Chew on this:
i heard something that really got me thinking.
if you declare something in the annointing, its not only a declaration, it's a prophetic mandate,
because it's declaring what is, and is outside of where we are.
ok now here's where it can get a bit tricky..
on the 6th day God created man and looking back on everything
saw that it was very good.

then He finished, and rested the 7th day, as He blessed and sanctified it.
i feel that though man was deceived and was robbed of the earthly glory after this,
God declared rest- but that a model was being demonstrated in how to rest
and what it actually looks like in heaven's model.
obviously after man's authority was stolen,
Jesus came down and died for us, with His last words, it is finished
sounding a lot like the Father's.
so the Father brought us rest, and the Son brings us back to resting in Him.

why is it that we seem to constantly have to be reminded of this?
if we can wrap our minds around this one- when we are in the spirit and
are aware that we are outside of time, when we go back and see God saying
it is finished, He's speaking outside of time, and we can pull that into our day.
His desire is for us to never toil and strive; to enter into His rest- so as we rest in Him,
He blesses and sanctifies us, because we are holy and are resting in Him, being holy as He
is holy.
i don't know if this is making sense
there's no more working
no more striving
no more of this old covenant, man-pleasing, religious formal stuff!
God wanted to get it through our heads that it IS finished. like not something that
was long ago. it is current for your time, your day. and as we see this its understanding
that this turns our attention away from what to DO, and more on just BEING.

doesn't it seem that David was the only one that was close enough to something so sacriligious
that it had to have been what God had wanted, since it was still old testament law and he never
got struck by lightning, etc???
what did David do? he set up another tabernacle, his OWN tabernacle where there was continual
praise, worship, expression, freedom and presence. where ppl could be and be in fellowship with
God, not having to deal with formal rules and laws.
God loved David's heart, and i think he was onto something.
He didn't say, "David, I love your heart so much even though this is wrong, I'll let it slide"
it was more like, YESSSSS!!! you're doing it! you're onto what I had in mind!!!
what were they doing? resting!
resting in the kingdom is NOT what it we've culturally come to have defined it as.
David and all the ppl in this place were fellowshipping in His presence, dancing,
painting, writing psalms/songs, playing music-- they were being blessed, and sanctified;
thus they were being holy, as He is holy, which can explain them not being killed
but they were in a state of rest. which i can't emphasize more.

that's something i really want to ponder more, and more.. as i think about it.
what does rest really look like???

i took a stroll today, and started thinkin about stuff listening to music.
hearing the lyrics i started repeating them, a passion for your name, stir it up in our hearts
stir it up in our hearts a passion for your name.

and then thinking really where was my passion, and where was i focused? good question. i wanted to start thinking
about how to revive a passion to move, passion to give others passion and started shooting blanks,
going nowhere. then i heard, "look at me"

not at his person, but at Him.
so i started looking at His eyes and keeping focused no matter what.
then i was asked, what do you see?

the only thing that came to mind was so simple and so peaceful
yet so true and real: eternity.
locking that in my head and heart, gave me focus and passion.
locking my eyes on His, gave me confidence and vision
its more refreshing than a 2nd wave, and so comforting that
i knew i had it, i just lost sight of Him.

i had resolved to stay focused, all i wanted was a humble heart and
an obedient spirit.
in this i knew i could fall but never fail.

Renaissance.

they say movement is good, but momentum is better. what happens when you start moving so fast you start thinking about acceleration rather than velocity? this is my point exactly.
i been thinking for awhile about revival.
no. scratch that.
people around me have been thinking, talking about it, bringing it. that's great.

but what is revival?
let's break it up
re + vival.
re=back, again, do back
viva=life, living
so if this is right, it's coming back to what once was living,
or coming back to what once was, reclaiming or catching up on what was once lost.
sounds amazing right?

to me and my always thinking mind it doesn't.
whats good is to take back what was lost and reclaim it, taking back an inheiritance
however whats better or greater is to press forward and go forth advancing the kingdom, right?
not just thinking stategically in how to gain back what was overtaken or lost, but to capture and
conquer more important areas of influence and key areas that will be integral for overthrowing dominions
and provinces!

