As we continue on with our theme of Discernment and Intercession, we have learnt over the years that Intercessors and Prophetic people deal with the brunt of the spiritual dimension in ways that others will never understand because they are forerunners walking in the future before the rest of the world catches on.
Why is it important?
This is why intercession and the prophetic are important. They bring the unseen into the seen. Your journey will be misunderstood but you were not sent to be understood, you were sent to reveal the light you have seen!
The Hebrew word for intercession we see all through the Scriptures is “PAGA”.When we understand what Intercession is in the Scriptures, we will understand what is happening when we use this gift. It’s exciting!
What is Intercession?
“Paga” means:
“to meet”
Intercession creates a meeting. Prayer meetings are aptly named.
We see this word ‘paga’ in Jacob’s ’meeting’ at Beth-el. It says “he met (‘paga’) upon a certain place and stayed there all night… he dreamt a ladder was set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” (Genesis 28:11-12)
Intercessors meet with God, what an exciting amazing thing, and all because of Jesus!
In this passage, the ‘meeting’ involved angels whose role is to be special messengers and ministering spirits (Hebrew 1:14)
I’m sure in the midst of a long journey Jacob needed not only to pray but to receive the meeting and ministry of God’s angels! Long journey’s develop both the gift and character of the intercessor. Because God is a good Father, He brings the provision of ministering angels to us.
Intercessors also meet the powers for darkness and we see this in the next definition of paga. This is especially important here that as we pray, we know who we are and who Jesus is!
‘Paga’ is a frequently used battlefield term
Matthew 27:50-52 says “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks splitand the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.”
Intercession can be violent and powerful. Romans 8:34 says, “Christ Jesus is the one who died and more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
When Jesus made intercession on the cross, it was violent… “Veil of temple torn from top to bottom, earth quaked, rocks split, graves opened.” Such was the force of Jesus’ Intercession!
Matt 27:45 says “there was darkness over all the land” WAR RAGED! What would of been discerned in the spirit realm then would of been off the charts, incredibly intense and overwhelming! The natural realm gives us a glimpse of what war was taking place in the spiritual realm.
Matt 27:39-44 lists out some of what the war looked like at the cross in this intercessory moment of Jesus. There was
– blaspheming
– shaking of heads in ridicule and scorn
– mocking
– insulting
Where we pray from matters
This was a battle and a battle Jesus won. When we pray, we pray from victory not for it! Victory has already been won, now we pray to establish it!
So when we pray, we are creating a meeting on a battlefield! Any individual, family, church, organization, event that is not covered in prayer is open to the battle!
Our mandate as we pray is “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:9) We need to know what Heaven’s will is, that is why the greatest question we can ask is “Papa God what are you doing?” In every situation, what is He seeing? What is He doing? How do you Papa want to come?
This is the battle. And this is the joy of the intercessor!
How can we NOT pray? The one thing the Kingdom of Darkness fears most is us on our knees interceding, praying creating a meeting where heaven invades earth.
The Greatest Battle of Your Life is over Your Spiritual Authority
August 4th, 2020
2 MIN READ
“ We can change the course of events if we go to our knees in believing prayer. Prayer should not be merely an act, but an attitude of life. We should not pray for God to be on our side, butpraythat we may be on God’s side.” – Billy Graham
Do you believe we can change the course of events like pandemics through prayer? Do you believe in the power of prayer?
We all love those moments when God shows up as we pray and He releases healing or moves powerfully. But what happens when He doesn’t?
What happens when we have prayed for 10 years and family or friends still aren’t saved? What happens when we have prayed for months for Covid to stop ravaging the nations and it still continues on?
What we really believe then is what we really believe about Intercession.
Ask yourself, what do I really believe about Intercession?
This is not just a self reflection question. It is so easy to let disappointment and delay change our theology around prayer and its power.
One of the great challenges we all face is to NOT create a theology from our experience. When we do this, we disembowel our authority, protection and value for one of the most important front line gifts to your life, your family, your faith community.
THE GREATEST BATTLE OF YOUR LIFE IS OVER YOUR SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
INTERCESSION is about who has spiritual authority.
So What is Intercession?
Revelation 5:8-10 says “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open the seals thereof: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And have made us unto our God a kingdom and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
First and fore mostly, intercession is a call to a conversation with God. In verse 8 it says “having every one of them harps, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.” These harps and bowls are the prayers of the Saints.
A musician can play an instrument from formula and it will be perfect, but when a musician plays an instrument from relationship to it, it has a whole other sound and effect.
Prayer is about a relationship not a formula.
Secondly, as we intercede, we need to know who we are!
Verse 10 “.. made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.”
Kings and priests reigning on the earth is who God is committed to making you!
This is why we must understand atmospheres. In intercession we will discern atmospheres.
Have you ever been driving down the road and all of a sudden some random thought pops into your head? Might be that someone is about to drive straight into your car yet just previous to that thought you were thinking about work that day or singing at the top of your lungs?
You’ve driven through an atmosphere. Spiritual atmospheres are real.
They are atmospheres, not you! It’s an atmospheres that just intruded into your thoughts. It’s is not you!
You are a priest, a King, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. To believe what an atmosphere says about you, that’s below your dignity. We must be aware of the battle for our authority!
