Which lens are you looking through?

This morning while watering the vegetable garden, I asked God many questions. Questions like “How do you want me to pray for my kids at the moment?”, “What should my involvement in Healing Rooms look like in 2023?”, “What about church?” etc. All big and important questions. I was expectant. Expecting God to download the answer to me immediately.

Simple.

Except I was not getting any answers. I change my question when I don’t get an answer or find it hard to hear God.

I changed my questions as I simultaneously placed the hose nozzle in the watering can on full bore. Loud noise filled the air. I said aloud, “I can’t hear God clearly in this din.”

Since I wanted to finish watering my plants and needed to fill the watering can for the final stretch, I kept the hose inside it, the din continuing. Meanwhile, another thought filled my mind. When I have junk in my life or stuff that’s not yet healed, I see and hear God through the lens of that unhealed ‘junk’. I took a few moments to ask God what lens or junk I was looking through at Him and trying to hear Him.

Sometimes we have placed walls up, walls of protection.

Other times, we may have withdrawn.

We may have had disappointments. Disappointment in God. In others. In ourselves.

Sometimes we still need a revelation of God’s love in a particular area of our life.

Sometimes we may be holding on to something tightly and not ready to surrender that to God fully.

An hour later, I was at a Doctor’s appointment. The Doctor shared with me how he and his wife wanted to do medical mission work overseas but didn’t want to go until their children were adults. They didn’t want their children to be laden with any serious medical issues from the parasites of third-world countries. I challenged him. “Did he have the faith to trust God to care for his children?”.

Today my friends, you have an opportunity to examine if you are perhaps looking at God through a particular lens.

The lens may be clear, cloudy, scratched, or coloured.

Usually, our lens being cloudy, scratched, or coloured means we have incorporated a faulty belief into our thinking.

Below are some prompts to ask God to hear His perspective on your current lens.

  1. “Father God, is there an area I still need to surrender to you?”
  2. “God, what do you say about …..?”
  3. “Lord, can you please show me any areas in my life or thoughts that are not in agreement with you, Lord?”
  4. “God, is there a lie I am believing about you?” If you hear, sense, or think of anything here, then deal with it with God. Repent. Then ask God, “what is the truth you want me to know?”
  5. “Holy Spirit, is there anyone I still need to forgive?” (If a person immediately comes to mind, please take that as a sign that forgiveness is still required).
  6. “Father God, is there a bitter root I’ve allowed to develop in my life from past hurts?”
  7. “Father God, what walls of protection have I built in my life?”

To help you unpack this further, take a few moments to spend time with God and ask:

  • Father God, is there any lie or faulty belief I am believing?
  • Grab the first thought through your head and explore that.
  • Ask God to show or tell you why you believe that.
  • Ask God if there is anyone you need to forgive. If anyone comes to mind, forgive that person. Bless them. Do you need to forgive yourself?
  • Ask Father God to show, tell, or give you the truth.

God loves questions. Feel free to explore any of the above questions with Him.

God is also in the business of miracles, as nothing is too hard for Him. Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”

You may even appreciate and benefit from having some prayer ministry by a trusted, experienced person. Reach out to someone for help if you need to. Intimacy with Father God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus is so important, and often, we may not realize that past hurts are clouding our relationship.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather pencils, crayons and paper. Ask everyone to draw what God would love their teacher to know at the moment. Pass the papers on to the appropriate teacher.

2. Group Activation: Buy coloured jellybeans or smarties and place in a bowl. Get into small groups of 5-6 people with a bowl of jellybeans/smarties in each group. Ask everyone to take one and to take note of the colour they selected. If their lolly was yellow/orange – give a prophetic word to the person on their left. Red/pink – to the person opposite them. Blue/white – a person who serves well. Green – the quietest person in the group. Black/purple/brown – to the person they know the least.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time focusing on God. Ask Him to show you what type of light you are and why.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time with God asking Him for a prophetic word for your member of Parliament. Ask God if you are to share it with them and how, or if it is for you to pray.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to show you His heart for the people in Turkey/Syria with the earthquake devastation. Ask God what He would like your response to be. Craft a prophetic word for you to declare about the outcome for these countries.

Tread Your God-Ordained Path

A young mum and her toddler caught my attention today. This toddler was exploring and tottering along the footpath, obviously only recently begun walking. I loved how the mum kept pace with the toddler and allowed her to explore and walk her path. In the busyness of this Christmas season, the mum may have been tempted to pick the toddler up and carry her, as it would be much quicker. But no, she allowed her daughter to wander, explore, and gain strength in her ability to walk.

It reminded me of how the Holy Spirit walks with us, allowing us to explore, try new things, and become bolder.

Several weeks ago, I felt to write this blog post titled “Tread your own path”. As I have mused on this post since then before releasing it, the strong conviction that we are not to be self-centred has permeated my thoughts. Instead, we are to tread our path, which is the path that God has ordained for us.

I am not advocating that there is only one path we are meant to be on and that we are out of God’s will if we make a decision that deviates from God’s single path for us. Instead, I am encouraging everyone to be constantly communing with God and sensing His wisdom and thoughts about our next steps.

This requires devouring His Word – both the written and the spoken. Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” This requires us to know our Bible and what the Bible says.

It requires us to be courageous to walk our God-ordained paths. To not follow the crowd. To allow Romans 12:2 to infiltrate every part of our life. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

I sense some readers need to make bold decisions and not follow the path of other Christians. Not that the path is wrong, per se. It’s just not what you are called to do in this next season. It may be as simple as the people you usually listen to live at a different pace than you, and you feel pressure to conform. Let’s return Jesus’ voice to the dominant guide in our life.

I sense 2023 is heralding in a new season. Yes, the world has changed as we once knew it. We are living a new normal. I feel there are many opportunities for us as Christians to take possession of ‘land’, however that looks, but it will require the sacrifice of going against the crowd and the usual way you have been ‘doing life’.

I strongly sense that we will see people begin living their true identity and calling. Knowing your identity can be as simple as asking Father God, “Who do you say I am?” or “What am I known as in Heaven?”

What are you praying and declaring over yourself, your family, your creative ability, your relationships this coming year? How BIG are those prayers and declarations? Are you declaring words you believe are from God that only He can bring about through miraculous means?

