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Echo

Revelation 2:7 (AMP) He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant [the privilege]…

I sat down last week to write on blog on Thanksgiving and the importance of being thankful every day. It is a form of prayer that should be daily on our lips. Then I was short on time and still needed to prepare for the people I had coming over. People are important. Being present with people is important. We have times when we put our families first, never before God. Then there is a time when our families make their own families, and we find a way to expand the love of Christ within and unselfishly love others to build up His temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). I found a way to do both last week and it was so fulfilling.

However, this word “ears to hear, let them hear” kept going over and over within me. It was like an echo. I had finished up my yearly reading plan through the Bible early. I started in Genesis on January first and ended with Revelations by the last day of November. When I read, I do not just take a few verses at a time because this is not my first time reading it through. I read chapters at a time or if the book is small the whole book in one sitting. I look for the repetition, the instruction, the action words and the context. In the second and third chapters of Revelation there are seven letters to seven different churches. Each one had this repeated statement in some form, “He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant [the privilege]…” There were words of instruction, but there is also a promise. I want to not just listen to the Word but hear the Word.

James 1:23-25 (AMP) For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets what he looked like. But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].

I encourage our church to want everything that God has available to us. This is not about physical blessings; this is about us becoming the whole person that Christ redeemed us to be. When I read Revelation, I looked at all that He desires for us. Here is what I found in those seven letters:

  • I will grant [the privilege] to eat [the fruit] from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
  • Be faithful to the point of death [if you must die for your faith], and I will give you the crown [consisting] of life. Will not be hurt by the second death (the lake of fire).
  • I will give [the privilege of eating] some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it.
  • I will give authority and power over the nations; and he shall shepherd and rule them with a rod of iron, as the earthen pots are broken in pieces, as I also have received authority [and power to rule them] from My Father; and I will give him the Morning Star. 
  •  will accordingly be dressed in white clothing; and I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, and I will confess and openly acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels [saying that he is one of Mine].
  • I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God; he will most certainly never be put out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My [own] new name. 
  • I will grant to him [the privilege] to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne.

These are just too grand to keep my focus on. I believe that is His point. There is so much that we cannot even imagine. Where should my focus be on when I read this? It should be on the echo He made sure to repeat, “He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant [the privilege]…” Ears to hear and do what the Spirit says. Jesus is the strength of my overcoming the world. Jesus is the strength in my repentance to regain focus. How can we lose focus? Look at the seven letters again:

  • you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]. So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]; otherwise, I will visit you and remove your lampstand (the church, its impact) from its place—unless you repent. 
  • Fear nothing that you are about to suffer. 
  • there some [among you] who are holding to the [corrupt] teaching, put a stumbling block before others, [enticing them] to eat things that had been sacrificed to idols and to commit [acts of sexual] immorality. Therefore repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will
  • you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess [claiming to be inspired], and she teaches and misleads My bond-servants 
  • I know your deeds; you have a name (reputation) that you are alive, but [in reality] you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen and reaffirm what remains [of your faithful commitment to Me], which is about to die; for I have not found [any of] your deeds completed in the sight of My God or meeting His requirements
  • Hold tight what you have, so that no one will take your crown [by leading you to renounce the faith].
  • I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust]. 

Not every letter had a statement of rebuke, two of the churches did not. They still had a statement of instruction. They were told to fear nothing and to hold tight. The others had a call to repentance. The only fear I do have is not holding true to His Word. It is so easy to slip into pride and draw people to yourself. I keep these words in my mind, because I reverence my Holy God. I care about you, genuinely and do not want you ignorant to what He says in His Word. I encourage you to start a reading plan this coming year.

You do not have to wait until January; you can start now. I have found that when we say that we have to prepare ourselves or we are waiting for the perfect time, we usually keep putting it off. The time is now. My first time reading through was a start in March. It took longer than a year. I started in a random place, I started in the epistles (1 John, 2 John, 3 John, 1 Peter, 2 Peter), then I read the letters to the churches. Next, I completed the rest of the New Testament, starting with the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). That’s when I got to the Old Testament. I read the first five books of the Bible last. It put a different perspective of the why Jesus, and I could see Jesus in all of it. When we read the Bible trying to find ourselves, we are reading for selfish reasons. We need to read to receive more of Him.

Am I a hearer? Am I putting His Word forefront in my mind? Am I doing (taking action) according to His Word? Am I faithful to His Word? Those were the questions I asked myself. My husband has this checklist for us when we want to make sure we are successful: Am I where God called me to be? Am I doing what God called me to do? Am I doing it with the people God called me to be with? A heart for the ministry of reconciliation is going to answer yes to all three.

Are we hearing? “He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant [the privilege]…” What echoes do you hear when you read the Word?

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Update 2025: Here I Am

Isaiah 6:8 (AMP)  Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

One January eighth of this year I wrote a blog called “2025: Here I Am.” Here is what I wrote: “Here I am” is a heart position to be all in. It is a response to God that you are sensitive to His call. It is a willingness to listen and to obey His commands. “And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him” (1 John 4:21). Seeking the best for others requires a lot of dying to self. That lines up with what Christ said we would have to do to be His disciples (Matthew 16:24-26). So that new thing He is doing in me, has a lot to do with my surrender. God doing a new thing requires me changing (Isaiah 43:19).

