Death and Life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 18:21
One of my favorite words is "beautiful." Telling peeople they are beautiful is a great thing to do, because it is the truth. And truth is full of life. When people believe they are not beautiful, they are believing a lie, and lies are full of death.
Living words eliminate the dead ones. The dead ones are lies; the living ones are Truth.
I know in our generation it is almost expected or natural to not believe you are beautiful - girls and guys alike. I enjoy countering those lies with truth, which ushers forth freedom, love, hope, joy, faith, healing, justice, and God's presence.
I beleive God's presence is what every human being has at some point deeply longed for Jesus. He says His Spirit is every where and I also know that the Lord calls Himself the Lover of mankind, and someone who is in pursuit of man.
When someone agrees with our deepest longings, for beauty, for justice, for light, for love, by speaking it out, like "you are beautiful," something happens, something shifts, way deep on the inside. Sometimes it's almost too deep to comprehend. But it's a shift inside the structure of the mind and of the heart. Thinking begins to change, feelings begin to change, hope arises, and people begin to believe again that they are beautiful. They begin to feel more alive. Words are like seeds planted in the ground, and they will grow as the Gardener cares from them. I have also been majorly learning how much this whole life, living it for Him, is about Him -- Jesus. That makes walking in the power of intimacy and love with God super easy, more easy than we think. I am learning how to not take myself too seriously anymore, and how to just let Jesus do what He does best, and do it with joy and love and adoration for everything He is -- living by 100% grace, that I can do nothing without Him. Jesus Himself said that in John 5:19, "Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."
To walk in the fullness of the Spirit and of grace; this is how more of the God's Children will actually come to know - I mean, really know - their Daddy. People will recognize the ones who bear His Name not because they shout His Name on street corners, but because they have let Him mark their hearts with His Name -- something greater than themselves and greater than the world, yet the very thing the world has always longed for.
<3 Lauren
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Love Makes You, You
Sometimes when I got on this blog I feel the need to write this gigantic post of all these crazy things that are happening in my life, all these new fresh thoughts and experiences and etc.
However, there are seasons when things are really restful on the ouside...while a lot of things are just being shifted, changed, planted, and rearranged under the surface. And those things are great to write about too.
The purpose of this blog is really just to encourage the church body. I find it super important to know about what other people think and feel and go through in their walks - we need each other, be in tune with the body, be vulnerable with each other. I hope you find that here in my blog.
Lately, God has really just been reiterating a few things in my spirit. Those things have to do with my identity in Him.
The number one thing is this: I am His daughter.
I read the book "Supernatural Ways of Royalty" by Kris Vallotton starting at about a year ago (March 2010), and finished it around August 2010 (yes, it took me a whole five months to read that book. It's so filled and jam packed with life-changing stuff. When I was half way through, I even turned around and read the entire beginning just to let it sink in again!) I highly recommend this book to everyone - no matter where you are at on your spiritual journey. This book is really fantastic about instilling in each one of us what it means to be a son or daughter of God. He explains that royal sons/daughters have access to what the king has, who is their father. In the same way, we who are actually true Sons and Daughters of God (it's not just metaphorical - it's reality) are desired by the King to come before Him and receive all that He has for us.
But, this all happens through loving relationship with Him. Truly knowing in one's entire being what it means to be a daughter of the Father requires knowing the Father first.
A perfect example of this came up in my AP Literature and Composition class today, a group of students were giving their presentation on Biographical Literary Criticism, which basically is: "You got to find out the history and life of the author before you plunge into reading one of their literary works. Otherwise, it is impossible to fully understand their work."
A line in their notes struck me. It was simply: "Know the Creator." (I capitalized "Creator" for my effect).
It is true: Identity can't come unless there is intimacy, and we can't who we are as His magnificent creation unless we know our Magnificent Creator. Knowing God Himself, and Him knowing us, is the journey, the reason, the whole point of life. The more I understand who God is as my Father, the more I step into my royal identity as a daughter.
Each and every one of us was created for our Creator - who is our loving Father, Friend, the Lover of our souls, and so much more. But in everything that He is, He is Love. So the way I know I am a daughter is if I love like my Father has loved me. I become who God made me to be when I live (think, eat, sleep, walk, talk, and breathe) inside the context of a loving relationship with God: which is me receiving love - constantly - and me pouring out my heart to Him constantly. It's not work, not religion, it's just hanging out with Him.
