The IF Movement

It was amazing being part of a movement. That’s what I call the IF: Gathering. A movement of warriors. The question is what are we fighting for? It’s quite simple, it’s the same thing that the passion movement is fighting for that God’s renowned would be made known throughout all the world.
It’s the good news of Jesus, that we’ve been set free from our past and that we are free to move forward to step out in faith in to the plan that has been laid out before us.

It is letting go of what his dead because God is not the God of what has been but he is the God of I AM! (Christine Caine)

So much occurred during the IF:Gathering in our hearts and minds. Yet, people keep asking, “What is the IF:Gathering?” It is believing God and then walking in that belief.

It is as if a seed of faith was planted into thousands of hearts during the conference. That’s what happens when the Holy Spirit reveals to you his plan and puts a seed inside of your heart. You can hardly stand waiting until it begins to take root and starts to sprout.

Look and see and be utterly amazed at what I will do 

Behold I am doing a new thing now it springs forth do you not perceive it?

I have prepared you for this, I am preparing you for this, I have prepared a place for you. 

Those words are precious to me!

A few months ago God gave me the word prepare he’s been preparing me for the IF:Gathering and preparing me for this year. He continues to prepare my heart and my mind to look forward and to let go of the past so that I can focus on

preparing others
what he has prepared for me.

There so much more to come I can barely wrap my head around it but don’t worry I’ll let you in all along the way.

What new thing does God want to do in you today? What seed has He planted in you?

The Big IF

2000 women gathered together to hear from God. Each one desperate to learn, experience and ultimately fulfill their purpose as a Christ follower. If God is real then we want to live like it is the premise behind this gathering. 

I came expecting God to give me answers to my questions about how to lead, where my life needs to change and quite honestly I just wanted to have an amazing time of worship with Him. I was not disappointed in what occurred! 

The conference began with Jennie Allen greeting us with her team of women. Her passion and conviction were a powerful reminder to trust God and let Him direct you. I was in awe of her dedication and servant hood to the kingdom. Presenter after presenter shared their story of faith, of trust, of brokenness and the truth that God is good.  This woman agrees with that statement!

Worship was weaved throughout and brought us right into the throne room. There is something about filling a place with women who love Jesus and then singing His praise! It is good to be together! Break every chain, break every chain.... Is ringing in my soul.

One of the beautiful aspects of IF:Gathering is that women all over the world were watching with us. Over 1500 locations streamed the conference. So incredibly cool to be connected with our sisters. Even after the conference many of us our hosting our own events. I am returning to my home church and have a date set for March 27-28 where we have invited women to join us in answering If God is real, then what?

God is so full of surprises. During the gathering, I was given so many beautiful words of challenge and encouragement, but the one that had me quaking and smiling came from Christine Caine. "God is preparing you for what He has prepared for you!"

In January the word God gave me for this year was "Prepare". I even spent the month of January reflecting on how to prepare my heart, mind, mouth and hands.  Little did I know that He was going to continue it at the IF:'Gathering. 

So what is next? I have so much more to share with you regarding what I learned and how God worked. I'll be blogging about some of those in the next few days.

In addition, if you are close to Grand Rapids, Michigan we would love for you to join us on March 27-28 for our IF:Corinth.

Prepare my hands to receive your blessings

Day 28

Someone shared with me that when we pray we should stretch out our hands. First with our palms down, symbolizing that we have a light grip on the things of our life. When your hands are palms down we're offering things back to the Lord and giving him everything.

Try it! It is amazing how it changes your focus. Instead of give me, give me. It's Lord, here is what I have, I offer it to you.  Then in an attitude of humility, 

"I'm ready to receive whatever you have for me."

 The Lord has a lot but he wants to give us.

Ask and you shall receive seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you.

There are so many blessings that He wants to give to us if we would only sit in a seat of submission and humility waiting to receive.

Prepare my hands to receive what you have for me

Blessings come in many ways

happy blessings 

monetary blessings

friendship blessings 

emotional blessings 

comforting blessings 

joyful blessings 

There are also blessings that come in the midst of suffering. Those painful moments in our lives that we would love to wish away, God wants to bless us in the midst of them. He desires that we would know him more and to understand the pains of others. He is the God of all comfort who want to comfort us so that we might be a comfort to others. 

In time of suffering we are challenged to hold onto him like never before.

