There’s No There………..There

Have you heard the expression – “There’s no there…there”? It captures an image in my mind of someone continually walking, but never arriving at his or her destination.

I see so many people waiting for something or someone to take them out of their current reality to whisk them away to their ‘THERE’. That place where all is settled nicely into place. That next breakthrough. That next prophetic word. That next something or other.

You know that word in Isaiah that says that those who wait upon the Lord will rise up with wings as eagles. Well, I know many who are still waiting and waiting and waiting. I used to be one of them, feeling somewhat self-righteous and smug in my spirituality. No more. It’s time to risk it all to follow the Lord – possibility, faith and obedience being the key words.

Christianity is about life in Christ. He is my life now. So for me there is no ‘there’ to move into to find Him for He is right here within me. That reality has changed how I approach life on a daily basis. How I can walk in adventure and journey, believing that He is all I need now. Jesus is capable of leading me where He wants me to go to do what He wants me to do.

When I prophesy into someone’s life or even write prophetically, I prophesy from the revelation of the finished work of Christ on the cross. I prophesy from a position of breakthrough, of being seated in heavenly places, of being a child of God NOW not somewhere out THERE.

That is who I am and that is who you are in Christ, as a Christian. Our identity is secure in Him, fully settled in His sacrifice. I no longer strive to achieve anything more to add to his finished work but live in rest, His live flowing in and through mine.

Prophecy that causes anyone to strive or to enter into performance to produce anything is not of God. Yet, there are so many words being given that project us into our future, while negating the reality of our now.

Now we are seated in heavenly places.

Now I am complete in Christ.

Now I am loved.

Now I am accepted.

Now all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ.

Now every spiritual blessing is mine in Christ.

That’s where I begin to write and prophesy. Now is the day of your salvation. What will we do within it?

To constantly tell people breakthrough is coming, revival is coming, and healing is coming negates the reality of what is here for us in Christ. Breakthrough is mine. Revival is mine. Healing is mine. Believe it. That forms the foundation of a prophetic life. The manifestation of healing or breakthrough may not seem apparent right now but they are complete, nonetheless. When we enter into the rest of this reality, we live from a position of our fulfilled life in Christ, not always searching for something more.

I prophesy that Jesus Himself has secured a life of abundance and blessing in Him. In Him is key to our understanding. I don’t strive to get more. I allow Him to live His life through me, which is a promised life of righteousness, peace and joy. It is a life that I will encounter suffering and persecution but in that I am positioned in His blessing and in His abundant life.

There are times of increased warfare in our lives. But, we don’t withdraw from life, waiting for it to pass. We stand, with an intensity to fight off the enemy through declaration of identity, not through shouting and yelling or trying to press harder and harder and harder. Everything is ours in Christ so we walk in that truth– through the ups and downs of life, through all its trials and sufferings.

This reality has changing everything about my prophetic journey. I don’t strive but find peace in Christ to live my life in the Spirit. Rest produces peace and clarity of vision. Rest increases my trust to believe in the promises of God now and to walk in their reality, one step at a time, moving forward in faith.

I prophesy life to each of you reading this, the life of Christ flowing in and through you for victory over any and every circumstance that you encounter. Our relationship with Jesus, with the Father, with Holy Spirit assures us that He will always be with us, in the midst of our life struggles.

For those who struggle with answers nowhere in sight, start by believing that He is a good Father who loves you and only wants what is best for you NOW. When darkness hits and tries to drag you down, remember that He is with you, never leaving or forsaking you NOW. No matter what storm what difficulty, don’t retreat but run to Him and He will see you through…no over or under but through and you will be stronger through it all.

There’s no there…there. He’s right here with everything you need for life.

More in a few days……………..

 

Living with Passion and Purpose in Christ
Debra

 

 

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.

Creative Friday: One Day – Beautiful Moments in Ordinary Places – Pass the Salsa Please!

Do you believe that God reveals Himself in ordinary moments? I hope that you not only believe it but also experience it. You know those times – when it seems that the spiritual atmosphere shifts, feeling almost electric. You can sense it. You can feel it.

God’s manifest presence brings with it a sense of awe and wonder. He loves showing up, showing Himself in the moments, and charging the atmosphere with heaven on earth.

I can feel far from God at times but that’s an illusion brought on by fear, anxiety, or worry. He always right here, in me. Christ is in me at all times and is my reality. So I practice His presence in my life, wherever I am. I always look to engage with Holy Spirit on this journey wherever I find myself, at any moment.

While sitting in a Mexican restaurant with a friend, celebrating my birthday, He moved in with His manifest presence right in the midst of our conversation, reminding us that He loved to be with us.

Shawn and I talked about the day-to-day and what was going on in our lives. Inevitably, the conversation centers on Jesus, in some way. He’s our life, so that’s the way it should be as we talk. He’s right there. He blends in nicely. You know…one minute we’re talking about prayer and worship and there He is, right in the middle as I say, “Pass the salsa.” Our God is incredibly wonderful.

The more we talk about Jesus, the more we sense that a shift in the atmosphere comes, a tangible shift that is real, right in our midst, right in the restaurant. 

