The Silent Intruder of Time Video

Sorry for being absent on this for so long………….new things, good things, God things. Enjoy this FB Live Video: The Silent Intruder of Time!

The Noisy Now

The Noisy Now – demanding, resounding, and LOUD.

It’s an atmosphere built upon words, and words and more words. People constantly talking, about everything and at the same time about nothing. Spend any amount of time on social media and the Noisy Now demands attention. In fact, not only does it demand attention, it makes me feel that if I don’t listen, or watch, or comment or like………….I WILL MISS OUT, BE LEFT OUT. What then? Is it necessary to always be in the mix? I don’t think so. God IS the mix and wherever I am, He is. So I don’t take my cues by the Noisy Now but from all that I glean in the silence of His presence.

If I let it, the Noisy Now manipulates me into its path intent on capturing my time. Live videos, urgent posts, pictures – before I know it, an hour flies by, then two and three. It tries to imprisons me in the grasp of its insignificant sound.

Social media has overstepped its bounds in my life so I pulled the plug, giving it no attention whatsoever unless it serves my purpose. No more entitled people, bent on arguments and constant streaming of every last thought, coming into my head. Out! Out!

This all started when I looked down my news feed on Facebook and actually got stressed out by all that I was seeing. Whether I agreed with it or not, I was tired of it all. It was as if unless I checked into the Noisy Now each and every day, my life would fade into oblivion  or lack significance. This is a dangerous place to be where I blend into every sound that is coming down the line. I will lose my voice here and I will be nothing more than an echo of all that is going on around me. No! No more!

There’s an undercurrent flowing under this noisy now. It seems that we want to be listened to, for someone to show us that our life matters. When it gets to the point where all the noise distracts me, using up precious time, I retreat into silence, into intimacy with Jesus Christ. I value alone time, silence. This is my message of impartation to those younger than me. Be quiet, get alone with Jesus to find yourself, to find out who you are and why you were born into such a time as this.

The Noisy Now is not something I want to get used to, not at all. I don’t want to be a hermit but I want to treasure silence with as much expectation as when I click on every link or picture in social media, hoping it will take me on a new adventure. It doesn’t do that but Jesus will – in the silence.

This is a message that I want to get across to a younger generation – to get away, to think. Thinking is good for the soul. As a Christian, meditation builds up and strengthens my spirit. I live in the spirit, not in the noise. Life in the spirit contradicts the noise. How can I get any direction for my life without meditative silence where I can think and hear Him?

Times of intimacy with Jesus preserves my sanity, strengthens me, and builds up my identity and faith. Quiet purges away the distractions, setting me on a path to walk in clarity of mind and strength of spirit.

There are whirlwinds of endless words trying to carry me away into confusion or distraction. In silence I gain wisdom and understanding about my life. To my younger brothers and sisters…….unplug and tune into Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In His presence are wisdom, peace, guidance, and direction.

Jesus calls us away, to come apart to spend time with Him. Be still and know that He is God. Don’t be swept away by the Noisy Now.Be still.

Living with Passion and Purpose In Christ,
Debra

Please share this – so many need to hear the simplicity of the message of Christ – peace in a noisy world. 

I’d love  to speak at your gathering, conference or home group, please send me a message on the contact page or email me at westbrook.debra@gmail.com Please visit Rivers of Eden Ministry page to find out something About Us.

It’s Time to Dialogue with our God! The Beauty of His Voice

It’s Time to Dialogue with our God! Back to Basics!

This is a simple post. Not exactly earth shattering. Not prophesying the future. Simplistic in its nature to get back to the basics of relationship. To engage and focus. That is key to 2017. Let 2017 come at us with all its’ got………our focus and position determines our perspective. Let faith and hope arise.

Let’s put down our phones, shut down our computers, go somewhere to spend time with Jesus. It’s time to dialogue, to talk with God about our lives, our future, and our present.

My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 (MSG)

That’s the basis of relationship – communication. I’m amazed at the number of Christians who adhere to its doctrine and its moral law but totally neglect experience – Father, Son and Holy Spirit engaging with a son or daughter to enrich their life with eternal perspective and reality.

How many actually spend time with a communicative God? A God that loves to talk to us as a Father.

How about Jesus and Holy Spirit? They all communicate to their children….that’s us.

I spend time in a listening mode with the Lord. He guides my life, gives me instruction, tells me where to go, and where not to go. I live in the reality of eternity right here and now.

So, it’s time to dialogue with God, one on one, up front and personal.