Ask yourself, do you really believe that you can REIGN on earth?
If no, then the atmosphere of shame might be going at you. Shame says ‘you’re not enough” and when you’ve beaten your way through that message it will hit you up with “Who do you think you are?”
Do you know who God says you are? What atmosphere are you listening to? Who has your authority?
In 1 Corinthians 12:10, this gift is listed in the middle of gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues given by the Holy Spirit. These are called ‘power gifts’.
Discernment is considered a power gift.
This discernment reveals the SPIRIT OF THE MATTER, whether it is human, demonic or divine.
Why is this important?
These gifts are a “manifestation of the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:7) to “profit all.” Gifts manifest the Presence of God and what he is targeting! Their Purpose: to profit everyone!
This is a great way to check on how you are going with working this gift – is it manifesting, making known the presence of God and is it profiting people around you?
This spiritual ability exposes you to spirits. This can be disturbing as it can seem when this gift is activated, that the demonic spirits are everywhere. Fear and alarm are big emotions in this gift.
I remember years ago mentoring a young leader who had been given the gift of discernment. She would often experience moving through her day, and all of a sudden she would receive information through her senses. Initially she did not realize it was in the spiritual realm and it would ruin her day. She felt like she was crazy.
Then she found out she was gifted with this gift and she began to grow in understanding discernment of spirits and how it worked for her. She is now a power hitter in the Christian world.
How does discernment work?
1. Respond not React
This is why the Lord has taught us how to centre on the presence of God. Jesus didn’t react to the Devil, He responded to the Father.
John 5:19 , is a fascinating verse. It records that the Jewish Leaders are trying to murder Jesus, they are trying to trap him and question his identity.
Jesus responded, “Assuredly I tell you, 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.”
His first response was to assure them! He knew they were set on murder and He is assuring them!? He assures those under the influence of a spirit that wants to use them to murder Jesus.
I think of assurance as something you give to a child or someone who is in distress. It’s an action of love and compassion. Jesus clarifies how he works in the face of discerning the Devil. He refused to react to the Devil.
2. Practice…
This is one of the biggest challenges that this gift brings. Learning how to respond to the Presence of God and not react to the presence of the demonic. It takes practice!
The KEY here is discernment is a practice that trains us to recognize presence.
Hebrews 5:14 is key for training us in this gift and recognizing the Presence of God. It says, “But solid food is for the [spiritually] mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between what is morally good and what is evil.”
I love the word ‘practice’ here. It reveals that this gift as with all gifts divine or human, require practice. It is not about perfection, it is about practice. And practice demands of us the willingness to be vulnerable.
3. No love, don’t share what you discern
Discernment reveals both evil and good. THE REMEDY FOR THE NEGATIVE, the EVIL WHICH WE WILL SEE, REQUIRES THE HIGHEST APPLICATION OF LOVE. If you don’t love the person, city or nation, don’t share what you discern!
This is why this gift MUST be about learning to recognize His Presence, His person.
Emotions have been given a bad rap. We are taught to reject them, shut them down, deny them, mock them or believe that what we feel is what we are.
We hold so many myths and unreasoned beliefs about emotions. Yet God gave us emotions.
Emotional Intelligence is one of the biggest qualities employers, especially in times like pandemics, are looking for. EI is now considered one of the leading fields of business and leadership development.
God is all over this too!! So today, try something new. Ask yourself, “What am I feeling and what is it that I need?”
For example, you might be feeling hungry as you work from home. Is it because you haven’t had breakfast yet or is it because you are bored or anxious?
There are two needs there. If you’ve had breakfast, great! That meets your body’s need for food.
If it’s because your bored or feeling anxious, ask Holy Spirit why am I feeling this today? Trust his ability to answer you over deceptions ability to answer you.
If your bored or anxious maybe you need to try something new? Maybe you need to upgrade your keys for breakthrough with anxiety? Maybe you just simply need to ring a friend and say hi?
Whatever the emotion, there is a need wanting to be met.
Want more?
Consider doing our short e-Course How to Master Emotional Intelligience. Upgrade your EI with this fun, creative course based on world renown research and God’s perspective.
“I’m not going back! I don’t want to do the same old thing anymore. I’m done with it. I am tired of simply going through the motions.”
The echoes of many as the world slowly emerges out of Lockdown across the globe.
What is our way forward? How do we not get blindsided by the familiarity of the old and how do we not simply stumble mind numbingly into the new?
This is a day that demands discernment of us. I do not believe it is a option for us anymore. We must be willing to learn and practice this God given gift of discernment.
After 20 years of living and pioneering in different nations, moving into the new, new seasons, new ways of life and ministry, new levels in gifts, new cultures and language, we could not of done any of this without discernment.
It is an incredibly vital gift but not always an easy gift to understand or work with. Practice, mistakes, successes, vulnerability, courage, confusion, clarity is found on the terrain of discernment.
WHAT IS IT… In the Scriptures, Discernment is a gift from God and a gift for protection and direction. Sounds exactly what we need right now eh?
There 2 types of Discernment. Today we will look at the first type.
In Matthew 2:2, the Wise Men visited baby Jesus led by seeing “His star in the East”. They discerned the signs of the times through a sign in the sky. This discernment has to do with signs often in nature, times and seasons.
