Tag: Bible

Explanation for 2026

On By happyreignIn Heather1 Comment

I think about writing as often as I have a thought most times. My reason for coming back here is my decision to reopen the flow. I think the idol that has kept me from transparency is the threat, “What will they think of me?” In 2026 this thought has to die. It is an immobilizer and usurper of life.

The most common my fear of perception I carry is ‘hypocrite’. That my words and my inspiration are invalidated by my life. That what is written here – in the wide open fields of processing time – would be determined by those who know me in real life as not true to how I live. In this way, I have bowed to the idea that you are fit to be my judge. Since Jesus recently fired me from being my own judge – he’s says I am not qualified – I guess I am no longer comfortable giving the imagined version of you the ability to determine my hypocrisy and am just getting on to enjoy my writing again.

I am writing not for people to see me, but for people to see Jesus. And, if I allow myself the vulnerability of writing here, I somehow return the enjoyment of my union with him expressing himself this way through me as I spend time on this activity. I have decided to reopen this flow in the delight of intimacy and fellowship with himself. You are free to come along for the ride or abandon this one of 1.4 billion locations on the internet in choice of perhaps a real activity offline, like knitting.

I have enjoyed a morning of contemplating abandoning any false projections of self propped up as mechanisms rooted in external behavior performances or modifications in order to meet some imagined criteria that could determine my value. This has been accompanied by a delightful invitation to return to a less self-focused, authentic, default posture of acceptance by God as the creator of that original self; who is also it’s rescuer, redeemer, and ultimately friend. Remembering the value of my authentic human experience, as it is, regardless of others perception of it or their designated, or withheld, value toward that original self. One step even further is disempowering the enemy’s ability to craft any imagined variation of said responses or opinions. This is a house of smoke and mirrors that interrupts and hinders our responsiveness shared life with Holy Spirit.

And because pretty much everything I write or want to write ends up being the gospel summarized in some unique facet I am seeing anew, today is authority to cancel lies from the evil one comes from Psalm 85:1 which says “Lord you poured out blessings on your land! You restored the fortunes of Israel. You forgave the guilt of your people–yes you covered all their sins.”

Do you have joy-sucking senses of your pharasee-ical religious performance failures keeping you from the love of God? This is a refreshing reminder that He is the one that crossed the great divide sin created to reunite with you as you are. He is not waiting for you to clean up your efforts and ‘get better’ before he will tolerate and grant his fickle approval once again. He is not impressed, or withholding love, with baited breathe for your achievements, your accomplishments, your good works, or your discipline. These do not – and will never – qualify you for his love.

Are you done chasing something that was freely given you? Are you done beating yourself up from something that has already been crucified? Do not wait to enjoy fellowship with God again now, who’s love does not look like our own. Do you withhold yourself from enjoyment by Him because you believe you are not worthy of his pleasure?

He has forgiven your sin. He has cast it to the sea. Have you? You are not meant to bear the weight of what he already sacrificed on the cross. He has entirely dis-enthroned all separation from himself. All we need to do is turn from our sin – to him. Earning acceptance will never be an effort you can accomplish through applying rules to your life. God has already postured himself in every way possible for fellowship with you. In the story of the prodigal son, he is the father postured on the front porch just WAITING to RUN to you with extravagant affection, embrace, and blessing. God restores – not critiques, he celebrates – not condemns, he refines down to removing every barrier that hinders closeness, embrace, affection, and a sense of being at home, safe in his love.

At the thought that no one reads this long anymore. I will stop here. Until next time at my delight, sincerely…me.