Right now my mom's dementia is manageable but it's hard and there are days I would wish it away. In fact just this morning I was praying Lord heal her mind, replace what's been taken, give me back my old mom and yet I've learned so much about how to care, how to be patient, how to let things go, how to live in the moment and how to find joy in suffering.

There have been blessings even though there has been pain

Take a moment to stretch out your hands palm down and give to the Lord those things in your life that are difficult. Try and give it all to him.

Now turn over those palms face up and declare, "Lord I am ready to receive whatever you have for me."

Prepare our hands to receive from you amen

Prepare my eyes to focus on Jesus

 

Day 25

Have you ever noticed what you focus on is what you see?

I remember when it was so popular for those pictures that if you stared at it long enough you would see a picture jump out at you. It's a kind of picture within a picture here's an example. This one is titled summer is coming. No I never did see the image. It is supposed to be a girl eating an ice cream and holding a balloon!

I never was really good at it. Some say you if you have astigmatism it's hard for your eyes to focus, which I do. (just trying to rationalize why I can't see it.) I think that I just didn't have the patience to stay there long enough for it to pop up. Although every once in a while this magical event happened. When I was staring at one of these pictures if I could just focus my eyes long enough, something would just pop out and this other picture would come to life.

Today I'm asking the Lord to prepare my eyes to be fixed on Jesus for some of the same reasons.

When we fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith we begin to see things differently.

Instead of being bothered by an interruption, if my eyes are fixed on Jesus then I will ask, "what would you have me do in the midst of this situation?"

When I don't know what to do in life with any problem that has arisen, if my eyes are fixed on Jesus then I know what to do!

How did Jesus respond when he encountered trouble? He would find a solitary place and then he would pray. Lord help me to pray for your wisdom!

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35

When I am saddened by loss, human nature or by evil, if my eyes are fixed on Jesus then I know how to respond. Jesus tells us that He is with us and that He is coming back. Because of this I place my hope in him. His promises change my attitude.

I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:20

During those times that I am being selfish, when I look at Jesus and focus on his life I see that He considered others as more important than himself. His sacrifice teaches me to be patient with others and humble.

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28

How would focusing your eyes on Jesus change your day?

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Hebrews 12:2

Prayer

Jesus just as a horse will often have guides by his eyes to keep him focused, be my blinder! Focus my eyes on you, your kingdom and your plan! Remove anything that takes my eyes off of you!

Prepare my eyes to see suffering

Day 24

Prepare my eyes to see the hurting.

No matter where I have gone in the world there are people suffering, hurting, in need.

Desperate, struggling for the most basic of needs- shelter, water, food, clothing and medicine. While others are hurting because they have been shunned by society simply because of their skin color or class system or gender.

Some are hurting because they've made choices in their life and the consequences of those choices have become too much to bear. Nevertheless, all of these people are seen by God, loved by God and cherished by God.

He has a plan and a purpose for them, so please God prepare my eyes to see the hurting. Not just so that I may see them, but that I might act on God's behalf.

Last year we took a team from our church to Colombia you can read more about that here.

 One girl stole my heart. As we were walking up the side of a hill   that was not paved, My eyes took in the completely dusty, dirty  trash littered area. It was pretty desolate and bleak .We saw many types of people; young and old, male and female, healthy and sick. They were all hurting one way or another. Each of them had a story and as we looked at them there was a common thread- pain, hurt, and need.

Just as I was at my breaking point because my heart was so full of emotion for these children of God who were in desperate need of love. God gave me a gift.

A girl that I had worked with just the day before came running out to greet me from her very modest home. We had a connection from the day prior as I had the privilege of loving her in Jesus name by washing her hands and feet, washing her hair and combing out the nits. We connected in the power of Jesus love, it bound us together.She came to greet me and shower me with a hug and a gift. I was so humbled because her eyes saw me as someone in need.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Who needs to be seen by you today? How can you reach out in Jesus name to them?

Prayer
Oh Jesus the one who sees us and our need, you beckon us to come to yourself when we are tired and hungry and needing rest. Give us eyes to see those who need that as well. Give us words of comfort to share with them. Guide us in our decision to love them and touch them in your name. We ask that you would remove any scales from our eyes that we might see them clearly

Prepare my eyes to see my sin

Day 23

Open my eyes to see my sin, wow that is heavy.
It's difficult sometimes to really open our eyes and look at ourselves and who we really are. It is as if we were looking at some horrific scene, we turn your eyes away from the unpleasant, unlovely, terrifying reality of our sinfulness.

