Tag: transformation

Break (ing) Through

Breakthrough is moving through the unseen barrier of our paradigms and fears, which hold us captive to our current place in God.

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How much can a person learn, change and endure in one year? It’s amazing what we, as humans can endure. 2016 was a year of learning, transition, and stepping into the new. Little did we know how much we would have to learn and dig into, in order to live effectively and wisely with what had been brought our way. Learning to manage life in a whole new way is not an easy thing to do.

Have you ever made a decision and you started moving towards that and nothing happens the way you thought it would? That was 2016 for us. We felt like we heard God speak and were supposed to move in a certain direction. The typical response when one hears God, hopefully, is to move forward with what was spoken. We did, and it turned out to be completely different. Then the questions started and we began to doubt what we thought we heard. Did we actually hear God? Were we not obedient in doing what we thought we were supposed to do? Why isn’t anything happening?

As we have stepped into 2017, a brand new year that none of us have ever experienced, we have since seen what one of my pastors, Kris Vallotton declared recently:

“Sometimes you have to participate in what you think is the end so you can see it’s not the end”.

This was our experience. We saw what we thought we were supposed to do, but in the end of this process, when nothing actually happened the way we thought it was going to, it brought us back to an original vision that had somehow gotten lost with all the activity and change around us. We learned a lot, changed a lot, and we made many mistakes along the way. It actually wasn’t the end of it, but what it did was brought our perspective back into alignment with our heart and our feet back on course. God was there every step of the way.

The Senior Pastor where I attend church, Eric Johnson once put it this way:

“God is not interested in giving us just what we need, but He desires to give us beyond what we need and give us abundance”.

When we are longing for a breakthrough and it feels like everything is chaotic and falling apart around us, then that should tell us that we ARE breaking through. Breakthrough is not just a ‘bam’ and it’s done. It’s actually a continual pushing forward and digging deeper. I’m sure you’ve heard it said, ‘when you’re going through hell, don’t stop’. Contending for the breakthrough does not mean we just sit and wait for it to come to us. It also doesn’t mean that God is teasing us with breakthrough saying ‘how badly do you want this breakthrough’?

How a person contends will be different for each one of us, but the point is that you are continually moving towards it and through it. Contending can look like fasting and prayer, daily renewing your mind with the Word. It could also be setting something aside that might be keeping you from hearing or seeing the heart of God on your matter. Maybe it’s spending more time in His presence, perhaps it could even be speaking declarations everyday. It’s going to look different for all of us. The whole point is you are breaking through; breakthrough is moving through the unseen barrier of our paradigms and fears, which hold us captive to our current place in God. Breakthrough also requires us to sacrifice something or allow something to die that we are holding on to, in order to step into the opportunity God has for us to embrace the new.

Breaking through is not easy and it won’t be by your works, it will be because you have learned to trust in His faithfulness and with each foot forward laying down those things you don’t need. Every step you take will be another step closer to the new place He is leading us toward.

Sometimes we think breakthrough means reconfiguring our circumstances, but more accurately stated; our breaking through is so we can see Him face to face in the middle of our circumstances. Remember what He has spoken to each one of us through the promises or prophetic words that we’ve received so that our eyes remain fixed on Him. Our hearts will begin to expand and increase for a greater capacity to trust. In this place, He is able to express Himself in and through us according to the dream He has made us to be…all in the process of moving towards our breakthrough.

So I would encourage you to look at your breakthrough a little differently than you used to. Look at it as an opportunity to let the old die and the new to grow and expand in the Kingdom of God: transformation. It’s not just about getting breakthrough, it’s also about growing in Him, knowing Him and hearing His heartbeat. Those around you will be able to glean from your breakthrough and it will encourage them to contend for their own. He is longing to show each one of us His faithfulness again and again!

Breaking Through…

Veronica

“Closed for Renovation”

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Isn’t it amazing the vast differences in every human being? Every person contains the incredible beauty, crazy talent, brilliant minds, and all the other array of nuances that make up an individuals authentic personhood.

