Do you realize that you can be forgiven from something but still hold on to the shame of that sin?
The enemies goal is to kill, still and destroy.(John 10:10) He can keep you bound in shame after you are forgiven by God by putting thoughts of condemnation upon you for something that is already under the blood of Jesus! The end of that verse says that Jesus came to give life, and life more abundantly.
The battle first is in the mind. When we Repent (turn and go the other way, not to do it again) we are forgiven by God. He throws it into the sea of forgetfulness never to be remembered again. But the enemy does not forget and he will throw that in front of your face as often as he can to keep you buried Down Under the weight of a burden that is non-existent in the eyes of God. One of the main ways you can break the power of that condemnation is by Sharing Your Testimony of what God has done in your life. The Bible says we overcome the Devil by the Blood of the Lamb, the word of Our Testimony and that we do not love our lives even into the death (Revelations 12:11).
We Overcome him NOW, not just at the end of the world. We overcome him daily in our thoughts by taking the blood of Jesus that has covered our sins and commanding the enemy to leave! Then by the word of Our Testimony, we share our freedom that we have received to others.
There are so many sins that are embarrassing and keep us full of shame because we don’t want anyone to know we ever struggled with that. But if we do not share what we have overcome we are robbing someone else of the hope that God can free them from their pit of shame! We are robbing them from the realization that they can take the steps to get freedom from the sin that so easily entangles them. If people don’t realize there are others out there that have walked their walk and have broken free from that sin, then they will never have the hope of a new life walking in Purity before God..
It’s time to get bold with our testimony.
There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who need the transforming power of the blood of Jesus to break chains that have held them in bondage.
Your testimony could be the chain breaker that could change not only their lives but the Legacy that comes after them.
The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out, who accused them day and night before God. They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their testimony. They weren’t in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ. Revelations 12:10-11
Yesterday morning was the first time I’ve ever been woken up to take the picture of the sunrise. On my photography page you can see the progression. It was without a doubt the most incredible gift from God to me.
Today I kept saying to myself, I never wanted the testimony that I’m going to have. Then God told me this,
✨”You can’t choose your testimony but you can choose how to respond to the circumstances that bring you to it.”
When you’re going through circumstances that are beyond your control, that you never chose, it’s a daily decision to act, talk and think like Jesus. But if we can do that and keep our mind and heart right and pure before Him, He will give us the grace and strength to respond to those who hurt us with a supernatural Mercy. If I can do it, you can!
Our level of Peace directly coincides with our Trust in who God says He is.
~Rachelle Hjertstedt-Layzell ~
I have been walking in a level of Peace lately that is supernatural despite my circumstances. It is because I know who God is. I trust and believe His character.
He is good all the time. He has good plans not evil for me. There is nothing that can separate me from His love. If God is for me Who can be against me. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I am More than a conquer in Christ. He who has started a work in me Will complete it till the day of Jesus Christ. No weapon formed against me shall prosper!
Now that’s straight Bible right there! I have hidden it in my heart and it has become my anthem. My strength, my daily mana. Knowing who I am in Christ comes by reading the Bible and applying it to my life.
I just ordered myself the book, The Attributes of God by AW Tozer volumes 1and 2. I want to dig deep into this because the way I view God has everything to do with how I view myself and life. Even after going to Bible College many years ago, there is always the opportunity to learn and grow more. Can’t wait to start sharing what I get out of that study!
“No freshly spoken word of God will come to you, that does not contain its own ability to perform it.”
The verse in the Bible that says it is impossible for God to lie is one of the most comforting scriptures. Hebrews 6:18 “God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.”
If God says something he will do it. Piggybacking on yesterday’s post about faith, faith being complete trust in the character of God. Knowing that God cannot lie is a part of his character. He is trustworthy. That means if he says something I can put complete faith and trust in the words that he speaks. Those words can be what I read in the Bible or words that he speaks to me personally. Having an unshakable faith in his character means I can trust his words will come to pass. When the angel came to Mary and told her that she would have a son and that Elizabeth was already in her 6th month, she asked “how is that possible?”. The angel said, in Luke 1:37 “Nothing (no rehma) will be impossible with God.” Rehma in the Greek means: rhḗma (from 4483 /rhéō, “to speak”) – a spoken word, made “by the living voice” (J. Thayer). 4487 /rhḗma (“spoken-word”) is commonly used in the NT (and in LXX) for the Lord speaking His dynamic, living word in a believer to inbirth faith (“His inwrought persuasion”).
I love Pastor Bill Johnson’s definition of this verse,
“No freshly spoken word of God will come to you, that does not contain its own ability to perform it.”
