Snapshot: From Turbulence to Trust

Sometimes the Lord allows us to go through turbulent things in order to test us.  He does this while making for us an opportunity to overcome.  He does this with the intent of building our faith, and building our trust.

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”              John 16:33

In this world, we will have trouble.  We will encounter turbulent times--God will not spare us from all of them.  It's true that He is our protection, that He has set a hedge around us (Job 1:10), that He has assigned His angels to us (Psalms 91:11)--but there are times when He takes that wall down and exposes us to some troubling things.  Once again, He does this so that we can grow in the faith!  He does this to develop our trust.

"And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.  And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.  But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!"          Matthew 8:24-27

Trouble will come, and waves of turbulence will come.  The enemy's waves and breakers will try to wash over us.  But Jesus will always be with us, though He may not rebuke the storm initially.  He may wait for us to call on Him.  He waits for us to call on Him and be saved.  We can call on Him, and use His authority to calm the seas.  In the end, He will save us up out of all our troubles (Psalm 34:19), but in the meantime, there may be a trial or two to endure.

I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.”  This is what the Lord says—He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters...           Isaiah 43:15-16

God never says there will not be waves.  In fact, there will be a sea of chaos, doubt, confusion, etc, that includes many waves.  But God wants us to accept this, and then accept who He is.  He is the One who makes a way through the sea, the one who paves a smooth path through the storm!  He is the One who exposes us to turbulence, so He can turn it into trust.  In Him, we can keep our peace regardless of our circumstances.  

"For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name."        Psalm 33:21

Snapshot: Tongues as Our Truth Filter

A few days ago God gave me a reminder of the importance of praying in tongues.  It all began when  I was directed to a book advertisement on the Elijah list-- "70 Reasons for Speaking in Tongues".  Several other confirmations followed.  Spurred on by this, I began speaking in tongues much more, and noticed that my clarity improved afterwards.

Tongues reveal the truth.  They align us with the reality of the Holy Spirit within us.  I know that some healing evangelists like their congregants to speak in the Spirit when receiving words of knowledge.  Why?  Because tongues bring us up into God's spiritual frequency, where we can align our spirits with an uncovered portion of the truth.  Then come accurate words of knowledge.  We may not know, but He does, and as we let the Spirit pray through us, He imparts to us unsearchable things.

"But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets."  1 Corinthians 2:10

When we pray in the Spirit, we receive from Him increasingly accurate spiritual insights--whether prophecies, visions, or words of knowledge.  We receive a perfect, pure filter through which knowledge flows unhindered from the throne of God to us.  We receive encoded messages of a sort, which are then unveiled as the Holy Spirit translates these messages to our spirit.

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."    1 Corinthians 2:14

If I ever have uncertainties or questions to God, praying in the Spirit removes any 'spiritual fog' that might be resisting me.  A friend of mine prays in the Spirit when they need a dream interpreted by the Lord.   Aligning with the Spirit via tongues brings deception and confusion under submission to Christ.

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."    2 Corinthians 10:5

Tongues are divinely powerful.  They serve as a truth filter! Revelation from tongues reveals the pure truth.  Praying in the Spirit removes the influence of the flesh, which after all profits nothing (John 6:63).    This is a way that we can prove the will of God.

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."    Romans 12:2

When He rescues us from Lies

God is taking us into the fullness of the Truth.  God wants us to see the world accurately, and to know how He thinks of things.  What is the truth?  The truth is that Jesus died to save us.  The truth is that forgiveness always follows repentance.  The truth is that God is good, and that He is faithful to love us.

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  John 8:32

This is spiritual milk, but we need to crave it nonetheless (1 Peter 2:2).  If we really know the truth, God will take us unto spiritual maturity.  If we retain Him in our knowledge, He will be faithful to take us from strength to strength.

But some things aren't so clear cut.  Sometimes discerning the perfect will of God can be hard.  We need to be given more faith before we can see more of what He sees.  More faith is needed!  So if we need to be given revelation, God first gives us greater faith.

Faith allows us to see more of what He sees.  If I have great faith, I can see clearly, I can discern clearly, and I can prophecy clearly.  Not all things are spiritual milk, but we still need to know how these things appear to God.  Sometimes in struggling on spiritual meat, we will lose focus and forget the basics.  And sometimes we fall out of faith.

Discernment can be a hard thing.  Knowing His will can be very confusing, and can weaken our faith to the extent that we believe the truth to be a lie.

