Rivers of Eden

Outrageous Creativity in Christ! Monday

2012-01-29T23:30:00.000-08:00

Outrageous - very bold; unusual; startling. Let's use this word in a positive sense. How can I make it clear? Hmmm. NOT BORING. Yes, that is it. Have you ever wanted to just be YOU but were stopped due to the demands of life, more life, and even more life. Somewhere deep inside you there is someone wanting to get out? You just want to find that person for you know when you do, your life will change. I want to be outrageously creative in Christ.

Many often feel challenged and frustrated when their current life does not sync with their desires. So they run here and there searching and looking. Again I want to say that each of us has been born with a desire to be YOU, to be ME, to BE. We run here and there when all along, it is in us. Jesus Christ.

Remember the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy and the red shoes. At any moment, she could have gone home when she clicked those shoes together but she didn't even know it. That's you. That's me. Jesus Christ is the source of our creativity. He is our life. All along He is here wanting to expand our lives, increase our lives. Yet the majority of Christians seem stuck in a rut of mundane living, tethered to a religion and not a relationship with Jesus. He is reality. He is our creativity. He adds color to life. He puts music in us. He breathes artistic expression in us. He is creative. Selah. (To me that means I take a deep breath and breath at the wonder of that. Ahhhhhhhhh!)

My theme on this blog this week or maybe many weeks - outrageous creativity. Not being bold to draw attention to our selves just to be bold. We see enough of that in reality tv. Not being outrageous to draw a crowd of people to stroke our ego. Being outrageously creative to grab onto the kite strings of life and allow yourselves to soar. In Christ. How awesome is that. This week I am going to focus on outrageous creativity. Inside. I may write 3-4 times this week for this subject burns within me and it is a mandate that i have in life that forms my foundation. Outrageous creativity in Christ. How does that sound?

Creativity stirs me. Anything creative stirs me. Creative people challenge me, frustrate me but never leave me bored. Hmmmmm seems like people said that about me. I have done a lot of things in life. One can say that as one gets older. Ouch! But, it's a good thing. You see I wanted to be a fashion designer so I took years of fashion design. Then I started taking piano again and love to sit at my piano. Then I also took drawing classes. I have gone the way of many outlets of creativity. When I was young, my father discouraged doing this so I was stifled and lived a life that wasn't me. But, then Jesus Christ came into my life, really came into my life and started to restore the years that seemed lost and I found myself and I am finding myself again in Him.

Please don't say you are not creative. That is the biggest lie the enemy feeds the church at large and many buy it hook, line and sinker. This next phase of my life I am going to challenge the creativity inside people. Off we go!

It Is What It Is! Again!

2012-01-26T00:28:00.001-08:00

It is what it is. That statement reflects anyone's current reality. It is said when we reach that point where we think that nothing will change. Often I hear it said in negative terms. "Hey man just forget it! It is what it is!" or "You can't change that! It is what it is." or "Let it go man, it is what it is."

I don't buy into the cynicism of the world and neither should you. Cynicism leaves us without hope in the present let along any hope in the future. Things do change and they do shift when we trust solely in the Lord to BE Lord of our lives. He is our hope! He is our future and He is everything. In the midst of the chaos of the prevailing world conditions, I believe Christians are to be the hope, the solace, the comfort, the passion, the future and the destiny imparted into another's life by giving them Jesus Christ. The reality of Jesus Christ, nothing less than reality.

It is what it is denies the reality of the hope that resides in Jesus Christ. That statement denies our future in Christ. Jesus Himself tells us that our hope and future is in Him. Statements that deny the reality of life in Christ are to be denied vehemently within each of us who profess to be Christians. It is time to walk in the opposing spirit of the world which denies anything having to do with Jesus Christ. It is called Anti-Christ for that reason.

So, what to do? It is all about focus. Words form our atmosphere. How many times do we really need to hear that one? Spoken words define the atmosphere for there is power in the tongue. So when others speak words without hope and without life, we refute each and every word by speaking forth not what is but WHAT IS IN CHRIST. It takes a conscience effort on your part and on my part for we have been trained and raised up in a world of cynicism, sarcasm, narcissism and so much more.Each time someone tries to define your life by its current situation by their cynical outlook on life saying "Hey lady, it is what it is!" I say "No it is what it is IN CHRIST." And that is what forms my universe and my life. Now don't think I don't have bad days where the world presses in. Of course I do! That may be what it is and what it looks like but I find that when I come to Him and spend time with Him, He changes the what is to WHAT HE SAYS IT IS.

It Is What It Is - Right?

2012-01-24T01:48:00.000-08:00

It is what it is - right? Wrong! Absolutely wrong. I have heard this statement tossed around everywhere lately. On reality shows, sports shows, in articles, newspapers, and so much more. The statement is clear, precise and forthright. It is often said when someone reaches a point in life or faces a situation where there seems to be no escape route, no way out, no plan B. It reminds us to look and see with a realistic outlook. It is what it is. Accept it and work through it. Accept it for it is what it is.

That may be true for many but not for me. How about you? I can't accept this statement at all and no Christian should see this statement as reality, something that we have to accept, something negative, or unchangeable. I tend to see this another way. When my reality is in Christ Jesus and when He is my reality, it is what it is IN HIM. My reality changes in Him. I no longer live in the reality of the world at large even though I live in it. I live in the world in the reality of Jesus Christ and what He says about me, my life, my destiny, and my purpose. So it is what it is.........in Him, for me.

I see possibilities become realities in Christ. No eye has seen or no ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love him. Christ is in us, the hope of glory and by the Holy Spirit we enter into the reality of Jesus Christ and the power of the Kingdom. Don't accept anything that does not align your life with Christ Jesus and in Christ Jesus. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not espousing some ethereal life where we are living a life where there are no problems or circumstances that leave us disoriented for a time. I am saying that being in the world in Him gives us a reality that those who don't know Him simply don't have. This blog is about Jesus Christ as reality so all I say, all I see is Him. He is my center point. He is my life, in Him and through Him.

It is what it is. That is a dangerous statement for when we say it, we are saying that we have no control, no future, no way to change things. Well that may seem to be true. Yet there is a reality that rises above that. The reality is the person of Christ Jesus. He says what it is.

Realities that may penetrate your life:
Sickness
Financial situations out of control
Family crises that are mind boggling

The list goes on and on. We see our situations and slump down in defeat agreeing with the world. "Well, it is what it is. What can I do about it?"

What can you do about it? Absolutely nothing BUT He can. When you change your position to one of faith, your perspective changes to see Him as reality. He alters our reality when we are born again. Situations come and go. Life goes up, down and all around. BUT it is NOT what it is. We have a future secure in Him. He is the One we run to, live in, move in and have our being in Him. He is our reality.

More on the way............

Refrigerator Magnets Can Say Some Pretty Strong Stuff

2012-01-15T21:26:00.000-08:00

Sitting and laughing on the couch yesterday. What was I laughing at? What I said. Here goes.
"Today is the first day of the rest of my life." That sounds like something from a poster or worse yet, from a refrigerator magnet. But, and I say that smiling, IT IS TRUE. Today, January 16, IS the first day of the rest of my life. At least I feel like it is. We are embarking on a new journey. How many times have I said that over the past years? Well, I have said it and I have meant it when I said it in the past but this time I truly know it.

We are positioned back in Finland to CREATE not imitate or duplicate. So I am going to be CONSISTENT. Yes I will. Consistency in the form of blogging several times during the week. Consistency in the form of weekly audio You Tube Videos ( which will be short and sweet.) Off we go. Finland is a country that I can't get out of my heart, AND believe me, I have tried. I have tried to do everything I can to not come back here but here I am with an innate sense of peace and great expectation of what will be created this year.

We are turning and changing and moving to create in Rivers of Eden. We call forth creative people to unlock what is in them, that God given spark of creativity that makes one feel alive. It is in me and it flows through me. BUT how often in times past have I tried to BE like all around me - the prophetic movement, the Charismatic chaos, this and that, and this and that. So today being the first day of the rest of my life, I live to be ME, the ME who God created me to be. And I want to challenge those who come alongside us here in Finland and other places to find YOU, the YOU that God intended you to be.

I have lived prior to this - of course I have BUT it seems that time has brought me to this point. God has brought me to this point. All I have walked through. All I have passed through has been to launch out. What will we be launching out into? CHAOS. Yet, we will be launching out into chaos with truth in the person, the reality of Jesus Christ. Yes yes I have said it before. We were all in this state of transition in the past 5 years, intense transition where we followed God yet did not quite know where we were going. Now I know. Do I know everything? No, of course not. But I do know. In the words of that famous song by Frank Sinatra - "I gotta be me!" My journey was to follow God to find ME! And I have crossed some sort of line in the sand. So off I go following God.

Now in order to not sound so nebulous let me say again what all this verbiage is pointing to. Are you with me? We are in Finland. We are going to step out to start a recording studio as directed by God. I have relinquished my right to know and to have all the answers. I follow Him. We are praying through the form this will take for we don't want religion of any form, shape, or size. Our mission is to use the media to sound forth whom God has created us to BE so that includes people near and far able to partake of the message.Then we will also form here in Finland through gathering people from every tribe nation and tongue to come and be part of this journey. Not just Finns but we anticipate with time, others coming. Have you seen the movie Field of Dreams? We are building our passion in Christ. God will bring those to us with like passions to conquer any opposition that tries to get us to conform to anything else but who God calls us to be.

So back to what I said in the beginning. Today IS the first day of the rest of my life. Everything I have gone through has brought me to here, right now. I don't negate the past for it leads me step by step in the present into the future. Jesus Christ is everything to us and He will be glorified in our midst and in our lives and in this ministry.

So more in the days ahead. I will be posting again soon. One step at a time. What else do my refrigerator magnets say? Well behaved women never make history.....perhaps I will write on that one next.

Our purpose: To create not imitate
Our plan: To allow God to create through us
Our mandate: To bring truth in the person of Jesus Christ into the midst of chaos.

Our Passion: Creativity in all its forms - teaching it, living it, loving it. Calling forth all unusual creative people to be mentored in Jesus Christ. You have the reality of creativity in You - to pain, to dance, to sing, etc. etc. That is our purpose in Rivers of Eden. Today. Now.

Enough said. More coming.

Christ All In All

2011-11-03T04:02:00.000-07:00

Christ, All In All

Colossians 3:11

11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

I am learning, watching, observing, waiting, listening, meditating, seeing, hearing, praying, worshipping. Through it all, I come back to ONE THING and ONE WAY - Jesus Christ.

We are off center. So off-center as Christians that we preach ideas, things, doctrines, thoughts, tradition, and so on and so on. Yet we don't actually preach the living reality of Christ Jesus. Him I want to preach. Him I will preach. He is reality. Over the past year I have made a turn-around to see how much of what I said was often focused on the peripherals, rather than Christ. Be it a conference revelation, a search for an angelic visitation, a new found glory or some such thing - they seemed to take the focus off of the simplicity of Christ and put it on someone or something else. I got lost but now I found Him and will continue to seek Him and Him alone. In Him is found everything I need.

He is the center of the wheel, so to speak and all else are the spokes coming off of the wheel. Rivers of Eden is bent on preaching Jesus Christ and His magnificence, His awesomeness (is that a word?), His majesty, His glory. As I think of it I am lost in the revelation of who He is and what He will reveal about Himself. He is all in all and He is in me.