Bill Johnson, Pastor Bethel Church
If God speaks something to you that means he is not limited by circumstances, all he needs is a willing heart that trusts him and is ready to obey. This fills me was such hope and anticipation for what God is about to do. There are no limitations with him. He always tends to work outside of our box. It’s easy to trust in his character when I know He is good all the time.
He knows everything that is going on: He is Omniscient.
He is everywhere and surrounds me wherever I go: Omnipresent.
He is all powerful nothing is too hard for him: Omipotent.
He is the Apha and the Omega: the beginning and the end. He has already been where we are going.
How do you measure faith? If it takes a mustard seed size faith to move a mountain (Matt 17:20), then how much faith to see someone healed?
Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.
“Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].” Hebrews 11:1 Amplified
To me, Faith is trusting in the character of God beyond my own understanding. When I pray for something and it does not happen, even praying with complete faith and trust, if I say this did not happen because I did not have enough faith, I put all the pressure and blame on myself.
That is exactly what the enemy wants to happen! When I don’t get what I pray for the enemy would want me to doubt my faith in God. As a result, the enemy’s goal would be for me to start doubting God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do.
When I pray for something in faith believing God’s will to be done above my own, something switches from me being responsible for the answer to leaving it in God’s hand and trusting HIM to have the answer in His timing.
When I pray, Father, Your Kingdom Come On Earth as it is in heaven, not my will be done but Yours be done (Matt 6:10). My focus shifts on Him and His kingdom which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). If I can have peace and joy while walking in righteousness (right standing in him) before Him, then I am experiencing the kingdom of God. If I live in that mindset it puts my focus on Him for whatever happens in my life.
By praying this way, I am focusing my attention on the Father, instead of my attention on the problem. If my trust and focus is on Him, not just relying on whatever size of faith I have, it begins to take my focus off of the issue. That begins to remove fear, doubt and disillusionment that can take place when you are surrounded by circumstances outside of your control.
Again, if I pray and think my faith will get me this answer, then my attention focuses on myself. I believe that is the opposite of what God intends for prayer.
I want my focus to be on the immense love of God, that he has me in the palm of his hands and whatever life and people throw at me I can rest in confidence in him. His character never changes his word never changes, his promises never fail. Happy Monday!
The picture in this post was a gift from God last year. I took it right down the street from my house when Mount Hood had the most incredible lenticular clouds over the top. It’s a treasure.
If you think being a Christian entitles you to an easy life, I’m sorry to say, that is a lie. However, one of the biggest gifts of a life with Christ is the privilege of tapping into all of the Power and Resources of Heaven through the blood of Jesus. When you are covered with the blood of Jesus you have everything you need to not only survive each day but experience true peace, joy and contentment. In 1 Timothy 6, Paul says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. In the Amplified it says “But godliness actually is a source of great gain when accompanied by contentment [that contentment which comes from a sense of inner confidence based on the sufficiency of God]. 1 Tim 6:6 Amp
I love that version! It describes that inner peace and confidence that we can have in Christ. Understanding the love that God has for us settles our soul like nothing else in this world! No matter the pain, betrayal or rejection you have encountered, allowing the love of God to fill every pore of our being is like taking a dry sponge and plunging it into water. If you let it soak in there for a bit, it fills up every single crack and hole.
When you bring that sponge out, what happens? It drips. What drips out of us if we soak in God’s love? The abundance of Living Water that Jesus Promised in John 4 with the woman at the well. He said, if she would drink of this water she would never be thirsty again. And also in John 7:38-39 Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
In Psalms 16:11 it says, You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy: I have come that they may have Life, and may have it in Abundance.
Let’s drink from the well of Jesus today. Let’s soak in His presence (in His Presence, there are Presents😂❤️) and in His unfathomable love. Let it sink into every single pore of our being until we drip his love and peace on all those around us.
When God gets ready to move you into another step of your destiny, I am learning he will begin to expose the sin in our lives. Even more so, He may also shake the foundations in our lives where sin is about to be exposed in those around us. This can cause households to shake.
It may make you uncomfortable, because when sin is exposed hell trembles, especially if your heart is pure and repentant before the Lord. The enemy will try to pull out all the stops. You may have times where you feel hopeless and that the dreams God had given you will never be fulfilled. You may look at circumstances and think, how in the world will God ever fulfill His word. You may feel dry and possibly even distant from God’s voice.
But if your heart’s desire is to live completely sold out in abandonment to the lover of your soul, God will not forsake you! He will fulfill his word! His promises always will be fulfilled! It might not look like what you expected but God is the ultimate Transformer.