I have been reflecting on the miraculous provisions our family has experienced this year. God showed up in mind-blowing ways. I believe a key in this was when I began listening to God and asking Him His view on certain situations and then declaring that aloud into the atmosphere. We saw miracle after miracle. We saw God changing circumstances that were seemingly unchangeable. If you would like more information on this, I have a pdf download ‘Speak Life’ on my website.

As I was reading Deuteronomy 1, verse 8 struck me. “See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

What has God already given you?

What has He promised you?

What have your prophetic words said that is yet to come to fruition?

Are you going (moving forward) towards this?

Are you taking (fighting) for your inheritance, your ‘land’?

Are you working with your prophetic words to see them come to fruition? We can’t wait for them to occur, but we have a responsibility to partner with them to see them come true.

How do we do this? Unpack your prophetic words to discover your identity, destiny, and who God wants to be personally for you.

Next February, I hope to have an e-course available that can help you unpack your prophetic words and implement actions in your life to see them come to fruition. Stay tuned for further details!!

I also sense there is a repositioning in the Spirit. Several months ago, before the Victorian state election, I released a word on social media highlighting this. Here is the transcript:

“This last week, I sensed many people are experiencing (or are about to experience) a repositioning. Slight movements for some. Major movements for others. What may feel like a sideways movement is, in fact, protection. Do not despise those small movements. They are in preparation for the next promotion.

On a larger scale, there is also repositioning occurring. Where I live, it is currently blowing a gale. No rain. Purely fierce winds. Battling the wind whilst walking, I sensed God was confirming the winds are related to the repositioning. The physical winds are blowing the crud out and shifting things in the physical. It is exposing the undergrowth and allowing everyone to see the mess. I sense this is also occurring in the spiritual, especially in Victoria (Australia), as we are gearing up for the state election. As we keep our eyes and hearts focused on God, I see Him blowing the evil out of our government and exposing the enemy’s lies.

There are pockets of revival occurring here in Victoria. I was reminded that true revival brings societal change. Crime rates will decrease. Relationships restored. Righteousness will reign. Right minds and clarity for those troubled. Homeless housed. Hungry fed.

Keeping our hearts and minds focused on Father God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus as we move forward both in the spirit and physically.”

I encourage you over the next few weeks in what is traditionally a time of reflection over the past twelve months and the setting of goals for the new year, to allow Father God to show you if there are any areas of ‘crud’ in your life, any lies you are believing about your future, and if there is a repositioning Father God would love you to manoeuvre. Jeremiah 33:3 is such an encouragement – “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

I encourage you to reassess your accountability and running partners during this time. Those people who spur you on, who encourage and challenge you to be all whom God has called you to be. People who walk beside you in one or more areas of your life. Usually, this may be a plethora of people instead of a single person trying to fulfil the whole gamut.

I am updating the ‘Align 2022‘ pdf on my website for the 2023 year. This fantastic resource helps you reflect on the year and plan for the coming year. There are new sections covering emotional discipline, dream killers, handling fear, identifying the people I need to surround myself with in various areas, skills to learn/upgrade, etc. There will also be a section where you can prophesy over yourself for each month of 2023. Last week, I recorded a prophecy for myself for each month of 2023 whilst driving my son to and from Air Force Cadets. In thirty minutes, I recorded a prophecy for most months of 2023, along with a significant date and event within each month. I will write these out, put them in my calendar, and check how accurate my prophesying was. My prophetic ability will grow as a result, plus it encourages me to continue to seek God for myself rather than someone else.

As you celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and all that means, may you experience renewed joy, peace, love, and freedom.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather paper and pencils and spend time asking God what picture of encouragement He would have family members draw for the postman or garbage collector.

2. Group Activation: Distribute twelve sheets of paper to everyone. Ask them to write their name and a different month of the year at the top of every sheet eg first sheet – January, second sheet February etc. Collect the sheets and redistribute to group members so each person has a variety of people’s names. Ask Group members to take thirty minutes to ask God what to write on each sheet of paper ie prophesy what will happen for that person in that month next year. Ask God if there is a special date within the month or an event that may occur and write that on the paper. Collect the paper and give to the named people. Remember to revisit this activity mid next year to see the accuracy of these prophetic words.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God. Ask Him what He would love you to know about Christmas for you and about Christmas for Him. Explore this further by asking God more questions.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a person and a Christmas ornament that you could buy for them that signifies something God would love them to know.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God hearing His heart for your area for this coming year. Ask Him what He would love you to do about the information you receive.

Miracles – the impossible becomes reality

Seeing the impossible become a reality increases our faith.

A few weeks ago, our family saw the impossible become a reality. And boy, did it increase my faith. I woke up the following morning ready and raring to pray for the impossible and excited to see more miracles.

That particular Wednesday evening, I picked my son up from his group activity. He jumped in the car, and his first words were: “Oh boy, you would never guess what happened?”

As soon as he told me, my heart leapt with excitement. “That’s what I’ve been praying for!!” I almost screamed. He looked at me, amazed. “Really?”

“Yes, but I didn’t tell you as I knew you would say it was impossible and no way a miracle could happen.”

But God.

But God is in the business of miracles.

But God is in the business of redeeming injustices.

I won’t go into the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ here as I need to be aware of privacy issues, but God did a miracle. My son had had an injustice occur against him, preventing him from a fantastic opportunity. He accepted it resiliently and didn’t fight back.

But this mama is learning to fight injustices and to speak up. To speak up to God. To go into bat in prayer and declaration.

Even when the miracle occurred and my son was about to be given the opportunity, another person tried to find another person from twenty-six different groups to fill that role. But God kept it available (or hidden) for my son.

God trumps man.

God is in the business of miracles.

When we see a miracle, the impossible becomes a reality, and it increases our faith.

If you are currently facing an impossible situation, here are a few proven strategies I use to increase my faith and to keep focused on that which God can do and will do.

