interruption

***A warning: If you are not open to reading me reference my sex life - do not continue on. I am honest but not graphic.

I woke up this morning ready to spend time with the Lord - really wanting to give the Lord time to work in me the answers to my burning desire to have the Spirit come and fill me with streams of living water. So I began praying and seeking as soon as I awoke. Not too soon after my husband came in, he said 'to cuddle' ... but I knew what that meant! I really did not want to have sex, but I try really hard not to say 'no' unless I really do not want to.

But let me back up a bit ... before my new spiritual journey began, my sex drive was pretty healthy ... and during my 'Summer with Jesus' ... it was quite good. But when the Lord removed His 'felt' presence I was so sad... that my sex drive completely fell off the map. In fact for quite some time - more than a year - when we fought it usually had to do with sex. Somewhere in there I begged the Lord to restore some of my drive just so my husband would not feel so rejected ... because even when I said yes - I was only barely participating, my body would not physically respond. The Lord was gracious and honored my prayer.

I had read a book a year or two before my Summer called 'When Two Become One' by Chris McCluskey. It is an excellent book. One of the greatest things I took away from that read was that sex is a reflection of our spiritual lives. As an example - there were times in my life when I would hide to get undressed - so my husband would not see me - and then therefore not desire sex. Or I would avoid eye contact and conversation on nights when it was more usually expected etc... And I realized that I was hiding. But then I realized that the times when I was hiding out from my husband - were usually the same times I was hiding out from the Lord as well. Hiding from the Lord takes on a different look however. I would watch lots of tv or get sucked into a novel to escape - I would cover up my thoughts with noise, and I would not listen and go to Him when He called. But recognizing that connection has been super helpful when I counsel ... and super helpful for me as well. (caution - my reflections are for me ... and not for everyone. Each person will show their area of sin differently!)

So going back to this morning... and being interrupted during prayer. I consented to have sex but but when I was done I felt the Lord was talking to me. I did not have an orgasm ... and the Lord was asking why. And felt that the answer was that I had not given myself over to it ... I was fighting the whole idea of sex from the beginning - feeling it was an interruption. To have that immense whole body experience  - we have to give ourselves completely over to the pleasure of it.

It was that idea of giving ourselves over to pleasure that the Lord wanted me to know. That was why the 'interruption' needed to happen (among other reasons!). So then that set my mind aflame with the idea of pleasure and the Lord reminded me of Piper's verse Psalm 16: 11...

You will show me the way of life,
    granting me the joy of your presence
    and the pleasures of living with you forever.

So I am pursuing pleasure - real pleasure - the purest pleasure - knowing Jesus and being completely abandoned to Him. I want to give myself completely over to Him. And I continue in prayer asking God to reveal a vision of Himself so that my heart and mind, and body may come fully alive to worship Him.



***I cross referenced and came up with some other verses to reflect on - I do not know or understand all of their meaning... I am waiting on the Lord for that. Here they are if you would like to read them:

Psalm 36: 5- 9

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
    your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
    in the shadow of your wings.
You feed them from the abundance of your own house,
    letting them drink from your river of delights.
For you are the fountain of life,
    the light by which we see.


Psalm 21: 5-7

Your victory brings him great honor,
    and you have clothed him with splendor and majesty.
You have endowed him with eternal blessings
    and given him the joy of your presence.
For the king trusts in the Lord.
    The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling.

Psalm 17: 15

Because I am righteous, I will see you.
    When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.

1 John 3: 2-3
Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

1 Cor 13: 8-12

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Eph 3: 14 - 21

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Hebrews 12: 18-29

You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”

No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.

Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.

Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.

Revelation 7: 17

For the Lamb on the throne
    will be their Shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.
    And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

revelation

So my last post was just the tip of the iceberg ... yet I am still waiting for the full iceberg - I am excited that God has brought some revelation!

After I wrote yesterday, I reread the chapters in Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray - that I had assigned for my class that night. I had read these chapters 3 or 4 times already but now they were new! God was speaking through them in a new way. Then I read Romans 7 and 8 - which was part of the Bible study I assigned - but I decided to read them in the Message this time.