Shawn began to tell me about watching a session of IHOP (International House of Prayer) when there came a moment, an ordinary moment when the worship leader was so engaged and overcome by the Lord that she was crying. It was a holy moment where people bowed down in His presence just gazing on the beauty of Jesus. That sense of holiness came right into Shawn’s home in Texas. Our spirits transcend time and place and His presence moves right through the TV to right where we are. How awesome is that right? I know that many have experienced that. It shows me how sensitive God is to us, right where we are, even in a Mexican restaurant one particular day, one ordinary moment.

As she told the story, we then began to talk about the beauty of God right over the chips and salsa. Engaging conversation about the One we love. To gaze upon His beauty and to reflect His glory is what makes our hearts beat.

Shawn mentioned that it is a challenge to find beauty in life, with some places being harder to see His beauty than in other places. I wholeheartedly agree. While in Kenya, God told me to speak on beauty while ministering in the slum area of Eldoret. Beauty and the slums – quite a paradox. Hardly seems to go together. But, that day, His beautiful presence flowed out amidst poverty conditions. He makes all things beautiful and changes atmospheres in ordinary moments with ordinary people just as He did that day and just as He did while sitting in a Mexican restaurant eating tacos, chips and salsa.

Here’s some of Shawn’s words from an email. I think you will get the picture quite easily.

“…Some places and people groups just exude beauty and loveliness and it practically hits you in the face and surrounds you, engulfs you…others you have to search underneath, dig for the beauty…ask the Lord to show you where it is…. sometimes gritting your teeth…. but then you see it and sometimes this hidden beauty is more wondrous than the kind that smacks you in the face!

Oh, sometimes we are just covered in muck, and dirt…but we need the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit eyes to see them/us washed and clean and the hidden treasure, just be one dot of light or the tiniest spark…..” in the midst of the moment.

Jesus is beautiful. When He is exalted through our lives, our conversation, our worship…the Father looks at us with loving affirmation speaking out, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” God manifests His presence anywhere, at any time where the Son is glorified through our conversation or any number of outlets.

I picture Father God saying, “I love to see My Son honored and magnified. It brings such joy to my heart. Just keep talking.”

Then, Jesus smiles and flows into the midst of it all as Holy Spirit reveals the Son’s presence. All while eating chips and salsa, or watching holy moments on TV or anywhere for that matter…just an extraordinary God showing up in ordinary moments.

Each Friday I want to do something a bit different so I call one Friday a month “One Day” to see how God invades ordinary moments. Another Friday, I want to feature creativity in another aspect as I did in this blog about prophetic artist, Shari Breault. Each Friday, something different led by the Spirit. Enjoy!

In Christ,
Debra

I would love to speak at your conference, gathering, church or home group. Contact me here, on Facebook or on Twitter. Enjoy reading about Rivers of Eden and the Timeline of our Life!

Turning to See from a Different Perspective

Rainy day in Texas. I love days like this. They give me an opportunity to spend time reading, writing and letting Holy Spirit lead me into prayer and worship.

My last blog post, In Obscurity? A Fresh Wind is Blowing, beautifully ties in with what I am reading today, Water to Wine by Brian Zahnd.  God amazes me by bringing books into my life to read at the ‘just right’ times. And He gifts me with rainy days to settle in and absorb the revelation pouring into my life.

When God confirms things to me 2-3 times, He expects me to take notice and to ask the right questions (Another blog post on not asking ‘why’).  So I did. I asked God some questions.

What is the purpose of this book coming right into my life today?

How does this book resonate within me to move me forward in the midst of my transition?

What do You want me to learn, to see, to know?

This book was written as the author faced a time of total disssatisfaction with Western Christianity, the consumerism in the American church, and many other things. This is where I stand right now. I am dissatisfied with most things ‘church’ and I find that God often has to give me a reaon to go when staying home seems more filled with His presence. I’m not jumping ship. I continue to gather and believe in the church but I know what I seek is the expression of Christ and His kingdom in community. I don’t see that in my life….yet…..but I know I will.

I found some answers in the silence, reading the book, settled in on a rainy day. In a world filled with chaotic noise silence is necessary for our Christian walk. Here are some takeaways from this book that I hope encourage you.

“Without some intentional silence, the weary soul is a prisoner very slowly worked to death in a mindless gulag of endless noise.” 

“Too much of the most visible presence of Christianity is loud, vociferous and angry.”

The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Isaiah 32:17 

“Because we are obsessed with all things ‘big’ and ‘powerful’ in the conventional sense, we are convinced that to change the world, the kingdom of God needs to sound like a deafening construction site – bulldozers and jack hammers.”

The stone blocks for the building of The Temple were all dressed at the quarry so that the building site itself was reverently quiet––no noise from hammers and chisels and other iron tools. 1 Kings 6:7

“In a world that surely must grow weary of the harsh blare of ideological anger, the church is to be a haven of quietness and trust, a gentle refuge of peace.’

As life shifts into a new place, I find myself gazing into a new horizon, toward the east where the sun is rising, not setting. This gives me hope to trust God that He has the whole world in His hands. And, what is  my place in all of this? To challenge you to turn your eyes upon Jesus, away from the world at large. Then, to look back on the world with a new lens in Christ. To unplug and to gaze upon His beauty. I am one small voice but resolute in the message that sounds out from me in this time.