On our recent visit to Italy, I kept thinking of the reality of Jesus Christ. Walking in the reality of Him, speaking of Him as reality. He is enough. So desperately people need Him. 2012 - He will be our focus in all we say and all we do. He is all in all. Is He all in all for you?

The simplicity of Christ Jesus being all in all and all in you settles you DOWN into Him. Do you get what I am saying? You are standing on the simplicity of the foundation of Christ Jesus and all He is and all He is in you. I am pondering all that it means. For in Him is the reality of my life. As I move in the world but not of the world I move in Him. As I listen to the cacophony of noise around me, I listen to only Him. He speaks through the chaos and He is clear and sure and real. He is reality. He is reality. That is the surety of the revelation I am seeking with every fiber of my being, for I have nothing else. Nothing else satisfies but Him and I see that in Him is everything.

While in one church service, sitting in the back, I watched and observed. I saw that in the preaching there was a lot of talk about Jesus, around Jesus, above Jesus but the reality of who He was seemed somewhat evasive. It seemed to me that they could preach about Jesus BUT they did not know Him deeply or intimately because what was reflected in their words were just words and not LIFE IN CHRIST. Our revelation is a mixture of stuff without the reality of the person. You can preach like this your entire life and never quite hit the mark. They seemed to miss the mark as many sermons do when the message is centered on the peripheral and not Him. I am not saying I know it all, but my eyes are being opened to see Him and know Him NOW and all flows from that NOW and in the FUTURE.

Once again, He is the wheel and the spokes come forth from the wheel. Paul says it best:

Colossians 1:15-18

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

We seek solutions to problems when we should seek Him. We seek a new experience when we should seek Him. We get bored and want something greater when He is enough and we should seek Him.

These are my thoughts for the day and more are coming, much more.

Entitlement: Stirs Up A Lot Of Contention

2011-10-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Entitlement = belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges; the state or condition of being entitled; a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract.

This word started running through my spirit when I started seeing the contention that often ran through threads on Facebook. Someone starts to write something and then 92 comments later, there are developing arguments, various opinions, defensive postures, and so much more. Here's the deal.

YOU CAN'T SAY EVERYTHING THAT COMES TO YOUR MIND JUST BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE ENTITLED TO SPEAK. YOU ARE NOT GIFTED WITH A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT TO SPEAK BECAUSE YOU CAN OR BECAUSE YOU FEEL YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK.

I am an expert on this topic. Wow, did I say that? You bet I did. What makes me an expert? I, Debra Westbrook, in seasons past, have been the perpetrator of strife and contention due to a loose tongue. Why? Because I simply felt that I could. Selah.

Well, I can't and neither can you. Sometimes we just have to shut up and submit to a designated word that comes forth without any opinion on our part to debate it, argue over it because we want to prove our point. I am so tired of that and this is simply to perhaps call us into check to walk in wisdom when we speak and speak with wisdom and grace.

There is true designated spiritual authority rising up in the Body of Christ. I know that word 'authority' has been abused and misused but God still moves through designated authority that brings order into a chaotic spiritual house. We are not entitled to speak everything we see or hear. None of us are. Yet, the Internet has raised up many people to perpetrate arguments and disagreements based upon a self-imposed authority to rule, lead and reign with their words. Yet they walk in a misplaced sense of virtue because God has not sent them.

I am not talking about discussion but about contention in this blog I am writing. Discussion is good, very good. I have seen over and over threads start on Facebook where someone truly speaks a word in due season. Then Christian vultures begin to tear and rip it apart in the name of Christ which is truly sad. They debate theological accuracy. They perpetrate doctrinal safeguards that come across with a self-righteous arrogance. What am I saying? I believe this is teaching me to weigh what I say very carefully AND in doing that, God will perform the words I speak when they are His words. I am not afraid of confrontation. I love confrontation when it is from God for in spiritual confrontation. we are changed and challenged to grow. But I do disagree with contention.

I see this as a deep problem right now. What is it? Well, it is many things but one thing I see is the sense of ENTITLEMENT. So many people talking and talking without listening. They feel that they just can say anything. What kind of parents would allow their children to do that? Not us. Not us. There are too many rebellious children in the house of God and 'Spiritual parenting' is needed in wisdom and grace. I see the need for it and I see that is one of the calls on our life. No we are not taking the place of God for right away someone will try to debate whether parenting is needed and challenge these words. I am saying that much wisdom is needed right now and so true spiritual authority and eldership must arise, whatever age, gender, or culture they come from.

Here is a solution to this problem. We want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. We, Marvin and I, have been called by God to walk in this ministry in wisdom and grace. We are in the position of eldership and we walk in that calling. We will work with rebellious people, confrontive people, contentious people, angry people, etc. I have just described a lot of the Body of Christ and not just the world. They simply need to be taught, and listened to and given boundaries and guidelines in how to live a Christian life, loving Christ and taking personal responsibility to walk in His will and His ways. I am excited about this and just wanted to blog about it today. The Body is crying out with deep groaning for leadership to lead. I will do that and now we are seeking those who will follow. That is why we are in Finland to develop this recording studio and so much more - Italy, Poland, Africa.

These are just some words today of what I feel AND I feel this very deeply. Lead on Jesus! I love to stir it up. Always have and always will BUT now I want to do this in wisdom and watch God fulfill His words His way. Hey guys, be quick to listen and slow to speak. When you speak weigh your words and speak with wisdom and grace. Am I saying this? I can see Marvin laughing when he reads this because this is indeed a miracle in my life AND I LIKE IT. Selah. :)

The Cultural Intrusion of Perfection

2011-10-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

Picture this. You are in a closed circular room. All around you are flashing pictures, sounds, voices, and every sort of media message that intrudes upon your life throughout your day. The room is darkened so as to add impact to the consistent bombardment of your mind and your senses with these messages. You stand in this room, representing your life, and are mesmerized at the way these things attempt to form or conform you to their message or method.

What is being said? The subliminal message is simple. YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. It is the pervasive statement behind each picture, spoken word, or every sound. The pervasive statement subliminally reaching you speaks to the fact that you will never measure up so you need SOMETHING or SOMEONE or SOMEWHERE for you to reach some state of nirvana where you will be pleased with your life and yourself.

Then suddenly you have had enough. You can’t OPT OUT of life because you are in it – living moving and being. But there is a more excellent way. In fact the way is a person. The way is Jesus Christ. So, in this room, the roof suddenly lifts off and up. You look up and see the glorious sky, filled with freedom, adventure and possibility. It is glorious, awesome and wonderful. The sky is freedom, a true longing in your heart to rise above that that is constantly bombarding you day by day. Freedom destroys the lie that cries out to you each day to measure up to some nebulous idea of what life should be like or could be like. But know this. You have NO LIFE without Christ Jesus because all life is in Him and through Him and for Him. So folks, the sky is the limit and the possibilities are endless and boundless in Him. So you are a child of the here and now but an eternal being living in two places by the Spirit IN CHRIST. In other words, you are in the world but not of the world.

But let’s get back to the messages that surround you each day through news reporting, social media, TV, and on and on. It is staggering and overwhelming to think about it. At least it is for me or was for me. I lived life with a deep root of rejection that has been healed in Christ. For years, those subliminal messages impacted me deeply. My sense of who I was or why I was or where I was in the here and now seemed to elude me on a daily basis. Until Jesus. Now the sky is the limit. Eternity is my home. I am just passing through BUT I am living in the here and now. So now I simply reject that which does not align with the Living Word and His way for me. It is a process my friends. There is complete freedom in Christ.

The cultural intrusion of perfection surrounds us each and every day and it is getting worse. It is fueled by greed trying to sell a new concept, a new product, and a new message. But, mark my words; there is greed behind it. Someone is trying to make money and intrude on your life to be better, smarter, more beautiful, skinnier, younger, more active, more vital. The list is endless but it is the product of demonic subterfuge to get you to believe that you need more than Jesus Christ.

Jesus is enough AND it is only as we enter into His perfection that we find ourselves going from glory to glory to glory, from faith to faith to faith. Then, the impact of this world grows strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace NOW.

Perfection is an illusion. The existing religious church is a perpetrator, alongside the world in this crime of deception. The crime is trying to keep you blinded from the reality of the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ and what has already been accomplished FOR YOU so that His life and can flow THROUGH YOU.

Religion wants you to constantly work for what has already been given to you in Christ. There is a subliminal message that says you have to do such and such to gain any standing in Christ AND you are tied to the minister with a message. You go to church each week fervently and religiously working your way to being good so that you can attain a measure of peace which will never come and constantly eludes you. So you leave ‘church’ still feeling unloved or unwanted but putting a smiling face on and perpetrating your lie of self-righteousness on an unsuspecting world that needs Jesus. But, they can’t find Him in you because you are not free.

It is also clear to me that the charismatic prophetic thing going on in past years and even now walks in a measure of distortion because the focus is on something or someone or some place that you need to partake of to be perfected and made whole. Its message is also indeed subliminal because it wants you to buy books, CD’s, conferences, revivals or some such thing to add to Christ and His finished work. It entices you with the thought that He is not enough and you need something more than what is found in Christ.

Look around and you can see it. Books on prayer, how to get healed, how to prophesy, how to pray. Conferences that were focused on gold dust, angels, prophecy and a lot of hype at times. Revivals that were advertised worldwide as the place to BE or BE SEEN were touted as the next big thing, which we all needed. The focus is on the method and a distorted message instead of the simplicity that is found in Christ. The nebulous IT becomes the focus rather than Christ to sell more books or finance more conferences. The prophetic movement wants to entice at times with its new revelation of endless words that seem to constantly be spoken but never materialize in reality. They sell good books and gain star-status for many ministers but in the end, they are void of life because the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. How often in times past did I go to a prophetic conference to find out that I had to seek out angels, discover glory dust, shake, laugh, discover how to get new revelation, buy the book, join the email list etc. etc. Yet all of that was subliminally saying to me that there was something that needed to be added so that I could be perfected in the prophetic or the charismatic but not IN CHRIST. I left feeling elated and euphoric for a measure of time but then, like an addiction, needed a new fix to get me going.

Now I have a LOT to say about this and it is time so this is just the beginning. My desire is to see people set free. I have repented for that which I am responsible in doing in times past that may have caused confusion. This is just the start of a new beginning for me. Truth sets you free. I am seeking TRUTH in the person of Christ and with that comes it all. I am accepting it all IN CHRIST and that which gives Him glory and honor and praise. He alone is preeminent. (I love that word.) He stands at the center of my life and everything I am and all I do and will become is centered on Him. Then I have discovered all else flows. So let the river flow. Not in the proverbial charismatic way but in the real way. Through me as I discover Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Okay, so back to perfection now and in the coming days as revelation is given to me. It will be given to me and I give it to you to go farther and deeper in Him so that you find yourself- not me. I have to find me in Him. You go find yourself in Him. I will just help you on the journey.

Perfection is an illusion. So why try? Find Him and be perfected in what He has already done not what you can do. The greatest self-discovery you will ever make is the one that says you can do nothing without Him. You are nothing without Him. Nothing. Dark. Empty. Void. Does that hurt your ego or significance? I hope so because until you lose yourself and all your preconceived notions of who you ARE you can never find you ARE IN HIM. The journey begins……….