Repentance

On By happyreignIn Heather, Reflections & MusingsLeave a comment

There’s nothing as good as repentance. At least that’s what it feels like right now. For some time I have a singular item that is perfectly innocent from an outsiders perspective but has been a point of contention between the Lord and I for some time. It’s like I had been going back and forth, back and forth, for years about this objectively small issue of the heart. God’s way, my way, God’s way, my way, my way, my way, my way. Although the item was minute, it was creating a distance between me and God that was not. Don’t get me wrong I mentally know and knew everything I used to about God’s goodness, but it seemed the feeling of those truths was growing duller. I objectively started placing this particular item beside me while I had conversations with God. I’m not hiding anything. God knows everything but I decided I became fine with my way not being God’s way. I could see all of this happening of course, but it was just a little item, it was alright for everyone else, but I didn’t want to chose God’s way. I wanted my way. But it wasn’t fine. I could feel the hard heartedness settling in, the behavior compliance for appeasement in other areas, managing my performance for approval and acceptance despite this one thing I was holding onto of course. Well, the push comes to shove and it now is having negative consequences and side effects that are quicker, more immediate, less avoidable. Then my self management of my own poor choices kicks into even higher gear and I move other things around just to continue to accommodate ‘my preference’. It finally gets to a point of my own repeated choosing that the consequences begin to scare me. It is then in my fear, I ask for prayer. Not for my behavior or its consequences, but of my hard heartedness before the Lord. I was exhausted of myself rejecting him, especially knowing who he is, what he’s done for me, and how wretched my selfishness really is. I kept trying to climb out of a hole with the Lord I had dug myself into day after day. From the perspective of the bottom of this whole it was harder to see his face. I could remember it but I wasn’t feeling it. I could see him loving me but I wasn’t feeling it. The lack of his seeming nearness, mostly because of my botched conscious before the Lord became suffocating to exist within and because of that spiritual exfixiation I had to do anything possible to free myself from this rut. And then in an answer to someone else’s prayer for me, God allowed me to see his kindness. I saw that everything he was inviting me into was for my good. Everything he was inviting me out of was for my good. Everything I was resisting was actually literally harming me and the desires of my heart and impeding my answers to prayer. He wasn’t wanting to take anything away from me, but actually give me something in that things absence. He has better gifts for me. Not only better eternal things but a better life here and now. He was for me, no longer the rule enforcing, critiquing, petty, official my flesh wanted me to believe he had become. He was my creator who knows me better than anyone knows me. Better than I know myself. He sees all the variables–including my desires–and still promises to show me a better way, the best way for me. We don’t know the value we lose for things we don’t yield to him about, not only do we disobey what we hear but we sometimes intentionally turn our ears of to not even hear the thing we already do not want to obey. It is God’s grace and kindness that we can see clearly his motives in his intentions towards us. Motives to withhold no good thing. Motives to give us a long life full of peace and rest in him alone. His motive is for our joy, our happiness, our pleasure, and his glory. He is graciously stubborn in refusing to compromise regarding the compromises of our hearts. He is a stickler for our closeness to him, the best and safest place for us in the world to be. I had to fight all the thorns of lies that kept pushing me backwards–allowed by my own repeated choices–from this embrace in his arms. I had to fight against my own complacency to find my way back there into the strong loving embrace of my father. To be at rest again in his will, finally allowing myself to receive his affection again, hiding nothing, surrendering everything–well for now, at least this. I am so thankful for repentance. I can’t earn God’s approval or nearness through behavioral maneuvering and or my own position jockeying, because alone he care for the posture of my heart, not the external behaviors he is leading us out of. And so I follow him and hopefully glorify his holy name.

Happy Freedom Day

On By happyreignIn HeatherLeave a comment

I do not want to be a nice, socially acceptable, liked Christian. The basic beliefs of Christianity are offensive to every spirit and force that opposed Jesus Christ as Lord of the earth. I think I am tired of any fear of man that entertains the idea that a good Christian is a reasonably tolerable human being who never holds controversial convictions. Someone I spoke with recently said they are done being silent. I like this idea too for myself, but from the perspective that Christianity is not a normal and common lifestyle that looks no different from the adjacent unbeliever. I don’t want to blend in, and so in basic Christianity 101, I am addressing a topic that maybe is seen as fringe by the general public but I assure you it’s the power of God – deliverance.

Most people when they think of deliverance think of a kooky stage performer who is possibly styled weird with a mad grab for attention and probably involves theatrics, but in its origin, deliverance was Jesus loving people by delivering them from the suffering they so desperately felt powerless to escape from. Nowadays the general public suffers from the same afflictions but we have fancy words for them, scientific explanations, and societal modifications for their integration. Some people’s identity gravitates around that which afflicts them, sometimes adopted as a form of bragging rights for attention, sometimes people suffer silently alone without telling a soul what they feel or experience in their bodies, minds, or souls that they can’t seem to get free from.

These tendencies of affliction that are scattered among us affect the destinies of lives. More first responders last year took their own lives than died in the line of duty. Wives are abandoned, abused, or smothered. Marriages disintegrate, and criminals commit offenses against other humans. These are all symptoms of thoughts and diseases of the bodies and souls of men and women. Jesus does not give false hope.

When Jesus says the truth shall set you free, he does not mean in a fanciful Zen way that simply restructures how we look at a current affliction. He does not mean that re-posturing our heart and perspective is the solution he’s offering as we continue to suffer. I believe in the power of God. I believe in the authority of Jesus Christ here on earth. I believe that demons exist, are among us, and are influencing our world and daily lives. And I believe that God’s kingdom has dominion over them here and now. This nuance of hierarchy reveals not only the existence of God and his dominion but of his love.

Understand that God is not using his power, his authority, his position of divine leadership to cause suffering. He is not using his authority to oppress, to bind, to rob, and to steal. It’s unfathomable. He is good. And he is using his authority for our best. The cool part is he’s not only ruling from a position of love, but he’s given that authority to us. To me and you. Here and now. To also RULE in this world. This in no way means dominate, control, or manipulate for selfish purposes, but this means to rule in love, and relief, and service, and aid, and …deliverance, freedom, and release from chains.

So getting on to it. The basics of deliverance are that 1) if you have unforgiveness you are imprisoning yourself in suffering so you have to get rid of that NOW. Forgive. It’s the only door Jesus gives us and if you don’t want to, he says he’s going to use your standard for others on yourself. It’s your choice. 2) Our behaviors, words, experiences, thoughts, and choices can invite, welcome, or create agreements with demonic forces. Does this always look evil? No. Fear, worry, anxiety, doubt, unbelief, discouragement, guilt, shame, insecurity can all look 100% normal, socially acceptable, and perfectly reasonable. Even some crimes and relational redefinition are not only acceptable but are celebrated. Are demonic powers being exalted here? Yes, just because something is chosen by an individual doesn’t make it good, or redefine what kingdom it originates from.

