithfulness!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. No, I am not talking about an old western featuring famous cowboys facing off each other surviving the rugged wild west; but I am talking about facing another wild and rugged place... I call it LIFE.

I am sure you can relate. There are good days, bad days, and just right out ugly days of life.

Bad Day?

It's a bad day. There really isn't anything bad about it, it's just a bad day. Do you ever feel like that? Is that the kind of day you are having today? Is the sun shining everywhere around you, but clouds seem to be hovering over your head? I'm right there with you.

A Simple Message

Are you struggling today? Do you feel alone? Does it seem like your prayers aren't leaving the floor?

If you have been reading anything I write for SHINE or anything else, you know I am NOT a woman of little words. EVERYTHING tends to be a book. But today, when asking God what to share, He led me to this scripture...

Delayed Obedience

SERIOUSLY!! Lost keys. I don't have time for this! Have you been there?

Step Into Bravery

I'm convinced courage and bravery aren't character traits.  I don't think they just come naturally. Yes, some individuals just seem to have a larger dose shot into their DNA. But how did they get it? Where does it come from? And what do these two words even mean?

Both bravery and courage are acts of valor and imply a certain strength and fearlessness. However there is a slight difference between the two words.

Courage comes from the French word coeur, meaning heart. It is a quality of character that allows someone to carry through with a difficult premeditated plan of action. “Physical courage” is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, or death, while “moral courage” is the ability to act justly in the face of opposition, shame, or scandal.

Bravery, on the other hand, comes from the Spanish word bravado, meaning a single or spontaneous act of valor. It is not planned, but rather a knee-jerk reaction that often occurs within a crisis.

Courage is the decision to be brave.

Did you hear that? It is a decision, a choice.

Violent Christians

Should Christians be violent?

Last night at our women's Awakened Worship Encounter, our pastors delivered a message entitled, "The Call to Violence." In short, the theme of the message was from Matthew 11:12 and the fact that we are called to be violent contenders for our callings... mainly the call to on our lives and the kingdom of heaven.

 

The points of the message were that Violent Ones: 1) Keep themselves from offense, 2) Contend for the faith, and 3) Prosper during oppression.

 

I have been doing a word study on The Lord's Prayer and had already been looking at the meanings of "kingdom." So this morning, I began with a word study on "violence" and ended up right back at "kingdom" as I pressed through some of the message.

 

HERE IS WHAT I WANT TO SHARE...

I Want God

I am privileged to get to be part of Lisa Whittle's book launch of her latest book, "I Want God." I have to say, the words within this book are part of the reason you are finding my words on the screen in front of you. The deep revival that is brewing in my soul is partly because of this book and ALL because of God's timeliness.

It is with great honor I will get to share her words of inspiration and how they are playing a role in my spiritual journey toward revival as well. Tonight a friend treated me to a meal out before our women's service at our main campus of The Refuge. The coolest thing about it...

Depressed? Need Revival?

It's been a LONG while since I have written a post. Life has been chaotic and crazy. There have been defeats, disappointments, and distractions. God is renewing my heart to focus on HIS ministry and mission for my life and I am finding revival in my heart day by day. 

I have kind of avoided all the talk about Robin Williams, just because I would much rather promote God than a celebrity. BUT.. it is true that so many deal with hidden issues that is just too hard, shameful, embarrassing, or just too much a sign of weakness to share.

Perseverance

What is perseverance? Do you have it? Why is it important in our spiritual life? Before we jump back into our Bible study, let's look at Webster's definition of perseverance.

perseverance:
the quality that allows someone to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult : continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition

So what does this have to do with our Christian lives, much less celebrating our trials like we talked about last week? Let's dig in to James 1:2-4 and find out more.

Trials

Trials... Are you facing any today? Yay! So let's celebrate them.

"WHAT?" I hear you saying it already. "Why in the world would I celebrate my trials?"

The answer... it's Biblical.

Let's get started in the book of James again and see what I am talking about. Grab your Bible, a notebook or your Scripture Study Worksheet, and a pen so we can start digging into this crazy idea of celebrating our trials.

Trials, Perseverance and Wisdom

Are you facing trials? Is your faith being tested? Do you feel like you are lacking in wisdom? Many of us face those challenges on a regular basis. Today we begin our Bible study in James which will begin to show us how to face those challenges and grow in the wisdom and security of Christ. This is going to be your opportunity to SLOWLY learn, not just more about the Word, but how to dig into it more deeply.