At Home in God

We can enjoy the presence of God continually in our hearts and in our homes. Jesus says, “Abide in Me.” Abide means to stay with, or to live or dwell with. He wants to make His home in our lives. He promises to never leave us—it is we who stray. As a child of God, I want to be with my Papa.

Noah walked habitually with God. (See Genesis 6:9 Amplified.) This is how God wants us to dwell/live with Him. This was His original purpose and His purpose today, right now for each one of us—to dwell in His awesome presence, to make our home with Him moment by moment.

God wants to dwell with us wherever we go—including our homes, our dwellings. God is a dwelling God. He desires to dwell with His people on earth.

When John saw his vision he “heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (See Revelation 21:3.)

Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house…pleasing to God. (See 1Peter 2:5.)

The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing—to walk with God and talk with God as we go through our day. In the Old Covenant they built altars to burn a sacrifice to earn the right or to become worthy enough to enter God’s presence. In the new covenant we no longer offer a burnt sacrifices, for Jesus is the lamb that was slain that takes away the sins of us all. We now offer ourselves as a “living sacrifice” to God (See Romans 12:1). Each day we consecrate or devote ourselves and our family to live for God, which is our “reasonable service” to Him.

Jesus said, “Dwell in Me and I will dwell in you.” (See John 15:4.)

King David prayed, “O God, my soul finds shelter in You, yes, in the shadow of Your wings.” (See Psalm 57:1.)

When we live in unbroken fellowship with God, and enjoy His presence 24/7 everywhere we go, we are inseparable with Him and our whole lives are changed. He causes a thankfulness to rise up within us. He compels us to love, to give Him praise, and to worship Him. He gives us eyes to see things the way He does. Our values become like His and more and more we honor and appreciate eternal things more than temporal. The fruit of His Holy Spirit, the love, joy, peace etc., permeate our lives.

Jesus said, “Lo I am with you always.” He is with us in the grocery store, the bank, our laundry rooms, our yards, our cars--how can we NOT have Him in our homes?

I pray, “My dear Lord and King, wherever You are is my home and Your home is with me—how glorious to be together all the time. In You I live and move and have my being. I offer myself to be a place for You to dwell.”

“I am restless till I rest in You, O God.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuhYZrn4flo  Song: Restless by Audrey Assad.

Wrestle the Enemy

Ephesians 6:12 We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

HOLY SPIRIT, I LOVE YOU!

HOLY SPIRIT, I LOVE YOU! 

Derek Prince--Quote from book, "Bought With Blood." One of the keys to success in the Christian life is learning to relate to the Holy Spirit as a Person. If we invite Him in and fulfill the conditions, the Holy Spirit will come to us as a Person. We must learn to relate to Him as a Person. Make friends with Him; He is a good Person to be friendly with!

Fragrant Aroma

Our sweet love relationship with Papa creates a fragrant aroma, like a rose garden in the summer sunshine! 

I want to KNOW You, Lord!

We raise our voice and cry out to You, Lord, for wisdom and we search for it as for hidden treasure, so that we can KNOW YOU MORE and MORE! I want to intimately KNOW You, Lord. (See Proverbs 2:3-5.)

Every Great Movement of God

‎"Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure." ~D.L. Moody

The Extravagant Love of God

This summer when I was in Germany I had a dream one of the first nights I was there. I don’t dream very often, so when I do I pay attention. In my dream Papa God was running towards me with His arms outstretched to greet me. He wore a long coat of many colors, like Joseph, with a rainbow of colors, glistening and gorgeous. As He wrapped His arms around me, the long, colorful robe came onto me. I admired the length of it on myself and smiled at Papa—still wearing the robe Himself. Then He lovingly placed some leather sandals on my feet, a thick wreath of colorful flowers on my head, and a red ribbon sash over one shoulder, like I had won a beauty pageant. He took an opal ring off His finger and put it on mine, with the biggest, most beautiful opal, full of fire and sparkle. I felt overcome by Papa’s love for me to give me such gifts. He kissed me on the head and said, “My child, I will give you everything you need, when you need it.”

Papa God placed a colorful wreath of flowers on my head.

When I awoke I still felt God’s loving presence, sweet and thick around me. I quickly wrote down every detail of the dream and thought about the verse, “God gives to His beloved in sleep.” On the flight to Germany I had read “Dream Language” a book by James Goll  about how God gives His people revelation and encounters with Him, even in our sleep, and we should be ready and even expecting to receive—and ready to write them down so we don’t forget them. In his book he cites the many stories in the Bible of God giving revelations to people in their dreams. After I wrote down my dream, I prayed and asked Papa to give me the full meaning of it.

A few days later, on August 31, 2012, I was privileged to attend a Global Legacy Conference put on by Bethel Church of Redding, California and hosted in Germany by the Duisburg Church of Christ (or as they say in Germany: Cristus-Gemeinde Duisburg) and translated by Pastor Martin Spreer. The speaker was Paul Manwaring from Bethel. I bought Paul’s newest book (It is excellent!) “What on Earth is Glory?” and asked him to sign it inside. As I greeted him I said, “I’m from Washington State—here in Germany for two weeks.” He laughed and said, “Wow! You traveled a long way to come and hear me speak!” Hahaha!

Paul spoke on the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. He said this is one of the most important texts of the whole Bible and the story should be renamed, “The Extravagant Father.” I did not put it together until he said it—this is my dream! I was like the son returning home AND the older son too. These verses have become the some of the most precious Bible verses to me because I came to realize My Papa loves me like that—with an extravagant love! Tears dropped on the pages of my Amplified Bible as the verses spoke straight to me.

Papa says…

“You are always with Me and all that is Mine is yours. You are My heir, My darling child. I have given you My robe of righteousness and you are perfectly sinless to Me and oh SO beautiful! I give you freedom from the law of sin and death to enjoy My love and abundant life now and forever. It is time to make merry, play music, dance, revel and be happy and rejoice in all I give to you! I love you dearly, My child.”