Moving on, let’s go to Luke 11. Starting at verse 14, some editor for the bible translation I’m using named this section Jesus and the Prince of Demons. Let me lay it out here for people who don’t have their bible on hand then we’ll continue. Lots of red words in this section, for those of you who don’t know, red words in a bible indicate Jesus talking, as in, pay attention. I can only do color by block here so please ignore the red tag lines that indicate who’s speaking.

Jesus and the Prince of Demons

14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when a strong man is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe— 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.

23 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.

24 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

Basic worldview understandings implied here: demons exist. They are spirits. They enter humans. They inhabit humans and dwell within them. Demons can be cast out. God exists. Satan exists. They both have kingdoms. Their kingdoms have organization and measures of power. Humans have value that is fought over and are resting places for spirits (made to be a resting place for God’s spirit).

God’s kingdom, (now where all authority has been given to Jesus – who also a HUMAN) holds no contest against demonic influence on other fellow humans. Jesus just shows up and demons have to flee. Just like light and darkness. You turn on the light switch and light and darkness don’t actually fight for the room. Once light–an actual substance of particles and waves–arrives, darkness no longer remains.

Jesus said it is better that he leave after he was resurrected and he ascended into heaven BECAUSE he was sending the HOLY spirit. Another spirit – not a demon – but the spirit of God, that is also meant and designed to rest within us. And live through us. And influence our thoughts, our hearts, our behaviors, all in intimate fellowship, divine exchange, and union with God. This spirit, who is love, who is peace, who is joy, is the spirit we want to influence our lives by CHOICE, not other spirits who want to hurt us, to steal from us, and want our death. God’s spirit is our life.

Earlier in this writing piece, I left off at step number two in basic deliverance. Here’s three 3) renouncing our agreement with these demonic influences on our lives. You don’t want them there? Then use the voice and authority God has given you and say out loud and mean that you renounce your agreement with them. Want some ideas of things that may be influencing your life for starters that generally aren’t fun to deal with or have around in life?

Fear of man, cowardice, timidity, insecurity, abandonment, restlessness, affliction, sickness, torment, disease, agitation, confusion, doubt, double-mindedness, guilt, shame, self-hatred, addiction, idolatry, witchcraft, cursing, vulgarity, lewdness, licentiousness, rejection, defensiveness, self-protection, unworthiness, worthlessness, suicide, death, religious spirits, betrayal, recklessness, covetousness, lying, gossip, slander, adultery, promiscuity, waywardness, vulgarity, bitterness, discouragement, hopelessness, stinginess, fear of lack, foreboding, terror, torment, injury, spiritual attacks, word curses, foul spirits, unclean spirits, mis-sexuality, distraction, wantonness, insomnia, rage, anger, hatred, violence, and more!

Don’t want these things around influencing your mind, your day, your life?  Then renounce them and your agreement with them for starters. 4) Then tell them to leave you. Leave your body. Leave your home. Leave your family. Leave your life. Now. In Jesus’ name.

Jesus has authority, and Jesus’ name has power. Call me crazy, go ahead. It’s true. This is true. This is the difference between people standing around and having a conversation about ideas versus experiencing a solution. Am I saying this will fix everything? Maybe. God has faith in your purpose, in your value, in your worth, in your instrinsic valuableness. You really do. And God wants you to experience life in its fullness. Life as he intended. Remember who you are. Remember what God has spoken over your life. Remember your authority. You are not a victim here. Christ reigns through you. Have faith in him, in Jesus’ cross and resurrection power over even death.

What replaces all these negative things that leave?  What happens when we turn to Christ exercising the authority he has shown us and taught us and sent us out to do unto others?  Peace, rest, stillness, calm, settling, freedom, hope, joy, love, generosity, soundness of mind, clarity of thought, inspiration, creativity, insight, wisdom, truth, feeling comfortable in our own bodies and our own homes, loveliness, gentleness, patience, goodness, thoughtfulness, consideration, faithfulness, strength, healing, listening, openness, ease of laughter, light heartedness, obedience, worship, righteousness, well-being, desire to do good, revelation, presence of God, divine truth, light.

Invite these things into your life, your heart, your mind, your spirit. TRUST GOD. Enough with running around in your spirit already. Refuse that restlessness and resign yourself to God’s sovereignty and care over your life. Refuse to NOT trust him anymore. Stop trying to manage your life independent of your ABSOLUTE dependence on God. Let him take care of you. Let him provide for you. Trust his timing. Trust what he’s already told you. Listen to him. Listen to him again. Spend time with him. Enjoy being alive already. Have fun. Enjoy other people. It’s time to stop being a victim and become a child of God again.

Christ’s authority doesn’t fade, doesn’t diminish, and doesn’t go away.

Happy Freedom Day