I love the church but I am not in sync with most of it right now. I don’t opt out or pull away for I value community but I have not found it yet here where I live. So I still believe and look for a home, a tribe, a place where I can see the creative expression of Christ worked in and through people who love Jesus. Why? It’s something he said in the book.

“Salvation is NOT a private, autonomous, individual, unmediated experience – salvation is being personally gathered by Christ into His salvation community…..Salvation is communal by design….”

So for many of us, has it come down to this in our waiting time -> Is going to no church better than going to a church where the center focus is on the stuff – the stuff being all the peripheral things – the constant flow  of prophetic words that at times seem to be a lot of noise,  or the worship in a performance flow, or the experience of people manifesting over and over and over until it all gets so predicatable and boring, or the preaching the settles into the trending topic of the day,  or the iconic leaders that people flock to see, or more of the stuff and the stuff and the stuff?  (My small rant from my silent morning that revealed my inner frustration.) I am only being honest here, okay?

Does going leave you dryer and more out of sync than before you walked in? And how about all the commments and silent implications that imply there must be something wrong with YOU? Well I guess I have to answer these for myself and so do you. But questions are good for us. They make us think deep thoughts. A mixture of stuff coming out today and it’s all good for me.

In Christ,
Debra
About Me
Rivers of Eden Ministry

Wrong Turn – Get Back on the Right Road

C.S. Lewis – “When you make a wrong turn the wrong road never turns into the right road. To get back on the right road you have to go back to where you missed the turn.”

There are times in life when I move ahead too quickly from a challenging situation or a hurtful encounter in order to avoid confronting any pain that exists within me. I just want to get through it. I don’t like do-overs or rehashing of things. I just want to get it done with and move on.

But, that doesn’t always work with God.

When  I realize that something is still stinging in me or when a person’s name comes up or I still feel that punch to my stomach inside if I think about a particular situation,  I realize there is an open wound still present. No closure within.

Solution? I go back to that place during times of worship and intimacy with Jesus and led by Holy Spirit, I walk it out again with Him. Usually, I am quick to ask forgiveness of those whom I hurt. But I often find that in forgiving others, I don’t forgive myself. I carry the weight for a long, long time and it affects me in many ways that I am not always aware of.

I walk back to that point and deal with the pain. I go back with the Lord to release something or someone so that I keep moving forward. I have no control over others so I’m not responsible for them. I have to look at me and see why this pain? What is the root of all of this?

He always tells me. It could be a time of rejection from a parent. Or how about a betrayal by a friend? There’s many different scenarios in our less than perfect lives.

Over the years, I have learned something. To go forward often requires going back. Holy Spirit will lead the way and if He is not showing you anything, don’t look for it. But, when He does take the time to come apart, worship and listen. You will be the better for it.

In Christ,
Debra
About Me
Rivers of Eden Ministry

 

Heavenly Minded

Epiphany – a moment of sudden revelation or insight, manifestation, appearance.

Like Mary.

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth 27 to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. 28 Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you
(Luke 1:26-28 Message)

Like Paul.

When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. 4 As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice:”Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?”5 He said, “Who are you, Master?” “I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down. 6 I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you’ll be told what to do next. (Acts 9:3-6 Message)

Here are just two examples that crossed my mind today about sudden flashes of light, bringing with them change, revelation, and an angelic appearance. With an epiphany comes a purity in awe and wonder, rushing over a person in a divine exchange between heaven and earth.

I believe that we need epiphanies in our lives – divine interactions of the supernatural kind. Normal Christianity. We need to be awed again on a consistent basis, or at least I do. I desire that sense of wonder, filled with child-like faith.

The essence of life can be dull and crusty in the day-to-day, as we all know and experience. As adults, we file our days away into categories or to-do lists that deal with the reality of life as we know it. We speak in clichés because it’s easier than to speak from the depths of our being as we encounter Jesus Christ.

How about being so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good at times? After all, we are already seated in heavenly places in Christ so why not learn to move in that realm, live in that place right now, today.

I believe what I am feeling today is what C.S. Lewis so beautifully said:

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

Have you ever felt like this? I believe this is deeply experienced by those who have turned themselves over to the Lordship of Christ Jesus. That sense that all is so shallow compared to the express longing to know Him in deeper and more profound ways.

Perhaps that is what a longing for holiness is all about. Not retreating into law and trying to find the right rules, regulations or declarations to draw close to God but throwing oneself headlong into grace. A grace that transforms us in the midst of our humanness. A grace that brings us into glory, a deeper revelation of Christ in me. A grace that transcends living in this world while we are living in this world.

To know Him. To see Him. To be like Him. To be transformed in His glory to walk in the light as He is in the light. To allow that light to permeate from the depths of our being so that we are walking light-bearers, filled with the glory of God. Perhaps it all starts with an epiphany that come purposely to destroy our sense of normalcy and set us on fire again.

 

In Christ and In Process,
Debra
About Me
Rivers of Eden Ministry