  1. Speak life over your situation. Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Speak aloud the result you are desiring. Thank God for the anticipated result.
  2. Remind yourself of past miracles. Surround yourself with ‘memory stones’ – reminders of when God has performed a miracle in your life. Joshua 4:1-9 (verses 4-7: “So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” When our children were healed of anaphylaxis, wow – did that increase my faith in praying for healing for others and seeing God heal them.
  3. Intentionally surround yourself with people of outrageous faith, people who believe God can do the impossible.
  4. Read stories in the Bible and current life stories of miracles. Ten years ago, friends commented that my faith had increased dramatically. Several reasons for this, not the least that our family devoured autobiographies of people of faith. Missionaries who had experienced ‘life or death’ miracles. We believed that if God could do that for them, He would do that for us.
  5. Worship God. Give God His worth.
  6. Thank God in advance for the outcome.
  7. Speak in tongues. When I speak in tongues, I find that my inner man increases and my belief in all things become possible increases.
  8. Step out and start praying for the impossible. Look for, and pray for, healing and miracles.

What current impossibility are you declaring will become a reality? What are you implementing to see that occur? I would love to hear your experiences so please feel free to comment below.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather supplies of paint, paintbrushes or droppers, and paper. Fold the paper in half then splash a couple of dots of paint on one half of the paper. Fold the paper and squash the paint between the two halves of the paper. Open the paper and ask God to show you something positive and encouraging you can say to someone from the art created.

2. Group Activation: Play prophetic musical chairs. If the group is less than six people, have one less chair than the number of people playing. If it is larger, have two less chairs than the number of people playing. With the small group, when the music stops and the person without a chair to sit on is ‘out’, the person who is out then has to prophesy over everyone left sitting on a chair. Keep playing until last person is left sitting and the ‘winner’ – ask them to prophesy over the rest of the group. With a larger group, have two people ‘out’ each time the music stops. These two people prophesy over each other. Keep playing until you are down to the last two people and encourage them to prophesy over each other.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to show you a family portrait of you with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. Lean into God and ask Him to show you the expression on everyone’s faces, what you are wearing, colours, positioning, etc. Sit with God and explore the picture/images He shows you. Continue to ask God further questions about the picture.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to remind you of an area of your life where you need a miracle. Ask God to show or tell you how He would love you to partner with Him in this. Prophesy into this situation.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you an injustice in your sphere of influence. Ask God what He sees your role as in redeeming this injustice. Prophecy into that injustice.

Encountering God part 1

The first time someone asked me to lead a class in an encounter with God, I was terrified. I was teaching at our church’s college on the prophetic (hearing God), and the Co-Ordinator began each session with a time of encountering God. I was okay with experiencing God for myself, but had never led others to encounter Him apart from when I led people to commit to Christ. The Co-Ordinator had always manifested physically, e.g. by shaking or a physical reaction etc when encountering God, and I wasn’t into physical manifestations. I felt out of my depth.

I encouraged my assistant to lead the encounter instead.

Later, as I reflected on leading others to encounter God, various truths replaced the lies in my mind. One truth was that we don’t need to have a physical manifestation to prove that we have encountered God.

God is amazing. He is so unique. So present. So everywhere. God is so concerned with the individual.

God is not a cookie-cutter, releasing the same experience to everyone.

God is never short on time, so He never takes shortcuts and gives the same stuff to everyone in a hurry.

God loves everyone. He desires intimacy and a relationship with us all. God will do virtually anything for us to experience Him.

God is a God of many and the individual.

Thus, it may differ completely from how others encounter God when we encounter God. There is no right or wrong. In saying that, you will know it is not God if it doesn’t meet the character qualities of God. E.g. Satan can masquerade as the angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), so if we see an angel of light that is unkind and unjust or deceiving, that is not God.

How do we know if we have encountered God?

How do we know if we have encountered God–we will be changed. There will always be fruit from the encounter. You may experience peace or joy, or healing. Maybe you feel calmer or have received an answer to a decision. You may feel closer to Jesus. A truth may have ‘popped’ into your head. You may be more aware of God’s presence, power, person, and delight. You may have heard, seen, sensed, or felt God.

Encountering God means you experience God’s Kingdom values–e.g. peace instead of fear. Joy instead of blandness or lack. In an encounter with God, you can often experience movement, whether there is a movement in the grass background or you and Jesus moving, e.g. running together, dancing together. I often experience Jesus leading the way and showing me things. Light and colour will predominately fill the encounter, as they belong to God’s Kingdom.

There will always be good fruit from an encounter with Jesus.

Where can we encounter God?

Anywhere. Wherever God is, there is an opportunity and availability to encounter Him. Encounters are not limited to a church service. I often encounter God walking on the beach or around our neighbourhood. Often, we can experience God unexpectedly, amid pain and suffering, despair, joy and laughter, with friends, or alone. Most times I am showering, or when ironing, I encounter God. I turn my affection to God, my thoughts to God, and imagine myself with Him. He always responds to an invitation to be close to us.

Some examples from the Bible:

The Bible is full of people who encountered God. Saul was an enemy of God with a fierce determination to kill as many Christians as possible. God met him unexpectedly on the road to Damascus in Acts 9 with a blinding light, resulting in Saul becoming blind until Ananias prayed for him and Saul was healed.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah wrote how He encountered God in the year of King Uzziah’s death. He saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on the throne. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings.

In Numbers 22, the angel of the Lord stood in the middle of the road and stopped the donkey. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord, but Balaam didn’t. Thus, not only people encountered God.

In Acts 2, many people experienced a sound like the blowing of a violent wind from heaven. Tongues of fire rested on them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. It was a time when many people encountered God.

Many people have asked me how they can encounter God regularly as an experience, not just in the initial experience of deciding to follow Jesus. Thus, I will write a series of blog posts outlining simple ways you can encounter God wherever you are.

An encounter experience for you to try:

A simple encounter you may enjoy is meditating on God. I find it easy to do this if I am somewhere comfortable and have music playing softly in the background. I turn my thoughts and affections to God. I imagine myself in a favourite place with Jesus beside me. I then ask Jesus a question and wait for Him to reply. I chat with Jesus about any concerns or queries I have or spend time restfully in His presence.

Many people call this ‘soaking’. A great video that explains this further is a free resource from Beth Kennedy if you sign up for her blog. You can find it here: https://godisgoodstories.com/

In the next blog post, I will unpack encountering God further along with a different experience for you to try. The five prophetic activations listed below will also contain different ways of encountering God.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Gather paper and drawing supplies. Ask everyone to imagine they are at a park with God. Ask them to draw the scene ie what they are doing and where God is and what He is doing etc. Instead of drawing, you may actually want to go to a park and briefly ask these questions when you arrive. Ask everyone to look to see where God is and what He is doing. Encourage everyone to share.

