Month: February 2018

I was writing an e-mail to a friend when these words spilled out onto my screen:

“When our day to day becomes so mundane, lifeless, and painful, how incredible it is to look back on His faithfulness and how He loved, sustained, and cared for us then… and He won’t ever stop.”

He won’t ever stop.

Sometimes, I think we believe He should stop.

We are so conditioned into believing that we have to earn everything.  My protestant work ethic kicks in daily and believing that nothing comes for free is eternally seared into my being.  If I haven’t worked for it, why should I have it?  If I haven’t perfected myself into deserving it, then I shouldn’t be given it.

I know I’m preaching to the choir.  Generations upon generations have revisited this need to earn, so when God offers the unconditionality of Himself to us, I believe we have a tendency to panic.  We don’t deserve it.  It’s too good to be true.  His love is so piercing, pure, and profound, and we can’t stop it.  No matter how reckless we are, we can’t end this constant outpour of grace and goodness, and this can overwhelm the soul a little… or a lot.

The tenacity of God is one of my favorite things about Him.  He goes after us, and He goes hard.  He pours Himself out, and He doesn’t hold back from us.  He gave it all, and He keeps giving it all to us.  It doesn’t makes sense, and that’s the best part.

When we are caught up in that vicious cycle of condemnation, feeling helpless to stop ourselves from breaking the Father’s heart, let’s rest in the reality that He won’t ever stop pursuing, loving, and wholly giving Himself to us.

I was standing in a field.  The hills were black and the trees were bare.  The sky was bathed in a deep, blood red.  The ground was covered in dead things.  I looked to my right, and I saw a procession of men and women.  They were all in chains, headed to a place I knew they shouldn’t go.  Their heads hung low, and their feet were bound in shackles.  I frantically tried to get their attention, but they didn’t see or hear me.

I suddenly felt the presence of something very dark.  I turned around and stood face to face with the evil one.  

“They belong to me.” he whispered, with a malicious, victorious grin spreading across his face. 

Rage from deepest part of me began to well up, and I screamed wildly: 

“No! They don’t belong to you! They belong to HIM!”  

Then I woke up.

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This was a dream I had when I was 8 years old.  I remember waking up, not knowing what I just saw, but knowing it was significant. I feel like the Father gave me that dream as child and kept it in my memory for this moment in time.

I saw people I knew in that procession.  People that I loved.  The fact is, we know and love too many people in that procession.  They are bound, broken, and headed towards an eternity apart from our Father.  We can’t unsee this truth.

We are also living in the midst of war, and the Word is clear that we do not fight against flesh and blood.  The enemy will try to convince and declare that all is lost, and that he has won.  The enemy isn’t out to distract, discourage, or dishearten… he is out to destroy.

I pray that as the enemy begins to whisper lies, the spitfire little girl inside you begins to scream.  I hope you scream, cuss, and shake your fist in the face of the enemy, Citizens of Heaven.  

Remember the victory of our Savior.  Remember and declare the work of the One who died for the redemption of us all.  Remember that when He said, “It is finished,” the enemy was done for.  Remember the procession, and remember that they are His, bought and paid for by His precious blood.

Press in, press on, and pray for the procession.