Pharisees

Pharisees. Wow that word holds alot of punch with it, doesn't it? If you have ever been in a religious arena or read your bible for that matter, that word holds a specific connotation that is very charged. Pharisees. You can just feel it....

Anyways, the Lord brought these 2 questions by me today and they have had me thinking ever since. So here goes....

Who are you going to offend?

See, it is bound to happen. You can't please everybody, so who are you going to offend. The second question was....

Would you spend your time appeasing the people that Jesus offended?

In a season of casting vision for myself, I am pondering many questions. So these 2 came at the perfect time. Jesus offended the Pharisees and touched the rest of the world. If my actions are going to offend someone, then I want the right people offended.

I am not suggesting that we purposely go and offend the religious, but I don't want to run from offense either. I want to walk as Jesus walked...loving, freeing, delivering......and He did it in a way that didn't seem to fit what the religious thought of as the "right way to handle things."

With recently having been established in my identity deeper, and having had performance cast off of me, I feel that I have been dealing with a good portion of my fear of man issues. So now these questions have helped my resolve to walk forward without apologies.......chasing my Jesus and the way that He transformed the world.

p.s. -- silly side note -- I think the English word for Pharisees is ironic. phari - (sees) --- when they obviously didn't see!!

Expansion

Sometimes there are just things that you read that sound bells within your spirit. Tonight I was reading an article from the Elijah List that did that. I don't know that I understand it all yet, but something true hit a chord within my soul.

It was about expansion. And so much more. It was about how God does not function in time....no past present or future. But in a sort of fourth demension. Seeing all and being present present. So time does not flow how we function, but from a kairos type way. A perfect timing of God type of way.

Let's start with scripture. Take Ezekiel 1 and the four living creatures. They were all pointing in a different direction, all going straight and not turning when they went. So how were all four creatures moving if it says that their wings were touching as they went.

EXPANSION

And as Conrad Lampan explains....

Then it dawned on me—if you are expanding then you are moving like a balloon in every possible direction. Moreover, because you are moving in a different dimension, you do not need space to expand into, but rather, you make the space as you expand within His glory

 I think Mr. Conrad is touching on something very specific and very fresh. The Kingdom is about expansion. We are suppossed to be about expansion. Expanding to hold his pressence and then letting the atmosphere around us expand to bring the glory of the Lord. Expanding His Kingdom. And expanding in perfect ebb and flow with His kairos timing.

Forward movement in different directions....with focus and vision....without decrease, without turning back. Always pressing forward by taking more "pressence" in. Beautiful Mr. Conrad Lampan. Beautiful. 

Foxes

Why is it that the enemy does so many little things in the midst of change? So many of the things that you can normally just blow off just seem to happen at a much faster rate. 

It's like the 2 year old pushes more buttons, the 8 month old puks (a mini puke) all over your clothes.....several times, the new job possibility falls through, the air conditioner breaks, and you still have weeds in the new grass out the wa-zoo. 

It reminds me of Song of Solomon where it says "Catch for us the little foxes that run the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom."  (S.S.2:15) This is the Lover speaking to the Beloved. We are the Beloved. It is Jesus telling us to catch the little foxes....to stop the little annoyances from stealing our life. Because life IS going to go forward, and if you don't stop the foxes, your joy, your hope, and/or your faith will suffer. And maybe more importantly, your fruit, the grapes in your vineyards, may get ruined. And it is YOUR responsibility to catch the foxes. 

So what does that mean.....I mean these foxes....these circumstancial things that I have no control over keep happening.  I think it means to stop them from stealing your place in the heavenlies. Catch them....stop letting them mess with your fruit....the fruit of peace, patience, and kindness.....and the whole gamet of the Galatians fruit of the spirit.

And the best part of all of this is that the inferred thing is that the foxes only come when the vineyard is in bloom! See, we've crossed over. No turning back. We're heading to take our promises. We have shaken off the old cycles and are moving in the new wineskin. We are running with the Lion of Judah, and we are not afraid to take risks. So of course the foxes would come now....when we are advancing the kingdom in our little world and the big one around us. So praise God....we are advancing enough that the enemy thought he needed to send foxes. Praise God we are not stuck in the same pattern we used to live in. Praise God.

So what did I do today to catch my foxes? I let redemption come for the day. I jumped on the trampoline with my 2 year old until she remembered that mom can be fun. I fed my 8 month old m & m's til I got way too many smiles to care if he puk-ed again. Then I hung out on the patio with my husband just getting connected. So the foxes from today have been rounded up and put down and redemption has come in the promise that change and fruit has arrived.