This discernment was used right through the Scriptures. 1 Chronicles 12:32 identifies a tribe who were known for this gift, the Tribe of Issachar.
We are told that “these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.”
This gift is an anointing. One which God continues to give today. One to pursue. This gift is something we can ask God for.
In 1 Kings 3:9 King Solomon, one of the greatest Kings to ever have lived on earth, asks of God “give me an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil.”
Asking is something God loves us to do! It takes humility and curiosity to ask. Asking is a key quality of the worlds most effective leaders and pioneers. They dare to ask in order to discern. This was the one thing King Solomon chose to ask for above all other options.
WHY DO WE NEED DISCERNMENT… How often have we seen that our greatest mistakes have been when we have ignored what we discerned? So often we’ve ignored because: -we didn’t want to see what we were discerning -we didn’t understand what we were receiving through this gift – we needed emotional, spiritual and sensory upgrades – We had no space for it to be a spirit and not a person that was being discerned -the information wasn’t rational enough for us -we couldn’t believe that someone had a wrong heart -we haven’t learnt to recognize God’s Spirit, God’s angels or demons in this form before
So as you consider your responsibilities as a child of God, leader, parent, spouse, citizen of your nation and what you don’t want to go back to, don’t move forward without this gift of discernment.
It is one of the most beautiful gifts for connecting with the heart of God that we have.
We’ve been pondering change. Change is here again as Covid restrictions shift or lift across the nations.
The dance with change is something we can’t opt out of.It is a collective change as much as it is personal.
Change is tiring. Change puts tension on our ideas, expectations and values.
Change is emotional and spiritual as much as it is physical.
When we move into change, vulnerability, fear, uncertainty and risk litter this terrain like stones on a road.
In a world that works hard at insuring itself against uncertainty to maintain comfort and control, change is an intruder.
But change is also exciting. Change birth’s new. It invites us to upgrades in how we see God, how we see ourselves and how we see the moment we are in.
We’ve proven we can do massive global change. The internet was a global change we all had to navigate. And it has bought the gift of connection in this Covid season on an unprecedented scale.
Change brings us some of its greatest gifts. Like what do I do with vulnerability and fear when they mount on our horizon like forming storm clouds?
How do I or we as a society navigate uncertainty? Can I identify how I do change or does change simply do me?
Taking responsibility for ourselves in change is courage.Choosing how we dance with change is brave. God created us to be the head and not the tail to be wagged by it.
Easy to let fear take or be our voice. Easy to blame others for the discomfort this dance of change brings.
Fear and hate are human reactive emotions. They are also spirits. And they want to be loud voices in our world enticing us to move outside of our best selves and what we really value.
There is an invitation in this hour of change again, who will we trust in this “new normal”? Our fears, our hate, our discomfort or God?
• • Want more? Check out How to Breakthrough Fear and Master Courage e-Course on our online Learning Platform All4Him.Thinkific.com
Stand in Your Spiritual Authority!
May 6th, 2020
7 years ago a International Christian Leader here in Australia said something that so resonated. They said, “The greatest and most urgent need in the church and in our lives is for the gift of Discernment.”
This is no more true now than it was then. There is no lack of opinions and experiences that can leave us wondering. The world has changed. Especially now.
So when we come to this gift of Discernment, first and fore-mostly it is a call to a conversation with God and a gift to recognize His Presence, His person.
This is the basis, the lens for how to use this gift. We are always looking for Him and what He is doing.
We will discern a lot of things today as we move through this day. Information including spiritual, is coming to us in so many ways. Spiritual data is constantly being computed. What do we do with it?
Discernment gives us a way to see what God is doing. . . Want more?
Winning the Battle of Your Mind in the midst of Covid-19
April 15th, 2020
Who has your first thought in the morning when you wake up?
•Negativity – as the news/social media gets checked? •Anxiety as you wonder will I have a job, a business at the end of the week? •Pain as you feel a physical twinge because of illness or injury? •Grief, because you have lost your job, your normal life or loved one? •Fear of not enough – I call it the ‘scarcity treadmill’ – not enough time, money, support, government intervention or God intervention.. Just not enough!
It doesn’t take long for something to ‘barter’ for our thoughts, especially at the moment.
And then what? What do we do with that thought?
Do we mercilessly pound it out on ourselves and whirl around in a shame storm? Do we become a voice of negativity to those around us? Do we grab at something to distract us and numb it? Do we reach out to others and message them?
If you’re like me, you’ve done it all. So let’s get curious…
Over the years as I began to notice what the first thought was that came to me. I began see rhythms and seasons and themes pop up external to me. Not everything you think, is from you! This gave me a heads up on what was in the atmosphere.
Our battle is “not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.” Ephesians? ?6:12? ?AMP??
Atmosphere’s are full of thoughts and suggestions. This is the domain of the Prince of the Air. (Ephesians 2:2) This is what we are to take authority over and shift. This is part of what we do in prayer and intercession.
Then I noticed patterns about myself. This gave me a fabulous opportunity for upgrade. Our souls need maturing as we work the spiritual dimension and our gifts.
Romans 12:2 says “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans? ?12:2? ?