2. Group Activation: Get into pairs. Each person asks God to show or tell them a weapon He wants to give to their partner and why. Spend a few minutes asking God more questions about the weapon, then share with their partner.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend a few minutes with God, asking Him what game He would love to play with you. Go with the first thought through your mind and ask further questions of God to understand more fully what game God wants to play with you and why.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to bring to your mind someone who is currently fearful. Ask God to show you His heart towards that person and how God would love you to respond to that person.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you His heart for the people of Ukraine and/or Russia. Spend time asking God further questions about His desires for these countries. Speak aloud a declaration or a prophetic word from your time with God.

Thriving, not just surviving, in the Season of Waiting.

The season of waiting is hard. It can be painful. It can be disheartening.

You may feel excited initially but may gradually lose that sense of excitement as time slowly passes.

You may feel rejected, or dejected.

You may be waiting for a baby.

You may be waiting for a job.

You may be waiting for a partner.

You may be waiting for a healing or a medical diagnosis.

You may be waiting for the end of covid or for the end of mandatory vaccinations.

You may be waiting for a loved one to return home, or a son or daughter to come back to the faith.

There are many things you may be waiting for. And one thing doesn’t take precedence over another.

It is more how we handle the waiting. What we can do to keep the faith, to keep the joy in the journey and not let the despair, the dejection, the current circumstances overwhelm us.

            Waiting is a transition.

                        A preparation.

                                    An opportunity.

                                                A spiritual discipline.

My husband and I waited a long ten years as we battled infertility. Boy was it hard. Friends having babies was exciting but reinforced the lack in our lives. Youth we ministered to having babies out of wedlock was another punch in the gut. Then when our precious children arrived, multiple food allergies. Meanwhile my mum dying of cancer despite our intense prayers. Another season of waiting for healing that never eventuated.

The last two years of being isolated whilst enduring lockdown in the most lock downed city in the world due to covid-19, followed by mandatory vaccination, or exclusion if not vaccinated, has seemed to drag on. With restrictions being lifted, only with more enforced if unvaccinated – unable to enter any shops except supermarkets, pharmacy or the Post Office and unable to hold down a job or play sport or go to church or be involved in any community activity for anyone aged 12+ years due to not being mandatory vaccinated. Waiting for the bans to be lifted can seem unbearable, just like waiting to fall pregnant seemed unbearable. 18 years later, that is a dim memory. Thus, I am choosing to adjust my attitude and be thankful and content despite the situation our family is facing. I certainly do not want to have to ‘go around this mountain’ again due to not learning the lesson God is desiring me to learn in the ‘waiting’.

How can you steward this waiting season for your best outcome?

1. Determine which season you are in.

Some initial questions to ask include:

  • Is this a season to share with a lot of people or to have one or two close confidants or just God?
  • Who do you need to support you in this season?
  • What do you need to do?
  • Who do you need to become to be able to steward it when the promise comes?
  • Where do you need to grow so that you are ready and able to properly steward the promise when it becomes evident in your life? What character traits, physical abilities, intellectual requirements will be necessary so that you can steward the outcome?
  • What can you focus on now?
  • Do you need someone to keep you accountable?

2. How can you remain content whilst waiting? How can you ‘wait’ well?

The Apostle Paul in the Bible is renowned for his writing about contentment. He wrote the letter to the Philippians whilst sitting in prison due to the action of corrupt officials. He was facing the possibility of execution for preaching the Gospel. If ever there was a time when you wouldn’t be content, it was then. But Paul managed to write these verses: Philippians 4:11b-13 “…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

So often we can view life, the world, our situation as a dichotomy – two opposing or mutually exclusive aspects on life. Like good or bad. Often, though, we are called to hold the differing aspects of our life in tension. I feel this worldview may well assist our ability to be content in all circumstances.

What would it look like for me to be content whilst waiting?

  • Be fully present in the now. Give up wishing for the future or for now to be no longer. Live your life and not put it on hold. Enjoy the present. Laugh. Find joy and gratitude in the now.
  • Be faithful to that which God has called you. Your calling hasn’t changed. Your frustration may have though. Remain faithful to that which God has called you to do.
  • Be careful what questions you ask God. Instead of when or why me, choose to ask what now Lord or how Lord do you want me to respond?
  • Be focussed on God and others.

3. Waiting is a ‘surrendering’ season.

Surrendering your plans, your desires, your timing to God and His plans, His timing, His outcome.

  • How can you turn waiting into surrendering?
  • How can you use this time wisely and not waste the opportunities you currently have in this season?
  • How can you embrace the waiting and realise that waiting is part of God’s plan for you?
  • How can your attitude and behaviour change so that you realise God is using this season as part of His plan?
  • What does God want to do in you while you wait?
  • What do you need to still surrender completely?
  • Where in your inner depths does God still want to be allowed to transform and embrace you?

4. This season is not just a waiting season. It is a growing and an enlarging season.

Usually, we don’t choose the season of waiting. Usually, it is thrust upon us. We do have a choice, though, in how we wait, how we respond during this season.

We can lose out when we feel we are just treading water and waiting. We can waste this precious season and the benefits we can acquire from the pain and frustration of waiting.

We have an invitation to grow in this season, to develop.

  • What is your invitation in this season?
  • How is God wanting to redeem this time for others?
  • What does God want to bring about in your life so that you can laugh in the face of the future? (Proverbs 31:25)
  • How does God want to use this time to triumph over the devil? What is the bigger picture at play?
  • What if this season is purely learning to wait well? What if the sole goal of this season is learning to wait well? How does that change my view and help me embrace this season well? Waiting strengthens character. Isaiah 40:31 “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Too often, our desire is to obtain the goal as soon as possible, but what if this waiting season is not about you, but about the proclamation of the Gospel through your waiting? If your waiting displays God and His attributes in a whole new dimension, how does that change your attitude, behaviour, and responsibility?

Waiting is a spiritual discipline. To resist the waiting season can be to resist the very thing that is making you into the image of Christ.

