The Christmas Trees

Men are like trees planted by the rivers of water.  Green and fertile because of faith in Him, producing fresh and bountiful fruits in season.  Gifts that are well preserved. Never dropping a leaf and always in blossom. Fat and full, chewing on Scripture day and night.
God leads them from place to place in victory parade. Through them, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere they go, people breathe in the exquisite, sweet fragrance. Because of Christ, they give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation.  Shining brighter in darkness, never hiding what they hear or how they live.  Each lit like a Christmas tree on a window, planted by God to display His glory.  Decorated with ornaments that are old.  The memories of who they were and where they came from. Sharing their stories.  The new ornaments embrace the new life they now live and speaking of hope for the future.  The stars a the top of each tree point the way to those that are looking for the One True King, born inside of them.  The angels join them in praise and worship all around.  Joy being fulfilled!


Revelation 2:7 (The Message)
Are your ears awake? Listen.  Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the Churches.  I'm about to call each conqueror to dinner.  I'm spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God's orchard.


Mark 8:24, Psalm 1:2-39(MSG), Galatians 5:22(MSG), John 15:5-8; Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon 7:13(MSG), 2 Corinthians 2:14-16(MSG), Matthew 25:7, Luke 8:16, Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 2:2, John 17:13

No Room in the Inn

Offense and rejection came rushing in like a flood. Just like two friends that are warmly welcomed in my house of pain. They know exactly when to knock on my door and I always end up needing help from my Savior to get them out.


I interviewed for the position and afterward was told that they chose someone else. The first time I went for it I felt like I hit a wall so hard my face was soar. It hurt to smile.  I was inspired and encouraged by all but in the end I was told it was not the right time for me. When the time finally came, I was invited to go through the process again. All seemed just right. This time I actually got to go through the interview process and grateful to be getting another shot, I took a chance. I felt great about it but when I left the interview I took a deep breath and realized that I had braced myself as if about to be punched in the stomach. The blow did come the very next day when I got the phone call and was told that someone else more qualified was offered the position.


As I began to process all of this, I remembered the story of Mary before giving birth to Jesus. How she had to travel a long and bumpy ride on a donkey to another town but when they arrived were told that there was no room in the inn for them. Here she is, pregnant and in labor with God’s only Son and getting the door shut in her face. Any one of us would have expected prior reservations and the welcoming arms of the King and Queen in the palace, because that makes sense to us. But that’s not the way God chose.  The good news is that no room for them in the inn could not stop God's promised Son from being born, but it is probably not how they expected it. 


I may be feeling like a woman who’s pregnant with twins, Purpose and Destiny.  Pregnant with promise.  Feeling uncomfortable and in pain from the hard and bumpy long ride. Needing and looking for a place to rest and give birth but also hearing the screeching loud voice telling me that there’s NO ROOM in this inn for YOU!!!


Not that any desired job or position is the ultimate destination here.  God really cares about the atmosphere that surrounds the people in the place you go to everyday because it has the potential to change everything.  It may not turn out the way we think or planned but it will be perfect in the end.  Trusting in God’s plan to direct us in the right direction requires patience because He’s not in a hurry and He has a time and a purpose for everything. 


I pray to the One Who is True, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. Rev.3:6-8, to be the One in charge of all the doors in my life.  I have to admit that it’s very hard on the flesh to see doors shutting before you.  I have to trust in the Lord’s protection over me and those that are mine. He knows what's best.  My spirit may know and recognizes the Lord’s peace about this not turning out the way I thought.  However, my flesh needs more time understanding why things happen the way they happen and is a constant work in progress.


It is here that His Spirit brings me comfort and tells me not to be afraid. He is with me to bring divine purpose and destiny into my life safely. He will fill the voids of my heart and any sense of emptiness resulting from the changes that are taking place, as I put my trust in Him.


My prayer is that anyone reading may be encouraged in their journey.  To know that the Lord has a great plan and purpose for everything we go through.  The hard places are not in vain and you can choose to see Him directing your steps if you ask Him. It may not be easy at times because we really don’t know the end from the beginning. But, we can trust in a God who does.  And He reminds us along the way that the road we travel is the path of triumph, no matter what.


Revelation 3:8 I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My Word, and have not denied My name.

4 Oaks Goes to Lima, Peru!

You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! Song of Songs 8:13

4 Oaks is preparing for Peru! A great time of ministry to women and moving forward with what was only a dream 2 years ago is coming up in January. 

We have so much to do to finish but I'm right in the middle of conquering the inner voices of doubt and fear, the little foxes that ruin the vine. (Song of Songs 2:15)

In the midst of the mountain of preparation, I realize that it's the reaffirming faith in Him and in His Word that enforces the triumph and victory of our Lord Jesus Christ in everything.

I'm asking Him to sanctify my ears, making them sensitive to hear what is holy and right.  Giving me the ability to remove myself from anything that would distract me from my focus.

To hear what He wants to say not what my flesh wants to hear.  Ears that are anointed to hear His voice with clear discernment. 

In Exodus 29, God had Moses cover Aaron by putting the blood on his right ear, thumb and toe. The ear to hear clearly and not be deceived, the thumb, so what he laid his hands to would be right and blessed and toe so that everywhere he went would be blessed and sanctified. 

I know this is God's desire for each of us and it's my prayer and declaration in faith today as we prepare for Peru.

I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him (her).  I will bring him (her), and he (she) will succeed in his (her) mission.. Isaiah 48:15 Amen!

LOL (laugh out loud)

Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 90 years of age because she looked away from her physical inability and judged God faithful to keep His word. But I can remember reading in the book of Genesis, that when God spoke to Abraham telling him they would have a son in their old age, Sarah was listening behind the tent door and laughed to herself. When the Lord asked her she denied it because she was afraid.