We need to continually let God renew our mind, our thinking. This is not a shameful thing this is a promotion thing!
As we get renewed by God’s thoughts, and learn His ways and His presence, we discover what He has gifted us with. These gifts He does not want to remain immature. Maturity is expensive and it’s hard work but so is immaturity!
So Intercessors, Discerners, Prophetic, Word of Knowledge, Mercy, Compassion, these gifts have a unique experience with what’s in an atmosphere. Being renewed in the mind is critical for these gifts.
There is a real battle going on for your first thought in the morning!
It is a battle over who is renewing your mind and who is owning your gifts. The call and gifts God gives us He never takes back (Romans 11:29). So either He gets our gifts first thing in the morning, or negativity, anxiety, pain, fear will.
God’s battling for your first thought! And he wants to overwhelm you with the very thing you are most wanting!!
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” ??Lamentations? ?3:22-23?
Hack #1
So tomorrow morning when you wake up, grab your first thought and thank God for his love and mercy that is new for you that morning.
List off what your thankful for! It will focus you on what YOU HAVE not on what you don’t have right now.
Thankfulness attracts His presence. Psalm 100:4 says ‘We enter His gates with thankfulness’
Hack #2
Ask God what He is doing today? Receive what you first hear no matter how unexpected it may sound. He is more eager to speak than we are to hear! Instead of giving doubt and unbelief credit, give faith and God credit that He is well able to do more than you expect!
Vulnerability is risk and uncertainty, and that’s faith! This is what we do when we exercise our faith. Let’s stop exercising our unbelief and exercise our faith in God’s ability.
Who has your first thought in the morning when you wake up?
Want more?
Free 8 Min Video – 6 Quick Hacks on Dealing with Anxiety and Helping Your Kids with it
Getting through the Emotion of the Global Health Crisis
March 19th, 2020
I walked into the supermarket yesterday. My son was with me. As I grabbed the trolley and wiped it down, we took off for what once used to be a no brainer exercise.
As we ventured into the store, my spirit lifted to see shelves stocked with bread and fresh food. Curiously and a little excitedly, I moved through the supermarket grabbing the items I needed. And then..
My son suddenly grabbed my arm and said in a tone of amazement, “Mum look at the meat section!” I glanced across to see the entire meat section empty.
Looking at me, he said curiously “Really?” Gazing into eyes innocent of pandemics but filled with excitement at the adventure and confusion over the vulnerability of the present, I reached out and touched his arm, responding gently, “Yes. It’s been like that this past week.”
We walked on and turned into an isle and a view that now has become a ‘normal’ sight, empty.
I left the supermarket that afternoon, realizing the emotional impact that these past weeks have already had on us all. I realised how comforting it was for one small moment to walk in and see shelves full with provision and possibilities. And I realized how draining and even scary it had become to see the opposite.
Just putting food on the table was now a major project.
This is the other impact of the conoravirus. It is the impact of emotion.
What will we do with this impact? We can’t dodge it. We can’t stop the impact. It will literally kill us if we numb or deny our emotions.
To feel is to be human. To feel is to be created in the image of God.
I know personally, that right now I can not walk through this moment in history that has suddenlied upon us all, without acknowledging and understanding what on earth, I am feeling.
If I do not acknowledge what I am feeling, what others around me are feeling, I will find that my core values, my awareness of God’s presence and clear thinking won’t lead me, emotion will.
Emotions are valuable servants but lousy leaders.
What’s going to lead you in the flour isle? That’s a potentially scary place right now because it confronts us with the question, what are we going to feed our children? We feel that keenly as Mums and Dads. That is a literal threat to our survival.
No matter what our occupation, emotion is part of it, especially right now. Loss, scarcity, fear of disease are big emotions in this crisis. How can they serve us? So much of life is an emotional conversation.
God is not afraid of emotion and he is not afraid of our emotion. He made them and they serve us. They are great servants but lousy masters.
So How Do We Handle Emotion in this Emotional Moment?
Acknowledge what you are feeling? Fear, Anxiety, Shame and Grief are big emotions right now for us all.
Share what you are feeling with God. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” Sit down and list out what it is that you are feeling. You can do this verbally, in drawing, in words.
Then put them down on the floor in front of you and ask God, “What do you say about all this?” Listen! Write down, draw out and when done share with someone what He said. Be a voice of hope.
Share what you are feeling with some one who has earned to right to hear your story. Part of emotional intelligence is not only being aware of what you are feeling, but what others around you are feeling. Decide: * Is this the best moment for them to hear me? *Ask them if they have a moment for you to share. Don’t just unload because they walked in the room.
Reach out to your friends and check in with how they are going? The emotions of fear, anxiety, shame and grief by nature make us aware of ourselves. Reaching out helps you move through emotion and activates you into caring for others.
Talk a walk. Even if you’re in social isolation, it has still been recommended to take short walks. It clears your mind and heart and connects you with the wider world and God’s creation.
We are human and we its ok to feel that! God loves our authenticity and our humanness.
We are in this together!
Want more?
Students who are in the isolation phase of this Health Crisis are sharing how relieved and hopeful they are, as they are learning how to cope better emotionally through self-isolation and the tragedy around them.