Applicable Bible verses:

  • Philippians 4:11b “…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
  • Lamentations 3:24-25 “I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.”
  • Romans 5:3-4 “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…”
  • Isaiah 40:31 “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
  • Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
  • Psalm 33:20 “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.”
  • Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope.”
  • Psalm 40:1-3 “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” The Passion Translation puts verse 3 as “A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how he breaks through for me! Ecstatic praise pours out of my mouth until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see his miracles; they’ll stand in awe of God and fall in love with him!”
  • Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
  • Jeremiah 32:27 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”
  • Psalm 94:19 “When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul.” Or in The Passion Translation “Whenever my busy thoughts were out of control, the soothing comfort of your presence calmed me down and overwhelmed me with delight.”
  • 1 Samuel 7:12b “Thus far, the Lord has helped us.”

How can I wait well during the season of waiting?

  • Keep your eyes on God.
  • Fast social media.
  • Allow God’s voice to be louder and have pre-eminence than other people’s voices.
  • Prophetic acts.
  • Worship. Praise God in the big and small.
  • Make a daily choice to keep your faith in God.
  • Get into the Word and look for a promise from God. Hold on to that promise and make it a declaration.
  • Look at what you are saying every day. Are you negating the promise by how you speak? Our words do not return empty. Isaiah 55:11
  • Stay fully present in your current situation.
  • Remain faithful.
  • Choose to trust God and look at how you can grow.
  • Pray for others you meet who are also navigating this season.
  • Daily relinquish control.
  • Re-examine expectations. Unmet expectations are painful, so it may be time to look at lowering or changing your expectations.
  • Look to what new song God is putting in your mouth. Psalm 40:1-3
  • Celebrate the ordinary.
  • Create memory stones from how God has come through in the past. Remember the times God has worked miraculously in your life so far. Joshua 4

How exciting it is to learn to wait well and not have to re-learn the lesson because the first time we didn’t undergo the character transformation that was purposed for us.

Faith comes from surrendering not striving. Surrendering completely in this season is the invitation we can embrace fully.

Let the words from 1 Samuel, Psalm 94 and Psalm 40 be true for us as we wait well.

  • 1 Samuel 7:12b “Thus far, the Lord has helped us.”
  • Psalm 94:19 “Whenever my busy thoughts were out of control, the soothing comfort of your presence calmed me down and overwhelmed me with delight.”
  • Psalm 40:3 “A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how he breaks through for me! Ecstatic praise pours out of my mouth until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see his miracles; they’ll stand in awe of God and fall in love with him!”

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Ask God to highlight a person who is feeling isolated at the moment. Brainstorm how you can show love to this person this week.

2. Group Activation: Ask God to highlight a refugee group or asylum seekers where you can show love practically to them this month. Compile a prophetic word to release to them as well.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to remind you of the memory stones in your life where God has performed a miracle for you. Grab some rocks/pebbles and textas/paint and physically create memory stones that you can place in a special spot to remind you of God’s goodness.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to show you someone struggling in the waiting season. Ask God to show you how you can express His heart to them. Craft a prophetic word for them as well.

5. Advanced Activation: Identify a person of major global influence at the moment. Spend time with God gleaning His heart for this person, then declare it aloud into the atmosphere. You may even feel inclined to write to them as a means of releasing it to them.

Identity part 4

Imagine an aggressive army invading your country. You are powerless to fight back or take a stand. It is a time of hiding, becoming invisible to survive. The enemy sweeps through the country, killing every person and animal, destroying every crop and business. Becoming destitute and impoverished, living seems futile. But you try. You don’t give up. Not knowing what else to do, you do the one thing that comes naturally to you. Harvesting. Gathering the remnants from your crops, you hide inside a winepress as you try to thresh the remaining wheat. Cowering in fear, you frantically try to preserve your produce whilst not drawing attention to yourself. This was Gideon in Judges 6.

It must have seemed crazy, but an angel visited Gideon, telling him he was a mighty warrior, a man of great strength. The opposite of what Gideon was manifesting as he hid, cowering in fear.

The angel gave Gideon instructions, which Gideon carried out. His actions, though, demonstrated he didn’t trust the outcome. He ‘hedged his bets’. The angel then gave him further instructions. Each time, Gideon seemed to become more courageous. Each time, Gideon asked for a further sign. It was a journey of overcoming fear and finding courage. Fear still dominated but became less and less paralyzing.

Gideon slowly demonstrated that, yes, he was a mighty warrior.

The more Gideon believed that which the angel told him, the more courageous he became.

Hearing, meditating on, and believing our true identity is crucial. We cannot consistently act in a certain way if we don’t believe it.

Growing in our identity is a journey. A journey of discovering more about ourselves and more about who we are as God’s beloved child and the implications of that.

When we embrace our identity and live fully in that, we are unconquerable and weapons of power in the Kingdom. Since that is such a threat to Satan, he loves to challenge that part of us the most – our identity. Satan tried it with Jesus in Matthew 4:3 & 6, saying twice, “If you are the son of God….” Thankfully, Jesus knew and was secure in his identity.

When we are secure in who we are and whose we are, i.e. our identity, we more easily identify the games the enemy plays to ensnare us. We keep our eyes firmly on God, secure in Him and His thoughts towards us.

The enemy will endeavour to throw you off the true path. He will do anything to have our identity distorted, damaged, or destroyed. When we partner with the enemy in this, we go down misleading and damaging paths. The Bible is full of people who struggled with their identity and ran from their true calling, often engineering circumstances differently. Gideon, Moses, Sarah, Rebekah, etc. I am currently reading the Book of Genesis in my daily devotions and finding it fascinating how these men and women of God tried to orchestrate their calling and prophetic words. They stuffed it up completely, often causing tragic circumstances that outlived them, negatively affecting their generations to come.

When you examine the lives of these Bible characters, you realize they only complicated things even more. They often caused more harm and damage to their identity and self-worth.

Insecurity and being unsure about our identity are a fantastic invitation to lean into God. It is an invitation to identify any false beliefs about who we are, our purpose, etc. and to integrate God’s perspective in all those areas.

Prophetic words will often address identity and destiny. The fulfilment of these prophecies often depends on us becoming the person spoken of in our prophecies – our character, our identity, our nature. Whilst we are waiting for our prophetic words to be fulfilled, we have a significant role to play – that of aligning our character and identity with whom God says we are.