so whats on my mind? not just a taking back, or thinking about that, but capturing and creating something new..
think cultural coup.
its gonna be sneaky, but don't get it twisted. it's not shady, just tricky. definitely marketplace stuff, and seeing stuff thats very unnatural. God meeting ppl where they'd least expect it.

anyways like i was saying, there's revival. then what? then comes the rebirth, the renaissance.
well to get a picture of what it would sorta look like, i decided to study up on it. what did it say? haha
hows this:

"Renaissance humanists did not reject Christianity; quite the contrary, many of the Renaissance's greatest works were devoted to it, and the Church patronized many works of Renaissance art. However, a [subtle] shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were brought back from Byzantium to Western Europe and engaged Western scholars for the first time since late antiquity. This new engagement with Greek Christian works, and particularly the return to the original Greek of the New Testament promoted by humanists Lorenzo Valla and Erasmus, would help pave the way for the Reformation"
--wikipedia

nobody wants religion. how about this, God doesn't want religion. so when ppl saw things from a different perspective, can you imagine how that changed not only their outlook on culture but on life and God??
in rebirth there is restoration, so that there isn't a need to keep seeking revival. here's what i find amazing, it helped paved the way for reformation.
once stuff starts happening, there needs to be a restructuring to accomodate what's just happened.. you can't control everything. matter of fact here's one: control is just an illusion. hahaha
we don't control anything! you think you're in charge of your life? that's a good one
and when man thinks he can stuff God into a 3-fold pamphlet that you receive on a sunday morning between 9:15-10:30.. there's going to be an uprising. it will get so dark in the little white steeples that there will be a cry that none of their 4-walled sanctuaries can contain.

it's as if during the dark ages it got to a point to where the culture just cried out, and in their seeking of something more they found something- beauty and art, culture and learning. there was much redefining of the way of doing things, way they painted, the lens of which they viewed things.
this is what God wants to do once again in this time.

"Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art."
--wiki

what if we started reevaluating our roles of expression and lookin AND hearing music/art, media from a different perspective? there is such a need for expression that people are pouring their hearts into their work of music, documentaries, books, photos, and film.
the need for expression is so key for a person's proper development. which is exactly the need to be heard, but through a different medium, not everyone can communicate through writings, not everyone can articulate what they feel, but they know it is geniune, know it is real.
and so they use what they can to overflow the contents of their hearts onto what they consider their canvas: a woodshop designing furniture, an autoshop creating new designs for cars. conducting orchestras from sounds of nature, etc
and eventually they realize they were born to create, born for expression.

but this is just the beginning, and much more is to be done, to be restructured. what hidden depths of the tapestry of your unique self and self-expression have you not tapped into?

what is your canvas?

Taking a shower i was doin the usual talking to God thing, and i'm like i want to experience something cool..
all of a sudden i saw a giant table, huge with foods and thought at first, whoa. i might need some stretchy pants for this one haha

so i start digging in, practically on the table, eating this and that and with stuff in my mouth, and other foods in my hands like a street rat i thought- hmmm. this probably isn't the way i should be eating hah so as i climb back down i start going around the food and asking questions.. what's this? and i would understand what it was. interesting as there were things looking like green jello that i find would be wisdom, and it looks like jello because like the tagline, there's always room for jello!
i'd find other things that He would tell me is grace, is something meatier, etc and before i could go on i started thinking..