2020 has been a very challenging year for Australia as a community. Bushfires raging over the country for weeks, then floods and now conoravirus. And all in a very short period of time.
These are uncontrollable externals which challenge our sense of feeling safe. To feel safe is a primary need God built in us. It is to be human.
I was considering this morning, how Australians are confronted again with feeling vulnerable and even afraid.
Easily to get drawn into the lie that vulnerability is weakness and even shameful.
These words came to my spirit, “When Jesus saw the vast crowds of people, His heart was deeply moved with compassion, because they seemed weary and helpless..” Matthew 9:36
When we see the crowds, our fellow country men, doing not typical things like cleaning out shelves in shops, let our heart be moved with compassion. For surely it will be moved by something.
Compassion is the greatest gift we can give to each other and to our country. Judgement and shaming are not our friends.
People are responding from a context that has been burly this year.
Our nation is resilient and kind. It has a beauty so unique. God is doing an unusual new thing in our nation. These are exciting days. God’s presence inhabits our compassion and our praises.
SO WHAT DOES COMPASSION LOOK LIKE?
1. When you see what you see, let it move your heart. Don’t numb it. Don’t rationalise it. Don’t be afraid of your heart being moved. Lean into it. It’s the birth place of compassion.
2. Ask God how does He see what you’re seeing?
3. Practice Generosity – Generosity is considering what is the most generous interpretation of another’s actions, words and intentions. In other words, it’s choosing to believe that people are doing to best they can.
4. Practice Empathy instead of Judgement. Empathy is hearing the perspective and emotion of others without judging it.
5. Take responsibility for the energy you bring into any space, including the social media space.
God bless you as you navigate this yourselves. We are in it with you! The glory of God is upon Australia! Great is His compassion over you and with our nation.
How to Deal with Anxiety and Help our Children Deal with it
February 26th, 2020
Anxiety. Everyone is talking about it. That’s great!
What we acknowledge, we can do something about.
2020 sure has come out with some heavy weight challenges! Fires, floods, coronavirus, talk of global economy heading for some tough days ahead.
Volatility, uncertainty and complexity have found us. So has anxiety for many.
Anxiety is an emotion and an experience. Anxiety is defined as:
uncertainty
Overwhelming fear
Competing demands on our time
and social discomfort1.
That definition believe it or not, is a normal response to life!
It is human to feel anxiety.
In fact anxiety is so much a part of our human experience that the Bible addresses it directly, so can we especially with our children.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 NLT
Why is Anxiety being talked about?
I believe that part of our rumble with culture right now is giving space to and being compassionate towards our humanity.
Many are challenging current culture in its need to rehumanise. The dehumanising we see on social media and in daily interaction is unsustainable.
Jesus was and remains fully human yet fully God, such is the esteem God gives to human. (Phil 2:6-11)
The rumble we are all facing is with a culture that seemingly is unrelenting in it’s “be perfect” doctrine.
We were at the Dentist the other day (that’s always a fun experience!!? ? ) The Dentist made a comment in passing to me. He said that he is having more and more 10 year olds coming in asking for braces when there is little wrong with their teeth because they want perfect teeth and they want to be like everyone else!
Anxiety and perfect don’t go together says a culture that become problem focused and blame orientated rather than possibly focused.
NeuroScientist Dr Caroline Leaf has been challenging the notion that anxiety is mental illness. Her research and the research of other Social Scientists shows that anxiety is part of the human experience and normal human response.
The ‘proselytizing’ of perfectionism as a way to do life it being questioned.
When we loose touch with human and make “perfect” our goal, anxiety and scarcity rise.
So how do we navigate anxiety and help our children?
Philippians 4:6 says “Do not worry or be anxious!‘ How do we do the “do not?” That’s really hard sometimes!
1. Realizing that you are feeling or experiencing anxiety is liberating
When we feel it and our children feel it, take note and get them to take note of how anxiety feels for them.
The thing about emotions is that we experience emotion uniquely. For some anxiety might be felt as a quickening of heart beat, for others they might feel a churn in their stomach. How we feel emotion is unique to us and that emotion will be felt on our body.
2. Lean into the emotion of anxiety don’t shut it down or numb it
Don’t be afraid of emotion. God isn’t afraid of emotion and he’s not afraid of you feeling emotion! Emotions are not sinful.
Graeme Cooke says he sees the fruit of the spirit as the emotions of God!
Philippians 4:6 advises “instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need.” You have to lean into anxiety to pray about it. Teach your children to pray and pray with them.
3. Anxiety as with all emotions, is communicating a need
Philippians 4:6 acknowledges this when it says, “Tell God what you need”. Ask yourself, “I am feeling anxious about… , I need…”
You are a son/ daughter of God. You have value. Emotions tell us what we need as a valuable person.
You’re needs matter as do your children’s. Sometimes all our children need is our full attention, or a hug, or play a game with them, or take them out for a special meal, or to turn off negativity on the internet or TV. Let them share their needs with you.
Ask them to ask Jesus what does He want to give them now to meet their needs.
4. When we pray about what is making us anxious, we begin to shift our focus
Social scientists have classified emotions in order to help us understand them. Anxiety is an emotion that they call a ‘self conscious affect’, meaning this emotion makes you aware of yourself, conscious of you.
