Lately, everywhere I turn, I hear Jesus asking, “Do you really love me?” In passage after passage he says, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” John 14:15

“If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love…This is My commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you…You are My friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15: 10, 12, 14)

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock…” (Matthew 7:24)

I sing about what a friend I have in Jesus, but do I truly obey him? Do I love my neighbor as myself?  As a demonstration of what it means to love your neighbor, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan.  When was the last time I gave extensively of my time and resources to help a perfect stranger simply because they needed help?  Honestly, I’m far more likely to be like the priest and the Levite and walk by on the other side of the road, thinking either, “I’m too busy” or, “That person got themselves into the mess they’re in.”

I often act contrary to the leading of the Spirit, thinking to myself, God understands.  He will forgive my weakness this one time.  I even have people around me counsel that it’s OK because “we are saved by grace and not by works.”  But I know that Jesus didn’t save me just so I could go to heaven.  As much as he loves me, he loves the people around me.  If I am a member of the Body of Christ, if he is my Head, then it is up to me to do what he says, to carry out his will and not my own, by serving those around me “that they may see my good works and glorify my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16.) The Church is not a place I go; it is the Body of Jesus himself, walking around on the earth, doing what he does.

There is a passage that has long been troubling to me.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:23)

I wondered how someone could be doing these mighty works but not be doing the will of the Father.  The truth is, the one prophesying and driving out demons and performing miracles isn’t the human being at all, but the Holy Spirit working through that person.  Jesus calls them “workers of lawlessness,” in other words, those who disobey the commandments. Jesus doesn’t say, “If you love me, work miracles.”  He says, “If you love me, obey me.”

By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments… By this we know that we are in Him:  Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked. (1 John 2: 3, 6)

This “abiding in him” is spoken of in many places, but here it clearly states what that looks like.  It’s not about going to church, or reading a devotional every morning, or memorizing scripture, or praying a lot, or talking about my faith.  He tells me what it looks like throughout the gospels:

Walk as Jesus walked.  Take up my cross and follow him.  Deny myself.  Lose my life for his sake.  What does this mean for me, today?? Jesus changed the lives of the people around him.  He got up before dawn to spend time with the Father, and then spent the day teaching, healing, delivering, discipling.  There were no wasted moments scrolling through social media or worrying about how he looked. Everything he did and said had purpose and meaning. I’m a long, far cry from walking as he walked. If I confess my sins, he is indeed faithful to forgive me, but I don’t want to continually repeat the cycle of sin > confess > sin > confess.  I want to be his friend, to show my love, to obey the first time, every time.

About a year ago during a time of worship, I had a quiet nudge to take a literal step forward in the place I was standing, as a sign of taking authority over that place for the kingdom of God.  It was a smaller step than Neil Armstrong took on the moon, but it has played a much bigger role in my life.  Because as I took the step, I experienced a sense of myself in Jesus and Him in me that I had never felt before.  It has stayed with me and to this day, I know, I sense, when I am walking in a direction that is NOT where he would go.  Simple things like making a snide remark about a family member, or indulging a “harmless” habit, or keeping the truth to myself out of fear it won’t be accepted or understood.  I can see myself walking away from Jesus with each of these acts.  He’s still there, but I’m not abiding in him.

The solution is simple. I just need to repent, which means to change my mind and my direction.  Instead of walking away on a path of my choosing, I choose to walk toward him in the direction he wants me to go. When I do, I experience far more joy and peace than when I go my own way.

What does it mean to you, to walk as Jesus walked?  What do you find helpful? Tell us in the comments!

Hi everyone, Jeanne here.  God’s blessings of peace and joy from sunny, chilly Minnesota, where the leaves are a riot of color in the golden light, but you can see your breath if you’re out before sunrise.  October 2021 might go down in my memory as the month where God started to take me up a notch.  I’ll try to explain, but it will take a bit of context. 

We’ve all heard, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Some may even recall that these were Jesus’ words to Peter, James, and John in the garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus was sweating blood and the disciples were… sleeping.  Apart from the Biblical meaning, the expression is used to describe good intentions thwarted by a lack of self-discipline. But lately, I’m seeing this phrase from another angle.