Romans 7 - The Message


14-16 I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.


This is where I was stuck yesterday. I knew that my flesh was evil - and that it can do nothing that God desires ... I even know the answer! I need the Holy Spirit to come and work in me... but He hasn't revealed to me yet what that looks like - what that means - and i couldn't figure out why - what was I missing!?

Then I read this part of Romans 8 in The Message:

5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.

Oh what an indictment! I knew as soon as I read this that I was staring continually at my flesh - why is it here?, when will God fix me?, why do I have to live with this? ... on and on - I was ruminating on my flesh - it was the worst case of rubber-necking of all time! See that train wreck, A - that is you - you are a mess! Keep looking at it - keep your focus there.
Oh how the enemy wants us to keep looking at our sin and flesh and fall into despair! Because then we forget the next part....

Romans 7: 24, 25
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

In Absolute Surrender ...


 You know the wonderful place that this text has in the wonderful epistle to the Romans. It stands here at the end of the seventh chapter as the gateway into the eighth. In the first sixteen verses of the eighth chapter the name of the Holy Spirit is found sixteen times; you have there the description and promise of the life that a child of God can live in the power of the Holy Spirit. This begins in the second verse: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:12). From that Paul goes on to speak of the great privileges of the child of God, who is to be led by the Spirit of God. 

What a contrast between - not knowing what do do at all in Romans 7 and being completely awakened to the Spirit in chapter 8! OK - so I know I need the Spirit - that is not the problem - the problem is that he has not come in power yet - and I am stuck waiting. And in the waiting I am not waiting in faith - I am going over again and again just how awful my flesh is.

But what I need to be doing is fixing my eyes on Jesus - the author and perfecter of my faith. But even this I can not do on my own... so I have cried out to God - come and do what only you can do!

Andrew Murray -

And now are you willing to give yourselves up to the Holy Spirit? You can do it now. A great deal may still be dark and dim, and beyond what we understand, and you may feel nothing; but come. God alone can effect the change. God alone, who gave us the Holy Spirit, can restore the Holy Spirit in power into our life. God alone can “strengthen us with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” And to every waiting heart that will make the sacrifice, and give up everything, and give time to cry and pray to God, the answer will come. The blessing is not far off. Our God delights to help us. He will enable us to perfect, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, what was begun in the Spirit.

Begin in me this work! I want my eyes fixed on Jesus! I can not even do that. I have no vision - I have no idea what to even imagine - come and write on my heart a vision of your beauty, majesty, amazing glory! So that my heart can worship - and finally do what it was made to do!

Hebrews 1:2-3

God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

Revelation 1: 10-18

 It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

stuck

I am stuck.

I know the truth. That I can't do anything in my flesh. That my flesh is broken and wicked and can do nothing to please God. And that anytime I exercise my flesh - I sin - against my husband, my kids, everyone! and especially Jesus. Because my flesh can only produce sin.

I know the truth of that. But I am stuck on the in between. I am in between knowing about my flesh - and knowing how to walk in the Spirit. I have to say it is a horrible place to live. I know my flesh is useless and horrible but I seem powerless to stop - yet scripture says that I am under no obligation to live according to the flesh.

I have cried out to God wondering about this. I have confessed to Him regularly in the last few months that I can't live to please Him - if I am living this way. So please come and take this body over and fill me with the power of the Spirit ... I can not obey, I can not love, I can not find rest, I have no peace, I can not fight the enemy, I can not do anything eternal without You. You have to come - You have to fill me with the power ... and You have said that You want this for me.

So fix your eyes on Jesus - the author and perfecter of your faith... Heb 12:2

I have learned the necessary piece that flesh is useless ... but I have not learned how to fix my eyes on Jesus. I know my need of it, but the power to do it in the Spirit, or the revelation that I need from God - or whatever God deems I need - has not been fully given yet.

And the waiting is hard - when you seem to be continually harming those around you, and obedience seems impossible. When all you want is to love people and to obey God. It is the cry of Paul in Romans chapter 7.