Yes because it is communicating a need you have!
When we pray, we begin to shift our focus from ourselves to one who has a solution, a answer, a direction. We are not always around for our children but Jesus the Omnipresent one is! When we teach them to pray about their ‘worries’ to Jesus, they are defeating the lies that they are alone, orphaned, abandoned, helpless, powerless.
Prayer shifts us from fear back to love!Every thought will either come from fear or love! When I am anxious, I have bought into something that’s inferior.
5. “.. and thank him for all he has done”
Thankfulness is one of the greatest, most powerful skills you can cultivate. Thankfulness is a container for our prayer and worship, meaning it is a way to pray! We deserpately need to teach ourselves and our children to be thankful!
If you focused on just this one key, you would be astounded at the impact and power of thankfulness over anxiety and any other atmosphere.
Thankfulness shifts us from problem focused to possibility focused. It shifts us from focus of self to focus of power, possibilities and answers beyond ourselves.
Thankfulness keeps us conscious of blessing and stops us being overwhelmed with need and lack.
Thankfulness is humility. It acknowledges that someone else had something and gave something we did not have.
Thankfulness attracts the presence of God and the favor of man (Psalm 22:3), and thankfulness reframes our anxious thoughts towards hope.
Thankfulness is practical. Have a thankfulness journal or note on your iPhone. Make it a family practice at dinner time to share 2 things each family member is thankful for.
6. Memorise Scripture
Make a fun family game of memorising Philippians 4:6!
The power of this ‘living word’ to come back to our minds and our children’s just when we need it. Memorising the Bible develops a possibilities focus and builds the skill of hope and faith in something bigger than themselves.
So next time you feel anxiety, comfort and compliment yourself on being human. Be kind to yourself. When you are kind to yourself, kindness to others is more possible. Shaming yourself only begets shame.
Acknowledge and say you’re feeling anxious. No shame in that, infact that’s what courage looks like. When you invite your children to share that they are feeling anxious, you are building courage and connection in them.
Pray and choose thankfulness. It will change your family and your anxiety!
“The universe is not short on wake up calls. We are just quick on hitting the snooze button.” 1.
And then what?
I was visiting a relative last week and they shared how they had been out walking. A neighbours 9yr old son was playing out front of his house on the footpath where they were walking.
Suddenly the 9 yr boy ran into them with his bike. Then he did it again. My relative asked him not to do that as it was hurting them. He did it again.
Looking up and appealing to the mother who sat looking at her phone, the mother responsed in dispair, “I just don’t know what to do with him. All the rest of his brothers and sisters I could parent but not this one.”
We all know that feeling of being utterly lost and the powerless feeling of not know where to get help. The universe is definitely not short on wake up calls and appealing to our need for upgrades!
So what is calling on you this year? God has answers, and that’s our power, we are NOT ALONE!!! There is more available to us that just ourselves.
The message of humanism shouts it’s just you and what you know!
But we are sons and daughters of God who have 24/7 access to an eternal and supernatural God. Where we end, He continues!
So don’t hit the snooze button when the universe calls. Connect with His Presence.
Do it in your time, your way. You can do in one evening or over a few weeks. You make it fit your lifestyle. Check it out at All4Him.Thinkific.com
B. Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection, Hazelden Publishing, 2010
Heart Revolution – What will the future of our jobs look like?
November 13th, 2019
15years ago at a YWAM Leaders Training in the UK, one of the Trainers invited us to read through the Bible and draw a heart next to the word heart, every time we read it.
Well 15 yrs on, I’m still drawing hearts as I read through the bible.
I am not alone. There is a movement, an awakening of the heart that is taking place globally.
When I read these words recently from Minouche Shafik of the London School of Economics, I was excited and amazed. This is from the London School of Economics!!
“In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they’re about brains but in the future they’ll be about heart.”
Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Your heart thinks! It has thoughts and stories.
Whether it is some of the great Christian leaders of our time like Henri Neuwon, Danny Silk, Bill Johnson or the late Jan Vanier, or influential Social Scientists like Brene Brown or NeuroSurgeons like Dr Caroline Leaf, the world is beginning to address what the Bible has for thousands of years talked about, the heart.
Infact the leading field of research in Psychology currently is Heart Math.
There is an awakening of the inner journey not just the outer journey of our lives that is gaining considerable momentum in the western world.
God has always loved and valued the heart over and above the external. He doesn’t trip up on our appearance or behaviours.
“For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7
It’s actually our heart journey that God values the most and more and more leaders from all sectors of life are looking for this in their choices for working with people.
A lot of what is blowing up businesses, communities, churches and individual lives, has more to about our heart intelligence than perhaps anything else.
This is why God is committed to giving us a new heart. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel? ?36:26?
What we feel, what we think, how we perceive through our heart and the choices of actions we make from them, God cares about. Especially about how we feel, think and perceive Him.
It’s a heart journey God takes us on. A journey where honor not shame, flavours all He does with us.
This is a revolution.
Want more?
Read more on the Heart Revolution.. Check out my article, Culture Shift – What world are you Living in?
Consider checkout our video e-Course Living Courage – How to Live the Power of Vulnerability at All4Him.Thinkific.com
Using Your Authority in words
November 7th, 2019
“.. The garment of praise instead of a disheartened spirit. So they will be called the trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” ISAIAH? ?61:3?
