Repentance After the Rain

     We had a really good hard rain on Saturday night where I live. On Sunday morning, I spontaneously found myself out in my front yard, having gone to simply uproot what looked through the window to be a tiny, yet growing and out of place, tree in my front flower bed area. It occurred to me that it would be relatively easy to pull up due of the wet soil and to remove it from where it didn't belong. So, I randomly and somewhat suddenly, stepped outside to yank it, thinking I'd be right back inside momentarily, enjoying the remainder of my coffee.

     Well, you know how that goes. An hour and a half later, I had finally finished pulling up every tiny rooted-in tree that had infiltrated the flower bed (which really only houses landscaping bushes). There were so many, it was crazy. There are a lot of nearby trees in the yard, which inevitably dropped their seeds, or seeds were blown, into the unapproved area. After pulling up the first few with such ease, I couldn't stop myself. It was like popping those addictive bubbles on the bubble wrap that protects fragile items in the mail. There is something mysteriously satisfying about the completion of the task.

     Anyways, as I continued into my diversion of uprooting the multitudes of misplaced baby trees, I couldn't stop thinking about how easily they were coming out, as a result of the night-before rains. Somewhere along the way, I felt Father download a message into my spirit. I heard: "The easiest time to pull out the weeds is after a good hard rain." I know, that's super spiritual, right? But, upon deeper listening, I heard what He meant. It reminds me of the scripture verse that says there is a season for all things. Some seasons are intended for uprooting the stuff that doesn't belong, or is getting in the way of new growth and threatening to overtake the scenery.

     Then my thoughts took me to what my eyes had been seeing just prior to the outbreak of the disease pandemic affecting the whole world. At the top of my radar had been the strong move of the Holy Spirit I was observing, coming from multiple corners of the world, and primarily among the young adult population. It had captivated my heart and attention, as I watched multitudes pouring out their love and affection on their heavenly Father in worship and song. It wasn't just coming from a few sources. Thanks to the internet, I was alerted to its happening in different parts of the country and the world, coming from both large and small venues. I loved watching the adoration and uninhibited love pouring forth as people's hearts seemed to be bleeding for their Abba Daddy. It was a thing of beauty to these eyes, and fueled the fire which had been stoked within my own spirit.

     Well, the Lord seemed to whisper to me that that which I had been seeing, and even personally experiencing, was indeed a form of outpouring: "a good, hard rain" of the Holy Spirit, if you will. Many souls were being awakened to a newly-fanned flame of fire. But, I had also heard within my spirit, pretty early on after all of life got highjacked by the virus, that there was a huge opportunity looming within the chaos, for all persons to repent. I could hear it deep inside my spirit, as if John the Baptist, himself, were declaring to me personally to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The sentiment only continued to grow, as time marched forward, and things ramped up.

     I feel like we had just gone through a season of new outpouring of the Spirit of God, but that now we would do well to allow God to do a little gardening in our lives. It's a time to let the Lord pull out the "weeds" that seem to have inevitably accumulated in our souls. We have grown so accustomed to this sin-riddled existence, that it is likely that we scarcely know how far off we actually are from His intended purpose and vision for us. I'm sure repentance is the order of the day. I feel it is for me. Hopefully, the soil of our hearts has been saturated with a good hard rain, thereby making it all the easier for Him to painlessly (for us) and somewhat effortlessly (as we cooperate with Him and align ourselves with His higher ways) to uproot even the most well-concealed of our pet sins... say, the ones we've gotten the most comfortable with.

     We have a choice. This can be done the hard way or the easy way. But, one way or another, we will bow the knee to our Maker. Why not take advantage of the opportunity while the soil of our heart is soft and malleable? Let Him root out that which is only holding you back from your freedom, anyways. All of our pet sins come with tentacles attached that we can't see; they serve to keep us bound up, unable to move about freely in our new wineskins. They are working against us, and certainly against Him. For everything that is not for Him is against Him.

     As one will note, the uprooting of the weeds will be an ongoing necessity, demanding our attention until Jesus comes back to this earth to set all things aright. I suppose it is like hair cuts... or nails that have to be repeatedly trimmed. You can let them go unattended for awhile, but it won't be long before you realize that it is actually not working in your favor to let them get out of control. As I contemplated the need to rid the flower bed of "weeds," my mind was drawn for some reason to the act of deliverance. Suddenly, that word took on a simpler implication for me. Deliverance doesn't have to have a bad or scary connotation attached to it, as if to indicate that one must have, in some way, been in the wrong in order to have needed such a thing as a "deliverance." Its need for the Believer may likely be more akin to the concept of pulling weeds out of a garden, so that it can be as beautiful as intended. For a believing follower of Jesus, "deliverance" may well be viewed as somewhat of a routine maintenance involving the removal of unlovely spiritual or demonic (yeah, I used the "d" word) "weeds" that have inadvertently, or otherwise unknowingly, emerged in the garden of our soul.