Oh God, please fill me with understanding! Please fill me with the Spirit! Please take my eyes off of myself and to fix them totally on Jesus - the Perfecter! The Faithful One... the One who deserves all my praise and thanks and glory! I know I can not do that without you making it happen - so please come and strip off anything in the way! Tear away the veil from my eyes!

Psalm 18: 30-36

God’s way is perfect.
    All the Lord’s promises prove true.
    He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
For who is God except the Lord?
    Who but our God is a solid rock?
God arms me with strength,
    and he makes my way perfect.
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
    enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
He trains my hands for battle;
    he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
You have given me your shield of victory.
    Your right hand supports me;
    your help has made me great.
You have made a wide path for my feet
    to keep them from slipping.

rest

'So relax in the Spirit - and let Him lead you to find rest - even finding rest can not be done in the flesh - we can screw up even the most basic act - right?'

I just finished an email to a friend with the above line ... as I wrote it I knew it was from the Lord ... because once again - I can not think this stuff up!

We must be led in the Spirit in everything! Even to finding rest! Our flesh is dead and useless. It can never do anything to please God. It will never do anything eternal. And it certainly can not lead us to find rest. Rest is only found in God - when we fully believe that He is who He says He is - then we can rest in His amazing character - we rest in truth - we rest in Him.

When we finally own that truth - how much freedom will there be? I can only imagine! Because then I will finally get that the Spirit must have everything in me at His disposal - to wield as He wills. Only He can lead me to truth and rest.

Oh open me wide, Father... set me free Jesus, and fill me up to overflowing Spirit!

voice

A friend just emailed and asked me questions about hearing God's voice and here was my reply...


Ok! So you have good questions! That is good because God is the one stirring you up to ask those questions! And if you are longing to hear and know His voice - that is because He is longing to teach you how to hear His voice.

Look at John 10:
10 “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

What is so great about this verse - is that we do not need to question whether or not God talks to us - He Does! He wants us to know his voice! And He says that we will recognize His voice if we are His sheep. So first answer that basic question - are you His sheep? ( I believe you are ... but You need to be sure - more than me!)

I believe you are His sheep - you know why? Because you have already heard His voice! Those moments that you outlined were all times when the Holy Spirit convicted your heart of sin ... He doesn't do that for everyone - but He will do that to His own children - as it says in Hebrews 12 - He disciplines those He loves - just like a good father.

But I bet you were hoping for more of a dialogue between you and He - right? How do you know His voice in the everyday ins and outs of life - yes? It is a process! Probably not the answer you want to hear but it is the truth. Like I said that night during the study - you have to be in relationship with Him. Just like you have gotten to know your boyfriend - you spent time knowing his ups and downs - what he loves and hates, everything! So you need to commit to getting to know the Lord like that. You have to put in the time to spend with Him - you have to get to know His Word. Praise God for the Bible - because he has given us something that is not subjective - but is objective - so we can know for sure who He is and what he wants - and what he wants for us. Learning to know His voice is awesome - but also can be a subjective hard to grasp experience. But the more you know His Word, and study it - the more you know His heart for you! And then learning His voice becomes much easier!

The Lord has been very gracious to me - I have heard His voice a lot. I am very grateful. But just because i hear Him regularly - does not mean I am always prepared to obey! Everything is a work of the Spirit in us.... and that is why we need to be totally surrendered and sold out to God ... and that is indeed when He loves to bless His children with every spiritual blessing under the sun - more Holy Spirit, more of His voice and direction, more of His presence. And there is nothing else like spending time with the Lord - when life is that full of Him - it is awesome... I never feel more alive than when He is so present with me. Pray that God will give you a taste - so that you will want to put in the time to know Him that much! And he will not disappoint.