With all the noise out there in the form of social media, TV, radio……….it’s too much. The only One who knows everything about your past, present and future is God.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; you know exactly how I was made, bit-by-bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Psalms 139:13-15 (MSG)

I have journals, lots of them. That’s me. Perhaps one journal or even two is enough for you. I’m making this a law. I believe it is absolutely necessary to know the voice of God. It will get us out of some harrowing situations in the future. It will also place us on a path of identity to follow and flow into our destiny. Know His Voice.

Sit, talk, and pour your heart out to the Father. Ask Holy Spirit for direction and guidance. We are in this world but not of this world so engaging with eternity is our reality.

Approach God just as you are and He will straighten you out in the places that are bent, out of shape, distorted from years of lies and accusations. You can start out talking, talking talking BUT at some point you have to learn to listen. That takes faith to sit still and be quiet. It can seem so extraordinarily simple that it appears to be ridiculous sitting in silence, reaching out to a God you can’t always see.

Engage, listen. No more multitasking. Unplug.

Enter into conversation. It’s a two-way street. No more spectator sport where we passively sit in a service and listen, as if we are robots. Gatherings are great but what do you do with the rest of your life?

Here’s what to do (if you aren’t doing it already.)

Get quiet. Anytime is okay – morning, noon or night. I prefer morning and He sets the tone for my day.

Worship.

Adore Him.

Express gratitude and thanksgiving even when all hell is breaking loose around you.

Ask questions……He answers…..it may not be what you want to hear, but He will answer.

One morning, in the midst of some pretty heavy discouragement, I heard Holy Spirit whisper. “This is not the end. This is just the beginning.”

His voice came from inside (Christ in me) while at the same time whispering in an eternal tone that I have come to recognize over the years as His, not mine. Most of the time, God speaks to me in whispers and over the years I have cultivated my ears to hear and my heart to respond.

Don’t you want to know what He thinks about you? What He has for you? Dialogue, listen and learn.

 

Living with Passion and Purpose in Christ,
Debra

 

 

Please share this post. It’s beautifully basic in the midst of a noisy world!

I’d love  to speak at your gathering, conference or home group, please send me a message on the contact page or email me at westbrook.debra@gmail.com Please visit Rivers of Eden Ministry page to find out something About Us.

Truth Knocks Us Off Our High Horse

Bam! A blinding light shines down. One “soon to be apostle” flies off his horse and hits the dirt.

As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Acts 9:3-5

Saul (soon to be Paul) resisted Jesus in every way. With all his religious fervor, he believed he was the defender of the faith, even to the point of killing Christians. Finally Jesus says, “Enough is enough.” It’s a day of confrontation.

Truth knocks Saul off his high horse. For someone who believes he is a defender of the faith, it’s a bit humiliating when God wants to reveal Himself as He really is, not as we desire Him to be. He believed he knew who Jesus was but apparently he didn’t.

What about us? Does God humiliate us at times to reveal His Son as He really is? Does He knock us down off our high horses of pride or self-righteousness? Does He invade our safe spaces where we cling to a Jesus who babies and coddled our immaturity? Does He uproot our offenses and pride catapulting us to the dust?

Of course He does. If you truly seek to know Jesus Christ, honestly seek to know Him as He longs to reveal Himself to you, you will be challenged in a radical encounter with Jesus. With a blinding light, He will expose areas of our life. Leveling out in the dust, we can choose to look up into the eyes of truth or walk away.

We desperately need a blinding light revelation today. Light that hits us and even knocks us down but then raises us up in clear vision to see Christ as He truly is.

In Western Christianity, we tend to construct a Jesus that is very one-dimensional, created to BE who we want Him to BE. He is love. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating an abusive heavenly Father that wants humiliate us without reason. But do we know Him? Do we know Him as He is?

Jesus called Paul to be an apostle with great destiny and purpose. He hit Paul head on, not playing nice or tolerant. Jesus loved Paul with an everlasting love. He had to do it this way. Revolutionary radical people are prime targets for God’s ferocious love to hit hard. Without encounter, many of us will not move in God’s direction. We will wallow in pride, self-righteousness without the light. We will even choose to stay in our own victimization of past hurts or abuse.

Can we accept this revelation of Christ? Is it hard to imagine that not only is He filled with grace but filled with fire? How about acceptance at the same time as confrontational, challenging us with our weakness to give us His strength?

Okay so many are saying? But that’s Paul? I’m not called to a worldwide apostolic ministry? Maybe not but Jesus will do the same thing for those called to be servants, housewives, doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, janitors, or gardeners. Each of us, in our own little corner of the world, needs a blinding light to invade our sphere of influence to wake us up in order to see and know Jesus Christ. To see Him not through the lens of religion or cultural conformity but through a revelation of Himself as we hit bottom.