We are in Finland. Time to write. Time to go the nations. Time to record. Time to write books. Time to preach. IN HIM.

The Proverbial "They:

2011-10-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

Don’t get thrown off by this title and wonder where this is going – keep reading.

Thinking today. It’s a good thing to think and meditate in a world filled with excessive noise and chaos. There is life in that place of thinking on the Lord and it is quite exciting and exhilarating to encounter new ideas and revelation IN CHRIST. When we spend time with Him, we see reality IN HIM and He is IN US and we are IN HIM. Jesus Christ is reality and He is truth. See yourself in Him; despite weakness and perhaps failure, He is enough. Okay so here I go.

The proverbial “they”.

Proverbial = traditional, time honored, legendary, well known so as to be stereotypical. For example a statement like “I am going to stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.”

The proverbial ‘they’ is that thing, those people, that idea, those time honored thoughts, those traditions that influence our life in a myriad of ways, yet ‘they’ is hard to define.

Keep thinking and stretching. I find that Christians often times equate spirituality with a nebulous trust with no wisdom. God gave us a brain so we must use it. Everything does not come in 10-second sound bytes. Think. Think. Think.

Who are they? And why do we listen to they?

Well if you have lived in the States for any length of time, you must know that ‘they’ are…….well let me give you some examples.

They say it will rain.

They say the economy is getting worse.

They say gas prices will go up.

They say that it’s never been done that way.

They say.

They say you’re too thin.

They say you’re too fat.

They say eggs are not good for you.

They say eggs are good for you.

They say you’re too old.

They say you’re too young.

They say you are under qualified.

They say you are overqualified.

They say you are too dumb, too smart, too emotional, not emotional enough and on and on and on.

Are you getting the picture? I hope so. Have the “theys’ ruled your life from afar. Who are ‘they”? They are thoughts, people, ideas, information that comes to us from a distance or are ‘out there’ that interject their opinions into our lives with negativity, discouragement, disdain and limitations that can paralyze us from walking in our destiny. This is true whether one is a Christian or not. “They” try to form our path from the smallest to the largest areas of our life. “They” try to conform us to a path of conformity where we don’t allow ourselves to be creative and challenge the status quo. No more for me folks. We live our lives by one standard – Jesus Christ and IN HIM everything is possible. He is the Living Word that sustains me and gives me life.

At every stage of my life, as a Christian, I have had to overcome the magnetic pull of ‘They said” or “They think”. “They” tried to direct my path, form my destiny, forge my future through subtly telling me what can or cannot be done. They hand down traditions of why I can’t do it, or conformity that says I shouldn’t do it and to just fit in. Are you as tired of what “they say” as I am? Are you following me or totally confused at this point? Oh well, I get it and it’s my blog. Just kidding!!!

The call to me as a Christian and for this ministry is one of freedom, creativity, and breakthrough IN CHRIST. “They” have tried to keep me from finding that over the years in many different ways.

Conferences where “They said” – “Come forward everyone under 30 for God is going to shift the mantle and use this young generation for His purpose.”

I said “Hello I am still waiting for that breakthrough and it is NOW upon me and they are telling me that I missed it and God is going for those under 30?”

A well known prophet says “God has told me to anoint those under 40 with a new mantle and to pass this mantle to the next generation.”
I said “Wow now it’s 40. I thought it was 30.”

“They said” to me that I was too loud, too passionate, too expressive and that I must quiet down and fit in.

I said “But God isn’t this how you made me?”

I can give you more examples. In fact I will.

“They said” to me in subtle variations of tone “Can’t she just fit in? Why does she always cause trouble everywhere she goes?”

I said “Oh my why is it I stir things up everywhere and it appears to be wrong. Is there something innately wrong with me? Did you make a mistake God?”

“They said” in more ways than one “You are not spiritual enough if you don’t have encounters with gold dust, angels talking to you, shaking quaking, laughter, getting drunk. That defines those who are truly spiritual from those who are not. Read my books on my latest encounter with angels. Come to my conference and let me lay hands on you to release a new mantle.”

Okay I best stop now because I can write a book on this one.

Experience alone has shown me that I can address this and speak on it more and more and more. I am tired of standards that limit us in Christ. I am weary of unwritten codes of law both religious and Charismatic law that say I somehow don’t measure up. So I am done. I am neither rebellious nor independent but NOW I SEE that it is come full circle and it had to come this way. In fact, there was NO OTHER WAY. I had to SEE that Jesus Christ is enough. In Him, in the finished work of the cross and the power of the blood is the way of life and union with Him. Everything else is not necessarily bad but it is not what THEY SAY but what HE SAYS. I will stop here…….Selah.

Jesus is not a Prophetic Cliche!

2011-10-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

Over the past year, I have felt a strong pull from the Lord to seek Him and to enter into His rest. I have felt a deep desire to know Him, to be in union with Him so that His divine life flows through my life. To live in Christ so that He is alive IN ME.

I don't want cliche prophetic words or movements that resound with repetitiveness, or empty vapor that sounds so void of the life of Christ. I have stopped completely seeking prophetic movements, revival atmospheres, awakening conferences, and on and on. I am seeking Him and the reality of Christ in me, the hope of glory. Our preaching and writing will reflect that from this point forward. It is not that I don't believe in the prophetic because I do and I believe God is releasing true apostles and prophets BUT those who are being release or are even moving in this right now, are focused on the centrality of Christ and New Covenant Christianity where the life of Christ flows in and through us as Christians. The prophetic movement has truly lost its way and has been lost for some time. Jesus Christ is simply not the central focus. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Yet, when I look around I see a misplaced focus.

Rivers of Eden is the name given to me by God. Some have tried to get me to change this name over the years. These people have said that it was not apostolic enough or prophetic enough or even that the river movement was over. Yet I stood firm until I finally saw exactly why God gave me this name. It has taken a long time but I finally see and somehow I know what we are called to be IN CHRIST. I pray that in this season, as we travel quite extensively, we bring forth a clear message of Christ in us, the hope of glory.

The Word tells us this:

Romans 3:23-26
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is IN CHRIST, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrated His righteousness, because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

All about Jesus. As Rivers of Eden God is calling us to INTERVENTION - to confront people with the reality of His mercy, love, grace, forgiveness, redemption, righteousness. It is ALL in Christ, not apart from Him. We are going to be challenging and confront anything that sets itself up against the revelation and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and preach a Gospel based on the power of the cross and the blood. We will bring people back to that point of intimacy, that place of glory, where the revelation of Jesus Christ is real and true. It will be as if Jesus stops them in their tracks and says "Look at Me! Look at Me! I am real!" In that place with our focus on Jesus Christ, God will pour out His healing, His deliverance, His revelation. We shall seek our Lord and all else will follow.

Harold Camping Vs. Lady GaGa - just some thoughts!

2011-05-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

The ultimate act of self-righteousness is not listening to someone. Jesus, standing silent before His accusers, still let them speak. Confident in who He was, He listened to those who opposed Him while at the same time listening to His Father in heaven. He knew the Father approved of His Beloved Son, so that is why He could stand in the face of opposing thoughts and idealogies - resolute and unmoved but yet humble and graced by heaven itself. As Christians, what are we afraid of? And I do believe we are afraid which shows itself by the defensiveness and powerless of our Gospel. That should not be so. Do we actually believe what we espouse? Why are we trying so hard to prove ourselves while the world watches or should I say does not watch for at this time we are basically irrelevant unless we realize that the Kingdom is not about talk but about power - moving out in Him. Outside of religion and our constricting paradigms to reach a world that is in chaos and lost, lost lost.

So why say this? I want to speak. After years in a spiritual desert and a physical desert, the word burns in me like a fire. My heart is soft but I have a rhinoceros hide so as to dodge the arrows that continually come our way. But it is better to get it out, so here is how this post came about.

It was any other day when I turned on Bay Area News this morning. I cringed. I more than cringed. I gasped. There is before me, exactly what I had expected. The complete mockery of Harold Camping, the Judgment Day guy. Hence the mockery of Christianity in general. More ammunition on the national news to show the totaly irrelevancy of the Christian faith. Harold got more press than Jesus and it was all foolishness to the world whom we are called to reach. Selah.

This whole judgment day thing - fueled by a deep deception. What a mess! Once again, we will be put on the defense with all this and our words will prove powerless to a world that believes we are irrelevant. We definitely need to be heard as Christians but first we need to learn to communicate. So onward with this daily journey. There is more and I am going somewhere. Keep reading!

Fed up with what I saw, I thought, "There has to be something better to watch than this!" I haphazardly turned to FUSE station and saw the LADY GAGATHON in progress. Suddenly I knew I was to stop and watch. Oh my - is this blasphemy? Can I do this? Is anyone watching? Gasp! Cough! Shriek! But I did watch a woman speak who is now one of the most iconic personalities on the earth today, able to gather attention wherever she goes - and the world is listening. But, alas, she is fueled by the same deception and delusion that is on Harold Camping. What goes here and why am I watching this?

GaGa spoke about creativity, religion, idealogy, Jesus, Judas, Apostles, Being Born This Way, Gay Rights and on and on............I continued to listen. Was I losing my Christianity in this facada of ideas? Heck no - I was intrigued by this language that the world is listening to and I wanted to know what she was actually saying first hand. She spoke of her grandparents going to glory. She talked of cultural baptism and to honor your vomit. Still I watched intrigued by the charisma oozing from this woman. Do I agree with her? Of course not! But I don't compromise or lose my Christianity by listening. To minister effectively to the world we have to listen to what it is saying and who it is following. Harold Camping is bringing people to a dead end through judgment. Lady GaGa is harnessing the power and creativity of the univers to bring people to destiny and freedom. Come on church - who do you think the world is going to listen to? We have a better answer than Lady GaGa but not many are actually listening to us and then up shows Harold Camping. At least, he stood for something and even though it is a dead end, he also got press. Lady GaGa stands for something and she got press.

The church, diluted in many ways and following the agenda of the world with seeker friendly services, an abhorrence to the supernatural, eliminating the preaching on the power of the cross and the blood and so much more is actually saying nothing yet has the truth........but who is listening?

Just some thoughts for today that challenged me to shake off some of this religion and go forth! Who would I rather listen to today? Hands down................the winner in this corner is Lady GaGa...............don't hate me for saying this! Again I am not losing my Christianity - just my religion! Listening to her challenged my faith! Just listen!

The world according to GaGa sounds like the lady has some mixture of Christianity abounding through all the deception. Same with Harold Camping but both have it wrong. Yikes! What a day! All I wanted was to drink my coffee! She spoke of mixed idealogies of love, power, pop culture, and more. In this vast flowing river of nebulous talk, she floats along and is gathering millions into her agenda of social justice. And the world loves it.

Contrast Harold Camping presumably talking for Christians to some point or at least this is what the world is thinking. Doom gloom destruction. A narrow path filled with delusion and prophecy of the end of everything as we know it. The world also loves this but to mock and belittle and to justify that indeed here is one more Christian that is irrelevant.

So what to do? I, of course, have no answer but I want to walk out into a new paradigm - into the darkness with the confidence of the light, Jesus Christ, within me. That is more than evangelism. It is carrying the very heart of God. It is more than an act but life itself.

So, a few more thoughts. Read on if you have come this far.

