Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. The Lord spoke to my Heart before I even settled into prayer or opened His Word and by the time I stepped outside to take a deep breath and snap this photo, I didn’t even notice I was barefoot in the bitter cold. I was so consumed by what He was teaching me in those quiet moments that everything else in and around me paled. My God is “a consuming fire” and when He “shows up” and breathes into the Heart of His people, you know it. So, I took it all in. I savored the moment. I prayed over what He spoke to me. And when I opened His Word, I didn’t have to search for “proof” of what He is prompting within me…He illuminated His Word instead. What a Mighty God I serve that would incline Himself toward this humble servant without me searching at all. Isn’t that the way He reaches you too?

I LOVE spending time in the Word of God. The Bible is a living, breathing Word and it’s the only book that can read me. When I open my Bible the Words come to life and my soul is nourished with Truth. I hope I don’t see the day when it is forbidden to be caught with a Bible (the way it is in other parts of the world) but IF that day comes in my lifetime, I’ll be okay because He dwells within me. I’ll be okay because what I’ve read will come to me in “instant recall” through His Spirit. I’ll be okay because I stand on the Rock. I’ll be okay because I know that if the day comes when His Word is ripped from my hands, nothing has the power to rip Him from my Heart. The dark side of the world might convince itself that it can forbid prayer and Bibles and disarm His people in the process…but that’s not true. He dwells within the Heart of His people and absolutely nothing can disarm those who Believe. “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world” and HE will show up and “show off” with the most incredible miracles when the dark side attempts to disarm His child. This is the Key to peace and joy in a world riddled with rot.

I was denominationally deceived for many years being taught that supernatural things died at Pentecost and I lived a powerless Journey of Faith because of it. When I said something like “God spoke to my Heart” I was corrected because “God doesn’t speak to people anymore”. In reality, you don’t build Faith with an intellectual approach to His Word and you don’t build Relationship if you never hear from God. To say God doesn’t speak to people anymore is to say that the Holy Spirit has no Purpose. To say that the miraculous gifts don’t exist anymore is to say that we (His people) are powerless and that Jesus was a liar when He said “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father”. The untapped Power available to every follower of Jesus Christ would blow the minds of the doubters.

I was taught that women have no business teaching the Word of God or sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ outside of their own gender and I thwarted God’s Plans for me because I was deceived by man. His Word is clear “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” and that pretty much settles it for me. Jesus first revealed Himself as the Messiah to the woman at the well and she was so excited to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ that she left her water vessel behind. She became the first “evangelist” in Samaria. That’s the beauty of my God – He meets us right where we are, and He’ll use every willing Vessel to share Truth with the world regardless of gender…despite what man says. In some ways, my world has gotten smaller as I stand firm for what His Word says because it goes against the doctrine I was taught. But that’s okay. On the other side, I’m busy feeding sheep and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ just like that woman at the well and I see how hungry they are to hear the Truth. As for the doubters…the Word addresses them too: “Having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them” because they’re “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.”

The Lord spoke to my Heart in the wee hours of this new day and I’ll be consumed with His fire all day long. He’s my God and I’m His child. I believe in miracles and in the power of the Holy Spirit so I’ll live and share with BOLDNESS all the days of my Life. His Word and His Spirit taught me the Truth that no seminary or doctrine ever could and I’m standing on the Rock as a result. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” John 14:26

How about you? Do you have a form of godliness but deny its power?