Trapped in Fantasyland…
We have God’s DNA
AUTHOR: Juan Comesana
In recent years the new fad has been to take a DNA test and find our ancestral origins. Yet, as we see here in this verse, just as a child is birthed out of his mother, in the natural, we (all of humanity) who are spirit where birthed out of God.
Today, let’s meditate and speak with Holy Spirit on how we can stay connected to the (Living Word) Logos… What does it mean to be birthed from God’s logic. How does our perception of our self and others change when we grab hold of our true birth origin.
John 1:3 Mirror translation:
The Ugly Duckling
AUTHOR: Lisa Perna
Today God wants you to see your identity through His eyes.
We have been brought up with seeing things through the worlds eyes and the worlds views. You’ve heard the expression “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and acts like a duck, then it’s a duck”. Our eyes see a duck and our minds agree. If we looked closer and peered through God’s eyes we might see something different. What if the truth was it wasn’t a duck at all, but a swan?
In the Hans Christian Anderson’s children’s story “The Ugly Duckling” that’s exactly what happened. A swan’s egg somehow ended up in a duck’s nest. As the swan hatched he was surrounded by ducks. He naturally thought, “Hey, I’m a duck!”
The swan grew up around ducks and learned how to be a duck. The swan always felt he didn’t look like the rest of the ducks and came to the conclusion “There must be something wrong with me. I’m not as attractive as the other ducks. I’m just the ugly duckling!”
That poor swan’s identity was stolen by believing a lie. The life of feeling beautiful, regal, and floating on the water was stolen away by a false identity. The swan will always feel something is not right with it because he is living a lie. The swan didn’t know how to be a swan because he was never told who he really was. He would just conform to be a duck and never learn the truth of his identity.
Sometimes that happens to us and we forget our real identity as sons and daughters of God. We are told lies about ourselves, our life or our destiny. We believe the false images of who the world says we are and it breaks down the true vision of who we were created to be.
We need to stop looking through the lenses of how others view of us and look at how God created us. God sees us as beautiful, chosen, precious, valued and loved. He desires all His children and wants us to walk in our true identity.
Throughout the Bible God showed people their true purpose. He called a Shepard by the name of David to be king, a orphan named Moses to deliver the Israelites out of bondage and young virgin named Mary to be the Mother of God! Each person was told who they were by the world, but God had a different view of their identity.
He knew the truth about their calling and He showed them exactly who they were called to be. God began a beautiful transformation from ordinary to extraordinary.
We can get so caught up in the lies that we have been told about ourselves that we lose the real vision of who we are. In the book of Romans it 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 NLT).
See, when we look through God’s eyes that’s when we start to see ourselves differently. We start to think and act differently. We begin to live our lives in truth and in our real image! The lies will begin to fade and the new persona will begin to take over. We will no longer be who the world dictated, but we will become who God created us to be!
You see, when we look through God’s eyes we will see our true self and the royalty we truly are. When the truth of image is revealed we will never go back to our old man. Sometimes you need to remind yourself you were created to be so much more. There is a swan inside of you that needs to tell the ducks of the world “I never was a duck. I was created as something extraordinary, I’m a swan!”
Have a blessed day!
Knowing God as our Father
AUTHOR: Roger Fields
To have a royal life first means we need to understand what This Royal Life means to God. Having the ability to walk in a Royal way is revealed by how we live life in public and behind closed doors. It isn’t about religion or denominations at all, it’s about God.
But, how can anyone know how to live a royal life, if they’ve never seen or been allowed to be instructed by the royal patriarchs? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, (Israel), were instructed by the heavenly Father in how to live as being a part of the kingdom of God, friends in this royal family. I think the biggest thing to understand about living a royal life, is it must be experienced, before you can walk in it with the authority and power that you are supposed to have as a child of God. Most of us are taught to live a life based on the fear of being punished. Hoping that one day we will be knighted at the feet of Christ with an identity as being royalty. Being given a title doesn’t make you a member of the Royal family. It’s all about relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
After saying all of this, the issue I want to get to is on the subject of faith. I have walked in the church as a member for many years. I have seen people speak of faith, as if it were something that was law with no place to receive God’s grace and mercy. First of all faith is knowing something that is concrete, unmovable, stationary, dependable, without any doubt that what you are believing in was going to happen. The word says; that faith is given to us in measurements as a gift from the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 GNB
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all. The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person he gives the power to heal. The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God’s message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said. But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person.
Romans 12:3 (GNB) And because of God’s gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.
Here we should understand that faith comes to us as a gift of maturity from the Holy Spirit. We receive in measurements in the way we can handle it without misusing it. It is by these measurements that we are built up in the knowledge of God as we walk through life with him and learn to know his royal ways of governing his kingdom as Jesus did. It is in this way that we learn to have faith in him that leads us into living as members of a royal family.
Faith is knowing the will of God first. It is not to use to impress yourself or people. Why say to a mountain be uprooted and cast into the sea if the mountain’s not in your way, who are you trying to impress? One of the things I learned a long time ago when I was called into the ministry of Deliverance. Was from Dr. Derek Prince, in his book Blessings and Curses. In this book, he said something very amazing to me. He said if I am sick I will pray, if the sickness leaves it was a spirit, but if 24 hours later I am still sick, then I go to the doctor. We need to understand that faith is knowing how to pray concerning the issue. When to pray and when to act!