Sometimes you just have to turn up your favourite worship song, dance and sing it to God, to shift a-not-fun-to-be-with atmosphere!
It’s not about what others think, it’s about you taking your authority that comes through your words and putting it to what God says.
Don’t let the enemy use your authority in your words, to what He’s filling the atmosphere with.
A garment of praise applies to praising God and to those around you. Use your words to encourage.
Authenticity is not just being real with what’s tough, to those who’ve earned the right to hear your story, it’s being real with what goodness is around you too.
Intercession is Boundaries
November 1st, 2019
Our journey is not merely travelled on a human level, it is also travelled on a spiritual level. Boundaries are needed here also.
This is the power of prayer. It gives us a way in relationship and partnership with God to declare what is ok and not ok (boundaries) in the spirit realm.
Jesus spoke of this when he said “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”Matthew? ?18:18? ?
Build boundaries in prayer!
Be Boundried But Kind
November 1st, 2019
Funny how our boundaries are rarely celebrated. Gosh they can be hard, sometimes a messy work. I’m not a specialist on them, just a ever learning traveller like most of us!
The thing about boundaries is that we can experience push back, punishment, shaming and even that 2nd most avoided emotion we dread, grief.
I’ve been pondering lately how why it is common and somewhat “ok” in our society, to punish and shame when boundaries especially new boundaries are communicated. It confronts our entitlement and our other dysfunctions.
WHAT ARE BOUNDARIES?
Boundaries define us. They rumble with our identity, whether that is our individual identity, our organisational identity or national identity.
They are vulnerable because it shows what is really important to us. They reveal what we care about in our heart, and what we value.
When respect is low and shame and fear is high, the more it seems is the pushback, punishment and shaming.
We all loose when we loose sight of the worth of the one before us, regardless of their position, history or values.
This was the thing about Jesus. He never lost sight of our worth nor his! Even when hell’s pushback claimed his life!
His boundaries around what His Father asked of him and what He loved and valued, were unmoved.
He showed us it takes courage to show up. But that is the kindest thing we can do to ourselves and to others.
In a recent study, it was discovered that the most compassionate people, were the most boundried.
We are actually not being compassionate or loving, when we are not boundried. This is true with our children as much as it is true in our workplace.
So how are we going to receive the showing up of others boundaries? Can we respect their choices (even when we disagree) or will we shame, manipulate and punish them?
I can’t help but wonder if Isaiah in Isaiah 60:1 wasn’t appealing to our boundaries when he inspired us to “Arise and shine!”
Will we show up, rise, shine and be kind by communicating respectfully to others what we really value and what’s important to us (boundaries)? • Feeling a bit stuck or under pressure with boundaries? Learn how to show up by doing our video based e-Course – How to live the Power of Vulnerability. Enrol here All4Him.Thinkific.com
How to Win Your Life – Higher Thinking
October 2nd, 2019
God thinks glorious thoughts about you continuously!
Just stop and let that sink in. Lean into that thought!
God thinks glorious thoughts about you continuously!
God is good. This is His nature. He cannot move outside of His nature. So it’s gloriously good thoughts he is CONTINUALLY thinking about you!
Psalm 139:6 says about God, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high”
He thinks high. And He thinks highly of you.
Doesn’t that make you feel good? You may even find yourself sitting up a bit straighter as you lean into that thought right now.
But if after a minute there comes a little nagging thought of “Who do you think you are to beleive this?”, that’s shame!
This is what the emotion of shames says. It also says, “I’m bad. I’m not enough.” This is why being shamed and shaming others hurts us so much. It makes us feel low.
And when this is multiplied on a community level, organisational level, church level or family level, that is a powerful and crippling narrative that will destroy these cultures if not addressed.
Such I beleive is the moment in time we are living in. Shame culture has found us.
There is a big difference between who we are and what we do. God never confuses our identity with our choices and actions.
He’s very jealous over how we think and what level our thinking is. His thinking is high. It’s going to stretch us.
Thinking on the glorious thoughts God has of us is not a proud and arrogant thing to do. It is actually one of the pieces of armour God gives us to survive life, it is our belt of truth. (Eph 6:14)
God’s higher thinking actually requires of us humility, learners heart and the very powerful way of freedom, forgiveness.
We are human. He knows we are but dust (Ecc 3:20 ) and He doesn’t shame us for that. Neither can we of ourselves or others!
There is no more powerful way of moving through both shame and life, than dwelling on the fact that God thinks glorious thoughts about you!
Get practical and ask Him right now, “God would you share with me, what is one of your glorious thoughts you are having about me today?”
What do you think about you? About others?
It matters.
WANT MORE on how to live more aware of His glorious thoughts about you and break out of shame culture?
Check out our Video e-Course – Building Powerful Shame and Honor Resilience at All4Him.Thinkific.com.
Boundaries, Vulnerability and Hate – The rumble with identity
September 11th, 2019
Funny how our boundaries are rarely celebrated. Gosh they can be hard, sometimes messy work. I’m not a specialist on them, just a traveller who loves learning!