His voice has become more easy to know - because I know His heart more. I have put the time in. A couple years ago I was so fed up with myself - and my lacking in my spiritual life that i just decided to give more time to the Lord. I gave Him an hour every day. ( I am in no way saying you need to do this ... let the Lord take you where you are meant to go ... let Him lead you). But that hour became the best hour every day. And then I gave Him even more time - sometimes 3 or 4 in a day. ( I had the time - it was a summer and the kids were at home - and we were all relaxed and chill - I am sure a work of the Spirit! ) But in those hours the Lord overwhelmed me with Himself. It was if I was floating along on His will - i always knew where to go, and what to do - it was as if time came up to meet me. And I could hear Him all the time, my heart was always singing a praise song, and I had visions and dreams, and words of knowledge for people. It was the most amazing 6 months of my life. Then the Lord removed his presence - or at least the overwhelming sense of His presence - and said lets get to work! i had much in my life that needed to be purged, much I needed to learn about faith and how God works ... and all the while I ached to be back in that amazing time with the Lord. Now my heart beats for Him - and all I want is more of Him ....

That is just a small piece of my journey to knowing His voice better. His voice is spontaneous ... it cuts across my thoughts ... I know it is Him because it is not my idea. There are times that things fly out of my mouth - words that I have never even thought before ... and ring with the truth of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit - and again I know they are not my own. Other times He fills my head with His scripture - brings something to remembrance that I could not have come up with on my own, directs me to a passage in a book, or reminds me to pray for someone. Other times He wakes me up to pray, and sometimes i can just feel the presence of the Spirit burning in my chest directing me - or comforting me. Sometimes it comes as a vision, sometimes a dream, sometimes just an intense sense of His presence all around. But in all of it - I have had to learn that this was Him... I had to get to know Him... I had to make the time to listen.

incarnate

I had an amazing experience the other night as I slept and then as i awakened to listen more intently to the Lord.

As I slept i felt the Lord stirring in me the presence of the Holy Spirit. I kept thinking about stuff my pastor had said in his sermon on Sunday evening. He had been talking about who Jesus is/was when He incarnated to the earth ... and how He had done so many amazing things - how He had done miracles, and spoke amazing truth, and walked with the Holy Spirit. Then he talked about how we are to be like that - present, full of love, and full of truth.

But it got my mind all stirred up wondering about this:  if that is how Christ was then - what is He now that he has gone to sit at the right hand of the Father ... is He done being all those things on earth? Does He work differently now than He did then? What are we to expect from Jesus now ... what is His ministry in essence?

I felt like that night like the Lord was saying - I am no different! And eventually He dropped the verse in my mind - Jesus is the same today, yesterday, and forever - from Heb 13. If I healed people then - I will heal people now... just like that woman who was healed because she reached out to touch my robe - you can reach out and touch me now - but even more so - you can boldly approach my throne and ask for whatever you may need! So I prayed for a friend's baby - who has prenatal heart problems and asked for a miracle. And then I reached out and touched his robe and prayed for my back issues ... and in the morning - I felt significantly better - like He had removed a whole layer of pain.

Somewhere in all of this I felt the Lord asking me to read Phil 2, and Heb 12, and study more about what Jesus does for His people now today... I need to do that - soon!

HIS WAY

Me and food. This seems like a never ending drama at times. BUT now I am truly hopeful that my struggle is nearing an end.

Since my confession of generational sin a couple weeks ago - things have been lifting. That was a Sunday 2 weeks ago, that Wednesday I prayed with some friends about it all and all the confusion that I had had every time I walked into the kitchen - has lifted. This confusion was so overwhelming that I never knew what was right to eat or not, I could not hear the voice of the Lord clearly, it was always a knotted mess of chaos - 'what about this?, what about that? You should get to eat whatever you want... You should get to have that taste... but you must deny yourself, you must eat only the medifast foods - on and on it went - all at the same time. And in the end I always felt guilty about whatever I ended up eating.

Before that first week at the Spiritual Warfare class I had been attempting Medifast again. It is a medical  fasting program that has worked for me in the past in losing weight - you eat their foods every 3 hours and get to have 1 normal meal of meat and veggies a day. I do want to lose weight - in fact I need to - my clothes do not fit me - and not just some of them - all of them! Over the summer I gained probably 10 or more pounds as I continued feasting on each vacation and even on the weeks in between. So anyway... I tried the medifasting - and I did not lose a pound - not even one. That is unusual - it typically takes off quite a few right away. But not this time - not for me, which is super frustrating when the food is not great and you have to pay a lot for it. This went on for a month.