We defeat our internal giants before we take on external giants. Becoming the person God sees us as is claiming and possessing our inner territory. If we are insecure and fearful, don’t expect to overcome fear in the world. Start with yourself. If we are harbouring bitterness and unforgiveness, it is hard to bring love to a hurting world. If we are full of regrets and disappointments overwhelm us, it is hard to bring hope to a dejected world.

Sanctification is the process of renewing our mind (Romans 12:1-2) and allowing what God says and thinks about us to shape who we are and what we do. It is becoming more Christlike, transformed as we believe and live out our Biblical identity. Our beliefs dictate our behaviour.

If we live out of our true identity as a beloved child of God and how God sees us, we no longer feel the need to find worth in our external circumstances. People’s opinions, work success, family life, friendships, looks, etc no longer define us and determine our significance. We are then free to experience God’s unconditional love and worth afresh.

When we realize our true identity, we have more clarity about our purpose and destiny. We can determine that our function is not our identity. A classic example of this is when people have been called a prophet or prophesied they will be a prophet, that person can subtly incorporate that title as their identity. Being a prophet is not your identity. It is purely a function.

My identity – that of discovering who God has created me to be, is a process. A journey of discovery. Of becoming that which we discover about who Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ says we are.

Like an onion with many layers, as we spend time with God and deal with sin and hurts in our lives, we learn more about ourselves, who God says we are, and who He sees us as.

This changes and solidifies us on the ‘inside’ – our soul – mind, thoughts, feelings, and emotions, eventually becoming expressed in our behaviour.

I would love to hear any additional aspects of your identity which you have recently discovered. Please comment below.

To read the previous posts in this series on identity, click on the following titles: Identity part 1, Identity part 2 – starts with who God is, Identity part 3 – steps towards a healthy identity

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Ask God to highlight to you as a family or group someone who is afraid. Ask everyone to sense what God wants you to say or do to help this person.

2. Group Activation: Spend time with God as a group, asking Him which areas of their lives each individual person needs courage for. Ask everyone to share what they were feeling, sensing, hearing, seeing. Ask God to highlight a creative way of releasing courage over the group as a whole and over each other. Finish with blessing each other.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God, asking Him to show you an area of your life He would love to strengthen you in. Ask God to highlight a Bible verse/person/book. Read this and spend time with God asking Him how to apply the principles to your life. Ask God to show, tell or give you something you can apply to your life or strengthen you from this time. Ask God to show or tell you how He sees you.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to show you someone in your life or community who lives in fear. Ask God to show or tell you His heart for this person or group and what He would love your response to be.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight a ‘people group’ or nation living in fear. Spend time with God, hearing/sensing/seeing His heart for these people. Craft a prophetic declaration for these people and their future. Release the prophetic declaration in a creative way eg dance, act, speak, paint, draw, poem, prophetic act, etc.

Identity part 3

Hubby and I were loving our week in London after a mission trip to Israel. Sunday evening found us in church – Holy Trinity Brompton (where the Alpha Course originated). Excited about a well-known minister praying for us, we went forward for prayer at the end of the service. Both hubby and I were gob-smacked as the minister said something about me discovering my true identity. We believed he had ‘got it wrong’ as I seemed very secure in my identity. I certainly was not concerned with what others thought about me.

Around this time, we were also trying to get pregnant. Ten years went by with no success. Before this, whatever I wanted to do, I did. I achieved much. I was able to accomplish a lot, and my identity was based in what I could do. Suddenly I was faced with something I had little control over. This caused much heartache. I realized that my identity and self-worth were in my accomplishments and what I could achieve. During this period, I faced the fact that my identity needed to be in God. I went on a journey of discovering my identity based in Jesus Christ and my relationship with Him, rather than what I could or couldn’t do.

When someone is struggling with their identity, it is common to believe that it manifests with low self-esteem, lack of personal confidence, difficulty accepting both your strengths and limitations, focusing on negatives, thinking others are better than you, feeling anxious or depressed, fear of other’s disapproval or rejection, not accepting compliments, sense of inferiority, fear and rejection looming large in your life, unfulfilled etc. Less common traits are perfectionism, controlling personality, comparison, acting differently around different people, maybe only wearing name-brand clothes, etc.

The foundation of our identity comes to the fore when we experience failure, significant miscommunication, relationships fracture or an adverse life event.

Last blog post, I addressed the issue that our identity is in who God says we are. We need to know who God is and revel in Him with awe and wonder to understand who we are, how God made us, and our identity.

Who God says we are is always in relationship to either God or others. We were made for community, not isolation.

Practical steps to help embed a Godly identity:

1. Worship God

Spend time in awe and majesty, worshipping your Creator. When we realize who we belong to, we can then discover our value.

2. Declare Scripture over yourself
To find out who God says we are means we need to spend time with God – listening, praying, meditating, asking, waiting, watching. It means devouring the Bible, God’s Word, to discover what He says about us and why He made us.

There are many Scriptures that help gain insight into how God describes us. You can easily google and find them. You can also take the time to read the Bible and allow it to sink into your mind and soul. Unfortunately, there is usually a gap between our heart and mind – intellectually knowing what God says and practically believing it and living it out.

I find an effective method is to declare Scripture over myself about who God says I am. I find Scriptures and write them out, and then declare them over myself. A great starting place is Ephesians 1. “I declare that Father God created me and blessed me with every spiritual blessing. He chose me before the creation of the world. I am called, chosen, special and equipped to spread the Gospel.” You will discover your identity changes when you declare over yourself how God sees you and believing that which is written in the Bible about yourself.

3. Prayer

I have created a prayer calendar for June based on our identity in Christ. There are 30 days of prayer from Scripture outlining our identity as a child of God. I created this over at my other blog http://www.raisingworldchangers.com.au to pray over our children to help them with their identity. I realize it is also powerful and effective praying it over myself. Here is a pdf version. Feel free to download it here or contact me to receive an emailed copy.

4. Deal with faulty beliefs

Our perception can influence our thinking and beliefs. Often, we can incorporate lies or faulty beliefs into our life through our perception of events or words. An easy method to deal with this is to take a few moments to spend time with God and ask:

  • Father God, is there any lie or faulty belief I am believing?
  • Grab the first thought through your head and explore that.
  • Ask God to show or tell you why you believe that.
  • Ask God if there is anyone you need to forgive. If anyone comes to mind, forgive that person. Bless them. Do you need to forgive yourself?
  • Ask Father God to show, tell, or give you the truth.