I happened to be taking a walk recently with my children and dogs in Redding to finally enjoy a day of sunshine after weeks of rain. We like to go to the river trail near the beautiful Sundial Bridge. This place has several types of gardens as you walk along the path. Almost at the very end it contains this whimsical children’s garden. It has little play things for small children to play on or in, it also has this beautiful mosaic art piece that serves as a seating area and has a cute little mosaic fountain. When we approached the garden a sign was posted that said, “Closed for renovation”. The fountain has plastic wrapped around it and it was empty of water. I thought, ‘why does it say closed, because it doesn’t contain a door that you can lock and there was no rope around to keep us out’? I made my way over the mosaic bench and sat down while the girls went exploring.IMG_4531As my evening progressed, I couldn’t stop thinking about that garden. “Closed for Renovation” kept coming to me. I couldn’t help but think that it sometimes seems that God puts a sign up and says, “Closed for Renovation”. I know, it’s funny, but it’s true. How many times have you had God say, “Ok, enough of that. It’s time to make some changes”. As He begins to chip away, prune, saw, hammer, clean, and finally buff you to a shine, you’re thinking the whole time…OMG He’s killing me and I’m not going to survive.

When a mosaic is formed, it is made from tiny pieces of glass that have been broken and shattered. The beauty with this is that usually, this glass came from something originally created that was beautiful. Then it gets broken into small pieces and slowly but surely the artist begins to create another beautiful masterpiece with all the small broken pieces of glass. The amazing thing about being broken is that it all ends up into pieces that are different sizes and shapes. All these stunning pieces of colored glass are then taken by the artist and placed into particular arrangements. It’s hard to see what the artist sees until it is complete and you see the stunning masterpiece that has been brought from vision to existence.

May I suggest to you that God may sometimes set aside a time or a season where you are “Closed for Renovation”. In this time, He wants to take who you are and He says, “I see you to be even more beautiful than you are now”. Then He begins to take you apart…disassemble you…dismantle you and then starts to prepare the platform of your heart once again. He slowly and lovingly begins to arrange the beautiful broken pieces that use to make up who you were. These pieces are so beautifully arranged and set into place by The Creator of the Universe. When He is done, He washes you, dries you and buffs the shine a bit and then the new masterpiece is ready to be revealed. You finally awake, look in the mirror and are in awe of the absolutely stunning and creative beauty that came from all your broken pieces. God loves to take our broken-ness and turn into something beautiful.

God doesn’t reveal our ugly to the world. He only reveals our beauty because He Is Beauty!

A Heart Postured for Transition: Part 2

In the midst of the unveiling, we will see who we are, but faith will cause us to see how God sees us. Intimacy (relationship), trust and faith are what give us the strength and ability to walk through the unveiling and come out on the other side with a high value for the transformation.

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Transition brings another level of transformation and unveiling! 

Do you remember when Moses came down from the mountain after being with God for several days, and his face shown with the glory so much that his face had to be covered? That glory was a glory that eventually faded away.

2 Corinthians 3:7-18 is a very powerful scripture that describes the glory that Moses had. Yes, it was a glory that, here is the key, was with him. This was a glory that faded away. But the ministry of the Spirit has even more glory than that. In verse 11 it says; For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

It goes on to say that we are not like Moses who put a veil over his face, but we have such a hope that when (this glory is IN us, and) we are IN Christ, the veil over our hearts is removed. If we live by the law of sin and death (doing, or not doing something to make us approved by God) there is a veil over our hearts and our experiences with the glory will be reduced to momentary glimpses and the glory will fade away and the veil might never be removed. When we come to Christ…that veil is lifted from our hearts. The results and benefits of the veil being lifted are deliverance into freedom, transformation, and His glory/His image. Verse 18 says, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

We are in glory, not with glory! Glory is not something you just pick up and carry and pull out of the bag anytime you need to use it or want to show it off by how anointed you are. When our hearts are postured for the transition we are being transformed into the image of God because we have chosen to become part of Him. We are in Him; therefore we embody His glory. We are His glory walking the earth today. Each day is one of transformation and freedom moving from glory to glory.