Then the class - then the confusion lifted - and then the Lord reminded me of His words spoken through me way back in May at a class I was teaching on the Holy Spirit. "What if I want you to know my voice so well, what if I want you to trust me so much that whenever you put food in your mouth - you pray and ask me first - what if I want you to rely on me that much?" I knew it was the Lord speaking to me ... but I was not ready for it then. So that was just before my summer filled with vacations and feasting. And then by the end of summer I knew things needed to change but I wanted to go back to what I knew would work - I wanted to control it all again. But it didn't work - Medifast did not work.

But now I am ready. I am ready to listen to the Lord and follow Him. I am ready to know His voice and listen as He tells me and shows me what to eat at each meal.

My husband was not immediately on board with this idea. It scared him - on my behalf - he knows how much I struggle - how hard it is to not fit any of my clothes... and He hates watching me go through all of that. For me it is like my closet rebukes me each day, and I get to wear my sin on the outside. So he said why not do what we know works and just commit it to the Lord like you have done in the past. But I said that is no longer enough. That IS my problem - committing MY ideas to the Lord for approval and blessing - instead of committing my whole self to the Lord for Him to lead as He sees fit. Just hoping I get His blessing on my thoughts and ideas is not what I want - I want to think His thoughts after Him - I want all of me to be free to follow His ways - His way.

So I have been doing this for the last week and a half or so and I am discovering though that it is still not 'easy'! The confusion is gone and so when I pray - I can hear the Lord telling what I should eat - or sometimes it comes as a picture of my plate. So that is huge - a huge answer to prayer ... the problem is that I do not always obey! Ahhh - the sin nature is still present! So what must I do to obey? I thought at first that it was a matter of exercising my will to obey - but the Lord quickly corrected me and said that I do not have that power within my flesh - It all must come from Him. The desire, the will, the obedience, the ability to hear Him - IT ALL MUST COME FROM HIM! 

Doesn't that make it easy? yes and no... yes because it is all Him - no because then I must let go of the control of the whole thing to Him - let everything be His - and let myself just follow. I am still learning, and sometimes I still forget to pray about what I should eat, sometimes it is hard to stop when I should, sometimes I just disobey even when I know what I should do... But the key here - is that I do not feel guilty! I just feel like a kid learning a new skill - and it takes time, and practice! And I feel like the Lord is looking on with love and compassion and encouragement to keep pressing into Him! It is a wonderful new feeling! And it feels like freedom.

bloodline

The last couple of weeks have been interesting! I have had so many opportunities to pray, study, and grow!

I have a friend who is suffering under the weight of a ton of spiritual warfare and some friends and I were able to go to her house and pray and then walk around her house and 'create' a bloodline. I have never done this before - and I had only ever heard of it one time - and it was recent. But when we were praying inside - The Lord just threw the idea into my mind and said to go for it. So we did - we went outside and traversed through wet grass, landscaping, and large pine trees - but we made it all the way around the perimeter of her property praying as we went - and had fun too!

The idea came from a story I had heard in the Spiritual Warfare class I am taking. A witch was attending services at a church and the congregational was all glad to have her - hoping she would be touched by the love and truth of Christ. She was quiet at first but eventually she started casting spells during the services at the back. So that day they asked her to leave and not return. On that day one woman walked around the whole property claiming/praying the blood of Christ to protect them from the evil of the spells and anything else the witch might have done. The witch came back later while the woman was still there and she thought she was trying to enter again, but the witch told her that she could not enter. The woman asked why and she said "you don't know? - There is a bloodline around this church now - and I can not pass over it. But I left my purse in there - would you mind getting it for me?"

Ha - so we prayed that the bloodline that we created would not allow evil to pass over it! I am excited to hear how everything is going - now that we have prayed in and outside of their home. Our God is a powerful God - and the blood of Jesus protects us in ways we have never even fathomed!