A few weeks ago in my prayer time, I heard, “Stop talking about healing and start doing it.” Don’t laugh, but my first reaction was, “God? Is that you?” He immediately reminded of the time several years ago when he told me to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. So yes, this was clearly from God, and furthermore it wasn’t the first time he’d said it to me.  It was around this same time that I got my new perspective on this phrase.  Please bear with me as I share my thought process.

Jesus described the Spirit as rivers of living water flowing from believers. Water takes the path of least resistance, so if I want the Spirit to flow through me (for instance, in order to bring healing to someone) I need to get the obstacles out of the way.  Ideally, I would simply be the empty vessel through which Holy Spirit flows to encounter those around me. I realized that the Holy Spirit is willing to work through me, but my flesh, my unrepentant self, is weak.  

For me, one obvious hindrance to the flow of the Spirit is pride.  When I’m being led to get outside my comfort zone, I immediately wonder: What will someone think of me?  Even as this becomes less of a problem for me, there are many, many more ways that I’m not fully yielded.  When I asked the Lord to show me how I was blocking the flow of life-giving water, he pointed to John 14:15 where Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  It didn’t take me long to find a whole mess of Jesus’ commandments that I struggle to obey.

• Turn the other cheek
• Take up your cross and follow me
• Love one another as I have loved you
• Bless those who curse you
• Forgive as you have been forgiven
• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength
• Let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no
• Love your enemies
• Give to the one who asks you
• Be perfect as your Father is perfect
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
• Watch and pray
• Do not judge
• Do not worry about tomorrow
• Do not be afraid

I could go on and on, but you get the point.  Don’t get the wrong idea; there was no condemnation in this revelation of how incredibly short I fall.  Jesus isn’t beating me up; he’s just answering my question.   I don’t have to be perfect for the Spirit to use me.  Coming to grips with the true weakness of my flesh is a good thing!

 My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Knowing how weak I am in my flesh helps me to both appreciate and to rely on the grace God has deposited in my spirit.  I don’t have to summon up the courage to reach out. I don’t need to manufacture the power to heal. It’s not even my job to fashion the right words to pray for someone.  I believe Holy Spirit will work powerfully as I yield, and he is able to do far more than I could even imagine.  I’ve always loved the Dwight L. Moody quote, “The world has yet to see what God can do with someone who is fully consecrated to him.”  To that I reply, “The flesh is weak, but the Spirit is willing!”

Somehow this process of re-learning what is my responsibility and what is God’s has brought me great hope for the coming season.  I’m not sure I’ve conveyed it well, but I’ll pray that the Spirit fills in the gaps I’ve left.  Please, share your thoughts in the comments.

               Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.  (John 7:37-39)

What can I learn from the book of Numbers of the Old Testament or Torah?

Many of you know that I read through the Bible every year using a Daily NLT Bible. This Bible offers a reading plan daily of a portion of the OT, NT, Psalm, and Proverbs.

Okay, I’ll be vulnerable here. I’ll admit that in years past, I’d open up the Word, skip the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and jump right into the New Testament and read the Gospels. I love the Gospels. I never tire of reading about Jesus.

BUT…. THIS YEAR I’m mind-blown by what Yahweh is revealing to me in the book of Numbers.

Y’all THE BOOK OF NUMBERS???????

SAY WHAT?

I believe that my difficult trials in January and February gained a reward that I'm now receiving in March. Father, is speaking to me about things I’ve never known before. AND THEY ARE IMPORTANT. And fascinating.

I’m going to share a few with you here and a fantastic story in the Zoom meeting on Thursday. (If you missed it, you can still register and I'll send you the link to the teaching, click here.)

Let read this passage in the Old Testament: Numbers 19:1-10

Get your Bible out. You really need to read this and see it on paper. Trust me.

Did you read it?

In recent weeks the LORD began each morning with this:  “Lynn, what don’t you understand?" This is what He would ask me after I read my Bible.

Then He said, “Ask Me questions.”

That alone blows my mind. But, hey!  COOL!!!

The first part of the passage didn’t really cause me to ponder, but I guess there are questions in the first part that I could unpack such as: Why the RED heifer? And why the specific instructions to burn all the various parts?    hmmmm

But when I reached verse six, I stopped and stayed there: And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. Numbers 19:6

I asked this, “Father, what is the significance of the cedarwood? What does the hyssop mean to You? And the scarlet?”