Healthy self-esteem and identity come from being who we are designed and created to be in community.

Next blog post, I will address how identity is a journey and helpful hints along the way.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Gather craft supplies and cut-out cardboard crowns. Ask everyone to decorate their crowns with how they are known in Heaven. Finish with everyone placing their crowns on their heads and declaring over themselves how God sees them.

2. Group Activation: Gather craft supplies, textas etc and create pictures/collages of the godly identity of the person on your right. Give this to the person on your right, blessing them in their royal identity.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to show you how He sees you dressed (eg princess, paratrooper, lover, explorer etc). Spend time asking God more about the picture He shows you. Then declare it over yourself.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you someone struggling with their identity. Spend time with God, asking Him to show you how they are known in Heaven and how He sees them. Find a way to communicate this effectively to that person and encourage them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight a powerful voice in your life at the moment. Ask God the true identity of that voice and prophesy into the effectiveness of that voice and their reach.

Identity part 2

Seeing little children revel whilst they play, occasionally glancing towards their parents, warms my heart. These children are safe and secure in their identity. They freely play, unaware of any danger or insecurity. Subconsciously they realize they are part of a ‘bigger’ picture, they belong to others and their security comes from that. They are safe and secure to explore and ‘be’, play, and do because they are connected to their source of security and identity.

On a mission experience overseas, we witnessed time and time again a young, adopted boy wandering off from his parents and the safe compound we lived in. He seemed to have no fear and was often found being cuddled by strangers. Many folks incorrectly commented on how this boy was so secure in his identity. This was a concern for me as that is not security in identity. Instead, it showed a lack of attachment.

When we have children, we name them and give them an identity, both through their name and being in our family. As our children grow, they take on our family values and lifestyle. Our identity is not in isolation. It always comes from being in relationship.

In my last blog post, I challenged readers to look at the starting place of identity by looking at who God is. When we are in relationship with God, we obtain our identity from Him. Thus, we need to know who God is and revel in Him with awe and wonder to then understand who we are, how God made us, and our identity.

A great starting place is in the Bible. In Exodus 34:6-7, God explains who He is. He is compassionate, gracious, patient, loyal, faithful, love, just, forgiving. The Bible is full of who God is.

Once we realize who God is, we receive our inheritance and generational blessings of identity. It is through our identity that we become those attributes of who God is. We can then become compassionate, full of grace and patience, loyal, faithful, just, forgiving, full of love.

Our identity is in who God says we are.

An easy way to discover whom your God is, is to look at who or what determines who you are and what you are worth.

I encourage you this week to spend time with God, gazing in awe at Him and His Majesty. Search your Bible for how God describes Himself and revel in who He is.

Next week, I will further explore identity and who God says we are.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Gather craft supplies and cut-out cardboard human bodies. Ask everyone to receive from God a picture of who God says they are, then decorate their cardboard cut-outs accordingly.

2. Group Activation: Have blank pieces of paper with each group member’s name at the top. Fold over the name so it is not visible. Pass the sheets around so everyone has one piece of paper each. Ask group member’s to ask God for a statement/sentence of identity for the person whose name is on the paper. Once written on the paper, fold the paper again so the writing isn’t visible and pass the paper to the person on their left. Repeat several times. Then ask everyone to unfold the paper and read out the identity statements over the person at the top of the paper they are holding.

3. Beginner Activation: Gather writing and drawing supplies and sheets of paper. Spend time with God, reading His Word, documenting His character attributes, revelling in Him with awe and wonder. Then ask God to show you who He says you are. Listen, watch and sense as to who He says your identity is.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time revelling in God and His majesty with awe and wonder. Ask God to highlight someone to you who is struggling with their identity. Ask God to show you how He sees them. Communicate this appropriately to the person.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you a ruling family (whether constitutional or governmental) who are struggling with their identity. Spend time with God, seeking His heart for this family and its leaders and their true identity. Proclaim their true identity and ask God if He wants you to communicate this to them and how.

Identity part 1

People can become infatuated with being called a prophet.

I regularly get contacted by people who want to explore their prophetic identity or say they are a prophet. Just because you call yourself a prophet, or have that title, does not make you a prophet.

Being a prophet is not your identity. It is purely a function.

My response is to encourage them to explore their identity as a child of God first. Your identity is not in being a prophet. Prophetic identity is living out the essence of who God has called you to be. It is vital we don’t get caught up in wanting to be recognized as having a prophetic gifting, or even worse, as a prophet. This is similar for anyone who has a gifting and allows that gifting to become their identity, e.g. evangelist, Pastor, etc.

Unfortunately, our world looks at the exterior and titles and thinks it is fabulous. What you, or others, call you does not enamour God. He is enamoured with you and who He made you to be.

We don’t prophesy to become someone special or a so-called prophet. We prophesy from a place of knowing who we are and whose we are.

We prophesy out of our identity, not to build our identity.

People can easily become caught up in their gifting as their identity and see people through the lens of their gifting instead of purely loving them.

We need to get caught up in being a child of God. In living our lives for God and allowing everything to flow from that.

The Oxford Dictionary defines identity as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.”.

Who you believe you are is so foundational. Similarly, who you are becoming.

Our identity answers the question, “Who has God created me to be?”. Our identity does not answer the question, “What am I to do?”. That is a destiny question that follows from identity, but our doing is not our being (identity). When we get our sense of identity from what we do, then the very essence of who we are, our core being, becomes vulnerable and unstable. When an unexpected event occurs with what we do e.g. lose our job, fail a course, our identity and self-worth can fracture.

This past fortnight has been a significant time in our family. One of our children was on a challenging promotional course for thirteen days. On the morning of graduation, they found out they had failed one small section, which meant they had not passed the course. After the graduation ceremony, this child’s identity shone through as they declared that even though they were disappointed, it wasn’t final; they would try again next time. This child realized they were no less a person because of that failure. This child showed resilience and security in who they were as a child of God with how they handled the disappointment.

So often, when we look at our identity, we start with ourselves. We examine what the Bible says about us eg Psalm 139:13-18 and how we were created.

Imagine, though, if we began with looking at God and taking our identity from God and how He sees us. When we start with God and look at our identity through God’s eyes, we have a solid base.

