IN DEBT to the Believer and the Unbeliever
"Both to Greeks and to barbarians
(to the cultured and the uncultured), both to the wise and to the foolish,
I have an obligation to discharge and a duty to perform and a debt to pay."
Romans 1:14 (Amp
)

21 October 2011

My Determined Purpose

"For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, 
that I may progressively become more deeply 
and intimately acquainted with Him,
perceiving and recognizing and understanding
the wonders of His Person more strongly 
and more clearly, and that I may in some way 
come to know the power outflowing 
from His resurrection which it exerts over believers, 
and that I may share His sufferings 
as to be continually transformed in spirit 
into His likeness even to His death."
Philippians 3:10 


"For my determined purpose is....."
As I come to my prayer place, my secret place, and open my bible to this Word, it goes deep into my spirit and stirs a holy determination and resolve to lock into this prayer and scripture and begin to draw upon it and suck the rich sap out of it. As a branch in this living Vine of Jesus Christ, I want and need to bear the fruit and life of the One I'm connected to. This heartfelt desire to see His power flowing in my life that God may be glorified and that the world may see and know that Jesus is still alive and living in and through me draws me to this scripture and causes the passions of my heart to stir and resonate within me.

So my determined purpose is.....to know Him, to progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him. I want the intimacy of our relationship to be richer and deeper everyday. I want to know the deep things of His heart, the things that stir and move Him with compassion. I want to perceive and recognize and understand the wonders of His Person stronger and deeper and clearer everyday. And in that same way, I want to come to know the power out flowing from His resurrection, the power of that born again life, a life that's empowered with a supernatural life-giving and life-generating spirit.

"And that I may share His sufferings....." When I read this part my first thoughts were His sufferings on the cross and the pain, torture and torment that led up to it, but the Holy Spirit (my prayer partner sitting here with me) led me to reflect on the sufferings of Jesus' heart that led and propelled Him to the cross, the pain and sufferings of His heartfelt compassion that He had for the hurting, suffering and lost people that were disconnected from the Father and that had no hope unless the price of His life and the shedding of His blood was given. It's that suffering, that heartfelt compassion that I want to share with Jesus, that I may know His heart more intimately and respond to the things that move His heart, and that this same compassion and love that Jesus had would propel me to the cross to crucify my flesh, my selfish self-centered nature and any resistance to His heart and perfect will concerning others, and that my heart, my motivations and my actions would be lived out of this new resurrected life in Christ. By this I will be "continually transformed in spirit into His likeness and even to His death" that I may experience His resurrection and the power of this new resurrected life.

So Lord, this is my determined purpose. This is my passion and the focus of my life, that I may know You more intimately and more personally, and that I may perceive and recognize and understand more fully the wonders of Your Person. You ARE my life, and I draw upon You as my source daily that You may be revealed and lived out of me more fully and more visibly everyday. Help us, Lord, as Your Body to seek to know You more personally and intimately and to take every trial and test as an opportunity to see and know Your heart and to trust You more fully.   Amen
 

15 October 2011

In Debt - With a Duty to Perform


In Debt
to the Believer and the Unbeliever


“Both to Greeks and to barbarians 
(to the cultured and the uncultured), 
both to the wise and to the foolish, 
I have an obligation to discharge, and a duty to perform, 
and a debt to pay."
Romans 1:14 (Amp)


I am in debt – not to this world system but to the believers and unbelievers that live in this world, in debt to share the Christ in me.

I am crucified with Christ; it’s no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me.  As a believer, a child of God, a joint heir with Christ, as a carrier of the Christ in me, I am in debt to you and to the unbeliever. Rather you be rich or poor, cultured or uncultured, I am obligated to tell you about the good news of Jesus Christ, to let you in on what is yours through a surrendered life to Christ, through embracing the work of the cross, through the victory that He has accomplished for you and for me over 2000 years ago.  I’m compelled to tell others who it is that lives in me and what it is that He did for me and can do for them.

Christ set me free from the bondages of this world, from its greedy, idolatry, materialistic and controlling nature.  He forgave my sins, canceled my debt, and brought me into a life surrendered to His service, a life protected and provided for by His hand, a life led, guided, and empowered by His Holy Spirit.  He gave me purpose and vision and led my steps through fiery trials to test me and strengthen me for service.

