God wants Me (and you too)

God wants me (and you) to trust Him to be who He created me (us) to be.  That is the person He will use to move mountains, that is the person He will use to feed the five thousand with just a little bread and dried up salty fish.  The lie of our whole culture is the person (family, life, home, etc...) we were born with is not good enough and it's a lie that keeps us hog-tied and frozen.  It's a lie that strangles our true destiny.

John 15:16 says, "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you."

Jesus points to me, lays his hand over my heart, touches my spirit, and looks in my eyes.  And there is no qualifier. - "Well, Dapoppins, when you have more education, when you have more discipline, when you are a more patient person, when you keep your home clean, when your baking is better, when you wear makeup and do your hair every time you leave the house, when your art projects look more like actual art...only then my dear Dapoppins...will I choose you..."-  HE NEVER SAID THAT...   in fact,  Jesus's qualifier was, "Follow me."

Just..."Do what I do and use the gifts and talents I have given you."  (Matthew 25: 14-30  Ephesians 4:11)

I am FREE to BE who GOD made me to BE. 

Worship Time

Prayer time

I woke up last night and couldn't get back to sleep...there was too much anticipation, too much joy, too much bubbling hope...in the silence of my house I could almost hear the music of it. Revival. A move of God's Holy Spirit, breathing on my family, my town, my city, my state and country. A move of new, deeper, stronger, pure relationship with the Holy Spirit. We can bow at the very throne of God because of Jesus, we can sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to His love, but we often forget the Face and Person-hood of the Holy Spirit. Oh...He's coming to remind us. And I will see it! I declare that I will see it in my life time. Holy Spirit my arms are open. I yield. I am hungry, willing, and longing for your presence in my life. I want to see you. I want my family, town, city, state and country and the world to see you. Come Holy Spirit. Come.

John 5:39  You search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to me.

Lord, don't let me be like that.  Don't let me be like those old stuffy wise men, searching the pages of your book in hopes of finding life, of finding You, of touching Your glory.  Where was Moses when You revealed your Glory to Him?  Where were the faithful when flame appeared over their heads?  Lord, don't let the church, my church, be like that...stuck in the pages of Your book instead of living the pages of Your book. Revival is not going to come out the Bible....although all of Your actions will align themselves fully with Your Word and Personality...but Life Changing Revival will come out of your Presence...and I know Your word is the map to find your Presence...but if we keep looking at the Map we will never see where we are going, when we have arrived, when Your standing right in front of us saying, "I have come in my Father's Name!"

Oh Lord I pray this publicly to declare it publicly. I declare that Your coming to bring change to the church and to the community.     Help us to see.  To be vulnerable to You.  To look up from our Maps and see the beautiful things You are doing and the incredible thing You are going to accomplish.

Oh.  I am so excited.  Thank You.  Thank You Jesus.  Thank You Holy Spirit.  Thank You Father God.

Is there a glass ceiling for women in the church?

I became a Christian the year I turned 16. Jesus saw me and He loved me.  When I was baptized my brief explanation was, "He raised me out of death in to life!"  And it was true.

I'd been to a Duran Duran concert the winter before I became a Christian.  I was a true "80's Durannie. We had front row seats.  I spent the whole concert raising my hands, singing, yelling, screaming, dancing, clapping, shouting, moving in a joyous expression of love and devotion to the five men on stage.  Those men didn't even know I was alive.  But Jesus had saved me from death, depression, loneliness, and every one of my teenage angst's.  Jesus saw who I was and loved me anyway.  So, I made a commitment.  I would give my Jesus more than I had given those men in the pop band.

Even in a Pentecostal Non-denominational Church this made me stand out.  Add to that I was usually in the front rows.

I read my Bible in that first year and came away with ideas.  I wanted to be like Jesus.  I wanted to love the lost, heal the sick, comfort the broken hearted the way Jesus always comforted me.  I wanted to glow like Moses, commune with God Himself on His Holy Mountain.  I wanted to do miracles like Elijah.  I wanted to prophesy like Isaiah.

It was during an amazing short term mission trip the summer I turned 18 that I began to see things in a different way.  It had became clear to me that because I was female I couldn't  do any of those things.  I could be Moses' wife. I could be the wife of an Elijah.  I could be the wife of an Isaiah.  But I couldn't BE an Isaiah. It was devastating to me.

I was a woman.  Women had roles in the church.  Men and women were obviously different, and a woman's role as a Christian was obviously different from a man's.  I didn't want to just be a man. I wasn't a feminist.  But I wanted to be LIKE JESUS.

I did have some conversations with both men and women (mostly women) about how I should act and what was proper.  But I didn't feel persecuted so much as pressured.   I was also in a way, ignored.

A young man might come from a hard background and get "radically saved." His youth pastor and others will see his potential and an obvious bent and destiny to do amazing things in the name of Jesus and to His Glory. This  young man is groomed, trained,  and mentored to grow into a more mature role in one of the "five fold" ministries" ie: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher. I had all the obvious creditials that a young man might have had. I was radically saved.  I was fearless.  I was very willing.  But, in 1985, a young woman is groomed, trained, and mentored to be that young man's wife. 

Is that what God intended?  Is that in the Bible?

I'm reading this book and it asks some uncomfortable questions about today's Church.  This isn't about feminism.  I am not a feminist.  I think feminism has damaged our society, our families, and our children.  Equality for women was an idea that came from God that the enemy twisted and warped and visited on us in away I am not sure we can ever repair.  This book is not about feminism or that women do the same job as men because they are the same.  

I dare you to read it. 

What's the word?

In 2012 my word was  ALL.  As in All things work together for the good of those who love God, as in God's ALL.   I looked up scriptures, and don't have all my All scriptures handy, but there was a lot of ALL in there.  Alot of amazing God and faithful God, in that one little word.  Alot of life change there.

I don't have my word yet for 2013.  But it is going to be good.