won't i fill up quickly? how will i make room for all this food(buffet mentality) and i DEFINITELY would like to try all of this great food, even if it looks strange it probably is crazy good. i receive the explanation that this food isn't like normal food which you digest and later excrete; however, what happens is the more i consume, the less room i have for impurities, toxins all the junk that comes with being human. as i realize that the bathroom is a metaphor for repentance and cathartic for our cleanliness- i see that the more of this food we consume the more we want.
With great power is great responsibility, this is true. when you start to take in a different culture, a different food from another area and the flora or bacteria is foreign to your system, u can undergo an interesting and common traveler's experience- the flushing of the old and introduction of the new bacterias, enzymes, etc to process the food in that region. and as we take on this food, there is less and less room for what was former.
However there was another side to this with the banquet food- the more you consume, the more you crave.. but not in a bad way. there is no lack thats for sure, and there was no worry of being stuffed or hurried.
you know how when you're young, the foods which you had tasted of gives you a taste for it as you grow older? i saw how ppl having tasted and seeing the Lord is good in certain areas would be more apt to stay in certain parts of the banqueting table.. oh and it was quite a long table.

but me being an "other-side-of-the-fencer", i love to have options, choose, pick, and try. don't make that face, don't judge me-- i'm not difficult, i just like to enjoy life to the fullest haha. so i wanted to receive as much as i could, try a bit of everything then make my choice of what i'd like more of.

if you've put your time in the buffets or any lunch line, its not a good feeling to be the holdup of the line as you make your choices or take your time, however that's exactly what is necessary, to not be rushed in what you take in. if you don't digest and process your stuff right, it may end up coming out the wrong way, and you never keep any of it. then it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and for some, discourages them from wanting to ever try more of that.

then as i was ready to get on my way, i heard a voice say, "but what about dessert?" hahaha
U-turning from my leaving position, i see so many delicious, glazed, fresh and golden goodies waiting to be sinfully indulged in. don't get me wrong, i love fruit and things that are healthful, but i LOVE sweets. u remember when you were in 3rd grade and you liked this girl but you didn't like like her? well i like like my sugared desserts. as i was trying them i heard, "taste and see that the Lord is good", enough to make me stop and ponder it while the sugars dissolved into my being, giving brightness to my eyes and an effervescent spirit.

God can come and knock on your door and you can invite Him in, but when He invites you to dinner, that's the kicker. its like meeting the parents, because eating is such an intimate experience: why do you think dates usually happen with food, and why "coffee dates" aren't considered as such a big deal? because no meal was served is my opinion.
there's something behind that. same with the whole nonverbal communication, posture thing.
you can be at a party and have someone looking at you say you're introverted, however when you hold a cup in your hand, there is a total change in the perception of someone, that they are more extroverted, from such a prop.
what i'm saying is that when you take something in, there's a small type of bond between who you're with, like it or not.
it's the sharing of that experience that opens you to wherever the conversation takes you.

finally there's the line: you are what you eat.
true, true, true.
don't try and argue it, make exceptions for it, or criticize it.
it may just be a defense mechanism for the conviction of stopping to do what you don't want to

which is why paul said whatever is pure, noble, anything good and holy to think upon those things.
your heart and mind consume like you wouldn't believe, and to think that it's not going to affect what comes out
or the fruit of what you've planted.
the darkness is evil, but if you think about it haha this is what got me:

darkness must yield to light.
no exceptions, postulates, theories can disprove this.

so what does this mean? wherever there's darkness there can be light, that in a funny way darkness can be a forerunner for the light.

the garden

so i spent this morning thinking,waiting, resting. with Jesus.

my mind starts racing and i have so much going on in my head and i start to tell him so many things all at one time, very quickly and a bit loud from all the excitement-
then i stop.

i stop and i think for a sec about all i want to do, and am thinking then just give Him a hug and tell him its enough just to be by His side. to embrace and feel Him there is all i need.