When I was yet dead in my sins and in the uncircumcision of my flesh (still in my sinful and carnal nature) God made me alive together with Christ, having freely forgiven me of my sin.  He canceled my debt and took the note with all its legal decrees and demands that stood against me, and He took it out of the way and nailed it to the cross, and then He disarmed rulers and authorities, powers of fear, lack, insecurity, doubt and unbelief, and He made a bold and a public display out of them by His triumphing over them through Him on the cross. (Col. 2:13-15) God took care of my enemies for me.

From the very beginning God had a plan and a purpose and a destiny for me that no devil in hell could stop if I would just embrace by faith what His Son Jesus did for me.  So I did and His purpose and plan began to unfold for me. As I embraced the work of the cross, it released the power of the truth to be released and activated in my life. His life by His Spirit is my very breath that I breathe in daily.

Now, by His grace, He is making me debt-free to this world's system, but I Am IN DEBT to the world, to you and to those that don’t know the truth.  For my freedom came from Christ, and it’s Christ that came to set us free.  Therefore I must share the truth of God’s Word with you, for you shall know the truth, and the truth will set YOU free.

It’s Christ in me, the hope of glory, called according to His purpose, appointed by His grace.  I didn’t choose Him, but He chose me and appointed me, that I should bear fruit and that my fruit should remain and that whatever I asked the Father in His Name, He would do it for me.

He chose me to live out a life in Christ, a life empowered by His Holy Spirit, a life that would magnify and glorify Jesus Christ to the world.  Before I was born, when I was still in my mother’s womb, He knew me and called me, appointed me for service, set me apart for a divine work and assignment in the earth, one that I would not know for years to come.  But before the foundation of the earth, He predestined me for this work and this assignment that He had prepared beforehand that I should walk in.  And along with this assignment, He provided for me all the tools and equipment I would need to carry it out.  He gave me the direction, the wisdom, the strength, the grace, the teachers, the anointing and everything I would need to accomplish and complete it.

First came the drawing and calling (the answering and surrendering), then came the purifying and equipping (the fire and the testing), then came the commissioning and empowering (the assignment and the anointing), and then the sealing and the sending out.  The years in the wilderness of testing, purifying and preparation are by far the hardest, but they are the most rewarding, for it’s there that the old man and the old nature are truly crucified, changed and conformed and brought forth into the new man, molded, shaped, yielded and equipped for his destiny.

God has a plan, a system, a way He works in all of our lives to bring us out of ourselves and into His divine nature and plan.  He uses everything in our lives to mold and shape and equip us, to discipline and mature us for the greater work that He has created us for.  The degree of our yieldedness and obedience effects the length of time spent in the wilderness.  Surrender early and consistently.  Yield to the work of the Master’s hand that you may be the vessel of honor and blessing that you were created to be, that you may grow and shorten your time in the wilderness, reaching your Promised Land more quickly.

Each one of you is designed for a unique and predetermined work and assignment in the kingdom of God.  God’s created you with a purpose and a destiny that is unique to you, that will glorify Him and that will bring redemption to this world.  No matter what age you are, your life’s purpose and destiny is hidden with Christ in God as well. It’s hidden with your life IN Christ.  As you embrace Jesus, a life crucified and dead to sin, a life dead to selfishness and to this world’s system and its self-centered ways, you will begin to uncover and discover who you really are and what you were created for.  It’s already there for you, but it’s found through a life that embraces the cross, that feeds on the Word and that’s filled with the Spirit.  It’s a journey of discovery, a journey of transformation, a journey of love – finding and discovering the love of the Father through the love of His Son, Jesus, by the working of His Holy Spirit that transforms you and that will transform the world, one person, one family, one church, one city and one nation at a time.

Discover God’s love.  The entries found in this blog are words given by the Holy Spirit, walked out on the stepping stones of His Word, and shared prayerfully that you may discover His love, and that your life may be transformed into His image and into who and what you’ve been created for.  Enjoy the journey.  I pray as you read and pray through these blog entries that you will be enriched and blessed so that you may be a blessing and an instrument of His grace and wisdom to others.

Advancing the Kingdom together,
HisHeartSeeker




13 October 2011

God's Blessings on Our Obedience


Promises of God's Blessings
Upon Our Obedience

Deuteronomy 28:1-14


"Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God.
Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
The Lord will cause your enemies to rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and shall flee before you seven ways.
The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in His ways.
So all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of you.
And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
The Lord will open for you His good storehouses, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
And the Lord shall make you the head and not the tail, and you only shall be above, and you shall not be underneath, if you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them." 