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."  Isaiah 5:20

This is what satan does, and this is what his followers do.  This is what anyone, even a believer, can fall into when they lose faith.  This is a result of spiritual warfare, and we need to combat it with the armor of God.  We need to retain the shield of faith, and we need to look to God.  With His protection, we WILL withstand the schemes of the enemy.  We need a revelation from God to stay in the truth.  We need Him to make the word real to us.

A few days ago I was being taken through all these things.  Testing, testing testing...refinement, refinement, refinement.

"Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them."  Isaiah 30:20

So God is faithful to take us out of that pit, that doubt and confusion that the enemy brings in.  He is faithful to rescue.  He is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.  Even if we are faithless, He is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).  That's a beautiful thing.  God brought me to this passage of scripture, which I thought was so interesting.  He really is greater than our thoughts.  And our salvation truly is greater than our feelings.

Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, that rule this people that is in Jerusalem:

Because ye have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; 

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our 

refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves": therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, 

"Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner -stone of sure 

foundation:   he that believeth shall not be in haste.  And I will make justice the line, and righteousness 

the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.

And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; 

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it."

Isaiah 28:14-18

Even when we align our thoughts with the enemies', even when we mistake light for darkness, God will break through.  He is our strength, and He will be faithful to take us out of death.  Even if we claim to be fallen, He will prove to us the truth.  With the waters of His Spirit and with His truth, He will overcome the enemy.  He will sweep away our negative strongholds and give us a firm foundation.  He will annul our sin, our "covenant with death", and make our foundation stand firm in Jesus.  Glory to God!

Snapshot: An Eternal Perspective

God has a different relationship to time than we do.  In fact, He operates outside of time and space altogether!

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."  2 Peter 3:8

And I was thinking about this a few days ago, and realizing that one day we will look back at our momentary troubles and realize how insignificant they were.  We will look back and see how God worked our suffering into His Redemption plan.  And someday we'll be in Heaven with Him, fully understanding the causes of things that caused confusion back while we were alive on the earth.  

I realized in that moment, that our trials only make sense if we view time from an eternal perspective.  

If we realize that God has already designed the end from the beginning, if we realize that He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, if we realize the eternal nature of His Love, then we can retain His Joy throughout any earthly difficulties.  We can welcome any of the "light and momentary troubles" that Jesus promised would come (John 16:33).

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."  2 Corinthians 4:17

Glory to God.   He has promised us eternal Glory.  Not only that, but this heavenly state has already been set in place for us!

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus..."  Ephesians 2:6

In order to live this life to the fullest we need to have an eternal perspective.  We need to really live in believing that we have a tremendous joy set before us.  There is so much joy set before us!  God has been storing it up for us since the beginning.  Lord, I believe!  Hallelujah.

Confirmed:  After thinking on this topic for a while, I got on my Kindle and saw a notification that struck me as odd.  The message said, "It looks like you have changed time zones".  This would normally only happen if I had actually traveled west to the next time zone.  

Right after seeing this uncanny notification, I got onto the Quickened Word website and saw a new post...Here it is.  I knew what God was saying.  He had directed my thoughts, and I had indeed changed 'time zones' to and aligned with His eternal, timeless perspective!

And that's exactly what God wants!  He wants us to know the truth that His calling had, even from before time began.  He wants us to know that our this life is not eternal, and even this short life is not our own.  We need to realize that this world in it's present form is passing away (1 John 2:17).  So let's live as if we believed this.  Let's live life from an eternal perspective.  Our calling is awesome, so let's accept whatever trials He desires to take us through.  Let's keep our eyes fixed on the Savior.  

Trials and Refinement...Prophecy Confirmed

Yesterday morning the Lord led me to Job  23:10.

"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."

This meant so much to me.  In the past God has brought to me some severe trials, as a way to turn me away from disobedience and towards complete devotion.  I've gotten distracted several times in the faith, and God has pulled me back to Him through hardships.  So testing has been a form of discipline before now.  But now, sometimes trials remain even when I attempt total obedience.  Even when I try drawing near to Him, I still get attacked through spiritual warfare.  But God has responded with comfort, and He has been implanting in my heart the story of Job.

Job's hardships were not punishment.  Job was a righteous man, and serious trouble still came to Him.  He followed The Lord, yet he lost God's hedge of protection. And the things which he feared were permitted to come upon him (Job 3:25).  And I've felt the same way recently.  I have been going through some spiritual attacks, and I've been left to wonder why.  I've had doubts and been in anxiety, just like Job.  But in the end, I know that The Lord Jesus will bring me through it.  I know that at the end of these trials, I will be more than victorious by Him who has fought for me.