Sarah also suffered the danger of taking God’s promise in her own hands, suggesting that Abraham take her handmaid as wife in view of her barrenness, resulting in the birth of Ishmael. Not the promised son.

As I read her story, I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness and I’m encouraged because of the many times when I feel like have blown it with doubt and unbelief. He does not bring up the time I laughed when He called me to be a Pastor, “really Lord? Me?” and the time that I thought I needed to help Him speed things up, making the assumption that it was all about a position instead of a calling. I thank the Lord for protecting me from the right thing at the wrong time with a possible outcome of heartache and an Ishmael in my hands. Instead, He’s forgiving and pleased when I turn and believe.


They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean -Hebrews 8:12 (The Message)

I believe we will have a chance to read the books of remembrance that the Lord has on each of us, with the details of how we went through our tests and trials while on earth.  I believe they will read very similar to Sarah’s story in chapter 11, “By faith, (your name) received strength to conceive seed (My Word) when everything looked impossible, because she judged Him Faithful who had promised.

Every time I look at the clock and it says 11:11, I’m reminded of that scripture. I stop and thank Him, judging Him Faithful just like Sarah did, choosing to forget all obstacles and impossibilities that oppose His promises in my life.

What has God promised you? Just like Sarah, I pray that we all receive strength to conceive seed, His Word, and bear the fruit of His promises because we too judge Him faithful who has promised. But, if we laugh, I pray that it's in faith and out of the joy inside in expectation of all the great and mighty things that He said He would bring about.

Proverbs 31:25 (NLT)  She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.

His Bride

"Sometimes the treasure of our vision is buried so deep in the soil of disappointment, discouragement or disollusionment that we need help unearthing it.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us a prophetic word to restore our vision and encourage us to press past the pain to obtain the prize".  Heavy Rain by Kris Vallotton

I love the Lord's bride.  We are all His bride but I feel a special love for His women.  John 4:4 says that He had to go through Samaria to meet the Samaritan woman at the well.  This speaks so clearly of His pusuit of her.  Reminding me of when He found me, and how pleased He was to go there.  Loving me before I ever knew Him or did anything right in my life. Just like the Samaritan woman, the invisible women, hiding for different reasons but with a deep cry that only He hears.  A cry beyond words or tears.  Patient with our fears.  He comes to reveal Himself. 

He came to His diciples following the resurrection.  He even invited them to examine His wounds now so completely and miraculously healed.  He pressed in the reality of His victory to them.  They touched the tangible evidence of a resurrected, victorious Savior!

His love is amazing and His pursuit for His bride is the same today.  Only now He sends you and me to go through the Samaria's of our time by the leading of His Holy Spirit in us.  Through places we don't wish to go, but He does.  In the process, we are making it all about us and wondering if we did anything wrong to have to go through this path on our way to our destiny.  A detour we did not expect making us feel frustrated and impatient, to say the least. 

Just like He asked our Bible heros in the faith, He's asking us, Will you go? Can I take you through this unpleasant experience and we're still friends? Can you trust Me?

I was reading the book of Genesis, where Abraham was sending his servant to find his son's wife.  Telling him that the angel of the Lord will go with him to make his journey successful, and to take a wife for his son from his relatives.  Abraham's father's house.  The servant went and prayed to the Lord asking for success on his journey with a specific sign.  And it was just as he had prayed, that the Lord showed him Rebekah with the sign he had asked from the Lord.  Gen. 24:13-27

I'm believing that we are sent out just as Abraham's servant was.  Jesus is now sending us to bring His bride back to Him, and through this scripture is inspiring me to pray the same prayer as Abraham's servant.   Asking the Lord, to make the journey on which I go successful everyday.  To help me stand by the spring He chooses where his daughters are coming out to draw water.  The place they come to get their needs met, wherever that may be.  To watch for His chosen ones and bring them back to Him.  To see Him in signs and wonders discovering glimpses of His glory in her.  He waits.....  To bring her back to the place where He reveals Himself to her and shows her the tangible evidence of a resurrected, victorious Savior!!  O' how He loves us!

there's something about women in one place with one accord that creates a Mary and Elizabeth thing. the babies leap, the visions come back and encouragement occurs ~ TD Jakes

Revelation 22:17 ‘And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!”

Help is On the Way!

Help's coming, an answer's on the way and everything's going to work out.  You are abundantly free!  He thought of everything you could possibly need and He let you in on the plans He took such delight in making.  Before you heard of Him and got your hopes up, He had His eye on you, had designs on you for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He's working out in everything and everyone.  Remember that He gets the last word.  You're not the only one plunged into hard times.  keep a firm grip on the faith.  It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for you in Christ, eternal and glorious plans they are! - will have you put together and on your feet for good.  Amen!

Psalm 20:6 (The Message); Ephesians 1:7-12 (The Message); 1 Peter 5:8-11 (The Message)

I Want More

Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Psalm 115:14 May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children.

Luke 2:40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him

Prayer

Lord, we pray to know more practically, through experience for ourselves, Your love, which surpasses mere knowledge.  We pray for increase in capacity to receive heaven and deliver heaven.  In ability and service.  Sensitivity of God and His direction.  In wisdom, tenderness and capacity of love and cultivate love and honor.  Increase in skill and experience.  Introduce us to the experience of love bringing benefit, freedom and healing.  Grow us unto maturity.  Strong in spirit.  To build on what we've been given, complementing our basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love.  To learn how to be content whatever our circumstances.  Lacking nothing.  Amen!

2 Peter 1:5-9 (The Message); Phlippians 4:12 (The Message)