As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; Romans 3:10

For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23

I remember being a young Christian and someone saying, "name your sin, don't sugarcoat it, name it."

Instead of saying I am a sinner, Lord forgive me of my sins.
Try to say,

Lord I have lied, I am a liar, forgive me for lying.
Lord I have wished harm on someone, I am a murderer for wishing them harm.
I have had lustful thoughts, I am an adulterer
Or my personal favorite
I am a gossiper, I gossip, Lord forgive me for gossiping.

Something changes when we look squarely in the eye of our sin and realize it is us who wears that odor, it is not pleasant, it is not fun, it is unpopular to admit this. When our eyes are open to our sinfulness, we can come openly before God.

The good news is Jesus loves us and says that we are his friend. We are forgiven of our sins if we will just come honestly before Him and ask to be a
washed in his blood, his forgiveness and then in his restoration.

Prayer
Thank you Jesus for cleansing me, for making me look at my sin. Only you can remove that stain of our sin. Would you make me white as snow, white as snow, white as snow?

Prepare my eyes to see your children

Day 22

Every day we encounter all types of people; young and old, healthy and sick, men and women, children and adults, Christian and non Christian, happy and sad. The question I am contemplating is do we really see them the way Jesus does?

Prepare my eyes to see people the way He does!

To do this we must consider the ways in which Jesus interacted with others.

Blind man-Gently touching and healing his eyes
Lame-He heals the man even on a Sunday
Woman caught in adultery-Lovingly, tells her that he does not condemn her.
Children-He asks the children come to Him
Centurian-Validated his faith and healed his servant
Rich young ruler-Challenged him to give all he had
Peter-Forgave him and restored their relationship

In all of these situations we see Him looking at the people and responding in ways that met peoples needs.

This week I had an encounter with a first grader that was very difficult.  I have to say I did not see him in the way Jesus does.  I saw him as a burden, a problem, unlovely and quite frankly a big ole headache! I am going to try and readjust my eyes and see him the way Jesus does.

hurting

vulnerable

broken

in need of love

in need of guidance

Just writing those words changes my view and attitude.

Who can you look at differently today? How would Jesus see them? 

Prayer
Lord prepare our eyes to have your vision of others. Help us to understand how to love them the way that you do.

Prepare my Eyes to see Your Hand

Day 21

There are so many situations in my life where I could trace back something that happened to God's intervention. I wonder if you have one of those situations in your life?

I do believe that He is at work every moment of every day even when we may not comprehend that it's His hand. Could this possibly be because we were not looking? Years ago the song, "Trust His heart" was very popular.

God is too good to be unkind. So when you don't understand. When don't see his plan. When you can't trace his hand. Trust His Heart He sees the master plan by Babbie Mason.

I think I might rewrite that song to say, "when you can't see his plan, trace the things that have happened back to him".

When we share prayer requests with each other we often track when they have been answered. It's such a glorious time of reflecting on God's goodness. We would miss so much of his provision if we didn't take time to look.

God's provision and protection are all around us.

He provided a friend at just the right moment to provide comfort in your life or encouragement
An unexpected snow day gave you the rest that you needed

You begin working with a group of people and realize that you all have different gifts that can be amazing together

That special song that lifts your spirit came on the radio just when you needed it most

You've been praying for confirmation and then your devotion that morning was exactly what you needed

You have no money and yet you give faithfully to God's work and every month your needs are met

Open our eyes to see God's hand at work!

One of my very favorite verses tells us to watch and see what God will do.

Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. Habakkuk 1:5

Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! Psalm 66:5

Prayer
Oh magnificent creator, author and perfector of our faith. You are the designer of the heavens and of our amazing bodies. We come to you today and ask that you would reveal yourself to us. Help us to see with eyes that are open to your glorious riches, to your gentle hand and to your plentiful providing.
We do not want to miss what you have for us. May we see clearly that it has been you and it has been your attention to our lives that have caused the many blessings that we have been given. We give you praise and thank you for your surprises of grace. May we never take you for granted.

Prepare My mouth to declare your Praises

Day 20

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever I will sing, I will sing.

In our society so often we think about getting credit for ourselves. We are crying out, "look at me, look at me, look at me"!

We all have a high need for recognition and it can be difficult to think about asking the Lord to declare his praises through our mouth. This is just giving him what he deserves- honor, glory, praise, and worship.