The thing about boundaries is that we can experience push back, consequence and even that 2nd most avoided emotion we all dread, grief.
Growth is a costly business. Doesn’t matter what is the nature of growth. It costs. Anyone is business knows that!
I’ve been pondering lately how in society it is common and somewhat “ok” to punish and shame when boundaries especially new boundaries are communicated. It confronts our entitlement and some other dysfunctions.
When the love level in us is low, the Bible says we reach for punishment. 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, so the one who is afraid is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love].”
Many social scientists, civil authorities and Christian leaders have been growing more noisy in their concern around the wave of hatred crashing across the nation’s. Many saying it has increased alarmingly the last 12months.
It’s a fearful thing to be around hate. Hate drains out love.Punishment is a management tool and it has an array of overt and subtle options from rolling the eyes to outright displays of harm.
So what’s the blessing for a new boundary? It reveals our need for an upgrade in God’s love!
Boundaries can define us. They are vulnerable because it shows what is really important to us. They reveal what we care about in our heart, and what we value.
It takes courage to show up. But that is the kindest thing we can do. Clear is kind says Brene Brown.
Being clear with our boundaries, is where I see some of our greatest challenges and growth points are currently in the Western World. And I wonder how much of that is because really we are in one huge rumble with identity?
Our boundaries are not walls we hit people with but a statement of what’s ok and what’s not around what we treasure, what we identify with.
I have just completed uploading a training series online around living courageously. It’s ok for people to show the work to their family, colleagues, connect groups. But it’s not ok to not pay for it or take my name and website off it.
This is a boundary. They are more than what’s not ok, they are a communication of what’s ok too! Boundaries keep value on us and on what we are doing. That’s our responsibility.
But it’s vulnerable to do that. And here is a lesson I keep learning over and over, vulnerability and learning how to do that, walk with that is so much of the story of our lives!
So next time you see your teenager, spouse or work colleague trying to practice boundaries, celebrate their courage and get curious about who they are trying to define themselves as.
Let’s be honest with our need for more of God’s love and turn the tide of hate. It’s not who we really are. It’s not what we want in the world we are building for our children.
WANT MORE? Check out our short course How to Live the Power of Vulnerability e-Course at All4Him.Thinkific.com
Scarcity says “not enough”. Not enough time, not enough money, not enough happening, not enough house, not enough holidays, NOT ENOUGH!!
We can “not enough” God, our faith communities, our leaders, our children’s opportunities and schools, our spouse’s input in the home or marriage. We can ‘not enough’ anything. And we do.
About 10 years ago I experienced something that began to kill this plague of scarcity. It was a culture of honor. I encountered the God who honors us because He never looses sight of who we really are. I experienced honor for what was, for who I was, for who and what others were and it joyfully shook me to my foundations.
In the most pleasant good way, the Lord began to show me errors in my thinking and therefore way of living. He was readdressing the truth that HE is a GOOD shepherd and I shall NOT LACK! (Ps 23:1)
Lack! what a cursed mindset! It cripples our faith in God, our courage and our relationships. Yet we are tutored so well in this by the “consume and produce to justify our worth” world we live in.
Not enough began to be dismantled in me though honor. As an Australian this is such a nothing word. It holds no meaning, no usage in our everyday life. If anything, its all a bit of a joke really. Honor! Hah! We scoff at it while knowing no experience or understanding of it.
And yet I was drawn and stirred by Biblical instructions like “Honor ALL people.” (1 Peter 2:17) All people! What?!!! Isn’t Honor something you earn?
But we don’t earn honor. My self-righteousness was getting a loving kick in the teeth. It was HIS honorable way with me, that realized my value, my worth. And we all have some measure of that.
Perfection, pride, rejection, shame, religious spirit was under the hammer, and thank God! Experiencing honor as one who has value, not because of my productivity or association or achievement, confronted that scarcity mindset.
Honor taught me to celebrate what was, not stumble over what is not as scarcity leads us to . Honor taught me that I am honorable and it has nothing to do with what others do or not, it has to do with me. Honor taught me gratitude and the power of gratefulness in the endless little things.
Not buying into Scarcity is still a journey. But boy life is way more fun and I am way more fun to be with as a result of this journey away from the desert lands of ‘not enough.”
WANT MOREon how to breakout of this mindset and lifestyle?
Our words are powerful! Our words not only release insight, information, definition and identity but ‘grace’.
This is true for good or for bad. Tell someone they are an idiot and it releases a ‘grace’ for that.
Tell someone they are beautiful (which is to edify), and it imparts a grace to be that!
Because the word ‘charis’ used here for grace, means ‘influence on the heart’.
Our words impart an ‘influence’ on the hearts of others.
Words of prophecy, of encouragement, speak what heaven sees and with them a grace to be them.
Our words in prayer and intercession stir up and partner with heaven’s culture to move on earth. Heavens heart is influenced and imparted with grace as we pray!
God spoke into creation everything that surrounds you as you read these words. There was a grace for what was spoken to become.
Jesus, called the ‘Word’ that became flesh in John 1. Our words become substance, flesh as it were as did His.
Our words engage the natural realm and the supernatural, the spirit realm.
John 4 says, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24
What grace do you want to release today? It will be through your words. • “And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them.” Ephesians? ?4:29