Lord, thank You for Your promises of blessings upon our lives when we obey and follow Your Word and leading in our lives. Thank You that You are our Father, and no good thing do You withhold from them that walk uprightly. Thank You , Father, that every good and perfect gift is from above, and that You lavish good things on us as we walk in faith and obedience with You. Thank You, Father, that when we honor You from our wealth and from the first of our produce, You cause our barns and our accounts to be filled with plenty, and our vats and vessels to overflow with new wine. When we obey You and honor You by bringing our whole tithe into the storehouse so that there is food in Your house, You open up for us the windows of heaven, and You pour out upon us a blessing that there is not room enough to receive it, and You rebuke the devour for our sake.
O Father, You are a faithful God, a patient, loving and wise Father. Thank You for teaching us Your ways so that we may lead blessed and healthy lives and so that our lives may abound and glorify Your name. To You be all the glory and honor and praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen

Ps 84:11; James 1:17; Prov 3:9,10; Mal 3:10,11

12 October 2011

The Face of Jesus


The Face of Jesus


Understand that the knowledge of God is found 
in the face of Jesus.

 "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not of ourselves."
( 2 Corinthians 4:6)

"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 3:18) 

As we behold Him, we are made like Him, we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, from revelation to revelation, by the Spirit of God.

When I want to know who I am - I look at the face of Jesus. He gives me my identity. He gives me the power and authority and the direction and leading for my life.

YOU ARE my identity, Jesus.
You are my life.
You are my purpose.
You are my passion.
You are my strength.
I am being changed and transformed into Your image as I gaze upon You and look into Your face.
My life becomes an extension of You.
My heart is joined with Yours, and I begin to feel those things that move Your heart.
You baptize me with Your Spirit and with Your love (Your fire) so that everything I say and do is done and motivated by Your love.
With this baptism of fire, my heart begins to burn.
With this baptism of fire, comes a strength and a boldness upon me, a power and authority that rises up within me.
I feel an empowerment of Your Spirit to lay hands on the sick and speak LIFE to those things that are dead or that are dying.
Your Spirit comes to give life, and You are enduing me with power to give life. My hands will heal and my words will create and bring forth life, and it will all be done by the Spirit of the living God that is flowing in me and through me.
You have chosen me as Your vessel, and You are making me a prophet to the nations to speak Your Word and Your heart to the people.
Those things You did, I will do also, and greater things will I do, because You go to the Father, You are seated at His right hand, and You are making intercession for me, even right now.
Jesus, I receive Your outpouring. I receive Your baptism. I receive Your anointing.
You are making me a covenant to the people to open blind eyes, to impart and release to them the good news that the life of the living God indwells them and that the fire of that indwelling life will burn up the dross and all the remains and remnants of the sin nature in them. 
I carry this treasure (the life and fire of the living God) in this earthen vessel, to show and prove that the surpassing greatness of the power that is being revealed, is of God and not of myself.
We ARE His precious vessels, carriers of His presence and anointing. He has chosen us. We did not choose Him, and He has appointed us that we should bare fruit, and that our fruit should remain, and that whatever we ask the Father in His Name, He would do it.

The hour has come that the Father shall glorify the Son through us. 
This is Your hour. This is for Your glory.
We thank You, Father, Pour it out. We receive it. 
It's all for Your Glory.
Amen and amen

11 October 2011

God is a Consuming Fire


God is Love
and He is a Consuming Fire.
1 Jn 4:16; Heb 12:29


The Lord said: "I remember the devotion of your youth, when you were running hard after Me, when your heart was on fire for Me, when I was your portion and My Word was your daily delight, when every hour and every thought was consumed in Me.
I remember those times, and they brought Me great joy. But then as you followed Me into the wilderness where I would test you and mature you, you began to exchange the glory that rested on you for that which does not profit. In the pressures and challenges of the wilderness, you began to lose eye contact with Me, and you let your eyes be taken captive by the surrounding circumstances. You became weak, and you forsook Me, the fountain of living waters, and you began to hew for yourself cisterns, broken cisterns that could hold no water. You began to find other lovers, ones that you gave your time and attention to, ones that caused your heart to be dull and unresponsive to Me.
But My heart became jealous for you, and I could hold back no longer. In the fire of My passionate love for you, I came after you. I sought after you and took you back as My own. I released My fire and consumed My enemies, those lovers that had robbed Me of My precious beloved. I could wait no longer. My jealous love for you burned in My heart, and I brought you back close to My heart, and now I refuse to let you go. Now I set your heart on fire and ablaze with My love, and together our hearts will be one, flaming with the Father's love for the world, and together we will bring many into the kingdom. We will shine our light and release His love, and many will see and hear and believe."