When something good happens do you say, "praise God" not just in your heart and your mind but vocally with your mouth declaring his grace?

When you get a blessing

an increase in your pay

getting on the flight that you were hoping to get on

your team wins

What is your first instinct? Is it to say yes I deserve this? Or do you Begin to praise God?

Declaring His praise is a simple as saying,"God is good", "thank you Jesus", "thank you Lord", it could be a declaration that He is so good to us, that he always provides for our needs. 

Warning!!! Some may say that this is holy roller talk or you have gone off the deep end to always be praising God . They may even suggest that not everything good in your life comes from God. I disagree, Scripture says every good and perfect gift comes from above.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11

If you believe that God is your father and if you believe that he loves you then you have to believe that every good thing in your life is from him, and he deserves our praise.

In recent years there's been much talk about being thankful. Anne Voskamp wrote a wonderful book 1000 gifts that focuses on being grateful and giving praise back to God. Thank you Anne and for reminding us that there's so much to be thankful for.

But others in our society have also talked about being grateful but don't give the glory to God. They just think about being grateful as a change of your heart and while that is important it is more important to know your source of joy and to give Him the praise and adoration that are due Him because He is the giver.

How many things could you thank God for today?

Prayer

Thank you Father that I got a good nights sleep and I'm on my way to a job that I love. I have a car to drive.
Thank you for blessing me with good health, for lungs that work and that are not sick. Thank you Jesus for saving me. I am grateful for your relationship and your constant care including your abiding love.  

I praise you God for technology, for a computer that works and Internet that connects me to the world. I praise you for giving us the ability to communicate in other languages. I praise you because you are worthy to be praised.

Thank you for preparing my mouth to sing your praises for you alone are worthy of it!

Prepare my mouth to teach

Day 19

Who me, a teacher?

I can hear all of the responses to this already! Many of you are saying, "I can't teach! That is not my gift!" I have news for you, You are already teaching.

If you are 

A parent, you teach your children

A friend, you teach your friends

A spouse, you teach your spouse

A co-worker, you teach your co-workers

A teacher, you teach your students.

God has given us the best lesson plan that I know of, His word. 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16

We have been given something that is inspired by God himself and it is the very thing that we can teach to others. 

Teach-show or explain to (someone) how to do something.

Even if you do not have the gift of teaching you have been equipped by the word of God to share His truth with others. The next time someone asks you how to do something or help with a problem, go to the answer book and then share what you find with them. 

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2

Prayer

Father thank you that you have equipped us for every situation. Your word instructs us and prepares us to be teachers to those around us. Show us how to serve others in you name today.

Prepare My mouth to share your comfort

Day 17

"I'm so sorry. I'll pray for you. I can't even imagine how you must be feeling. Is there anything I can do?"

There are times when my mouth does not know what to say. Times when I want to bring comfort to someone and I am frozen in the midst of that situation. My heart is breaking for them, yet I don't know what to say. I don't want to hurt their feelings and I don't want to make things worse. How can I bring comfort to them I wonder and it's in those moments that I cry out to God, "Oh Lord give me the words to say".

I wonder if you've been there? Alongside a friend who just had a diagnosis or with a family who is in the midst of trying to make some difficult decisions. Perhaps you are at a funeral or you're seeing someone for the first time after they have lost someone and are grieving. In all these situations we need God to prepare our mouth to bring his comfort and his peace into the lives of our friends and co-workers.

I cannot think of a better source of comfort than Jesus and God's word.

The Bible reminds us, "do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say," I can't tell you how many times I have relied upon that scripture crying out, "Oh Lord Jesus give me the words to say".

Some may say that it is purely in my mind. I disagree, it's purely in my heart and in my soul because that is where the Holy Spirit resides. Filling me to overflowing with His presence, His guidance, His direction, His love, His comfort. He is called the comforter! I can't think of anyone better for me to rely upon than the Holy spirit.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.  Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Psalm 46:1-3 NLT

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Here's a link to some great verses to share with others.

These verses are also amazing to pray for people. If you're like me there are times that you just have no words. It is at these times when my spirit is crying that I don't even know how to pray. Thankfully God is already taken care of that by giving us the words to say.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:36

Today, who needs a word of hope and comfort that you could bring to them? Who can you text or message that will feel God's love because you reached out?