Now, let me ask you this, do you know? Why would our God of all the universe, tell the priest to throw these things in the fire and create ash that the people will later use in a purification ceremony? Perhaps, you are like, duh, Lynn, I know this already. But, I didn’t understand.

So, this is where it gets fun. I heard Father say to me, “Pause here and ponder.” I waited, read the passage again and continued to ask Him to explain this verse to me. Then He told me to retrieve my phone and search cedarwood. So I searched these two things cedarwood and hyssop.

Well all of you who are essential oil people  probably know there are properties in the cedarwood. But this is what God told me, “The cedarwood represents long life. The hyssop is called the oil of gladness and it is an ancient herbal medicine. It is for healing.”

Then the Lord supplied a holy download. “The burning of the cedarwood is a property in nature that I gave to my people. It’s a restorative property. It is life-giving and represents the best health and long life that is a covenant with my people in that time period. The hyssop carries a healing component and it offers healing as a gift to my people.” Okay, it wasn’t word-for-word but a word of knowledge, or a knowing that I receive.

Then I heard this scripture: His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. 2 Peter 1:3

Then the Lord spoke to me, “Lynn, I’ve created a world that has everything you need for life, health, and holiness. And I delight to show you the secrets of the Kingdom.”

Whoa. Just WHOA!!!!

Then He told me to get my laptop out and share with all of you.

Who knew?  I mean really.

THE BOOK OF NUMBERS? COME ON!!!!!

As as side note: I might have ordered some cedarwood for my home and perhaps a diffuser and hyssop oil. God knows what He is doing. I’m partnering with Him for life, health and holiness.

Next time: I can’t wait to tell you about a Covenant that is available that very few Christians know about. And God also showed this to me in the book of ---now get this, LEVITICUS…

I hear ya, NO WAY.

And this is a crazy wild story. See you next time. Marching toward heaven, Love, Lynn

Thank you for joining this very important time where we fast as a collective community.

There are two things we want to accomplish through a fast. One, draw closer to God. And two, cleanse ourselves to bring about clarity, holiness, and freedom.

Let’s start today off by cleansing our soul. The soul is where the demonic will work to create illness, depression and oppression.

Today, in your morning prayer time, ask Jesus some questions:

Q: Jesus, reveal to me any person who I need to forgive. Work through the forgiveness process. You can find an example of this in Marching Around Jericho, page 80.

Q: Jesus, where does the enemy retain legal rights in my life? My marriage? My family?

Repent and work through any woundedness with Jesus.

Q: Jesus is there any bitterness within me? Are there unhealed soul wounds? Are there any weapons (swords, daggers, spears, etc.) lodged into my soul? If so, remove them.

Jesus, I now ask you to cover every part of my soul with your healing blood. Cleanse my body, soul and spirit. Draw me into Your holiness.

Listen and respond. Take communion elements, if prompted. The blood is powerful.

Okay, before you leave your morning time, BLESS.

Lord Jesus, in Your name, I bless myself and my family with joy, hope, and peace. I bless us with a spirit of unity and cooperation. I bless our home to be a safe place to always land. A place of authenticity and bless us with love and commitment to one another.

Jesus, bless me and my family name them individually) with divine health today. Heal our souls, our broken hearts, and release us from lies that hold us in bondage.

Jesus, bless everything under my stewardship, love, and responsibility. Let everything I touch thrive and grow. I receive the gift of the abundant life you died to provide.

Jesus, bless my daughter with____________________.

Bless my son with______________________________.

Bless my spouse________________________________.

Bless me______________________________________.

Bless_________________________________________.

Bless me today to be sensitive to your prompting. Jesus as I feel the hunger pangs, cause me to turn to you and pray. Sustain me through this fast and help me conquer my body and bring it as an offering to You.

Today, Jesus, reveal yourself in our Nation. I speak with all the Saints, LET YOUR WILL BE DONE THAT YOUR NAME IS GLORIFIED. Jesus, in your powerful name. AMEN

Okay, in the comments, I want you to write one blessing. This blessing becomes a permanent record in the heavenly realms as I and others bear witness. And then echo another’s prayer with an amen in the comments.

This FAST will change so much in our future. Love and hugs, Lynn

Tomorrow a home cleansing prayer.