Mark 9:28-29 (GNB)After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive the spirit out?” “Only prayer can drive this kind out,” answered Jesus; “nothing else can.”
This prayer that Jesus was talking about had to do with discerning the problem. Prayer is seeking the true spiritual insight and learning to apply the knowledge in faith, knowing the will of God. It is only in this places that faith matures and becomes strong in your trust in God when you can pray, with belief and have the faith to see your prayers answered. All this happens, because you know the heart of God your Father. Because if you don’t know God, and you do all this, what good is it if he says to you in the end. Depart from me you who work in lawlessness, because I never knew you.
You can only have a royal life if your live life with a Royal King. Anything outside of that, is only make believe. Is there doubt in your heart? Is there doubt in your heart that your requests will not be heard by the father? If there is, then how do you expect to live a royal life? Sometimes we just need to ask the Holy Spirit, how to approach the father with the needs we are faced with. When you ask the father for something, do you entertain the doubt that your request will be denied? So, what good is faith, if you doubt and are driven by many different thoughts as to why he would or would not answer your request?
How can we live a royal life, if we do not know how to speak to God, as our Father? So, with doubt, there’s really never anything good to look forward in experience this Royal life.
So, Pray this:
Father, forgive me for not knowing you well enough to know, that when I ask you for something good, that you will not give me something bad. Forgive my doubts concerning whether or not I have the same favor as others. Forgive me for believing that you will answer me the same way my parents did. Believing that what ever I am asking for is always too much. Lord, forgive me for continuing to live life as a slave, instead of living life as one adopted into your family. One who you desire to call your child. One who you desire to refer to you as Father. Your word says, that you will never withhold anything good from me. But for some reason, I expect to be rebuked, and told to stop being selfish and be satisfied with what life has to offer. Father, teach me to believe, so I can come to know your heart and lives by your word. Help me to find this Royal life. Then I will be able to show others the way to This Royal Life as well. In the name of Christ Jesus, amen.
When our past stays present…
Have you heard the rumor? We’re all ruminators!
Swing for the fences!
AUTHOR: Michael-Janelle
If you are a baseball fan, this week is significant for you. The long offseason comes to an end, and we will have BASEBALL back on our televisions. I figured it appropriate to draw a Biblical principle out of a game I love so much—my hope is it is an encouragement and a reminder for you—even if you are a Yankee fan. Let’s go Mets!
Okay… enough joking.
In a typical baseball season, you have 30 teams with 25 players each. With simple math, that means the Major Leagues is comprised of 750 players TOTAL. That means only 750 out of thousands who train, practice, and prepare to play baseball actually make it. These 750 are the best of the best of the best.
In baseball your offensive and batting ability is most commonly tracked by batting average—a percentage of how often you produce a hit vs how many opportunities you have at bat.
If I get a hit every time I come to bat, then I am batting 1.000.
If I get a hit 5 out of 10 times, I am batting .500, and so on.
But even the best of the best of the best generally only bat in the .300’s for any given season. Amazing. The best of the best of the best fail roughly 7 out of 10 times they try. Yet they are considered the elite players in the game.
I imagine if those elite players were afraid to fail. If they chose to never pick up the bat, because the likelihood of failure was greater than the likelihood of success.
You may see where I am going with this.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, the Passion Translation, it says,
“9 But he answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me.
10 So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.”
One of my favorite aspects of living a Royal Life is that I don’t need to fear failure. Every big “swing and miss” I take, every pop-up, every strike out is an opportunity for God to show up. Even the best fail sometimes, but when we fail it never really looks so much like failure. It looks like an opportunity for God to express his mighty power.
So grab your bat, step up to the plate, and swing for the fences knowing that in success and even in failure, God is there cheering you on!
Life, Lemons, and Peach Green Tea
AUTHOR: Michael-Janelle
(Send me an email at hartzstrings@gmail.com if you are interested in receiving the art print I talk about in this video.)
Freedom!
AUTHOR: Jennifer Lescano
Freedom.
This Royal Life to me is all about freedom.
What is freedom?
free·dom – noun, the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
We can’t truly enjoy life if we are not walking in freedom.
There are so many areas of our lives where freedom is calling out to us.
Are we truly living free? What does that look like?
Are we at a job we hate?
If so, why?
Do we keep ourselves from speaking because of what people think?
Do we have racing negative thoughts?
Are we dreaming? If not, why? Do our dreams seem impossible?
Are our decisions made based on our love for God and ourselves or are we settling?
Are we truly happy?
Like do we wake up and look around and feel grateful? If not, why?
Is there peace? In ourselves, our relationships?
A few years ago, I had a dream. In that dream, God showed me that I had extended grace and was slow to pulling back, but there was a relationship that I needed to shut the door on for my own peace. This family member was angry and didn’t do anything to help himself and it was negatively affecting my life. I’m talking about my father. His lifestyle and his decisions and his addiction. It wasn’t until recent years that I realized that I had spent most of my life worrying and working around him.
Did he see the children? Did I take them to him? If not, when will I?
Call it what you want, but that’s bondage.
Catering to others and their wants and their problems and their addictions in thoughts and actions is slavery.