He then turns to me and tells me about this past season. says its been a time of trial, a time of growth, a time of going deeper with Him. much freedom and strengths were taken from me, and the lavish mantles and things He clothed me in were seemingly torn to shreds and i was left in a pit. Gosh i hated that place in the beginning.

the thing about pits are.. they are nothing but holes in the ground. you can sit around and wait for yourself to be sold away into slavery or--- you can start digging deeper.
so i dug. i went deeper and deeper and started finding that this wasn't a pit at all, but it was a well that hadn't hit water yet. and when i hit that water it felt so refreshing, so alive, so much like what i had been missing and needing. it brought me to the surface and brought life to those around me.

then He tells me, i'm giving you your wings back, while giving me large white eagles' wings. He proceeds, many i let go and never return. some go early and aren't mature enough to make it back. you have found this place and choose to keep coming back. this garden is not just your nest and home, it is your well and it is where you find rest and strength. i set you free because you WILL come back, because your sustenence is here, in Me and because you love Me.

i saw earlier that my heart was a bit like that well, and that i was in it. i knew i had to make room for Him, and knew that it had to be cleaned and enlarged. so i started clawing at the dark walls, much of it was clean but not polished. as i started cleaning and clawing, the walls started to show things behind the dirt and grime. i saw gold, and knew i had reached it. so i took all the dirt and piled it toward the middle and thats when i saw His hand reach down and grab it.

as i looked down and saw my heart as He saw it, it was a heart of gold.

what is in a name?? the reason why there's so many names for God and at the same time does not like to be named, is because the aspect of a name not only gives identity, but it can constrict and constrain. limit and set boundaries to what you can and cannot do. for example when one is named a cat, it is not because of a fierce bark.
it is for this reason that we can't know the greatness and fullness of who He is without more revelation of what He does, which totally removes previous judgements and preconceived notions and limitations we had for Him. as He removes these veils, we start to see Him more clearly, and at the same time more of Him which is so much more than we knew.
so here's something to think about, when Jesus has a name that only He knows, that must be so much more intense than anything we could ever imagine.. and may take eternity for us to even scratch the surface.

all this gives us more insight to the aspect of marriage between the bride of Christ and Jesus. as we are made one, we ourselves are changed. our former name is no longer remembered, but we now have His name. that which once contained us, which limited and held us back no longer confines nor defines us. we are free- free to dream, free to live, free to be.

so this means that every infirmity, disease, thing that is not in alignment with the kingdom HAS to bow down and submit to us, for we have His name. the firstborn of creation, king of glory.

Honor + Humility

people sometimes forget how intertwined honor and humility are.. if honor was peanut butter, humility would be the jelly. if honor was the tick, humility would be the tock.
so intertwined are the two that it really takes away from the nature of one when the other is removed.

anyway, well i was singing some songs, when it hits me about the Holy Spirit, how much honor is lacking towards the Holy Spirit when we are wanting God to move, speak, etc.

but as helper, guide and friend the Holy Spirit wants us to give the appropriate honor so that He can move like He wants to. you can't put Him in a box, or draw lines of limitation over Him.

i said i'm sorry. i wanted to honor the Holy Spirit, to humble myself and let Him flow. be my teacher like those in other countries and have to rely on You, i want to honor You.
then i saw a small sized classroom moderately filled with students from many different backgrounds. all over the world, and different ages, i heard His voice speak to me telling me-- since i've humbled myself and let Him teach how He wants to, and me just be the willing student, He'll show me things many won't see and learn things that others won't learn.
simply because there's examples that He wants to make, showing that He wants to do not just that which was in Jesus' time, but there's about 2000 years that He needs to catch up on, bringing miracles signs and wonders into the 21st century, and show not only whats possible, but what should be standard for all of us.
so where does it start?
humbling yourself and honoring the teacher.

class is now in session.

Fragrance.

What's your favorite smell? or what fragrance do you wear out?

you ever wonder what Jesus smells like? or how when sacrifices are made, that they offer up a sweet smelling aroma to God?? in 1 cor 13 it says that among faith, hope and love, that love is the greatest.
likewise, i've seen that there's an aroma anytime a sacrifice is made, as well as in worship. however the greater of these 2 is worship.

i was over at the prayer chapel the other night and while no one was around, started jumping around, singing and shouting, whirling and dancing.
All of a sudden i started smelling distinct scents in different parts of the chapel.
in 1 part of the room was an unreal vanilla scent that was gentle enough to not come on too strong, but enticing enough make me go around sniffing until i had an overload of air in the lungs.