He can take utter devastation and loss and in your darkest moment give you a glimpse of the beauty before you. Don’t lose heart. Don’t give up. Keep your eyes on Jesus and seek his face and not just his hand of what he can do for you. Spending time in his presence is like nothing else you will encounter on Earth. Put on some worship music and enter in with abandonment. This has been my personal playlist this year. It had been constantly on repeat. I hope you find healing and peace through these songs. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUDOz07Ot4bbBBvtHe6FVoQVcnt9hlPiz
Setting our eyes on Him takes our eyes off of our current circumstances and allows Faith to fill us.
Let’s talk about opening & closing doors in the home. Something pretty incredible happened this week that was quite the learning experience. I knew better. Long but worth it post.
A few years ago my daughter’s friends were telling her to watch a TV series called Once Upon a Time. It takes Disney stories and brings them to life and has them trapped in the real world. When my daughter was younger I told her she could not watch it because I had heard there was some dark aspects of it.
Forward to the last couple weeks where I told her that I would watch it with her (she is almost 15). We both knew it was showing things on there I typically wouldn’t have in our house in regards to magic. But the storyline was good and intriguing so we kept watching it. There were times where I asked her if it was too heavy and we would take a break. But then this week when we watched a few episodes, during one of the episodes my 18 yr old son came in for lunch and he heard one phrase that was spoken where Rumplestilskin was evoking a dark spirit. He said he had chills go through his body. That night I was up late reading my Bible. My daughter stood in my doorway at 12:30AM with a startled look on her face. She said that she left her room to go to the bathroom and when she came back her desk chair was turned towards the wall. She said it wasn’t like that when she left and it made her scared. I went in her room and prayed for her and prayed for peace for her room.
Then the next morning when my son was eating breakfast he did not look right. He looked heavy and down, not just tired. I asked him if he was okay and he said he felt like he did something wrong but he didn’t know what he did. He said he just felt weird inside. That same day my daughter kept on looking at me and asking me what was wrong. She said something in my eyes looked different. I was baffled because to me I was just hot and at the time I was getting my lunch so I was hungry and maybe a little agitated. But she said there was something else. That afternoon I talked to them about what I think was happening and that we need to spend some time praying over the house when we get home from youth group. I told the kids that I realized what I had done, as the adult allowing a open door in the spirit to have access in our home the last few weeks. When we willingly engage by watching or listening to even very light occultic/demonic activities, by our choice it allows an Open Door in the spirit Realm because we have given it legal access.
But the good news is we have Authority in the name of Jesus to close that door. We stood in the living room and I led the prayer and then they prayed their own prayers. I repented and asked forgiveness for opening the door to the enemy. That I was wrong even after feeling a check in my spirit I shouldn’t have kept going. I asked Jesus to close that door and fill our home with his perfect love that casts out all fear. Declared the blood of Jesus is over our home and all evil spirits must go! After the kids prayed we took oil and anointed every single window, door and electronic equipment and screen, declaring the blood of Jesus over everything.
My son stayed downstairs after we anointed with oil. When I came down to turn off the lights he was walking around playing worship music and praying and declaring every demon needs to flee his home in Jesus name. He was walking in an authority and passion like I had never seen before. I was so proud of him and so comforted at the same time for him to step up in leadership in this way.
The most incredible thing was waking up on Thursday and having peace, joy and freedom. It might be a simple thing or very complicated for some people to understand. All the more I know now, when my kids or I have a check in our Spirit about what was being watched, we need to keep out anything that has a resemblance to the occult. It’s not worth it. It’s Entertainment masked as light or fun. But the enemy can get in and will stay there if we are not sensitive and tell him to get out. Some shows are darker than others and each of us has to use our own discernment as to what our spirit can allow. But after talking to my daughter, we agreed we’re not watching anymore of that show, even though we are curious what will happen. Guess she can ask her friends and get the cliff notes.
I pray sharing my experience helps you to identify things in your home that could possibly be giving the enemy legal access to bring torment. I have prayed through my home countless times when I felt or knew something was wrong. The biggest step is repentance and renouncing sin or the allowing of something to come into the home. The Authority that Christ is giving us under the blood of Jesus has a power to kick out every evil spirit in your home. It takes us recognizing it even if we don’t know specifically what is causing the torment. We can start with repentance and going around the home and declaring the blood of Jesus over every entryway. Closing our Eye gate, Ear gate and heartgate is so important. For us and our children.
There have been times where someone’s been in my house that I knew in my spirit something was wrong, so I went through and prayed after they left. Another time when our first born was just a toddler we had someone babysit him who we knew wasn’t a Christian and she gave him a hanging mobile. We put it up in his room that night and he woke up screaming bloody murder for no reason. I recognized what had happened with the thing that she had giving him that we put up in his room. It was taken outside and destroyed and we prayed over the house and he had no problems after that with his sleep being disturbed. The kingdom aof light and the kingdom of darkness are constantly at war with each other. But we have the authority as sons and daughters of God, under his blood. There is power in the blood of Jesus to break every chain!