I will be part of the solution to this mess that the church is in at large by avoiding any measure of self-righteousness and listening to the sound of the world to hear the sound of despair coming from those around me, whether they are Harold Camping or Lady GaGA.

I will be scripturally sound and Spirit led. Will you?

I will walk outside the confines of Christian boxes and outside the confines of Christianese talk to reach a world who is speaking a totally different language.

I will pursue the Gospel, speaking it forth in the midst of confrontation, in humility and grace, not fearing what man can think of me or do to me. :)

Looking for confrontation to present truth, I will speak, shaking people and dismantling demonic structures that stand in the way of truth. Will you?

I will listen to what is around me so I can truly hear by the power of the Holy Spirit. I can hear a new sound and bring it forth as truth in the midst of chaos.

The world indeed can tire you but at the same time it can energize you to think outside your paradigm and go beyond your borders. I want to be energized in the midst of darkness, not the midst of religion or seeker friendly churches which say nothing and stand for very little. There is a power which awaits us in Christ that the world needs to see!

Yes, this is what I believe. Do I say more? Just a little bit. Read on.

Harold Camping has it all figured out on a sea of delusion and self-righteousness. Lady GaGa is also on a sea of delusion accompanied by a nebulous self-expression that is coming from a belief system which is vague and unclear, without a revelation of Christ. Hmmmmmmm which to listen to today? Whom do you think?

Can you figure it out? Lady GaGa is not really my cup of tea but if young people are amazed by her, then I probably should know why. She has something and I can see now what that something is by just watching and listening. I can't help but see that she has a little bit of Jesus, totally distorted and twisted by all means. But can't you see? So many are like her. We can help them find their way along with many others......are you ready? I am. Harold is going down a dead end with no one or just a few others who are very deceived. So sad. Lady is going down a dead end too but she is going with millions who are following her....................Wake up church!

Forsake religion and come out of hiding.

Wake up.

Let go of fear.

Let your faith be challenged in the midst of the darkness.

Is anybody listening? I feel good...........see ya!

Iconic Chrisian personalities or movements - is there such a thing? Or is there only Jesus?

2011-05-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

I want to say this in humility and grace but I want to say this................so much in Christianity in the States centers around a person or a movement. One says I am of the Bickle camp, another the Bethel camp, another the Joyner camp, another the river camp, another the holiness camp, another the word camp, another the fire camp, another the prophetic camp, another the evangelistic camp and on and on and on.

My head is spinning and my spirit grieves because of this. I am not judging any of these people BECAUSE each has blessed me through teachings or books or some such thing over the years. No man is an island BUT it seems that there abounds here so much of Christianity based upon templates of leading ministries of ministers or movement, not often because of the minister or movement and at times because of the ministers or movement. Do you get the picture?

In any case because of this there is rampant immaturity in the Body of Christ to follow this person or that person. It has not gone away and we have been overseas for some years now. It was somewhat refreshing when a Christian in the Middle East did not know Rick Joyner...........American Christians seem to love the celebrity status but it often causes the Body here to be built on a template of some kind. When meeting some people it appears that they wait for you to say some magic catch phrase of some type so they can PUT YOU IN A BOX so they can try to figure you out to a certain extent. Now we all do this at times but I want to get out of that box. Rivers of Eden is Rivers of Eden........the name and the ministry is from the throne of God. What it will be will not be based upon another ministry, as i hope yours is not, but built on the foundation God has set it to be and formed it to be....................I can't solve this problem but I can opt out of Christianese talk of all sorts especially on FB. Where is the creativity in the Body of Christ.............that is sorely missing at times so let's all do something about it. Don't compare or contrast yourself to anyone but Jesus. In that way you will fall short of His glory but by the Blood..........oh the precious blood...............it brings us all to a leve field. I feel a song coming on.........I GOTTA BE ME...............I GOTTA BE ME............ see ya!

Part of the Great Equation - Summed Up In Christ!

2011-04-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to everyone for responding to the post about Paradigms and Pictures. I just got to read some of them today and they were marvelous. It seems that all who are seeking Him, are indeed finding Him, His way and His way alone. We take comfort in creativity, diversity in Him.

Okay so here I sit with this verse impacting my space today. I am writing and processing today with no forethought but just moving in Him right now. Here goes:

Eph 1:10-11
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him. NKJV

No great theological treatise and no debate. Just meditations and thoughts today. We are in the great equation of being gathered into Him. All of everything (what a way to put it :) is being magnetically pulled into Him, whether we like it, agree with it, or any such puny mind set. We are being gathered into His Lordship so that every knee will bow to Him and Him alone. This thought, when meditated on, will either leave you breathless or totally confused. I guess one can say that this whole thing is not about you or me but about Him and it is about time we see this and act upon that revelation. It is not about you at all. The self-centeredness of God's people must be awakened to the call of true discipleship and truly following Him in all ways so that He alone is glorified and the light of the glory of Christ is seen in and through us. Should be that way but look around. It is not but it can start in you and in me. So I say amen to that.

Magnetically being pulled through the cross purges us and refines us into His image and the excellence of who He is. The cross is that place where all that is not like Him, through submission to Him, will willingly fall by the wayside so that we become more like Him. To gather actually tells us that we are moving toward the culmination of all things which are apart of Christ to be pulled into Christ. This gathering is taking place in us individually and corporately in the Church, His Bride and in the whole universe. The King is on His throne and will come back in victory so let's focus on being in the right position to be gathered into Him - not religion, or denomination, or some such thing. Into Him. And when we come to that revelation, let's make our Christianity a light that gathers people unto Him through our lives day by day. No more whining about what could be, should be but what is and right now, you and I have all we need to step out to BE in Him, wherever we are and with what is already in us.

Can you feel it, sense it, know it that there is something greater going on that we can explain or figure out? God is moving and on the move. He moves here and there. The earth rumbles and moves. Storms rage and nations rise and fall. And all of this is happening simultaneously all over. We look here and there and unable to truly grasp the magnitude of what is going on and we either will faint from fear or rise in faith. I will choose to rise in faith.

I read Facebook and sometimes I am so tired of words and words and words so I am not on it as much as I used to be when I was fascinated by it. I am no longer fascinated by it at all. It is too many words that lead to confusion and lack simplicity. Who can interpret what is going on? No one actually - not prophet, not king, not newscasters, not politicians. For God is doing things His way and in His way He will reveal Himself to those who walk in simplicity and simply follow Him, obey Him and listen to His voice. There is more wisdom right now being cultivated in silence than all the words coming forth. Be still and KNOW He is God.

This magnetic pull of being gathered leaves me silenced in my prayer times, waiting on Him to show me what He is is doing and where He is going. How to walk and how to move in Him. He is looking for those who are simple for in this type of people, He can capture their heart and anoint them for His purpose. The magnetic pull on my life is to simply submit to His will and His ways so that His glory is flowing through my life in the reality of the submission to the cross. So what else to say today?

Nothing for I must still process the glory of His revelation. So I leave you with no conclusions other than to seek Him and you will find Him. Do you feel a magnetic pull on your life? You are part of the equation He is forming. Forsake the mundane, the status quo and seek Him and you will find Him. Amidst confusion, you will have clarity. Amidst chaos you will have peace. You are being gathered into someone greater than yourself. Not something but someone. Selah.

Paradigms and Pictures!

2011-03-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

In a time of prayer, I was seeking the Lord as to how to move with Holy Spirit. How to move in sync and in movement with Him. It is in doing this that one has a perfect peace and develops a trust in the Lord who directs our path for our purpose and destiny in God.

I was intrinsically frustrated because I saw a continual pull from the current church paradigm that exists 'out there'. In curiosity, I visited some web sites of ministries and churches and it seems that there was so much busyness, so many agendas, so many programs, so many words - the complexity of the web pages made me lose a sense of peace. I simply believe that it has to be more simplistic than this. I also believe that true creativity will rise up and flow powerfully in a simplistic environment that simply rests in the power and plan of Holy Spirit. Was I naive and somewhat confused? I think not. In fact I actually think so different inside of me that I am never content with the norm or the mundane or the status quo. I seek change, not for the sake of change, but for the sake of creativity which is movement and where there is true Spirit led movement, there is faith. And where there is Biblically based faith, we move from glory to glory to glory. That is my desire to impart to people. Not to fit them into a program or a place but into Him.

So the Lord, in my frustration, simply said to me loud and clear - "Debra, match your paradigm to your picture." What on earth does that mean? Well on earth it means nothing because it came to me from heaven and so I must seek the Spirit in order to interpret what the Lord is saying to me.

Paradigm = a model of pattern for something that may be copied; a pattern; a framework

Picture = what I see inside of myself; the desires that God has placed deep within me; MY PICTURE

I saw that my paradigm and my picture were out of step and out of sync with the Holy Spirit. God made me, created me passionate and radical and creative. Yet my current paradigm was still influenced by the religious norm that is out there and I must break out of it or die. Now the wilderness was a great place of training to break out BUT when one comes BACK IN one sees that the current paradigm of the church's busyness and boredom is often like a magnet trying to pull you back in. I can't go back in. I can't and I won't. So where does that leave me?

Again my learning season is in establishing this ministry in Benicia. Where is it for you? How are you learning to match your paradigm with your picture? I have a picture of myself that I believe is from God. It is flowing against the norm. Leaning into Holy Spirit and flowing in prophetic song, declarations, purpose, direction, art, music, business and all of the above. It is a picture that God has given to me to flow.......to flow........to flow. Now flowing is not some flaky agenda that requires some manifestation but is a flow that requires us to befriend the Holy Spirit and allow Jesus Christ to be Lord of our life. He leads and we follow. And............when He leads there is always a move away from predictability and into creativity.

My picture did not match the paradigm. The paradigm that I operated by to a certain extent started with simple things that may seem crazy to you but not to me. I have been crying out for the Lord to show me a Holy Spirit form for Rivers of Eden. I don't want meetings at predictable times, conferences or gatherings for no reason. I don't want children's programs or women's programs or men's programs. I don't want. I don't want. But what is it I do want? The current paradigm of the church is like a magnet for someone like us starting to establish after spending so much time in the wilderness. The current paradigm pulls on you to fit in. They constantly tell you what won't work and how to just fit in and don't rock the boat. I can't and that is what led to the Lord speaking to me this way.

"Debra, match your paradigm to your picture."

I pray this is making sense to you somehow or someway. My paradigm has to be shattered. Jesus Christ said He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. He would build it and I need to join into where He is going and leading us. For instance, I don't want programs. I want to just be simple and have simplicity rule and reign and trust God in all things. Does that sound naive? Well we will see because it is the way I want to walk from now on.

In going to see these web sites, I did not do so for the purpose of judgement or criticism. I did not do that at all......I just wanted to see something that would catch my eye but I did not. I saw so much of the same packaging with new descriptions or pictures or graphics but the same stuff - old wine trying to fit into new wine skins by just tweaking the catch phrases or some such thing. I want the new wine for the new wine skins. Nothing less than that.

So what did this mean to me? Well my paradigms are being shattered to match up with the picture of my purpose for these Kingdom days. My God given purpose in these times. I am unique and individual and must follow my God ordained path. In doing that I will walk in a unique creativity and a pure unity in the Body of Christ for He did indeed make us different and unique.

