When resurrection power becomes our lifestyle, things our lives are assessed, adjusted, and added. Not only must we be mindful of how resurrection affects our lives and relationships, but how we affect the lives of other people. Look at your life, recognize the obstacles you've grown through, be cognizant of the people around you, seek out how to bring value to them and others in your sphere of influence, rinse and repeat. This is what "making resurrection a lifestyle" looks like.
Last Easter we spent our time lifting up the Lord's ability to raise up communities. We followed up later with the foundation of our church that we see in Ezekial 37 where the army of dry bones is resurrected. For then and today it is imperative that we celebrate Jesus' resurrection while claiming it for ourselves!
Our emotional health is just as important as mental and physical health. Emotional health often affects how we respond. Emotional health is reflected in how we interact and engage with people, whether we are obedient to what we hear from God or not. It's time to prioritize health, joy and peace boundaries that allow us to live in the favor of God.
How many times do we think our "baggage" counts us out or makes us too messy to walk in purpose or carry out God's plans in our lives? Our baggage and mess is what makes us relevant and relatable to the people around us. As we share our situations, downfalls, fears, hopes and lessons learned it helps free others and bring fresh insight.
God wants to bring us into the fullness of our lives. Are we walking around to walk around or are we walking the path of purpose? There's always been purpose and direction for your life, the questions is, are you seeking God for revelation of it? God will bring you out of brokenness and despair and into purpose!
How do you navigate relationships transitioning? Inevitably our lives will transition as a result of growth. As we mature into walking with Jesus we begin to value and experience healing while growing up together in UNITY. Naturally transitions will have to occur. Relational transitions are difficult because externally not much may have changed but internally we are changing and in some cases quite radically! Yes, we are transitioning...being conformed into the image of Jesus!
Relationships can be tricky. Even still god created us to be in relationship with one another. What's even more interesting is how we are with family and friends are indications to how we will manage long term romantic relationships! When we think about romantic relationships we understand the principles of forgiveness, compromise, communication, patience, empathy, and trust as foundational; but do we operate with our family and friends in the same way?
We live different lives because of who our Master is. Where would we be and where can we go when we understand who our Master is? What does the representation of our lives look like? Are we serving God or money? Are we serving God or our selfish nature? Our lives should reflect the character of the God we follow.
sometimes God calls us to go somewhere, to talk to someone, or even sometimes to stay put. Whatever it is, when we do the opposite of those things we are testing boundaries and crossing lines that we shouldn't be. Our thoughts and plans seem right to us, but God's plans for our lives give guidance, hope and a future.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room...when we talk about relationships, let's talk about the dangers of unspoken expectations. It's equally dangerous to walk with Jesus and have hidden disappointments and expectations! I have a lot of unanswered questions, especially when I walk in faith and the manifestation does not match my revelation.
Are you willing to receive all the goodness that God has for you? Sometimes we don't realize that God's goodness has prepared for us a full 3-course meal including dessert! We're so quick to settle for just enough, but what if we lifted our expectations? What if we believed God for things beyond ourselves... for generations of children to come through us, or the community around us, or even for the different industries of this world? What if we dared to believe radically, what would the glory of the Lord manifest?!
What does Promised Land look like for us in this day and age? The promises that God has granted us are many, but which ones has the Holy Spirit prompted your heart with. Through Jesus Christ the answers to those promises are "Yes and Amen". Just like the children of Israel God had promised them freedom and a land of their own. But they had to traverse through so much to get there. So I guess the next question is, what does it take to get there? God's desire is that we partner with him, that we move with him. When He moves we move, just like that! That requires studying His word, meditating on it and being obedient to it! These are basics of what gets us the opportunity to experience all that God has for us!
How do we taste the goodness of the Lord? When you are at a fancy restaurant that serves many different courses, they'll bring you what's called SORBET. This is used to clear your palate and reset your tastebuds so the next meal doesn't taste like the last. When you are eating a lot of one thing you aren't able to embrace the taste of the next thing. To taste the goodness of the Lord we must reset our palate from the taste this world has left, so we can appreciate what we get to taste from the Lord!
"OH TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD"... I can describe to you the joy, the pleasure and the fulfillment of pursuing God with all your passion, pursuit and promise, but until you Live it-it's just a cool motivational statement that lacks authenticity and power in your own life. I can describe to you the focus, sensitivity sharpness and clarity that comes when you consecrate yourself, but until you experience it for yourself...it's just commentary. Who's ready to cook up some goodness???
Authenticity is unmatched! Think about it...when we can't afford the real thing like Louis Vuitton or Gucci most of us are so quick to find a knock off. Although the fake joint (in most cases) seem real, they are not. There is always some telltale sign that the item is fake. There are so many options now a days to grab something fake to impersonate like we have the real deal. Let's now consider this in terms of ourselves. Are we so busy out here trying to be someone else, or are we being ourselves? Are we donning someone else's personality to impress someone, or because we feel they are an immulation of success? Or will we walk in our true authentic selves, moving in obedience to God and the journey we are on? Will we accept our uniquenesses and move in confidence to be who God created us to be?
Ultimately it was not Jesus words that saved me! It was not His theories, philosophies or thought. It was His action that saved me! Faith with our works becomes simply theoretical. It is only in the praxis (practice/practical side of a profession) of your faith that you become dangerous to the enemy.
So often the power of God drops something in our spirits or whispers something in our ears and we unknowingly disregard it! Sometimes seemingly to wild, outlandish, or risky of an idea. Reality is God isn't asking us to have all the answers, He is asking for our yes. He has chosen each of us for a specific journey in life, and is simply waiting on our obedience to open many of the doors we've been praying and crying out for him to open. You have been chosen to build something no one else is capable of building! Will you say yes or throw the outlandishly brilliant idea in the trash of your mind as nonsense?