All around us the church at large has deconstructed Jesus down to a nice guy, our friend, and our little created divinity called to make us feel good. He becomes our safe space. We create Him in our desire and image so that our lives need not be offended or confronted with Truth. This has created a weak, powerless church unable to walk in power and authority.

Being a strong, independent and somewhat rebellious individual, Truth hit me at the lowest point in my life when things seemed bent on destruction in multiple areas – struggling marriage and family alongside internal pain and sorrow. Truth hit hard with strong powerful love basically saying to me, “Are you done doing it your way? Why do you keep resisting and hitting back so hard?”

My marriage was on the rocks and I entered a time of depression. At that point, Truth entered my life to become my Lord and Savior with a multifaceted revelation of His love. Father. Savior. Friend. Redeemer. He revealed Himself to me soft and gentle alongside firm and strong.

But He didn’t stop there with just that confrontation. Truth confronts me all the time, even now at times knocking me off of platforms of self-righteousness and pride. Truth confronts because it’s very nature is to confront. Do you know this Jesus? The One who loves you so much that He will not leave you where you are but desires to draw you up and out of your messy life into His.

By mess, I’m not just talking about the obvious but also the hidden. Not just outward acts of addiction but inward struggles of grief, anxiety or rejection. Jesus is good, all the time. When He confronts us with a hard knock or gently surrounds us with divine love, He is good. And Father God is good. And Holy Spirit is good.

Truth knocks me down and then a good Father God picks me right back up again. He doesn’t like me to stay down, although down has its good points. Down allows me to reevaluate my life in Christ along with the humiliation of being down there for all to see. It’s actually good for me. It’s time to grow up.

In relationship with truth, we never arrive but are always on journey. He does not gloat over us in humiliation but He longs for us to give it all up to follow Him on His journey. God knows the way and like a good Father He knows what’s good for us and is relentless in showing us the right way.

Allow Truth to have His way with you. You won’t regret it. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life and no man comes to the Father except through Him.  Repent. Now that’s not a word that is politically correct, is it? But it means to change your mind and walk in another direction……with Him. Relinquish your life to Him. He is more than worth it.

Aren’t you tired of doing it your own way?

 

In Christ,
Debra

Truth is…Truth is Not

Truth is not simply what works.

Pursue truth anyway. Walk along His road where the air is clear, where you can breathe again.

To face Truth head on, look into His eyes. This is not ideological talk, without substance or form. This is reality. Jesus Christ. The passion carried in my heart to know Him and to make Him known. He’s real. When you seek Truth, He’s always there to reveal Himself to you, up close and personal.

If you have been led down a path of religion, I no longer question why you’re not interested in Jesus Christ. Religion bypasses intimacy and relationship in favor of anything else…anything but the simplicity found in Christ and His love for us.

He offers His path – security, identity, love, acceptance. I believe this is something every person’s heart desires, whether they know it or not.

It’s important to know what Truth is and what Truth is not. I’ll write a series of blog posts about Truth, what He is and what He is not. Keep in mind that Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the life.

Point #1 Truth is not simply what works.

Jesus gives us a choice. We choose to follow His heart not ours. We must decide walking with Him is greater than the pull of the world and all it has to offer to us. The journey does not promise a smooth path. There are lots of uphill battles as well as places where you can’t see far into the distance. Along the way, I discovered that He satisfied the deepest longings of my heart as I walked in sync with His heart.

When walking along this path, it’s easy to assume that if one follows Truth, it would somehow work. And, by work, I mean a flow, an ease to the movement of your life. It doesn’t always work that way.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I realized many years ago, He answered the deepest longing of my heart for significance. He showed me a way to walk right in the lowest time of my life – my marriage was failing, I was drinking too much, and the list of failures goes on and on.

He showed up with a promise. “I’ll never leave you or forsake you.” He called me to walk with Him. I’m walking with Truth, in Truth but this path isn’t what I expected. I say, “I expected”. It is though what He expected for me. This is a path in life, perfectly tuned to my journey.

Along the way, I questioned, “Is this the right way? Is He worth it?”

Many times, everything in me cried out to turn around, get off this path and opt out of everything.

His still small voice said, “Follow Me. I don’t disappoint AND I know what is good for you.”

Christianity is an adventure, a journey into relationship with Jesus Christ. Anything less than that? It’s called religion.

Truth is not simply what works. 

Truth is a journey in knowing Christ through all of life, wherever the journey leads.

 

In Christ,
Debra