I am not rereading this as I am writing but just sharing my heart with passion and purpose. It seems when I do that I get so many unsubscribes buy hey, what the heck.......that is truly okay to me now for I want to fit into His plan and not what others assume or presume about me. Long story made short here. Selah.

Okay so back to a few more points. I am not seeking to break out of my current paradigm of church into the Kingdom by simply seeking a new thing but in seeking Him and He will point the way out. Out of what? Out of religion and out of mundane apathetic Christianity. There is only one way out..............by Him, and through Him, and to Him and with Him. There are no shortcuts. He leads the way out and the invitation is available for everyone - not just me. It is for the brave of heart to seek Him and trust Him.

Now to think that this all started because I was not wanting to transition into this building doing the same ole same ole. But what to do? What is creative? What is our purpose? He is showing us step by step, leaning into Him and not our wisdom, our agenda or our self-proclaimed purpose. He leads. We follow.

Now I am laughing for I don't even know when to have the meetings. Do we do them Wednesdays, Sundays, Saturdays, Fridays? Each has its obstacles. What about the kids that come? Do I set up a children's church? What about those who need healing? New converts that need discipleship. What about? What about? Well.....Jesus did not stress about any of this. He only did what He saw the Father doing and so shall Marvin and I. I will not be pulled into a magnetic field of predictability. I also know we are not for everyone but for those whom God sends - TO US.

Thank you Lord. I will match my paradigm to this picture you have placed inside of me of a creative equipping center that is devoid of agenda and busyness. An equipping center that relies on the Holy Spirit to birth new and fresh ideas in our hearts. An equipping center that truly believes that Christians should take personal responsibility in their walk with the Lord and that we are equippers to point the way and help them find their way. An equipping center that does not seek to separate by gender, age or whatever and truly believes that the same Holy Spirit in me is the same Holy Spirit in a 5 year old. What do I do with that? Well He will tell me. So much more but I am off on an incredible journey in the Lord to keep this picture alive in me.

I desire creative people to come to the waters to drink. Those with tremendous gifts of music, song, art and so much else. What am I? I am simply a conductor that sees by the Spirit and encourages those with creativity to step out and BE this unique and wonderful person that God has created them to be..................okay so that's enough for today but something is stirring deep within me after writing this............I love it love it love it. A great adventure lies before us and where it leads, who knows......we simply follow Him.

Selah.

Again, Be Still!

2011-03-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

Be Still and Know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Again and again, this is what I hear. Again and again this is how I live despite all that is shaking around me. I am in a time of restraint. Restraint as far as holding back in order to free me from my own presumptuous thoughts and declarations to truly enter into His way. His way is a narrow way and we are all learning how difficult it truly is to be set free from US - our thoughts, our ideas, our, our our, me, me, me.

To be still is easy in Christ but impossible in us. We cannot work up being still because in trying to get still, we struggle quieting down and just being. Ever gone to a cabin where you wanted to spend time alone with God? It inevitably takes you hours or days to get still and tone down yourself in order to enter into an atmosphere of stillness where the reality of His presence surrounds you and in that place, you are with Him and peace surpasses all understanding and then you hear, and move in Him, and live in Him. God created this quite easy. We are the ones that make it hard.

Look around. The chaos is increasing and as this increases, those who are hid in Christ will decrease IN HIM. Why? Because to navigate these waters of treachery and uncertainty, it is only the wind of the Spirit that can move you through by the strength and power of the Lord. Instead of searching for a word to prophesy what is happening, I look to Him and He will open my mouth. Instead of trying to understand what is going on, I look to Him and in Him there is the simple understanding that I am hidden under the shadow of His wings and in that place there is safety.

What do I exactly see? The chaos is driving people...................driving people into anxiety. That anxiety manifests in many ways - depression, illness, fear. It also can manifest in an attitude that reflects itself in seeking pleasure at all costs to deny the pain through alcohol, drugs, partying, excessive traveling, spending money. Ah yes, the way I see it is that the world is getting darker by the moment.

I want you to know. I want you to see that you will not and cannot avoid it so to stick our head in the sand and to think that it will bypass us is ludicrous. Remember when Elijah told Ahab that there would be a drought? Well, Elijah was in the midst of what he himself was prophesying. He had to live in the drought and live in the prophesy that was affecting the nation while at the same time being protected and fed by the very hand of God. I don't believe for one moment that suddenly the USA will be all light and avoid earthquakes, floods, famine, disaster.....................we are already in it BUT BUT BUT we are in the world and not of the world. God keeps telling me to be still, be still and be still. To spend times with Him in intimacy so that I know Him so intimately and the sound of His voice that I will be in the right place at the right time.

I believe with all my heart in the light of the Body of Christ increasing but the darkness will also increase. I look around at those in the church that I randomly see and I see so little equipping taking place and much of the same ole' same ole' day by day and in that the people are living without any sense of destiny and purpose. They are building their homes on sand and with that it will all wash away and they will be unprepared.

As we start Rivers of Eden in April, I see that our assignment is to raise up a people who desire personal responsibility and a passionate desire to follow and serve the Lord Jesus Christ with no thought to what it costs them for they love Him wholeheartedly. The simplicity of our call is to draw people into a trust and a faith in Him that they are able to stand in Him and look to Him and know that He will lead and guide them through the coming days. In other words, Marvin and I want to work ourselves out of a job. We don't want people clinging to a form or structure in a building or a ministry.....we want them to grow, be free and stretch in Him. Like Esther, we want them to see that they live for such a time as this and their lives mean nothing to them apart from the Lord.

That is what we believe and that is what we impart. I will continue to sound the alarm that is being raised in my spirit with the simple message of 'Get ready!" Ready for what? Ready to follow Him where He is leading you despite all the roar that is around you. Separate yourself from the current chaos even though we continue to live in it and build your life and your house on the unshakable rock that is Christ Jesus. Seek wisdom to know. Seek peace to pursue. Walk contrary to the prevailing attitude in the world. The world is going to continue to shake with more and more earthquakes, more floods, more disaster, more disease and more and more..........the earth itself is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God. It can't get any simpler that this....be still and know He is God. Turn off the noise and the voices that speak fear and destruction and know He is on the Throne and will never leave you.

More coming........................

Discernment - Desparately Needed!

2011-03-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

Hebrews 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. NKJV

Discern = To separate thoroughly; discriminate; judge; to distinguish; to conclude

Let us not check our brains at the door. If you are somewhere or with someone and you just feel that something is not right or does not look right or sound right, then give yourself the credit to realize that real eyes realize real lies and know that God is showing you something at that moment by His Holy Spirit. God has given us His Spirit to discern and to walk in wisdom in an age of massive deception. Discernment shows us through separation that which is of the Spirit from that which is empowered and motivated by that which is demonic. God has given us His Spirit to discern and to be at peace with what we discern. Discernment is the God given means by which we separate thoroughly that which does not line up with the Word or with the Spirit. How do we do this? Discernment comes by knowing our Lord in intimacy, through His Word, worshiping Him in Spirit and in Truth that when the false presents itself, we naturally turn aside and discern because it does not line up with what we believe to be God. We have that sensing inside that what we are looking at, or what we are hearing is just not God and we often can't put our finger on it so we may go with the flow and the flow may just not be God. It is not a time for judgement against other brothers or sisters in Christ. It is not a time for suspicion or caution based upon our feelings or emotions. It is a time for discernment and wisdom to arise in the Body of Christ by the Spirit of God within us. When we see and realize that what we are seeing is not of God, we stand in discernment and wait in wisdom. We speak as the Holy Spirit gives us utterance but never to attack or judge in self-righteousness for it is only there by the grace of God that we ourselves walk.

Why is this my topic of the day? Well, as I have been studying and reading this morning I have seen that many many Christians consistently get 'caught up' in a flow of this or a movement of this but take no personal responsibility to mature in Christ. Maturity feeds not on milk but on solid food. It then gives us a diet of a sure foundation in Christ. NOT a religious foundation that speaks without an experiential knowledge but in a foundation that is real in our lives. After walking with Him and talking with Him, through prayer and worship and study, our lives are formed in Christ Jesus and flows in Him and with Him and through Him. In that place we have embarked on a continual journey of maturity that takes us from glory to glory and from faith to faith. Maturity is a process while the immature seem to stay anchored in a current state of flow with whatever the wind brings. I do not want to be like this and pray each day that God gives me discernment and wisdom in each situation that I encounter.

For too long I went to revivals and conferences over the past years and just went with the flow at times and at times felt uncomfortable but what the heck? Everyone seemed okay with it so it must be God. Then something or should I say someone clicked in me with light and life where I discerned that so much of what I saw was rubbish. I did not want to judge but on the other hand neither did I want to enter in anymore. I allow God to deal with what is going on but as for me I am following the Spirit into a path of His way of experience on a sure foundation of the Word of God.

I don't want to proverbially throw the baby out with the bath water but neither do I want to get caught up with a current movement gone astray, or a conference mentality where divine impartation is assured one if they have hands laid on them, or a atmosphere where laughing or jerking or whatever is going on and to feel apart one may even mimic or join in to feel something. I simply can't do that anymore and years of being in the wilderness has heightened my discernment BUT also has allowed me to see that I must not judge. It is a balance achieved only by the Spirit. There is a time to talk and a time to be silent. I am learning the difference.

A pure heart operates in discernment, not suspicion or judgement. I have spent the morning studying many things concerning the false prophetic, demonic deception, false signs and wonders. I have prayed the blood of Jesus over me and have read and watched videos and came to the conclusion that the Body of Christ is in the midst of a massive wave of deception. I am not called to judge BUT I am called to walk in discernment and wisdom.

So where does that leave me today? I am not confused, nor unstable. I am not wishy washy or unclear. I am maturing in Christ beyond that of a babe into a mature daughter of the King and sometime I have to say "Enough is enough." We must press past all the outer props that hold us up and cause us to lean into anything other than the Lord Himself. I am not a little girl anymore but a woman of God and I say no to many things for I want Him and Him alone. Don't you? I say yes, I believe you do.

These are my thoughts for the day and they are still forming. As you can see, I have not arrived nor will I ever arrive I am in process and enjoying the journey of walking in the light as He is in the light. I am without fear or confusion but walking in the clarity of my convictions which are formed on my understanding of His Word while leaning into the experiences that come by way from God alone. I love my life in Christ and maturity feels good for it allows me to be ME while walking in unity with those around me, even when they disagree with me. It is my goal to follow Christ.........He leads the way. I follow. Selah and a smile. :)

Urgency and Tyranny!

2011-03-08T11:24:00.000-08:00

John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." NKJV

Breathe. In. Out. Breathe. In. Out. Lord give me the words to express your heart in this blog.

For the past week I have sensed such a disturbance in my spirit that I have been quite irritable and that causes me to withdraw, to focus on Him, and to pray to DISCERN what's up. There are urgencies in the moment that can cause one to lose focus, until you discern what it is that is causing you to feel this way. What is it? An urgency in the spirit can be turned to FEAR or to FAITH. I choose FAITH.