I don’t want to be like Moses, temporarily carrying the glory. Yes, He was used by God in countless, and in some of the most unbelievable ways, but…I want to be one that is walking in His glory day to day, continually being transformed from glory to glory. Each stage of glory is greater than the previous.

Sustaining the Change

FAITH: What is it you believe in? Where does your faith lie? Who does your faith lie in? Do we believe being approved by God is a result of what we do, or by being transformed into the image of His Son: the only image of true Glory 2 Co. 3:18, Ro. 8:29, 12:2.

Faith is the necessary element that we must have active in our lives to sustain change and transformation. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. – Hebrews 11:6

Faith will always reap something in the Kingdom of God!

Several times Jesus said, in the New Testament when He healed someone…your faith has made you whole. Faith in Him invites His presence for transformation and transition, and faith in Him that He is able to do what He said He would do, sustains that change.

INTIMACY: Developing a strong relationship with God and building a history with Him will allow His Story to be built in you. – Bill Johnson

Capacity for transition grows through intimacy; intimacy opens our eyes to see, and our ears to hear, the sounds of heaven. Faith comes from hearing the living and active Word of God Ro. 10: 17.

God is trustworthy. We experience this through intimacy. What is intimacy? Intimacy is transparency and vulnerability. With transparency, there will never be anything hidden. When we are fully transparent, we are fully vulnerable, when we are fully vulnerable we experience what He is: Love. Trust is born in intimacy.

RENEWING: Romans 12:2 refers to being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Every day is a day of transformation. The renewing of the mind births value for the change that takes place in us. God is looking for people who will be unveiled and steward the unveiling well.

In the midst of the unveiling, we will see who we are, but faith will cause us to see how God sees us. Intimacy (relationship), trust and faith are what give us the strength and ability to walk through the unveiling and come out on the other side with a high value for the transformation.

2 Cor. 13:5-9 says, Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved. For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth. For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong this we also pray for, that you be made complete.

We are not perfect when we emerge from having been in a stage of transformation, and it may not be the prettiest but, you are approved by God. You went through the process! Don’t minimize what you just went through. We never fail when we go through a transformation! It’s in the process that we are strengthened to sustain and carry the next phase of transformation that we are going through. His grace carries us. His grace is sufficient for us! We are made complete in Him through the transformation.

Let’s recap:

Faith: He IS able to carry you through the unveiling process.

Intimacy: Focus is a result of His amazing, powerful devotion to love us and bring us into His glorious liberty, compared to the focus being on the process, what needs to change; He has paid a high price for our deliverance into liberty Is. 61:1; 2 Co. 3:17.

Renewing: I must have the transformation to live and move and have my being in Him…..or, perhaps better stated: I must have the transformation to walk in the glory I’ve been born for.

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

May your heart be blessed to embrace the unveiling and transformation process!!

Pulling Back the Veil

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Writing Your History

One morning while in my quiet time, I was reflecting on a meeting I had attended with a handful of interns the day before. What was stirring in me was what I had heard the speaker say in that small meeting. He was talking about a scripture in 2 Corinthians 3 about a veil being over our hearts and when we turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. What he said was this, ‘to the degree the veil has been pulled back, is the degree of hunger we have for God’. While I was reflecting on this, I saw a picture of sheer curtains being drawn back and a heart-shaped book was revealed. It was open and there was a hand holding a pen, writing on the book. I was thinking, “oh, that’s cool, God is writing my history”. Then I heard a quiet voice say, “no, I’m not writing your history, you are”!

I have heard countless times in the last five years or so that our time spent with God is a time of building our history with God. Those intimate quiet times are the times that the groundwork for our future and our destiny is formed. We begin to build with God by valuing the moments in life that we put aside to spend with Him. In those moments, the hours or even days of time spent with Him are very valuable and precious. They are opportunities we create, to spend time with the Father, the Creator of the universe, and the Lover of our souls.