"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Matthew 3:11

09 October 2011

Our Bridal Quest


Our Bridal Quest
To Discover and Uncover God's Love
In Him, In Us, and In Others


Our primary assignment is to love God.
    In Matt. 22:36-39 Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

It's easy to love God - He's just good and He IS love. Loving others is not so easy, and that's because we haven't learned to love ourselves.  We tend to focus on our faults and shortcomings, our failures and our weaknesses.  We need to discover our value, our worth, the treasure we are to God even in our weaknesses and shortcomings, even when we seem to be failing and unsuccessful in the world's eyes.  We need to learn to see and view ourselves as God sees us.  And He shows us and gives us His eyes as we read His Word.  He unfolds His vision and view of us through His Word.

Father, I want to see myself as You see me.

The Father begins to reply:
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.  
Do not say, 'I am a youth', because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.
Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.  See I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
I have made you today as a fortified city, as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land.  And they will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you," declares the Lord.  (Jer. 1:5,7,10,18,19)

And I have called you in righteousness. And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeons, and those who dwell in darkness from prison." (Is 42:6,7)

I called you from your mother's womb. From the body of your mother I named you, and I have made your mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of My hand I have concealed you. And I have made you a select arrow, and I've hidden you in My quiver. And it is in you that I will show My glory.
I will make you a light to the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Kings shall arise and princes shall also bow down; because it is I, the faithful One, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. (Is 49:1-3,6b,7b)

You did not choose Me, but it is I who has chosen you, and I have appointed you, that you should go and bare fruit, and that your fruit should remain, and that whatever you asked Me in the name of My Son Jesus, I would do it for you. (John 15:16)

In a favorable time I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; and I am keeping you and giving you as a covenant to the people, to restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages, saying to those who are bound, 'Go forth', to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.'
I have put My heart of compassion in you, and He who has compassion on them will lead them, and guide them to springs of water. (Is 49:8-10)

For it is no longer you that is living now, but it is My Son, Jesus, that is living in you and through you, and those things that He did, now you will do also, and greater things will you do, because He comes to Me, He comes making intercession for you. He is praying and petitioning Me on your behalf. His blood has restored you into your kingdom inheritance. I give it all to you now. You have access into all My kingdom riches, and all that you need is at your disposal, that you might subdue the earth, multiply, increase and glorify My name. (Ga;2:20;Jn 14:12;Rom 8:34)

So, know that you are surrounded with My favor as with a shield, that you abound in My grace and favor. (Ps 5:12)
And that My Spirit is upon you, for I have anointed you to bring good news to the afflicted, to the distressed and the oppressed. I have sent you to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners, and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of your God. You are to comfort all who mourn, giving them beauty for ashes, and the oil of gladness for their mourning. You are to release the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness, and you will be called an oak of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that I may be glorified. (Is 61:1-3)

Instead of your shame I am giving you a double portion
I have wrapped you in a robe of righteousness. (Is 61:7,10)
The abundance of the sea will be turned to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you." (Is 60:5)

And in this day I am raising you up to be an end-time voice for Me. Open your mouth and I will fill it."

Then the Lord said: "I remember the devotion of your youth, when you were running hard after Me, when your heart was on fire for Me, when I was your portion and My Word was your daily delight, when every hour and every thought was consumed in Me.
I remember those times, and they brought Me great joy. But then as you followed Me into the wilderness where I would test you and mature you, you began to exchange the glory that rested on you for that which does not profit. In the pressures and challenges of the wilderness, you began to lose eye contact with Me, and you let your eyes be taken captive by the surrounding circumstances. You became weak, and you forsook Me, the fountain of living waters, and you began to hew for yourself cisterns, broken cisterns that could hold no water. You began to find other lovers, ones that you gave your time and attention to, ones that caused your heart to be dull and unresponsive to Me.
But My heart became jealous for you, and I could hold back no longer. In the fire of My passionate love for you, I came after you. I sought after you and took you back as My own. I released My fire and consumed My enemies, those lovers that had robbed Me of My precious beloved. I could wait no longer. My jealous love for you burned in My heart, and I brought you back, close to My heart, and now I refuse to let you go. Now I set your heart on fire and ablaze with My love, and together our hearts will be one, flaming with the Father's love for the world, and together we will bring many into the kingdom. We will shine our light and release His love, and many will see and hear and believe."


Thank You, sweet Jesus.
I am my Beloved's and He is mine.