What do I mean? In the coming days, the darkness will increase. Not maybe. Not possibly but will increase. There will come an urgency upon our lives to try to cause us to fear. Each day will present itself with a fear involving our finances, health, family, etc. It will provoke us to see that all is outside of our control and basically it is but that's the point. That is not God and only a ploy of the enemy to cause you to focus on what is outside of you rather than WHO is inside of you - Christ Jesus. This may seem simplistic and I may be quite repetitive but the simplicity of our walk now and in the future depends upon our daily intimacy and dependence on God. We walk contrary to the prevailing norm of the chaotic world we live in. We walk in peace and rest and focus by choosing to walk in faith that He is on the throne and He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

We must not forget the simple things. Forgo the complex for the simplicity that is found in His presence. WHATEVER HE SAYS TO YOU, DO IT. That whole statement forgoes the urgency of the moment. The tyranny to drive you out of your peace is fostered by fear that comes from the pit of hell. We must rest in His peace so that the God of peace WILL crush satan under our feet. I would have liked to issue you a calm message that says "All will be okay." But I can't for all will not be okay BUT all IS okay in Him and in Him there is no cause for any concern.

God is desiring us to mature and to put our total dependency in Him and in walking in Him and living in Him and moving in Him. The church has truly gotten off of its course but there is a remnant of people that have forsaken all that religion offers to follow Him wherever He goes and wherever He leads each of us. In that place in Him, we are in the eye of the storm. Though all rages around us, we are in peace, in rest, in hope, in love. We will not just talk about it anymore or it will not be a good sermon that one easily forgets. The maturity in Christians must rise up and walk in Him contrary to chaos so that His glory will shine upon us, in us and through us.

The urgency that I sense in my spirit is a prophetic urgency to pray and seek His face while at the same time moving by His Spirit day by day to His rhythm and movement in our lives. We are not guarded and locked away waiting for some ethereal life that exists contrary to the darkness of the world at large. We are IN it but not OF it. We must remember that with all of our hearts. That sounds so simple and yet most of the church does not do it. The Body of Christ is governed by time that presses its agenda and purpose day by day into their lives. This urgency drives us into the moment and out of the eternal reality that Christ is in us, the hope of glory. It should not be so. Breathe. Breathe. Seek His face and rest and joy and peace shall invade your life. When there comes an urgency as I find in my spirit today, I pray it through to see with His eyes and to hear with His ears what is coming upon me and in this, I regain my faith and trust that He is in control of everything. Faith increases clear spiritual sight. Hope increases joy. Trust increases peace. And in the midst of chaos we live in Christ and the world will marvel and stand in awe of Christ in us.

Again, why am I saying this? Because darkness will increase and fear will increase but it will not be with us...................we are people of faith, people of the Spirit. I believe as I am writing this that I am sheerly just expressing my heart in a prophetic way. Prophets see as forerunners and warn the people to prepare and to get ready. That is what I am doing so that we, as a people will be prepared to walk in the increasing darkness as light.

Intimacy brings you into His authority. You are conquerors in Christ in the midst of the battle. The battle is upon us and we are living in a great time, a time like no other and you have been born into this time. When intimately spending time with our Lord, He speaks and in His voice is direction, strategy and purpose so that we face our days willing to do whatever it is He says to do for we know that in that place, we live in Him.

Get the picture.............this is something that must be experienced by each of you. You can't live my life and I can't live yours. Some of you may be experiencing depression, anxiety, fear, health issues, financial issues..........so many different things. Yet we live in ONE who is greater than all of us and we are a people being prepared to carry a greater weight of glory. With that responsibility comes a greater responsibility to decrease so that He may increase in each of us. Now it comes.................the reality of the personal responsibility of our Christian walk......what will we do? The choice is each of ours.

I choose to walk wherever He leads me. I choose to obey Him in whatever way He chooses to ask of me. Are you? I know many of you are.

Song 6:3 I am my beloved's, And my beloved is mine. NKJV

2 Sam 24:24 Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing." NKJV

Is There Not A Cause?

2011-02-19T16:15:00.000-08:00

1 Sam 17:29 And David said, "What have I done now? Is there not a cause?" NKJV

Looking out at the rain rain rain in California. We are used to sunshine and great weather. What has happened? To me the day is mundane and boring and quite gray. Is that a product of the weather or something going on inside of me?

It reminds me of my childhood when I would whine "There is nothing to do. This is so boring." My mother would answer quite quickly "Go find something to do." And I replied, "There is nothing to do." This is a circular dialogue that could go on forever if you let it. :)

It causes me to question today what it is exactly I want from my Christian walk. Why am I bored? Do I want more meetings? Absolutely not. Do I want more things to do? No not at all. So why are these thoughts hitting me today. All is well in my own world and that which surrounds me in this season of our life. His grace is sufficient and grand towards us as we move out in Rivers of Eden. So why the tumult inside of me? Why am I feeling this way? Well, I don't really want an answer but want to make some observations.

As I have written before and continue to meditate on, there is something like a deep current stirring in the Body of Christ. There is a deep joining going on, first with the Lord and each of us individually as He calls us to continually come apart. And, then, corporately with the Body. I keep wanting to ask my Lord "Is this all there is?" What do I see around me? Constant posts on Facebook from people. Internet intrusions in people's lives. Busyness. Barrenness. Stress. Turmoil. Religion that dulls the spiritual senses. Apathy settling in enmasse. Am I rising above it or am I succumbing to it? I know this is a burden I am carrying today that must be worked through in prayer. Boredom does not require more to do. Boredom requires more of Him, going to the next level of glory with Him and allowing a new wineskin to flow forth and a new Kingdom paradigm to be established.

You see, I have no reason to be bored for in the natural I have a lot to do BUT it is not enough. I am wanting more of God so that in making Himself known to me in greater measure, I can make Him known to others from what flows through me. This is a great time to be feeling this way. We have leased our building and ready to start Rivers of Eden Equipping Center in March but is that enough? No, without Him flooding through our lives and through this ministry with power and glory, it is all mundane. Ministry must be infused with the reality of Jesus Christ or it is not ministry at all but a product of man's flesh.

So I looked to this verse that David quoted above in Scripture. When the religious system had reached its height of fear and trepidation when facing Goliath, they shrank back rather than forge ahead. They accepted the norm that says "Do nothing and wait. Perhaps it will go away." Then David comes in and shakes it up and says "Guys is there not a cause?" Are you content with this? Don't you want more than that?

My answer to this all is YES - I want more than what I see. I want more of Him and we shall have more of Him. For we shall engage the enemy on the Lord's terms - with smooth stones of authority and position in Christ in our new endeavor. We shall step forth into a new territory so this is perhaps the quiet before the storm. A day when I can evaluate the mundane around me. A day when I can see that what many in the church are currently engaged in is a lot of works but so little of the Holy Spirit and the anointing. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm how can I wrap this up and speak with eloquence?

Well I can't because this blog is in process today and I am forming a well inside of me that is saying "More Lord. More." A cry from the heart asking for the New Wine to start flowing as we launch out in ministry. I don't want what I currently see so what is that form that the Holy Spirit will initiate so that we can launch out into the deep waters of risk and adventure. Did I say that? Yes I did. But even risk and adventure is not the cure for boredom...........so what is? What can liven all of us up again? What can stir our fire and passion. Well, it is only Him and nothing else.

Is there not a cause? Yes there is but it is not what we DO but who flows through us. He is our cause and our purpose and our destiny. Okay so here I still sit watching the rain but I am not bored. Why? I am heading out to Starbucks to order a Caramel Macchioto (decaf so I am not up until 3 am) and my boredom will be eased for right now.......at least for a little while. :)

Stand - Is It That Clear?

2011-02-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Eph 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. NKJV

When surrounded by circumstances or situations that PRESS, there is a solution BUT that solution runs contrary to our natural reasoning. STAND. In fact, I had to repeat that word to myself hundreds of times over the past years. "Debra, DO NOT undertake for yourself what is God's job to do for you." In other words, back up, put total trust in He who is able, and STAND.

There is a certain childlike faith in standing and so contrary to our adult qualities of worry, anxiety, defense, posturing ourself in justifications. No, just STAND. Say it to yourself over and over until you believe it. STAND. Don't turn right. Don't turn left. Don't go back. Don't go forward. STAND.

Standing in your current position requires an increased faith. Despite all opposition, God will come through. He will. Selah. In standing, we are releasing our natural reasoning ability to receive an impartation of His precious Wisdom. Wisdom navigates the circumstances that seem out of control or confusing or some such thing. Standing allows you to breathe and relinquish control to the Lord. Standing causes you to just BE and to survey the scenery and to allow God to free your feet to take the next step. And the next step is the step that will propel you into that supernatural realm of peace, where you come into a place where you are led by the Spirit in all ways.

There is so much movement in the Body of Christ. I am tired of it. Endless words and endless activity that seem useless and futile at times. Why do I say that? Not in judgement but in discernment. Look at the fruit folks. In all this activity in which the church is emulating the world, the church at large is fruitless and powerless and all kinds of 'less'. I want something different and I will walk in something different and I pray that you will want that too.

Standing is a relinquishing all to God despite the pressing on your emotions, your spiritual well being, and all else. It is the 'surrender' to His will and His way. Throwing all up and saying "Lord I don't know which way to turn, what to do, where to go. But you do." Standing is NOT being paralyzed. That comes from fear and we are not talking about fear. Again I say that standing in faith comes from trust in God that He is never late but He is never early but always on time. Did we spout that out of our mouth so many times as a cliche? Yes we did but know we can walk it.

Now let me get personal. In looking for this place to rent in Benicia, we have been turned down 3 times already by those who say they won't rent to a church for some such reason - lack of parking, too much noise, and on and on. It was a hit each time and tried to push us out of our position of authority but we kept pressing by the Spirit in His wisdom and God called us to STAND. What did we stand on when all hell is resisting us from starting Rivers of Eden Equipping Center? We stood on the promises of God that form the foundation of our hope in He who is able to complete that which He promises. We stand despite the enemy laughing.

We stand. Why? Because in standing we renew our commitment to follow His will and His way and not ours. Despite looking at the circumstances that it will never happen, God says "Stand and see the salvation of the Lord."

We have NO PLAN B. There is only one way - His way. We have not come this far to go backward or to the left or to the right but only AHEAD in His perfect plan and purpose for our lives. So can you relate? I know you can.

Ending...............put an offer in on another building yesterday. So what do we do today? STAND and wait for His glory to open a path into destiny. AND IT WILL for us and for you.

The next time I write I hope to tell you we have officially got the building but if not, we stand and one will come our way.

Love you guys. Selah.

God of Peace Crushes Satan Under Your Feet!

2011-02-04T15:45:00.000-08:00

I always try to be led by the Spirit as I write this. I hope you find this to be true because in the days that we find ourselves in, we must be led forth by Truth that is empowered by the Spirit of God. There is so much going on in the world. Look around and ask God for discernment and wisdom to navigate these times. Truth - here it is. A verse that has been on my mind for days. (By the way, we are negotiating a lease for a building here to start Rivers of Eden Equipping Center. It is God's dream that He put in our hearts for such a time as this. A place to walk in the reality of the Kingdom, gathering like-minded people, hungry and passionate for the reality of real Christianity) Okay, back to truth. A good verse. Read below and chew, chew, chew. I have read it many times but suddenly I got an eye opener as it moved in my life.

Rom 16:19-20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. NKJV

Okay follow along with me, allowing truth to form in you so that this verse is not just tossed out into cyberspace but as you receive it, you believe it and then walk in it as reality. You see, Jesus said it so clearly. He said "The words that I speak to YOU are spirit and life." Words, eternal words, are alive and living and invasive and real. We don't just passively listen to Scripture but take it in and chew and digest and let it form YOU.