When I dedicated this year to answer the call with, “Here I Am,” I did not know where it would take me. Some would hope it would take them across the world. Some would expect a change of scenery. Some would expect a huge move. What it did in me caused me to make a holy shift to Your will not my will, Lord. I have answered calls that I did not want to. I have gone into homes that I did not want to. I have made trips to spend just a few moments with someone, that was way out of my route for the day. Why? “Here I Am.” How can we say we want to do great things for God when we will not give Him the fifteen minutes, or even a couple of hours, that will make us uncomfortable for someone else? He has given me a heart for people like never before. It is not to point out what is wrong in their life, it is to point them to the person who will make them whole. I am not there to fix their problems; I am pointing them to the One who can ground them in Truth.

This still rings true today: What should we be praying for the church? That God becomes real to us. That we stop going through the motions and desire a real relationship with God. You can listen and not hear. You can look and not see. This will happen until you surrender your ideas. We have the luxury of doing so much research that we have not need to sit and listen for His voice. We have access to so many books and teaching online, that we do not need to read the Bible for ourselves. We read the Bible through the lens of experience and not really listen for His voice. We depend on scripture taken out of context and wonder why God is not doing what I want. It is not until we surrender that we will be rooted and grounded in Christ. This is where love starts. We cannot love each other when we are only worried about ourselves. Serving only those we want to serve is really self-serving. Only reading what we like is self-serving.

“Here I Am” is a call for deeper surrender. I do not know why God has me doing this. I spend my week with people. People that I am not looking for anything in return. I asked God why, especially since church attendance was looking sad this past Sunday. It can be disheartening when we look at people. I have to keep my eyes focused on Him. It is not about what I see in the natural, it is about what He is doing when I am obedient. I put my trust in Him. At the right time (His time).

Galatians 6:9-10 (AMP) Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in. So then, while we [as individual believers] have the opportunity, let us do good to all people [not only being helpful, but also doing that which promotes their spiritual well-being], and especially [be a blessing] to those of the household of faith (born-again believers).

Here I am, send me. I am choosing not to give it, not giving up.

Abba, Father, we are in awe of You. You are Holy, Marvelous, and Righteous. Help us to fully accept Your Son for who He is, the One who came to make us whole and whose peace fills us completely. When we love You and put You first, everything else finds its rightful place. When Your voice is our priority, all other voices fade away. When Your Word is first in our lives, distractions lose their hold. When we follow Your principles, the promises of Your Word become evident in our lives. Lead us back to putting You first. Let us say, “Here I am.” We repent for prioritizing ourselves over Your Word, Your voice, and Your guidance. Help us to open Your Word and crave it like the most satisfying meal. Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your mercies that are new every morning. We choose joy today. We choose hope today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Isolation is not your purpose

John 17:17 (AMP) Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth.

This was the key verse in my Smith Wigglesworth devotional yesterday. The devotional was talking about making the Word the authority in your life. He wanted to convey that instead of praying whether you should obey the word (which is just disobedience), do the Word. He questioned the heart of the believer for having to pray whether God wanted them to do what was written in the Word.

This got me thinking about the “set them apart for Your purposes,” as it is written in the Amplified Version. Since the beginning of man, Satan has taken God’s Word and twisted it (taking it out of context). Taking this Word out of context we can justify us isolating ourselves from the community of believers. A person can attend a weekly service and still be isolated, because they choose not to get involved with each others lives. They have been “set apart for a purpose.” Really they have a deep rooted fear of not feeling important to the community of believers, but only important to God, therefore, they are “set apart.” I know, because I used to be one of those. Fear will tell you that you are not wanted, not needed and not loved.

Let us put that key verse into context. John 17:15-21 (AMP) I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but that You keep them and protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth. Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (believers) into the world. For their sake I sanctify Myself [to do Your will], so that they also may be sanctified [set apart, dedicated, made holy] in [Your] truth. “I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message, that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me.

I took the liberty of underlining some very important elements. First, Jesus is talking about a group, not an individual. He did not say “some believers,” He said a blanket “believers.” To me that means there is not room for me to not be included in these verses, if I am called a “believer.” So therefore, I should not be praying if this is God’s will for my life. If I am a “believer” then, that is an automatic yes I should be obeying this.

“I do not pray for these alone (it is not for their sake only that I make this request),” I believe these words are written in red in some Bibles. This means that Jesus did not single anyone out. This is meant for ALL who will ever believe. He has sent us out to be apart of this world, not of this world. That means I have to allow the messy part of the world to be a part of my life, so that He can shine bright in it.

“That they all may be one…so the world may believe (without any doubt) that You sent Me.” This right here should give us a heart check in why we are called to a Body (a church, a community of believers). What if I have a gifting that can be done alone? Does this verse say you should? Jesus sent the disciples out two by two (Luke 10:1). When we read about intercession in the New Testament we read about it happening in groups (Acts 12:5). Yes, you can do things on your own, but does that mean you should? I have to remind myself that time and again. It is not “I” that is set apart, it is “we” that is set apart.

Praying that you know that you are needed, that you are wanted and that you are loved. Do not let fear hold you back from really being a part of a community any longer. There is purpose in community!

Hebrews 10:24 (TPT) Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love.