He can't tell me He loves me enough because His words are living words. I can't hear that He loves me enough because they are like daily bread. I find that it is okay that God tells me the same things over again. I need to always hear that He loves me. There is something about hearing it from the Father Himself - not from a pastor, not from a friend, not from having in instinctively memorized because the Bible says so. There is something about hearing it straight from the mouth of our Daddy Himself. When He says, "You are my son, you are my daughter, and I love you. You are mine and I am yours; let me be with you, let me live life with you, child," you're eternally wrecked.
Because everyone on the planet was made for supernatural love, when we love people with God's love - they begin to be the person that they were actually made to be. We are for love and love is for us. In my life I am just seeing the fun of going out and loving people. Everyone... EVERYONE responds to love. It's what we all need, every moment of every day - the love of Daddy God, who IS LOVE.
However, there are seasons when things are really restful on the ouside...while a lot of things are just being shifted, changed, planted, and rearranged under the surface. And those things are great to write about too.
The purpose of this blog is really just to encourage the church body. I find it super important to know about what other people think and feel and go through in their walks - we need each other, be in tune with the body, be vulnerable with each other. I hope you find that here in my blog.
Lately, God has really just been reiterating a few things in my spirit. Those things have to do with my identity in Him.
The number one thing is this: I am His daughter.
I read the book "Supernatural Ways of Royalty" by Kris Vallotton starting at about a year ago (March 2010), and finished it around August 2010 (yes, it took me a whole five months to read that book. It's so filled and jam packed with life-changing stuff. When I was half way through, I even turned around and read the entire beginning just to let it sink in again!) I highly recommend this book to everyone - no matter where you are at on your spiritual journey. This book is really fantastic about instilling in each one of us what it means to be a son or daughter of God. He explains that royal sons/daughters have access to what the king has, who is their father. In the same way, we who are actually true Sons and Daughters of God (it's not just metaphorical - it's reality) are desired by the King to come before Him and receive all that He has for us.
But, this all happens through loving relationship with Him. Truly knowing in one's entire being what it means to be a daughter of the Father requires knowing the Father first.
A perfect example of this came up in my AP Literature and Composition class today, a group of students were giving their presentation on Biographical Literary Criticism, which basically is: "You got to find out the history and life of the author before you plunge into reading one of their literary works. Otherwise, it is impossible to fully understand their work."
A line in their notes struck me. It was simply: "Know the Creator." (I capitalized "Creator" for my effect).
It is true: Identity can't come unless there is intimacy, and we can't who we are as His magnificent creation unless we know our Magnificent Creator. Knowing God Himself, and Him knowing us, is the journey, the reason, the whole point of life. The more I understand who God is as my Father, the more I step into my royal identity as a daughter.
Each and every one of us was created for our Creator - who is our loving Father, Friend, the Lover of our souls, and so much more. But in everything that He is, He is Love. So the way I know I am a daughter is if I love like my Father has loved me. I become who God made me to be when I live (think, eat, sleep, walk, talk, and breathe) inside the context of a loving relationship with God: which is me receiving love - constantly - and me pouring out my heart to Him constantly. It's not work, not religion, it's just hanging out with Him.
He can't tell me He loves me enough because His words are living words. I can't hear that He loves me enough because they are like daily bread. I find that it is okay that God tells me the same things over again. I need to always hear that He loves me. There is something about hearing it from the Father Himself - not from a pastor, not from a friend, not from having in instinctively memorized because the Bible says so. There is something about hearing it straight from the mouth of our Daddy Himself. When He says, "You are my son, you are my daughter, and I love you. You are mine and I am yours; let me be with you, let me live life with you, child," you're eternally wrecked.
Because everyone on the planet was made for supernatural love, when we love people with God's love - they begin to be the person that they were actually made to be. We are for love and love is for us. In my life I am just seeing the fun of going out and loving people. Everyone... EVERYONE responds to love. It's what we all need, every moment of every day - the love of Daddy God, who IS LOVE.
"When it's all been said, when it's all been done
When the race is done, it all comes down to Love." - Misty Edwards
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