The God of PEACE crushes Satan. Think about it. The God of Peace. There is a realm of peace that is reality to us as we walk in relationship with our Lord. Peace that is real, tangible, and beyond understanding. Supernatural peace that is contrary to emotions or the chaos that surrounds us. The enemy sees our peace and often, oh so very often, seeks to knock us out of peace or knock us off of our platform of peace. Real peace does not make sense to a world in chaos. Why? Because the world is movable, flowing with winds of doctrine that hold no substance, moving with current winds of deception masquerading as truth when it is, in fact, a veiled lie. Oh but peace does exist in a person!

Peace is the PERSON of Christ Jesus that dwells richly in you and He is alive in you. When all is coming against you, you don't look anywhere else but at Him for He is your peace. How can I say this? Each of you have a testimony where peace flowed from your life in the midst of turmoil. It could be during any crisis or calamity involving family, health, job or whatever is relative to your life. Peace invaded your situation WHEN you released all control to Jesus Christ. Jesus has been so devalued in our Western Culture that He is a cliche, a vapor in the wind to the unsaved. But we know otherwise. In the days ahead, the reality of the person of Christ Jesus, alive in us, will be made manifest in glorious and remarkable ways as peace, among so much else, invades the Body of Christ. We shall indeed stand as a contradiction amidst the chaos.

When confronted with chaos, we have a choice. When chaos confronts, stand in peace. When the adversary torments, stand in peace. Peace is complete trust in the God who is able. Yes, when you begin to confront the enemy by simply standing in peace and trusting God, he will come against you with all of hell to disrupt your peace. Don't we all see that when we stand, oftentimes it gets more chaotic before it gets better? It is a lesson to learn. We must see that to stand in a realm of peace is an authority that God longs to impart to us. To stand in the reality of unshakeable peace ( and faith and love and and and all that He is) confounds the enemy in his path. He can't stand it for he longs to fluster us and get us out of our perfect position in Christ. Of course he can only do that when we allow Him to do that. Sooooooooo are you getting the picture so far? I hope so.

Remember dear ones.............I am not just talking, I am walking this out. Especially when we are being confronted with the enemy's tactics to keep us from establishing this Equipping Center in California so he is throwing all sorts of chaos our way. I have had to walk in a simple peace that says "God you are in total control because I give you this total situation."

A few more things and then you can take this and meditate on this verse and allow Peace to crush the enemy under your feet. Okay.....so here's the deal. In years past do any of you remember when we had spiritual warfare times where words came from our mouths binding this and binding that and challenging the enemy this way and that way? Some of it worked and some of it was quite humorous. We had the words, but, for the most part the Body of Christ lacked authority because we shouted yet we had nothing to back it all up. We did not really know where our strength and our victory came from. God conquers our opponent in the power of His strength, not our words. To be still and to truly know God and to be quiet from years of wilderness training is now where many of us stand. Humbled and beaten down, we now rise up. Why? We are being still and in that stillness we know Him.

But here comes a new warfare. Not new to God but certainly new to us at times. Peace. Simple uncomplicated Peace. Stand in the reality of His truth that you will go through - of course you will be challenged but who exactly is directing the flow of your life? God is. Who brought you this far? God did. He certainly can carry you the rest of the way, can't He? Amen to that. So - let me break this down and then I will sign off. Here goes. As a mom and a grandmom, sometimes you have to stand in a level of authority where there are no words but just a look will suffice. Ever been there when you are disciplining a kid. Or perhaps on the job when you are being challenged and instead of fighting back trying to prove anything, you just stand in your position. It generally does the trick BUT here's the deal. You have to truly believe you have the authority to walk in that level where you stand in the peace that God has the situation in control, no matter what you see in the natural. You stand and believe without excess justification. That feels so good when it is God.

And then there's this. When all is coming against you and chaos surrounds, sometimes you gotta turn. I mean turn. Look the devil right in the face. I am not kidding here at all. I mean look at him. And say "Shut up! " And when he says "Why?" Just be clear and consice as you stand in peace......................say this "Because I said so." No explanations. No justifications. Just peace and knowing that He who is in you, is greater than he who is in the world. All that's left to do at this point is just smile.

Love you guys..........................will get on track and keep writing more and more. Hope some of you will visit Rivers of Eden in the days ahead in California and enjoy times of ministry in His presence.

Truth Will Find YOU!

2011-01-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

Truth! You can't get away from it. Can't go around it, over it, under it, or avoid it. If you are following Jesus wholeheartedly and desire to grow and mature, truth will find you. Truth will confront you. Truth will confound you. BUT, Truth will set you free. I have no doubt about that at all. No doubt.

The underlying foundation of what I will write this year is always Scripture. God's word is truth and is not compromised or unclear. Truth in God's word is absolute and in that, I stand. I don't always have to quote Scripture to walk in the reality of what I believe to be true. Truth should flow from me if I am walking with my Lord and people should SEE truth emanating from my life. Then I can speak truth. Get it?

Truth is generally inconvenient. By that I mean, it comes to us when God sees that it is necessary to confront us, in His timing. He looks into the depth of our being and sees our need for wholeness and the only thing that brings wholeness in our salvation is truth, His truth. With truth, we must trust.

Truth confronts and then we choose our response. We always choose our response. We are not clones or robots but we choose. It is personal responsibility to choose truth and to act on it. All of us must do that. We can't live in anyone else's truth. We live in His truth and He works it out in us according to His Word. Our lives are then built on the absolute revelation of His truth which is always stable and always sure in a world in chaos.

When truth confronts, we choose our response and they can be varied and diverse. We can be paralyzed in truth and need time to sort the revelation of it. We can object to truth and reject based upon an emotional response. We can be offended and argue our truth. We can make excuses. We can do a number of things. BUT truth is truth and Jesus said it clearly. Heaven and earth can pass away but My word will never pass away. Truth stands no matter what our response is. So, it is best to line up with Jesus, the absolute Truth. In Him, you cannot go wrong and He weaves a way through chaos.

Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE." Believe it and receive it. It is not going away but is eternal and is forever.

Truth is desperately needed in the Body of Christ today. Not opinion. Not people pleasing stories. Not seeker friendly environments. People are seeking the truth and we have it. Truth confronts in the midst of chaos, lies, deception. Truth weaves its way through all of it with clarity and purpose.

So what I am I saying............read the Word of God. Read the Word of God. Read the Word of God. Know it and live it. There are no shortcuts. None.

A few more things to add right now. All of us have seen Truth come to us through individuals that were prideful, self-righteous, angry, and many other agendas. They come to attack and assault us. I am not saying to do that or to walk in that spirit. I am saying to speak truth but listen clearly..........here it comes.......

Before you can speak in truth that is powerful, the very truth you speak with authority and power must be worked out in your own life, in my own life. In other words, walk it and don't just talk it. Okay? Remember to allow His Truth to penetrate your own life. Sozo - your salvation is a grand process dependant on walking in revealed truth which makes you whole - body, soul and spirit. We are desperately in need of mature sons and daughters in the Kingdom here and now. Are you one of them? Then press past the childish things and allow truth in the person of Jesus Christ to have His way in your life. You will never look back. Freedom feels soooooooooo good my friends!

More coming......................

The Whole Truth and Nothing Else!

2011-01-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

John 8:32 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." NKJV

It is time to speak the truth or to say nothing at all. I was standing in the shower, contemplating 2011 and all that it holds for us - establishing Rivers of Eden, writing, traveling - whatever the Lord wants us to do. I was suddenly interrupted by seeing the word 'Truth' before me 3 times - Truth, Truth, Truth. There it was and there it proclaimed itself before me.

I knew it was a challenge to me personally but also to each of you. Are we ready to speak truth and also to receive truth, without any hesitation, qualification, justification, excuses, or any such thing? I am not sure what you will do but I have agreed to stand in truth, to proclaim truth, and to walk in truth which all in all, is contrary to so much of what I see right now in the United States. Since Marvin and I have been back to the States, I see so much delusion, confusion, mixture, deception and so much more that all I can say is that we, as Christians, will be challenged each day, each hour, each moment with what is the reality of truth as opposed to what is accepted all around us as truth but in reality, it is a lie.

So I have been challenged today to speak forth what God is telling me to speak forth, to proclaim, to journal or in whatever manner He tells me to do it. Have I not been doing it? Oh yes I have been speaking truth but do you realize that to speak truth comes with a great cost and our God is so gracious that He shelters us with each step so that grace covers us as we walk forward in the reality of the Truth of His Word which is experientially worked out in our lives. We stand on truth when in need of healing. We walk in truth when the world walks in a lie and mocks and scoffs at our God. We proclaim truth when the world accepts a lie and we are challenged to go against the prevailing norm in society. I just realized this morning in the shower the cost of truth in my own life. Right here. Right now. I realized that I am walking in a new realm now and these writings will reflect the strength of my character to speak forth and reach those who are both worshippers and warriors and walking in a fear of the Lord. I am reaching out to those who see that love is truly strong and powerful and not corrupted as I see around me. Walking forth in truth without hesitation and in humility to speak as well as receive. I see so clearly now as I want to take this next step to become who God has called me to be all along. The light of His truth working in my life brings strength, wisdom, discernment, and so much more.

That is why I have not written much up until this point. I have weathered the past 10 years with great persecution coming at us from each way. And I have stood and am still standing BUT now God looks and His eye sees right through me as to the test of my character to stand amidst a world in chaos. To speak when it is not popular and to speak what He longs for me to say. So I am writing this to myself first and foremost as a declaration to myself to take a new step, a broad step into a new arena as a prophet and to walk in the reality of His way, no matter what the cost. Will you join me? I pray you do as we walk this journey together into a new way where the light is shining in the reality of His Living Word.

Each post will be Spirit lead - spoken in humility and grace. Some posts may sting as we see that we are in need of repentance. Some posts may humble us as we see the reality of His love. Some may challenge us to walk His way at a great cost to our own lives. But it will be truth - simple clear and uncompromised. It will not be spoken in pride or self-righteousness. It will not be spoken diluted or compromised. It is time we grow up. It is time to mature. I am ready. Are you? Let's go......................................................Truth...............all or nothing spoken from a heart that is abandoned to the reality of His grace and love towards me, His salvation which overwhelms me and strengthens me to live, right here right now. The world is in chaos. We, as Christians have truth..................live in truth..........walk in truth............now.

2011 and Beyond - Thoughts to End the Year - Proper Positioning

2010-12-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

Okay I know, I know.....promised to write more but you all know intentions are good but transition, unpacking, family, holidays, ministry........lots of stuff around us. But I am happy to say that we are almost through this move. So here goes.

I will end this year with some thoughts of transition. These are thoughts in process. These are thoughts of the journey into 2011. These are thoughts that I am pondering on from the Lord by His awesome Spirit that will manifest in 2011 so that we can run in the reality of their manifestation.

Proper positioning.

So important. So very important. Do not, and I say it again, do not be moved by anything in the natural or anything that is moving upon your flesh to move, go or divert into any direction that is not of the Spirit, by the Spirit and through the Spirit. Proper positioning is it. There is no need to stress or at least I feel no need to stress. Each step that Marvin and I have taken have brought us to this place and I am sure many of you are in the same place. We arrived at our physical positioning by faith and not by sight. Here we are in California? Where are you? Are you in the position that God wants you to be? I pray that you are.

