Walking in Peace Despite the TIMES

Are the Signs of the Times Causing You to Panic?

The other day I was greatly distressed. I had been doing research about the move of Critical Race Theory invading our curriculum in my state. Scanning through online lesson plans, seeing correlations with Black Lives Matter agendas to try indoctrinate our youth to live with chips on their shoulders, draw racial lines that will "remake" history, and redefine identity based on a child's choice of sexual preference... gave me a migraine and sent me into the land of FEAR. How could my kids be growing up in this day and age when truth is so grey? What are the standards of morality if everyone defines them and everyone is "right?" The fact that the truth, or the "right" way, is being blurred so badly caused me have a mini emotional freak out. 

My husband gently pulled me out of my downward spiral into the abiss of FEAR with this quote from Fear Factor by Kevin and Chad Dedmon: 

"Fear is the last battle tactic the enemy likes to throw before a big breakthrough."

Wow. That reality of that quote broke the clamoring noise. Hope began to stir and brought me to the surface of my own musings with fear. I took a breath. I let it out. What if this is the season when Education is redeemed? What if it took a few who were willing to speak up to change the course of history in the world of Education? What if this is the moment in history God's been waiting for? The TIME when we as the Body of Believers wakes up, is shook up enough to raise a strong voice and say, "This is enough! We're drawing a line in the sand. Our kids are too important. Our future is too important to let our nation's history be rewritten, for our kids to be indoctrinated with lies that break our nation's unity apart... and our regard for a standard of righteousness being raised is too important to let Comprehensive Sex Education rewrite our identities designed by the Creator Himself. He's the one who set us apart for specific purposes from the time of our conception!

Breathe. 

I began to pray into the potential for a breakthrough and I heard the Lord draw me to John 14. This passage is a wealth of gold. Peace is what he's about to release. Yes, peace is the gift he's reminding us that we carry and are invited to engage with even in these hairy times where the enemy is pounding at our doors and trying to make us feel like we've been silenced. No, the King says this is an invitation to engage with the Prince of Peace, to stand our ground, stay in our lane, and march with our Leader King Jesus.

"Don't worry or surrender to fear. for you've believed in God, not trust and believe in me also." John 14:1 

The Passion Translation footnote says, "Don't let your hearts be distressed. Let not your heart flutter." And the Jesica Glover interpretation goes even further to say: breathe letting the anxieties out and breathe in faith. 

Verse 2 in John 14 reads, "My father's house has many dwelling places..." Meaning there are many resting places on the way to my Father's house. Or "there are many homes in my Father's household," (TPT footnote) which refers to John 2:16 where the Father's house is speaking about his temple on earth, his dwelling place-- YOU and me! We are his dwelling place! Heaven lives inside of us so we are Kingdom of God carriers! (1 Cor 3:16) And because we house God himself there isn't any lack mentality, worry, or stress. We have complete peace and clarity. That's good news!  

To finish John 14:2 we learn that not only are there many dwelling places for the Father to live in, but "If it were otherwise, I would tell you plainly because I go to prepare a place for you to rest." And I love that Jesus' "going" was to go through death and resurrection in order to make us ready to be his dwelling place. He had to "go," not to heaven, but to the cross to pass through resurrection so that we, too, could be welcomed into the fullness of his life!" (John 14:2 TPT footnotes).

Verse 3: "And when everything is ready, I will come back and take you to myself so that you will be where I am. 4 And you already know where I am going." In verse 5 Thomas says he doesn't know the place, but in verse 6 "Jesus explained, 'I am the way, the Truth and I am the Life. No one comes to the Father except through union with me. To know me is to know my father too. 7And from now on you will realize that you have seen him and experienced him." 

There is something significant about knowing God. 

We are invited to know Jesus (salvation) and the power of his resurrection life (Kingdom inheritance), which is super powerful because this is the only way to knowing Father God, but I want to take this one step further. I think Father God is inviting us into a deeper "knowing." I feel him saying, "Come know my ways in the midst of uncertaintly! Come know WHO I want to be to you in these shaky times! Know that I'm not scared. I'm not shivering in my boots, sweating at the brow, or trembling at the sight of your circumstances. I'm in a good mood! And I am inviting you to step off your map, what you've believed in, found comfort in, and expected to step into. I'm inviting you to see the "What ifs of God." I'm inviting you to stir up your imagination to engage with heaven's realities!"

"Perfect, absolute peace surrounds [watches over] those who imagination are cosumed with you; they confidently trust in you." Isaiah 26:3 TPT 

The Hebrew word for imagination is yetser and it means a steadfast mind, the thing that frames up one's reality. God has given us an imagination to see the possibilities in situations, but sometimes we use it to see all the scary things that could happen. I think we're in a season of being challenged to see the wild possibilities of what could happen in this hour. 

What are the crazy cool things God is inviting you to imagine? 

You know your imagination births all kinds of ideas and then you decide what ideas you're going to believe, or let go. Each of us decides how long we dwell on an idea, but when we dwell on it long enough it does become a belief. We develop our reality around these beliefs. 

What are you going to imagine in this hour of opportunity? Let God lead you into his crazy cool "What ifs!" 

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