“The First Commandment must be first in our lives or we live in boredom and are vulnerable to Satan. The human heart does not work properly in half-heatedness. It will be passive and therefore vulnerable to many destructive lusts. To be emotionally whole, we must live wholeheartedly. Some counseling ministries in the Church fall into deception as they attempt to help people find emotional wholeness without insisting that their clients live in wholeheartedness with God. Wholeheartedness is necessary for our emotional health. Many believers try to find security and happiness in the grace of God without being abandoned to God. They look for a way to make grace reinforce their carnal lifestyles.” M. Bickle

This is a clear statement that explains how my life, and many others, can be if we take our focus off of the Glorious Man! I have even recently experienced this and I am easily taken by this deception if I don’t fix my gaze upon the Prince of Peace.

On Thanksgiving I found myself coming down with sickness and early winter down heartedness. It was gruesome. I noticed it and declared life over my body and spirit. Sickness came but my emotions stayed focused on the Lord. Due to sickness I was laid up in my bed for long hours in the day and night. I was not encountering the Lord and my mind was wondering on to different roads of weariness and wonder. I was over taken with many “what if” thoughts. Soon because I was physically and emotionally weak I was overcome for a few hours during the afternoon. I had opened my imagination up to thoughts and entertainment in the moment of weakness that took me into a dim place away from His presence where I have been literally dwelling day and night for the past month easy. I have been in a place of great awakening in my heart and spirit. Walking in greater wisdom and revelation of Jesus. Communing with the Holy Spirit. Being tender to His infilling and the new wine. Gaining insight of the living and active word. And BOOM!!!!!!!!! One moment of weakness and it is like climbing a mountain to come back into this place of great grace. It is very, very important that we as believers keep the ‘first thing first’…JESUS!

Humor me for a moment. One of my greatest teachers and leaders, Kip Gains, from the YWAM Tyler base gave us a visual illustration during our training school to help us understand what it is like to have Jesus as our focus and not to worry about the things and situations around us.

Hold your arm straight out in front of you and stick your pointer finger up into the air. Look beyond and all around your finger.. what do you see? Your focus is on the things around you and they are big and in detail. Say that those things you are viewing are the worries and anxious thoughts. Say they are the lesser lovers that they and steal the divine intimacy that we are meant to be having with our Beloved Bridegroom. Now, put your focus on your finger (a representation of Jesus). There is detail, right? All the ‘lesser things’ become very dim and small. Instantly you can see your finger (JESUS) clearly!!! This is how we are to live. Focused on one thing, on one Man…Jesus! This breeds LIBERTY my friends. Instant clarity of vision of our human hearts desire.

I had to remind myself (for me this usually takes place with very loud praying in tongues and yells and groans, it might look different for you) that I am a daughter and an heir to the throne. That the devil is a LIAR and he wants me dead (spiritually and physically!)!!!!! But God is LIFE AND TRUTH!!!! So I worship my way up the mountain of myrrh. Song of Solomon 4:6

There is one other thing I want to touch on from this thought and revelation. Earlier I stated ‘I had opened my imagination up to thoughts and entertainment in the moment of weakness that took me into a dim place away from His presence…’ this is so crucial to us!!!!! We MUST stay in a constant place of violent holiness and purity. The age we live in is dark and swallowing up our generation on the earth. You have heard it before….’garbage in garbage out’. This is true! I watched a tv show that opened my imagination and emotions up. I know that everyone has different sensitivity levels but why even push those boundaries? Come on! I am encouraging you and myself to raise the bar of purity. To not even flirt with different lines of movies, music, tv or internet sites. If for no other reason that He is better than all of that and worthy of a pure dwelling place within us.

The lesson learned: keep my gaze on Jesus and I will not get bored and run to other less than fascinating pleasures of the earth. He will be exalted in me and through me!

I was made for encounter.

You were made for encounter!