Confirmed 12/17:  I was walking through the house, when I looked out the window just in time to see a car doing a U-turn right by our driveway.  Hmmm....more on this later.

Confirmed 12/18:  Yesterday afternoon, I went onto the Quickened Word and found a post that confirmed that same passage in Job.  I knew, based on what God had been speaking to the post's author, that this coming forth "as gold" will open doors to revival, first within then widespread.  At the end of the testing, God's annointing will be poured into new wineskins, and He will bring our refinement in Him to maturity.

Confirmed 12/18:  Yesterday, as a birthday gift, I asked Vanessa to make me a notecard (this is when we write messages from God--important verses, visions, quickened phrases, etc) onto a notecard on behalf of the other person.  In short, the notecards are led by God and prophetic for the other person.  They are always a great faith building exercise.  So yesterday, Vanessa made me a notecard and received Proverbs 15:23 for me (via random reading, I'm sure)This all happened in the morning...

"A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is!"  Prov. 15:23

Confirmed 12/18:  Yesterday on the Quickened Word Website, a prophecy by Elaine Tavolacci was released.  Here it is. After beginning to read, I felt so strongly that this word applied to me, and I'll share some of the reasons why below.  In addition, the name of this woman's ministry is "A Word in Season"--hey, isn't God good at getting our attention?  So synchronistic with what He gave Vanessa just a few hours prior to my being led to this word.

If you feel led, I'd encourage you to read the entire thing.  Below are some segments of the word that were especially specific to what God's been doing in our life. These segments taken from Elaine's article are italicized, and additionally I bolded words that confirmed things for me.


Anyways, Elaine likened the testing that luxury cars undergo with the testing that us Believers undergo in order to be made reliable and effective for God's work.  This segment is from her own commentary, not a Word more directly from God:

They will run it through all seasons to check its performance and tolerance to adverse weather patterns. It will be tested through the snow, the rain, the heat and extreme weather conditions. They will also test it on the mountains to see if it could pass the test of perseverance, stability and excellence. They will test it on sharp turns and U turns to make sure it is agile enough for the winding roads and they will test it on rocky roads to test its endurance. The reason why a luxury car needs more testing than an economy car is because it has to be proven for what it is worth. We are also tested and tried for our value and worth in the kingdom of God.

This is exactly the kind of testing I've been going through.  I feel like the Lord has taken that hedge of protection of off me at times, to see if I would praise Him regardless... to see if I wanted Him more than anything else.... and to see if I would retain my faith, and retain Him in my knowledge (Romans 1:28).

But Glory to God that He has allowed me to see this--that I am going through a season of living as Job (admittedly, my testing has been much, much less severe).  Praise Him for allowing that car to make that turnaround right in front of my house.  Praise Him for wanting to renew me to greater use in His Kingdom.  Now back to the word from Elaine, this time with directive from God:

"Through difficult times you have learned not to allow frustration to overwhelm you but you have recognized the opportunities for the days ahead. The adversities have not caused you to be hardened with bitterness but has made you pliable to be used as a vessel unto honor. As you look back over the last year, you will recognize the preparation and the process was crucial for the days ahead."

Glory to God!  Our Lord makes reference to the past year in this post.   Obviously this refers to the calendar year and the arrival of 2015, but the fact that this was received on my birthday served to make the point more clear to me.  Over the past year of my life, I've underwent these 'difficult times', spiritually speaking.  But I've had to recognize them as preparation.  I've had to retain knowledge of the goodness of God.  And I have not, by God's great grace, hardened myself in the end.

After the word was received, Elaine made reference to some confirming scripture passages.  One of them was Job 23:10-12.  Hey, that seems familiar!  This is the 3rd time that it's come up in two days now.

"Job 23:10-12 But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Confirmed 12/19:  I was walking by the laundry room when, from afar, I saw a magazine on the dryer.  I hear God saying, "That one's for you".  So I walked over, and on the front cover were three letters:  J  O  B.  In reference to work opportunities, not the Biblical character, but the point had hit home.  Praise Him for faithfulness and comfort, even when He Himself has allowed us trials.  For now, I'll be consoled with knowing, as Job did, that my Redeemer lives  (Job 19:25).  I will believe, because He said it, that He sees me as righteous.  And I have a promise from God--that when He relents, I will come forth as gold.  And this goes for all those out there who have been left confused by the chaos of life or attacks of the enemy.  Be encouraged--God intends to work it for your good!