     Again, I realize that ultimately we all will be delivered, one way or another. But, without my allowing for God's divine deliverance from ugly and damaging growth within my body, which is the Body of Christ, I imagine His garden to be quite overrun and threatened by... well, ... tares I guess, or what looks like them, anyways. Hmm... interesting, that.

     What I know is that if I expect the seed of God's word to be able to fully bear fruit and flourish in the garden of my heart, I better recognize when it has been amply watered and prepared by the Holy Spirit's outpouring. I would do well then to be ready to cooperate with whatever form of deliverance may be awaiting my surrender. My point is, deliverance is a tool God uses to do spiritual surgery. It's just a matter of my letting God pull out the weeds that are threatening to choke the life out of me... and His kingdom.
   

It's Already Been Stored Up

Father, what do You say? Here am I... listening.  Waiting to record your words...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...


It is not believed that I store up the wealth of the wicked for the righteous. You all sit around in paralyzation, wishing you could do this or that, which I put upon your heart to begin with.
But, then you balk. You hope that someone else will someday be able to step up to get it done.

All the while, a void of space is left in that place. It sits unoccupied, barely begun to be dreamt up, just in time to be all-too-quickly abandoned. And, why? Because of your lack of faith. You simply do not believe My words. There is so much expanse left uncolored; it's drastically more space than that which is colored in. How much of it will be left uncolored? That's My question to you?

I have given you a picture to fill in with My color and to bring to completion. But, you consistently choose to operate in unbelief. As if the task is yours to fund. If I put the idea in your heart, did I forget to calculate the cost? Did I fail to notice your limitations? I tell you I did not.

Have I not said that My ways are higher than yours? Where you are small and incapable, I am big and more than able. Why do you give one second's thought to the how? What business is that of yours? Oh, for you to believe Me, Maker of heaven and earth. Is anything too difficult for Me?

Your brain hears limitation, leading to hesitation. It is not attuned to liberation's designation. Your mind is fogged over, causing your sense of reality to be smudged into sin's warping.

Are My resources stretched to the max... like yours? If so, I must be in trouble. Who do you think gives the ideas to you? Are you coming up with them on your own? Do you dare take credit? Can you think on a grander scale than I? Forget not: I Am Lord.

Why do you run around parroting the lie, reciting "Lack!" "Lack!" Am I in lack? Have I ever been? Where have you heard this report? Is it in My Church? It ought not be. It is not I. For, I would NEVER speak such an atrocity. That is out of line with My character, not to mention being heretical.

They scream heresy about the wrong things. Yet, what do I call heresy? Does it matter?

You will never complete My heart's dreams coming through you, so long as you believe you are limited. Either I said it, or I didn't. Do you know Me to be a liar?

"The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous." Prov. 13:22b

When you wonder where the money is going to come from, surely, I tell you that it is being stored up... for you. Unbeknownst to them.

To store is to keep or accumulate (something) for future use. Yes, while they are busily working harder and harder to attain all that they can. They do not even realize that they are actually doing it for you. Why? Because I have made it so. I reserve the plenty for My purposes. It is for those who will take Me up on My word. Not all will. But for those who do, ... Selah.

Let the coloring proceed.

"I will give you the treasures of darkness [the hoarded treasures] and the hidden riches of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by by name." Isa. 45:3

To All Who Have Ears To Hear:

Be ready!!  In season and out of season.

Are you ready to be called upon? Your turn is almost up.

Others have gone before you, and have had to step up to the cause in front of them.

Now it is your turn. Be ready!! Are you prepared?

You will be called upon unexpectedly and instantaneously.

Everything in the spirit, which you have been storing up over the course of your lifetime, will be unapologetically demanded of you.

Though, the cause in front of you will be immediate... no time to contemplate or pray about it.

In a heartbeat I will point to you, and just as suddenly as the spotlight highlights you, you be placed on display for the world to see. But, they won't see you; they will see Me, as I demonstrate My power and might.

Because My love has won your heart, you are the perfect candidate. For the purity of your heart's desire doesn't accommodate a need for recognition. Your choice not to compete for such will be noted and beautifully baffling to others.

So, let the light shine... while you bask in its destination. It is there, where we meet, again. The same place where you've already been Sonbathing.

Well, Hallelujah!

     I finally made it! This will be my new home for awhile.