Here are some great teaching resources on Discernment (thanks Mom for the links)
Jane Hamon’s teaching series on Discernment is great. Here is a condensed version. Discernment: The Essential Guide to Hearing the Voice of God https://a.co/d/38t1EfU
Today I used the verse below as a weapon to stomp on the enemy’s head. He kept trying to creep up and place degrading thoughts in my mind about myself. Hurtful words that had been spoken to me by another person, now used as a dagger the enemy constantly tries to annihilate me with.
Today I spoke this verse over myself again and again and it fortified a wall of the word of God around me blocking the enemy’s voice. I sat in peace when I normally would have been in turmoil.
Today, declaring this verse put on display the power of the word of God when it is hidden in our hearts and used against the enemy, as the word of Our Testimony. ⚡ I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.⚡
Righteousness means right standing with God. I know the purity of my heart and actions before God. I know my position in Christ. I am a daughter of the King.
Let this verse sink into your heart. Let it become your Battle Cry when the enemy comes to fill your mind with thoughts that tear you down. Knowing who we are in Christ enables us to walk each day filled with his grace and enablement to be able to do everything he has called us to do.
He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness]. 2 Corinthians 5:21 Amplified
It all started in 1993/1994, I was 13/14 years old. There began an insatiable hunger. A hunger that couldn’t be filled. A feeling like there was something about ready to happen and I didn’t know what but I had to start preparing myself to get ready. I can’t believe my daughter is the same age now as I was then. I had this intense urgency to get on my face before God and cry out for something more. I was going to Temple Christian at that time and I asked my teachers if it was ok to go to the chapel during lunch on Tuesday and Thursdays with whoever wanted to come so we would worship and pray. I would go around the lunch room and invite whoever wanted to come from my Jr. High and sometimes some high schoolers to join us to fast, worship and pray.
I remember leading worship from the piano and we began to join our voices in prayer and worship. There was an intensity that burned inside of me that got stronger and stronger. It was hard going to a private school and wanting the entire school to get on fire for God and not always seeing it. But I knew God had a purpose in us being there and to press in no matter what we saw.
I don’t remember how long those times in the chapel lasted, but I do remember what happened in 1995, when our Pastors at City Bible Church in Portland, Oregon, Frank & Sharon Damazio went to investigate the Toronto Blessing and came back with an impartation that spread like wildfire. All of a sudden the intensity and hunger that I had felt in 1993/1994 began to be filled to overflowing. Countless services of receiving the love, anointing, holy spirit refilling over and over began. Times laying out under the power of the Holy Spirit and in those times going deeper, seeing visions God was showing me of the lost of other countries around the world and revival hitting them.
Then in the spring/summer of 1995 came the burden, heavy deep burden of intercession that overtook my body and soul. The deep deep loud travail that came out of me shook me to the core. I would spend hours at the alter, or in my bedroom not just crying but deep guttrral travail would come out of me. I lost all sense of what was happening around me when that took place. I would be worshipping or praying and all of a sudden I could feel the heartbeat and grief of God over those who did not know him or had rejected him. The burden to see them come to know Jesus and go to heaven would be the focus of my mind as my body was overcome by intense groaning. After it had lightened and I would stop, my face would be ballooned, eyes totally swollen and red dots all over my face and neck from blood vessels thst had burst. I started calling them Holy ghost dots, haha. Glad I didn’t have much vanity back then.
That summer I went to England on a mission trip with the youth lead by Ed and Heather Schefter. In preparing for that trip, our team had amazing prayer times after our drama practices. One night it went way too long and all of us kids on the team got in trouble by our parents for being out past curfew, but seriously we were slain in the spirit on the chapel alter or drunk in the spirit (no alcohol) and couldn’t get up. Haha. Awesome memories. Our poor parents, how many parents have ever gotten that excuse from their kids.
On that trip God began to talk to me about taking up my cross and following Him. I realized that going to a private school and living in a total Christian bubble, I had no cross to carry. When I got back home from England we had Youth camp. There at the alter, the intercession for the lost hit me again. As I was on my face Weeping, God clearly told me that every tear I cried would be a soul that is saved at Centennial High school. I was like, what? I love my school and my friends are my family (I had been at TCS from 1st grade till 10th). God said it’s time to pick up my cross and follow him. That Centennial was my mission field. I looked up and saw all my closest friends and I went over and gathered them and told them what God had told me and I cried tears of sadness. It was the hardest thing I had ever done till that time.
Obedience and sacrifice was what He had required for the next step of my journey. The mission field.
Live Life Out Loud For God 