Truth Brings Deliverance

The first part of yesterday was rough.  I had fallen into doubt, and the truth was being pushed out by lies.  We were in Church, and parts of worship were great, but others were not.  I intermittently fell in and out of confusion.  God often gives me prophetic visions, but during worship, I kept seeing a bunch of visions that just didn't make any sense.  These visions were apparently random and did not bring upliftment nor directly point to God.  Worship didn't do what it usually does for me--I didn't feel any better afterwards than I did beforehand.  I still felt oppressed, and now I was feeling a lot of confusion because I felt like God was not in my mind.

I should also mention that a few days ago, God began speaking to me about deliverance.  I sometimes struggle with doubt, and for me, this doubt dilutes and distorts God's voice.  This oppression began when God first started to train me to hear from Him accurately, and since then I've struggled through lesson after lesson on the importance of receiving God.  I've learned that fear can make us falsely prophetic. Doubt, too, is also a dangerous thing.  If unchecked, it can even make me believe that God has refused to bring me to a safe place, salvation.  In referring to my own future deliverance, I heard God put it this way:  "No more will you hear the voice of the enemy and believe it".  That's a promise.  His sheep hear His voice, and they follow it.

Anyways, He told me, promised me, that my own deliverance from oppression and doubt would come soon.  This was two days prior to Sunday.  After the worship section ended, I began pleading with God that He would deliver me, and do so today!

Praise God that if our minds condemn us, even if our hearts condemn us, He knows whose seed we are of (1 John 3:20).  I was wrestling with God--or trying to--after worship ended, and He let me.  Suddenly I came our of the spiritual attack and my mind felt clear and renewed.  He began speaking to me, which I documented in my notebook as well as I could:

"Amidst a sea of doubt and confusion, set your eyes on Me.  Set your affection on Me.  Set your hope on Me."

He continued into more personal stuff, and the message was clear.  I got into trouble because I was not fixated on God!  Worship can be a very spiritual thing, and not every spiritual thing is good or worth thinking about.  The more the Lord shows me how to worship in His fullness, the more spiritual worship feels and becomes.  The deeper God takes me through worship,"in Spirit and in truth", the more boldly I need to focus on Him.  It's not enough to just worship in Spirit.  It's not entering into the fullness of God if we just worship in truth.  The combination of both brings in God's touch.

What God spoke to me after worship was the truth, His truth, and it set me free.  I was delivered from all my fears!  God is so good.  The Word he spoke to me was then confirmed as a lady went up to the front and shared a testimony.  She said several things that so validated what God had spoken to me, and my heart was truly set at rest.  Below are a few phrases that were so synchronistic to what I'd just received.  Most are rephrased because all this was very in the moment.

-Things that aren't truthful can't be figured out.

The visions I received during worship weren't truth.  As a result, I just couldn't figure them out!  God is a God of order, and the things He gives are meant to help us be set free.  Wow...this was a big learning lesson because it applied directly to all those seemingly spiritual, dark or random visions that were oppressing me.

-Jesus is the only answer, and we need to focus on Him

We need to focus on Him.  Look at what happened to Peter when he stepped out onto the sea, in faith, but later lost his focus.  Just like God told me right after worship!  Any other thing besides Him does not give us an answer.  Any other thing does not reply with the truth.

-No truth only "leads to confusion"

The wording this lady used was so synchronistic with how God initially answered me.  Praise Jesus!  Confused is exactly how I felt when I was spiritually attacked.  I had many spiritual things blocking out the truth, and I became pretty confused in trying to make sense of them.



The same Holy Spirit that gave me deliverance after worship prompted this lady to share testimony later in the service, and this same Spirit gave her and I similar human words and phrases to conceptualize spiritual truths.  The truth set me free, and by His grace God gave me confirmations so that I could continue in the faith.

How does God deliver us?  He gives us the Truth.  He gives us the revelation.  He gives us free gifts, and He accompanies these good things with faith to expand on them.  He allows us to go through oppressions so that we can call on Him.  We call on Him, and He answers us!  He answers us with deliverance.  Glory to God!  He gives us the truth and saves us from the enemy.  He gives us truth and saves us from all our fears.

"I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."  Psalm 34:4