after a couple minutes, i noticed another smell, and it this time it was of flowers, crazy huh?? it was floral, but wasnt like smelling roses. it was a bit stronger, and much more refreshing and fruity. how good it was to have those smells, and then it hit me, my worship was giving off these fragrant smells to Him, that when the air gets stale, its a breath of fresh air to smell something so new and alive. So excited God gets to have us liven up heaven and bring an element of freshness, a pleasant aroma to heaven!
that was something that left me wanting more.. haha

the next morning, i ended up comin in while music was playing. i started singing and felt outside my body. u ever have that feeling that you were bigger than you really are?? anyway i saw Gods throne room and started dancing and shouting and praising all around it, over and over and it was amazing.
here's where it got interesting.. then this living creature came up to me, face to face kinda like in narnia when the lion was right in front of the children, and it started speaking to me without opening its mouth. well it would speak and would be saying holy holy holy, but i knew that it was speaking to me while it was saying these things, and it said, He loves you. Oh how He loves you. He loves you so much.
that was pretty nuts. it hit me that others knew how much He loved me, that He'd send others to tell me just for fun.

you know growing up how when you hear how much you're a special little guy from your mom, or what a champ you are from your dad that you start to have that stuff roll off your back? or how it kinda becomes less and less meaningful, as if you're becoming a little more and more desensitized from it.
it was in this that the Father would send others to show me how much He loves to see me delight in knowing of His love, no matter who it comes from :)

Best friend.

Ok so this was an interesting experience. i was sitting on a rock with Jesus, this rock was on the ledge of a waterfall, and it overlooked a huuuuuge valley/rainforest, like jurassic park or narnia. sitting there made me really reflect on what it is thats motivating me, what i'm pressing towards. i would ask who's there with me, who's out there keeping me in check, and helping me as i walk along?
then i look over at my best friend.

Purpose. where do we derive it? from where should it spring, and that question ricochets back at me with the rhetorical search for identity.
it's out of this place that i can see clearly the world through lenses which are pure, and find out what i was made to do, and how i can bring what i have to the table, not see what i can take for myself.

its not about gaining, it never was. gaining comes with the journey, because where you go definitely has its own prerequisites. and you can get equipped from wherever/whatever you allow to speak into you, your life.

and then i see that i'm not doing this just for me, my family, my friends. but for generations to come, for the kingdom to come, for the sake of who i am, which is me being who i am, and sharing my favor and advantages with others so they can enjoy as well. but most of all its for Him, because i am who i am because of who He is, and i am free to the furthermost extent of universe, beyond time, space, limits, lines, boundaries to be me and to be unshackled. and from the place of freedom in Him comes this identity so rich and so peaceful like a song, that causes me to think, act, do out of LOVE.

i am here to love and to receive love
the meaning of life has never been simpler

what this looks life for each individual is so different and wonderful it is beautiful, like a mosaic that comes together in beauty what seemed so different and contrasting.

He is my best friend and He makes up what i lack from so much the world can't offer me. when i am weak i am strong, when i am going through a trial, i am triumphing. and all because i chose to receive what He has for me, his <3.

Grace to bear the impossible

When we are in a position of grace, we have the express opportunity with faith, to be able to take on much more than we can handle, much more than we thought we could handle, because its not just us thats bearing it. in fact, its not really us bearing it. a truck driver does not pull tons of different materials across the country, HOWEVER it is the willing truck driver who partners with the truck in together doing the duty, getting the job done.
our responsibility is to take the call, the baton which has been placed into our lap and to run with it. the load and everything associated with what we're called to bring will be brought, its not us thats supposed to do everything. in fact we arent supposed to do much. but the minimal requirement has also pushed away many.

however we can't do it alone, theres so much we don't know about and to brave it alone, to think you can do it by yourself is sheer pride, and at best ignorance. He sustains us, and upholds us. it is actually His hands which hold up what we think we are carrying. when the grace is there, muster up all the faith you can and ask for more to grab that which was once out of grasp, out of time, out of resources, and out of reach and PULL it in.