I often ask myself, ‘what value do I have in spending time with God’? I have no desire to make the time I spend with him a ‘religious ritual’ but one that captivates all my attention and affection for the creator of my life, the one who is the very breath that I breathe. It’s easy to feel like we have to read the Bible every single day or pray for an hour every morning in order to maintain and cultivate a close relationship with God. For some people, having a daily schedule of reading and praying is just a religious act or ritual. For me, it has to be a desire born out of hunger that pulls me and beckons me with anticipation for what He might show me or say to me in those moments that I have created a place for Him to unveil His love for me. For a person that grew up in a correct-action-produces-acceptance-lifestyle, this endeavor is for the purpose of love, not to experience acceptance because my behavior has pleased someone; it is in this experience, that I fall in love with the One who gave everything for me. This is not about accomplishing ritual, this, is about surrender to love.

What does spending time with God do? It begins to transform the way we think, the way we see, the way we talk and the way we walk out the Kingdom in our lives. The more time spent in love with Him, the more we are transformed and the more the Kingdom is revealed. The more time spent with Him, the more our hunger is cultivated and the more we can’t live without Him. The more I give Him my all that I am, the deeper my well gets and the more the pen writes on the page of my heart the history that I am building, the story of my life through the eyes of love and not acceptance produced by my own effort of ritual.

Yes, we are building a history with God, but at the same time we are also digging a well. We determine our capacity for His presence and His glory in our lives by how deep our well is. The closer I become with Him, and the deeper my well gets then the greater my life story gets. The depth of my well tells Him what I can hold and what I can contain, and sustain. I don’t know about you, but I want a very deep well to contain and sustain all that He is, to me. When I have the opportunity to minister then it’s not about me trying to prepare a good message, but the message would come from the depths of my well, from the history that I’ve created with God; my message is what I have become.

Hunger for More

Hunger drives us to pursue. When you are naturally hungry, you go get something to eat right? My family and I were walking down the Santa Cruz Boardwalk recently having just eaten dinner at a great restaurant. We had our leftovers in a couple of small containers and as were walking a young man sitting on a bench asked us if we could part with our leftovers. Of course! I mentioned to my husband, ‘wow, that is really bold for someone to just ask for your leftovers’. Now, where we live there are a lot of homeless, so I’m used to seeing them, and being asked for money or food. I can’t remember ever having anyone ask my for the container I had in my hand. My husband said, ‘hunger will make you do bold things’. Wow…how true is that. Hunger within says, I won’t be satisfied until I have what feeds me, what will sustain me and what will expand me to want even more; He has created me this way.

Life is full of activity, responsibility and commitments that take up the majority of our daily time. Our natural tendency, especially those of us with a correct-action-produces-acceptance-lifestyle, is to get under the weight of all that life demands. This steals our joy, robs us of our hope and causes us to feel overwhelmed, even becoming depressed at the lack of time to complete all that needs to be done. It ultimately steals the most precious thing of all…time with the most incredible Father.

Matt. 5: 6 says, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they SHALL BE satisfied’. 

So I share what is becoming me, what is becoming His message that draws me to consider, to ponder, to meditate upon, that would encourage me to search my heart.

Lets engage the risk that says we are willing to give all that we are to Him, and not to build our lives on how correct we should be. Are we willing to take risk and go after more of love, in place of my rightness? How much hunger do we have for love? How thirsty are we to be satisfied? How deep is the well? How far have we pulled back the veil of our hearts? I know that when I have my heart wide open to where I am fully exposed and vulnerable, God pours into me everything I desire and need to walk out life on a daily basis with His heart. Every moment spent with Him the veil is removed more and more (2 Co. 3:13-16).

God will not violate our space, but desires unlimited access to our heart, life and soul. He fulfills every longing, every desire, every dream that you have if you open wide your heart to Him. God is not waiting for you to prove how serious you are, He is just waiting for you to bring your heart to the table. Again I say, God is not looking for your spirituality, He is looking for your surrender.

The only expectation is that I am fully yielded to Him!