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.
I heard a message years ago from Beni Johnson that talked about praying for our kids that the Holy Spirit would hover over them like the Holy Spirit did over the waters at creation. The testimonies that came in were unbelievable how lives were changed and how the prodigals returned.
I encourage you to listen to this song and where it says “Rest on Us” replace the US with the name of the person you are praying for. It is soo powerful to combine worship with prayer as it releases faith inside of us and joins our hearts and spirit with Papa God.
This song was playing right when I turned my car on this morning on Air1, I’m so thankful! Now I’m so excited to hear testimonies from you!
It’s time to no longer allow the enemy to take bits of truth and turn it into a twisted daggar.
This last year has been mentally challenging for many of us. But! We with the power of the Holy Spirit working through us can break through those strongholds that are twisting our mind into a frenzie!
Those areas that take a piece of truth and mix it with an assumption, add in some hurt, dissapointment, anger and resentment and you get a fortress in your mind the enemy has built walls around.
Keeping that fortress may allow you a time of self pity, which can feel justified at first, but it will always hurt more. Self pity is the lock and chain around the fortress. We must be willing to acknowledge self pity is wrong and that it is justifying our sinful response instead of acknowledging God’s ability to set us free.
The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,being ready to punish every act of disobedience, when your own obedience [as a church] is complete. – 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Corinthians10:4-6&version=AMP
The only things that can break that is the truth of the word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, repenting of holding on to those lying thoughts as truth and a determination to stop mulling over those painful thoughts after we receive forgiveness.
The next step is putting into action a plan for a new course. Finally seeing it through. You can get help all you want after that. But if the first steps are not taken it won’t do a lick of good. Conquer the battle in the mind first.
This is my testimony this week. I pray it helps you on your own journey of freedom.
All of my life I have grown up in a prophetic culture where hearing a word from God from somebody else is the norm. I have gone to more conferences at a church than I can count. When you grow up constantly hearing words that God is telling someone else for your church, region, nation or world it is easy to put your own ears in the backseat.
Christians submerged in this culture have a tendancy to become lazy when it comes to activating their own ability to hear the voice of God. We tend to rely on others to give us the new “Heavy Revey“.
This is dangerous and sets you up to be malnourished in your own spiritual walk.
There are times in my life when I go through seasons of constantly listening to different pastors around the world, as well as, listening to online conferences. However, in the last couple years as I have entered in a different season of life with running our business, and I have not exposed myself to as much teaching/prophetic ministry as I have in the past. In one sense, I have missed out growing in certain areas of my spiritual walk. On the other hand, I have had to learn to tune my ears in to Gods voice and ask for discernment to understand what He is telling me and where He is guiding me.
I never want to get to the place in my life where all I am listening to are the revelations that God has given someone else. Because when that happens, I cut myself off from the life flow of the Spirit of God that He wants to pour in and through me.
Now you might say I don’t know how to hear the voice of God. He never speaks to me.
The good news is, that He does all the time we just need to learn to recognize it. This subject has been my heart’s cry since I was 12 years old. I would lay in bed at night crying out to God to hear His voice. I wanted to be like Solomon wanting wisdom and understanding. I wanted to hear his voice so clear.
When I was in Bible college I shared a word with a church in Klamath Falls entitled “Stop, Wait, and Listen.” Boy oh boy, do I wish the computer I used back then didn’t crash because I do not have my notes. The purpose of the message was to teach on how to begin to hear God’s voice.
The first thing we have to do is STOP. Many times when I’m in a church service or praying God will tell me to be quiet. When He says my name first, then tells me to be quiet it really gets my attention! Many times we talk and talk and talk and do not stop to give God a chance to speak to us. He comes to us in a still small voice. Like Elijah in the cave, God did not speak to him in the thunder or in the storm but in a still small voice.
If our voice is only thing we here, we will never hear HIS.
But next we need to WAIT. Now this is the hard part. We have to focus on HIM, our mind, heart, emotions and desires ALL FOCUSED ON HIM. There are a zillion distractions in our life and depending on your present circumstances waiting may feel like an impossibility. But this is where the majority of people who say they cannot hear Gods voice fail. They’re not willing to wait. In this waiting period, many times God begins to speak but we dismiss it on account of not realizing he is speaking.