Over the next few weeks, I will unpack what it looks like having a solid identity in God.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Gather craft supplies eg stickers, glue, textas, and cardboard crowns. Ask each person to decorate a crown for themself, writing on the crown a word that God gives them that describes how He sees them. Orchestrate a special time of placing each person’s crown on their head, declaring over them the identity God has bestowed on them.

2. Group Activation: Spend time as a group hearing from God about your identity as a group. Craft a group identity statement.

3. Beginner Activation: Go to your food supply and ask God to highlight an item of food. Select that item of food and look at it carefully, asking Him to show you how that item of food relates to your identity. Spend time with God asking Him to reveal more about your identity.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a local street/place that has a high rate of crime. Ask God to show you His heart for that street/place and what He would love your response to that street to be.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to show you your nation’s physical and spiritual identity. Ask God to show you how He would love you to respond.

Growing your Spirit

Thirty years ago, hubby and I drove into an Australian town well known for its New Age and witchcraft practices. We glanced around the place for a gift shop and for somewhere to eat, but before we had time to find anywhere, I asked hubby if we could drive on to the next town. I sensed something ‘awful’ in the atmosphere, and it felt like a fear descended on me. Fast forward twenty years, and hubby, the kids, and I drove back into that same town, and it ‘felt’ completely different. We loved the place so much that we hung around that place for several days.

                   What was the difference?

A Christian church had a massive impact in the town ministering to the New Age community, but the New Age and witchcraft presence was still ‘thick’. The major difference, though, lay within me. I had grown and matured as a Christian, but I now knew my identity as a daughter of the Most-High King. I was also aware of ‘brushing’ off negative atmospheres (see here). My spirit had grown enormously and could now ‘defend’ itself instead of being intimidated.

How do you ‘grow’ your spirit?

Just as your physical body needs nutrition to grow, your soul needs love, safety, and care to grow, and your mind needs intellectual stimulation to grow, your spirit also needs to grow.

The top five ways to grow your spirit:

  1. Intimacy with God through worship, relationship, obedience, decreasing sin, and open communication with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.
  2. Grow your identity in God. Go after your inner healing. Have prayer ministry regularly to deal with issues.
  3. Speak/pray the Bible over yourself.
  4. Pray in tongues often, i.e. daily. 1 Corinthians 14:4 says, “anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies (or builds) themselves up”. One of the most effective methods is to pray in tongues each day.
  5. Bless your spirit.

How do I ‘bless my spirit’?

I first realized the enormous impact of calling one spirit to attention and blessing it after I found some teaching from Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunther and started practising on my family. Our son is a spiritual thermostat. He quickly and automatically ‘picks up’ the spiritual atmosphere of a room, place, or land region. This caused numerous hassles earlier in his life until we became more fully aware of what was happening. (A particular city in Australia has the ruling spirit of rebellion over it, and when we stayed there, our son became very rebellious. We tried disciplining him with no effect and began to doubt our parenting until I ‘connected the dots’ and realised what was happening. As soon as I identified it, our son’s behaviour immediately normalised.)

Thus, when I began calling my family’s spirits to attention and reading a blessing over them of a night, this son loved it. Each night he would ask me to ‘do that thing that makes me feel good’.

As a side note, I used to call people’s spirit forth eg “Jane, I call your spirit forth”, but a Pastor’s wife became quite anxious about that, as if I was trying to make people’s spirit travel. Thus, I now call them to attention. Look at it as if you are asking them to stand up on the inside and take notice. Eg “Jane, I call your spirit to attention” or “Jane, I call your spirit to take notice of what I am about to say”.

Over time, I have noticed a massive effect on people whenever I bless people’s spirit. I use this all the time in our Church’s Healing Rooms at the end of each person’s ministry time. It is uncommon for me not to use it when praying for someone.

I have several friends who will call their spirit to attention each night and bless their spirit and their spouse with a blessing. There is no magic formula for what to say. Go with what you feel Father God is saying to you. With my kids, I will often bless their spirit with their identity, their prophetic words, the giftings they have, their dreams and their sleeping, and their relationship with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.

David Tensen has an excellent course on this. He bases his blessing on 4 D’s – delight, design, destiny and dominion. I can never remember the 4 D’s, so I ask Father God to show or tell me how to bless each person.

I have crafted a short blessing for you, my readers. Please feel free to try it and speak it over yourself, inserting your name into it.

Blessing:

“(Your name), I call your spirit to attention and bless you with knowing that Father God loves you so much. There is nothing you could do to make Him love you any more or any less. (Your name), Father God had you in mind before He created the world. He ordained your parents, time in history and birth date. I bless you with knowing how precious and valuable you are to God, your family, friends and community. I bless you with knowing that Father God delights in you and loves being with you. I bless you with an ever-increasing intimacy with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.

I bless your spirit with knowing that God has gifted you with unique gifts and has created you with your personality. He so loves you and has incredible plans and purposes for you.

(Your name), I bless your spirit with realising more deeply today the reality of God’s love in your life. I bless you with experiencing today Father God romancing you in a fresh novel way, with you seeing, hearing, and experiencing his extravagant and generous nature and goodness and kindness. I bless you with receiving His kisses of joy and delight in you today. I bless you as you walk out the next few days and weeks and months ahead that you will see the hand of Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus on your life clearly. I bless you with incredible insight and discernment from God, with hearing Him at a deeper level and seeing what He is up to in the spiritual world.

(Your name), I bless you that wherever you walk, you carry the peace of God and change atmospheres; that people will know that a child of the Most-High God has been there. I bless you with leaving a lingering fragrance of the presence of God wherever you step. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Ask God to share with each of you a present He would like to give another family member at the moment. Write down or draw what you feel God is showing, telling or giving you for that person. Then share with that person, putting it into a blessing to pray over them eg ‘Jane, I bless you with peace.’

2. Group Activation: Partner up and spend a few moments listening to God as to what He would like to give your partner. Pray a blessing over them, calling their spirit to attention.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time worshipping God. Then spend time listening to God, focusing on Him and soaking (meditating) on Him and His goodness. Write down, draw or capture what you feel God saying, showing or giving you.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a Pastor in your local area who needs encouragement. Visit them or send a letter to purely pray for them, bless and prophesy over them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you someone in a significant position of power who desperately needs encouragement. Find a way to encourage them by blessing and prophesying over them.