Prayer

Holy Spirit, thank you for coming to comfort, guide and give us peace. Prepare our mouths to comfort others in the way that you have brought comfort and peace into our lives. We ask that you would speak your words of love to those who are hurting around us. Give us your eyes to see people the way that you do giving us opportunities to love them in Jesus name.

Prepare my mouth to speak His Truth

DAY 16

Prepare my mouth to speak his truth to myself.

God is truth. He has a lot to tell us about who we are. Read a previous post about this here.

Speaking His truth about who we are can be difficult because we often hear that we are not good enough, smart enough, brave enough, strong enough, athletic enough, skinny enough, healthy enough, it overwhelms us with messages that we will never be enough!

I have some good news today that I want to share with you. God has declared that He is enough and this truth can rock your world!

Knowing who you are because of Jesus changes everything. Examine these truths from Scripture.

 You are fearfully and wonderfully made 

 He knows you by name 

 When you walk through the water He will be with you 

 He is a Victorious warrior is in your midst 

 God says that He loves you 

 He created you 

 You were made in my image 

 You are forgiven, loved, redeemed 

 You are His beloved

 He has prepared a place for you 

 No one can snatch you out of His hand

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1). 

Start today knowing these truths and believing these wonderful truths!

Prayer

Today, I am choosing to live in the truth that you are enough and because you love me the way I am, I am enough!

Have you missed the devotional series or need to catch up? Find all of the Prepare devotionals here.

Tell your Grace Story

Day 14

Prepare my mouth to be a witness.

In season and out of season the Bible tells us that we are to be prepared to share about the hope that we have inside of us. When I was 14 and first heard about the unfailing, unquenchable, unstoppable, unrelenting love of Jesus I was forever changed. Because people were willing to share their story about the changing effect in their life that Jesus had made I became a Christ follower. These people are my heroes because they were willing to share their truth about who they had been in the past and who they were after meeting Jesus. I want to be that kind of person as well. I want to be available when the Holy Spirit prompts me to share my story and not to be afraid, ashamed or embarrassed by who I was in the past but rather to share the joy of a transformed life.

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. 2 Corinthians 2:15-16

Our words can have an eternal impact as we point others to the magnificent, marvelous love of Jesus.

Prepare my mouth to be silent

Day 13

Teach me Lord to be silent. Guard my mouth put a hedge of protection around it, lock it until you want me to speak.

For those who know me it's no surprise that if I am silent it's not an average day. For me breathing and talking go hand in hand except in the morning before I have had my coffee!

I talk, share my opinions, tell people what to do, ask questions etc.

Today as I looked at the scripture I noticed some things about those who talk a lot. Their words can be careless, considered babble and as irritating as a dripping faucet!

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, Matthew 12:26

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” I Timothy 6:20

A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. Proverbs 19:13

Those who wait to speak are considered wise, prudent, cautious.

 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. Proverbs 17:27-28

Have you ever found yourself in a situation and afterwords do you think, "why did I say that, why did I say it that way, what was I thinking?"  If I could tell you how many times that's happened to me you'd be shocked.

Today I'm going to seek to be silent and in my silence I'm going to wait on the Lord to give me words to speak. My prayer is simply, "Not my words, but Your words".  This is going to be an interesting day!

Prepare me with Words of Encouragement

Day 12

Prepare my tongue with words of encouragement.

I watched in awe today as my tenderhearted husband asked a couple to pray with us.  His words of Encouragement to them were sweet and loving.  How I long to be a person who encourages and lifts others up.

What if we were always prepared to build up others with words of encouragement? 

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. I Thessalonians 5:11

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16

The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense. Proverbs 10:21

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

The word encourage is parakaleō in Greek.  

I was utterly blown away by the meaning I found in Strong's. 
comfort, instruction, etc.
to admonish, exhort
to beg, entreat, beseech
to strive to appease by entreaty
to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort
to receive consolation, be comforted
to encourage, strengthen
exhorting and comforting and encouraging
to instruct, teach

What if every person you met today left your presence feeling encouraged? Not soupy, silly, frilly words, but rather words that will bring comfort, strength, instruction and courage.

Pray that Jesus will prepare your mouth today to share His love in such a way that others will be lifted up because of your words. 

Sometimes the best way to encourage is to share a scripture that means something to you.

My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. Psalm 119:28

Prayer
Jesus, the one true word, prepare our mouths to speak your lovingkindness to others. May we be your mouth today, use it to build others up. Reveal to us each person's need and show us how to lift them up.