Not everyone hears an audible voice, that would be a voice that everyone else around you can hear at the same time. Like when John the Baptist was baptizing Jesus and everyone around them heard God speak, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.” That was an undeniable audible voice.
Some people hear a voice in their head or spirit, some may attribute it to being their conscience. But did you know, your conscience is the Holy Spirit – who is God. We think that our conscience is just “us”. We overlook the fact that God speaks to us all the time, we may not even know it and we don’t give Him the credit. So listen to that voice! He will always give you peace. He also will never contradict His written word.
Another way he speaks is through His Written Word – the Bible. You may be reading the Bible and a verse jumps out at you and you can’t get away from it. You reread it over and over and feel at the same time that a match was just lit in your heart. That is the Holy Spirit speaking through the word. Other times, you may be waiting on God and a verse goes through your mind. That is God speaking to you through his word. I would encourage you when that happens to look at that verse up and research the context of what it is saying.
Something else awesome that happens is when you receive a Bible passage in your mind to look up. You might hear the words Psalms 121. Then when you look up that passage it is exactly what you needed to hear. Sometimes I have heard passages like that and went to look them up and they meant nothing to me. But when I read down further it led me to exactly what I needed. Don’t get discouraged if that happens. Sometimes it will be right on and sometimes it will be off. I heard someone say not to take it too literally if it doesn’t work out correctly. Especially if you open up and read and “Judas went and hanged himself”. And especially if it says, “whatever you are going to do, do quickly”. Haha, be wise and have fun with it.
I have seen signs at a church recently that say “Meeting with God face-to-face, through His Word.” The first time I saw that title I got really excited because my experience of meeting God face-to-face has been with my face down in the carpet weeping while experiencing His intense presence & glory like nothing else, while seeing revelations in the spirit. But my experience is not something that you would typically find at the church I was at. It opened my eyes to the reason why we need every denomination in unity. Because every denomination has a piece of the puzzle that the other does not. The desire inside of me to experience God face-to-face in his word is growing more and more. It is definitely a paradigm shift for me to put those two phrases together, face-to-face – in his word. I long to be encountered by God through his word like I never have before.
It also important to discern when God is giving you a yellow light. A traffic light when yellow means caution. We need to make sure we know when we have a check in our spirit and God is telling us to stop or slow down.
The most important thing to do after he speaks is to LISTEN and put action to his words. Many times when he speaks it requires us to do something with what he says. If we doubt his words and never move forward with his instruction we will find ourselves stuck in a rut frustrated with life. He is always speaking, leading, guiding. If you feel stuck in a rut take some time to wait on the Lord and allow him to stir up the desires he has placed in your heart. But then ask, seek, knock and he will open doors before you that you never even dreamed possible.
I pray this blesses you and you’re able to share this with others who desire to hear Gods voice. – Rachelle Layzell
Here is a powerful song that reflects my hearts cry
When you hear the verse, the glory of the latter house will be greater than the former – this is just a taste of what it means.
The very second Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple ripped top to bottom. That veil was as thick as a man’s hand about 4 inches thick. It took 300 priests to hold on to it and replace it every year. It was so strong that neither an earthquake or 2 horses on each side couldn’t pull it apart. It was 60′ long and 30′ high. Why is that so important?
THAT IS HOW MUCH GOD WANTED TO INTERACT PERSONALLY WITH HIS PEOPLE. The death of Jesus on the cross allows anyone free access to the most holy of holy places. The very intimate manifest presence of God!! How many times are we satisfied to stay in the outer courts and just watch or participate from a distance? We have access to the very intimate place that before Jesus’ death was only accessed 1 time a year by a priest who had to be 100% pure and blameless, with a cord and bell wrapped around his ankle. Why? Because if he entered behind the veil with any sin or did anything wrong God would strike him dead. He had a bell so people outside would know if he was dead or not then they would pull him out by the Rope. Imagine the level of fear and reverence for the presence of God they had.
We have a choice, we can choose to stay in the OT times and stay away from the intimate presence of God, or we have a choice to desire more and more of His presence. The enemy has tried everything he can to keep the church from entering into that deep place of worship. He pulls out all the stops and presents just the right formula because he used to be the worship leader of Heaven. He knows the incredible and wonderful joy and freedom that comes from worshipping at the throne room. There is a deeper place we can go, it is there. Many have tasted it. Many have been transformed by it. It takes time, it takes patience, it takes complete abandonment to the Holy Spirit.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, then feel free to message me and I can refer you somewhere where you can experience it. If you want to get a group of people together to press in deeper and spend time waiting on Him, I would love to do it with you. I know my family heritage is saturated with stories of the Glory of God showing up in times of worship and prayer. It is in my DNA, it is who I am. I never want to run away from it. The Glory of God is about to be poured out on the church in a way we have only dreamed of. But we have to want it. We have to be willing to have it change us. We have to be willing for it to not always look and sound perfect.
There is a stirring in the waters again, you can feel it all over this nation. Turn on voice competitions and you will hear worship exploding out of contestants who carry incredible anointings. The judges are stunned moved to tears and don’t even know why! I will tell you why, it is the tangible presence of Almighty God coming down in Love trying to reveal himself to us. The unsaved are Moved by true worshippers. They are not afraid. It is the presence of God that transforms them, draws them and his love is compelling them to draw deeper into his love. If we are afraid of showing the world the passionate love and presence of God through worship, we are missing God’s greatest gift the ability to connect with him on the other side of the rent veil.
I write this after a morning of horrible heavy attack. I’m telling you something real here, the enemy wants to steal your joy, your peace and what you feel God’s call is on your life. He did with me this morning. I contacted 2 of my closest friends one here and one on the other side of the world and begged them to pray for me. This stupid thing lifted as I came into agreement with them, rebuked the enemy asked for forgiveness to God for coming into agreement with those lies and God set me free.
Hallelujah! I know Gods purpose is good and He will make a way where there is no way!
I started off this post wanting to share with you 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 but God had something else in mind. Haha.
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. – 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Corinthians3:7-18&version=NKJV
No matter how crazy it might be – When God calls us to do something we need to be motivated out of faith not fear. The provision will always be there.
In 1 Kings 17 – 19 you will read the historical account of the prophet Elijah. Every time God called him to do something he was provided for. He was fed by Ravens with bread and meat 2 times a day in the desert. A poor Widow who God kept her bin and jar full of flour and oil to feed her son, Elijah and herself till the drought was over. Then Elijah had the world’s best wilderness room service, an Angel waking him up 2 times to eat the food it had prepared for him. That meal gave him enough strength to go 40 days and nights with nothing.
In between all of that were incredible signs of God’s miraculous power and miracles. Fire from heaven to consume an altar, raising the Widow’s son from the dead, declaring a drought has ended, God’s revelation to him on Mount Horeb after he ran from a queen who wanted to take his life.
He definitely did not have a boring life but one that required complete trust and faith in the one true God. Elijah was 100% human. And just like you and me he had a call on his life. He had a gifting, just like we all do. God asked him to do things that were crazy and required faith. Elijah obeyed and God came through. God never let him down and he will never let us down.
We are human but if we have received Christ as our savior and have been filled with the Holy Spirit – we have received HIS power and anointing inside of us! That is what equips us for everything he has called us to do.
Are you ready to do this with Him?
Read 1 Kings 17-19 and let your faith rise in our awesome God!
☀️There is nothing as valuable and refreshing as knowing how to hear the voice of God. Not only does He bring peace deep to my soul with from his words, if I am open and confident I have the honor to partner with Him to share His thoughts to other people. 🌈
Last night, God spoke to me over and over again while in worship. He reminded me of promises and visions he gave me in high school. A part of my purpose and hearts desires that I thought would never come to pass. He gave me a renewed hope and revealed how prayers decades ago are in part answered by what is taking place in the youth of our nation. The Buckets of tears💧 I cried in intercession in high school and college, he said back then every tear would be a soul saved🎉. Looking out at the thousands of youth from all over the country last night, they are the fruit of their parents who possibly came to Christ in the last 20 years. 🎁
Then I got to partner 🤝with him at the end of the service. I felt so strong that I was supposed to ask the people sitting next to me if they were youth pastors. I looked over and was nervous and about walked away. I heard God say my name very loud and very clearly. 📣When he says my name it kind of jolts me and I know I’m supposed to obey without a doubt. All I got before I stepped out was that they were youth pastors and they had something stolen away from them from someone they knew. And that God was going to pour back everything they have lost plus more. When I approached them, and they said they were youth pastors but have stepped away from it right now – I went for it. It is the first time in a long time that God gave me very specific words of knowledge and prophetic words of what’s going to happen for the husband and wife and even their daughter. Their astonished faces and nodding heads were the confirmation that everything was right on. It gave me even more confidence that I was really hearing correctly what God was saying. I can’t tell you how exciting and refreshing that is to be able to pour out to someone else a word of encouragement and Hope from God. It’s like nothing you can even compare to on Earth. Partnering with Heaven and releasing God’s word of life on earth.
This morning driving Isaac to GU, I was in a mess of tears again as God continued to speak to me about His purposes for my life. His word never returns void but ACCOMPLISHES what He SAID He would do. Hallelujah. Now God GO GET MY Boys! 👐
PRAY Until Something Happens – 2016Today I pray for our families. I pray that the fathers will live a life of purity and accountability with God. That they would be examples to our children and teach them how a young man should cleanse his way. That husbands would love their wives and uplift them. I pray for mothers that we would parent our kids with grace and love. That every word that comes out of our mouth would be in tone and content how the Lord would want us to speak. That as wives we would learn to honor and respect our husbands in word and deed.
Let our children experience the tangible presence of God so intensely that their destiny will be thrust into place. Let them walk in purity and holiness with a passion for You. Thank you that there is NO Jr. Holy Spirit. And greater things will be released through them this year. Let us and our children lay hands on the sick and see them healed, that the blind will see and the deaf will hear, the dead will be raised. No disease is impossible for Jesus to heal!!! HIS BLOOD PAID FOR EVERYTHING.
Most importantly that God would be the center of our homes that we would to walk and talk with Him throughout the day and allow His voice to direct our steps. That we would serve each other and the body of Christ with a willing heart. So the world will see Jesus in us THE HOPE OF GLORY and come to His loving arms. Father God come and move in our country. We lift you up and magnify your Holy Name. The name that is above all names. Come and stir your church to walk, talk and be your hands and feet to the world. Let the trembling that is felt in the spirit break forth demonstrations of your glory in a powerful way. Let health and wholeness which is our spiritual birthright be released over us that we might walk in your power and might. Jesus you have already won every battle! You are our captain and we stand at attention in your army.
Use us Lord, let us be a light in this word. You said if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Let us see this year every prodigal return, every hardened heart softened and salvation and restoration come to our loved ones. Thank you Father that greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world. We are MORE than Conquerors because of the blood of Jesus. And NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST US SHALL PROSPER!! HALLELUJAH AND AMEN!!
HOW TO TEACH OUR KIDS TO MAKE WISE GODLY DECISIONS. This verse arrested me this morning. I have been seeking God about something for one of my kids and God told me to turn to Hosea 10. Nothing hit me until I got to Verse 12 then it was like the Fourth of July went off in my spirit- there is more to the story that I will continue very soon.
What I can say now, is that I am so thankful we have taught our kids how to hear the voice of God. It is in times like this where God is directing my 12 year old’s path and even talked to my son before he talked to us his parents. Our conversation about this totally took us by surprise. We are teaching our son that having the feeling or a sense is not the only way we go about making decisions. When we feel like God is talking to us there are many confirmations we need to get before we make major decisions in our life. Even though he had a couple vivid dreams about this situation and really wanted to do it, we told him we need to dig in a little deeper to God’s heart and get confirmation in other ways. 🚦
1. We asked him if he had prayed about it. Yes, sincerely🙏🏻
2. Did he ask for advise from parents and pastors? 👍🏻Yes from us and he went on his own to talk to his pastor yesterday, which was easy because it is his (Papa) Grandpa Hjertstedt. The cool part was that we didn’t even tell him to do this, he did it on his own 😍
3. What confirmation has he seen in the Bible? 🔦 he hasn’t come to this part himself but the verse below did it for me. Reading it and studying its meaning gave me confidence and peace. Now I will ask him to see what God says to him from the Bible.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home in your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all its richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with His grace in your hearts. – Amplified
4. Is there an open door for the desired decision to happen? 🚪Need to knock and find out.
5. Provision? Is the financial part working out?💸 “If it is God’s WILL it is God’s BILL .” says my dad, Joel Hjertstedt
6. Do you have peace? Do your parents and pastors have peace? ✌Yes
Colossians 3:15 And let the peace (soul harmony) which comes from Christ rule (act as umpire) continually in your hearts deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state to which as members of Christ’s one body you were also called to live. And be thankful appreciative, giving praise to God always. -Amplified
Unfortunately, I know many adults who have never learned this process of making a wise godly decision. It breaks my heart and I hope this blesses you to see how we can go about making a decision and know we have followed God’s heart and lead down his path.
Here is a link to Joyce Meyers article about making good decisions. Definitely a confirmation.
Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness uprightness and right standing with God; reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you. (Amplified version)
5/29/15: UPDATED BELOW: (warning graphic) 3 ways to check how your innocent kids may be affected by unintentional trash on their electronics. Parents, if you have minor children in your house who have access to a iPhone, iPod, iPad or other brand devices, You need to read this! Have you done a check recently on what they have been engaging with? I would severely encourage you to set boundaries with your kids and have them realize their electronics are a privilege not a right and you have access anytime to do a check. And do it weekly if needed. With our kids they are required to tell us what the password is and give us access it anytime. When they try to swipe things up before they hand it over it puts me on edge. For those of you who need help in a technological way of how to look at their history here are three ways to do it
Go to:
Settings -General- Usage – Battery Usage (this will show you which apps or things they have had open in the last 24 hours or more)
The most important one is to check what they have been watching on the Internet. This can be done two ways: first go to Safari.
On Safari – click on the book in the toolbar below- then look at history
The next most important and most revealing is to go on to that YouTube app – clicked on the dashed lines in the top left-hand corner and select history. Many apps from games nowadays will ask kids if they want free coin by viewing a video. But the sinful crap that comes before their eyes and ears is something you will never be able to take away. I recommend removing any game that requires young kids to watch videos for free coins. The temptation is so great because any kid wants free coins. But what comes through the speakers would absolutely make you throw up like it did with me tonight. Even though my son said he never watches the videos he turns them over when they begin to play and does not listen to your phones, the level of filth I saw was beyond sick. I need to pray a cleansing prayer over myself from just what I saw (Pig in a Strip Club) need I say more!
Parents this is not legalistic and it is not taking away your kids choices, it is been a good parent. A parent that loves your kids. Parent who’s teaching them to make good choices. But sometimes kids need a revelation on what those choices are. God tells us to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart. (Proverbs 22:6)
Training doesn’t mean tell them one time and expect they will do it right every time. It is up to us to show them what a godly standard is.
Its when you see secretive behavior when you begin questioning kids that you know there is something there that is pricking their conscience. We cant give up asking questions and asking the Holy Spirit to bring to light what is hidden. If not there is a path of destruction drawing them in. We need to pray that God gives parents and guardians wisdom. On how to train our kids hearts. The temptation of this world is absolutely horrible and going to get worse. God have mercy on the parents of the last generation.
This Mobicip site is amazing. I just paid for the premium subscription and it is worth every penny. I just installed it on my kids devices. You can customize everything specifically and what is restricted as well as customize each of the 5 devices and their security level. Tim and I are getting set up on it now. This is the first program I have found that uses its own browser to help block restricted sites. I am so thankful God led me to this.
Article from Time Magazine on Christians and Pornography (Thank you to my friend Shara for sending this to me)
UPDATED 5/29/15
I would never post a picture like this except my son was just playing an Angry birds Transformer edition on my phone and clicked on the option to watch a video to get extra game rewards (which I have to sternly remind him he is not aslllowed to do) While he said he flipped the phone over while it was playing, my phone rang and this was what was on my screen when I hung up!!!!
I realize now I need to have as strict rules on my phone that I have set up for my kids. The video played inside the game app so I dont know if it would have been blocked anyways. I am one fired up mama!! YOUR KIDS COULD BE SEEING THIS EVERY DAY AND YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW!!! We have to be VIGILANT!!
Please check out this link for 10 steps to be free of porn addiction and masterbation
Live Life Out Loud For God 