We don't have to understand why we are living, moving and being where we now stand. We just are. We have walked by faith and not by sight to get us to this place and so we stand. Waiting to step out into 2011, a lot more wiser, a bit disheveled, a lot clearer and taking life with a simplistic outlook. What is that?

"Whatever He says to you, do it."

How much simpler can it be. So onward..............positioning is like a domino that is lined up, ready to fall and topple all the ones behind that form a cataclysmic explosion in your life and mine. Things are going on behind the scenes that we are not aware of, but I just know. Do you? You should. We have to open our spiritual eyes to see and open our spiritual ears to hear by the Spirit...............things, they are a-shaking folks. When we are in the right place, at the right time, things are bound to happen. Jesus, in flowing and moving by the Spirit was always in the right place at the right time. Order your day in the light of His word and the reality of His rhema word to you and you shall not be moved by what you see. You will be in step with the greater reality of Kingdom movement which flows contrary to the currents that are moving in the earth today. Proper positioning in your life.

Example time: We left Abu Dhabi. Why? Because the job was over. Heck no. We left because God said "Time's up Folks!" We left and came to California and the process started. Marvin retired ( that does not mean life is over but life is beginning for us). We were led by the Spirit to come back to Benicia. God connected us to find the perfect place to live. We step out day by day to meet people that are ordained of God and just flow without hesitation or pressure. Step by step we move with our next step to rent a place to establish a Rivers of Eden Equipping Center. Step by step. It works for me and will work for you. I don't have to worry about tomorrow. That is useless. I have to move in today by His Spirit. So, if you are in step, praise the Lord. If you are out of step, get rid of guilt, shame, condemnation, repent and get in step. Right now. Right today. Then when you are in step, breathe, spend time in His presence, be still and KNOW that HE IS LORD.

Selah.

Wisdom - A Good GPS System!

2010-12-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

Did not anticipate all the unpacking and all the transitioning so I am walking through exactly what I will be writing. It seems over the years I am the message and the messenger............

As I have been back in the States, I have noticed that there appears to be no one in charge. There are a lot of voices or should I say echos sounding forth what they believe, what they don't believe, what they should believe, or what they could believe. I know that God has sent us back for this very hour and for such a time as this. I see chaos around me and can sense it in the atmosphere. It appears that things are hanging on by a thread and no matter what CNN or Fox or MSNBC says or does not say.....one thing is certain in my spirit. We are in for hard times but...........and I say but.......we have a rock upon which we stand that is sure who leads and guides us without fear and trepidation. His name is Jesus and He alone stands amidst all that falls around us.

So what about wisdom and the ability to navigate through this mess? Wisdom is our GPS system that navigates the waters of chaos and confusion. You access it to find your direction and the way you should go. Wisdom is the person of Jesus Christ. You can only trust He who is trustworthy and He alone can guide you through treacherous waters and high seas. Over and over the Lord tells us to cry out for Wisdom and you can read thoroughly about that in Proverbs. It is quite apparent that it is of the utmost importance that we seek wisdom. When things are in chaos and a multitude of opinions abound, one needs to seek wisdom and He will guide you through tough and tight circumstance.

Wisdom creates a path that is light and life. I have said that in another blog in the not so distant past. I say not so distant because I have not been consistent in writing but that will change. When? NOW! :)

I am a voice crying out and don't want to be an echo even if being a voice means speaking contrary to the prevailing norm. Wisdom, who is Jesus Himself, contradicts everything the world itself stands for and always will. He is peace amidst chaos. He guides us contrary to the fear that is overtaking people. He is wisdom when we sheerly don't know what to do and the path in front of us either does not appear clear or is not entirely the way we want to go. We follow Him and He guides us by His wisdom and in that place there is always safety. So before the next post, why don't you focus on these few verses and do some meditating.

Prov 2:6-7 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; NKJV

James 1:4-8 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. NKJV

Wisdom sets the path for us to walk.
Wisdom requires risk for wisdom in the person of Christ Jesus alone sets the path His way and His way alone and that way is not comfortable and requires focus and trust.
Wisdom wants us to follow, moving out from our place of comfortability. For I am convinced that this is not a time to relax, stand still, or rest in anything but the movement that is found in Christ Jesus. Anything else is ludicrous for things my friends are going to shake and shake and shake.

Back on Track

2010-11-28T21:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry for being off this blog for 3 weeks but so busy getting settled into California. There is NO turning back at this point. After 7 years of being in the wilderness, we are coming full circle back into California to begin a work for the Lord. This way we are going is ONE WAY, His way, one step at a time, no detours, no turning back, just following Him into His future for us.

Arrived in California 3 weeks ago and we are finally settled in with a place to rent, our vehicles ready to go, out of the hotel, waiting for our furniture....all the logistics in place one step at a time and then what.......prayer prayer prayer. It seems to be a huge place we find ourselves in right now. How often we wanted OUT and now that we are, what exactly does that mean? ONE WAY. His way.

There are so many things to write about and I have a lot of time to write, a little at a time, one day at a time. Thanks for being part of my journey.........so here goes. What to write? My thoughts, God's prophetic words - I will spend the time in prayer before I write so that what I write is not a lot of words but an impartation for you to eat, chew on and walk in the reality of the revelation to YOU. There is a lot God is saying right now so I take a step and say this.....WISDOM. That's all I keep thinking about right now.

Repeat after me..........WISDOM, WISDOM, WISDOM. Wisdom in the person of Christ Jesus will indeed light the path of our WAY now and in the days ahead. Wisdom to navigate through the chaos of the world around us. And I am seeing a lot of it everywhere I look since being back in the States. Wisdom shows the right path, the one way, His way. There are many paths, many options out there but often wisdom points us in the direction of that which is contrary to our natural reasoning. That is why we are back in the States. We are called here by God to trumpet a call that God has put in us. It is WISDOM that has led us here and WISDOM that will lead us one step at a time. Wisdom has a voice in the person of Christ Jesus. It is a precious commodity in the days ahead. Wisdom - can I say it enough? No. WISDOM. More tomorrow Folks. Just want to tell you that I am back on track.

Risk It All Claude!

2010-11-12T05:20:00.000-08:00

I am motivated by the visual. To me a picture is truly worth a thousand words, or more for that matter. This fish in this picture is so much like us. He is living encased looking out from a place of confinement while at the same time in the midst of a beautiful reality. This poor fish can look at the surroundings but never touch the surroundings. Let's call this fish Claude. (That was the name of my deceased fish in Abu Dhabi. He lived a good life. :) ) Claude can live a life vicariously through what he sees yet never enter into the reality of LIFE because he is existing and not living. How sad is that? Better to put yourself in a dark caged room and admit the reality of your existence than to live in the midst of beauty and life and truly cease to exist. How sad to conform to the limited reality of your existence and slowly fade into nothingness.

I look around at Christians. I look at Claude. We can talk a good game. We can live through others and call it our own. We can talk talk talk. We can create a vivid reality of who we think we are or wanna be. We can use all the right words but look at the situation. Claude is confined and miserable. He can see freedom but not touch it. Are you like this? I bet some of you are. My advice to Claude and to YOU.

Risk it all Claude! Get out and live! Once the Lord spoke something to me that has stayed with me for a long time. "My people fear life more than they fear death." How sad to be living in the midst of the promises of true freedom and yet never really live. To look at the waves and not touch the water. To see the effects of the wind but to never really feel it touch your face or blow through your hair. To see the sun shining but to not feel the actual warmth of it touching your face. Need I say more? I truly hope you are getting the picture. Are you?

Jesus spoke in parable and was an enigma. Enigma means someone or something that is often misunderstood. That is me. Truly, that is me. People don't seem to get me or they presume to know me which they really don't. Those who are close to me know me. My ups and downs. My ins and outs. My good days and bad days. I was a lot like Claude. I lived through other people vicariously and in a life of fascination, imagination and imitation. Until one day, I said "Enough is enough." (Okay can you hear God speaking so far? No "thus saith the Lord' in this one.........just plain talk.) Okay back to my thoughts.

Enough is enough. Either I believe Him or not believe Him. Either I live in Him, walk in Him and BE in Him or why am I even saved. Appropriate verse is below.

John 8:36 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. NKJV

He, Jesus Christ, has set me free to BE. Simple and clear and concise is that statement. We as Christians are supposed to BE the most expressive, creative, free people on the place of the planet. Are we? That is for you to answer. To shake the bonds of complacency and conformity, you have to take risks. And having watched Steel Magnolias, I remember that accurate statement. 'THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER.' Amen and amen. But OUCH. Risks will often come in the midst of choosing freedom and you will often feel that you are going to lose, to die, to be forgotten, and so much else. Yet, risks are meant to propel you into a realm where you are walking in the reality of His life and His freedom. Where you touch and feel and walk and talk and hurt and cry and laugh and shout................BUT YOU LIVE.

Do you live? I hope so. I live. I laugh, get angry at times, cry, shout and FAIL. But I live through the mistakes in my live. I live in Christ and by His grace I am healed and do the impossible in Him. My life is not over at 56 but just beginning. I am throwing caution to the wind and walking into a great adventure in Christ. Amen. Don't avoid hurt or pain. Let it form your life by His salvation into a thing of beauty. Forget what people think about you while at the same time loving them. Forsaking their opinion for focus on Him and Him alone while at the same time listening and caring. So my advice to Claude and to you...............Risk It All................for Him. Now look at this picture. Get the picture?

Can't Talk Freedom, Gotta Walk Freedom

2010-11-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

The realization that FREEDOM is in Christ and only in Christ allows us to truly see that without Him there is no life. So look at this saying. Look at it hard and long. Until you lose YOUR LIFE you can't be free IN HIM. Life is a prison but the way is clear..........in Him. We got to stop talking and start walking in what we claim to believe. We lose it all to find Him and when we find Him we find ouselves. So keep reading.

Here it is - JET LAG in California. But I am smiling because in these wee hours of the morning, God is with me to talk to me about this next move in the Spirit YOU and I are going to take together. A blog, to me can be very boring, if I don't impact the people that I am talking to right now. It would be empty words going out into cyberspace and that is not my thing. I like hands on stuff and relationship but this is a good start to this new season we are in right now. Officially started when we took our first step in Calfornia just a few days ago.

That is my journey right now. TO WALK IT AND TO TALK IT. But like the title says, you can't TALK freedom, you have to WALK freedom. God gave me that title. Is it "Thus sayeth the Lord". Well to me it is. Do I have to speak in first person to help you to see that God is speaking through me to you? Would it add more credibility to this post if I say, "My children I want you to know that you can't talk freedom but you must walk freedom." Come on. Get a grip. The word of God dwells within me and I am walking the message as well as being the messenger. So here goes the blog. Week by week, day by day seeking God for His path to walk this with you into this new season. In the midst of this, we are praying here as to when the timing and position and placing is right to start something of Rivers of Eden right here in the Bay Area. God will show us and we will know and we invite any of you to come to be equipped as the future unfolds before us.

So I am going to focus on FREEDOM right now. The topic will change when the Spirit of God says to change it. Freedom is everywhere. We, as Christians talk about it and sing about it and declare but what I actually see are so many Christians that actually don't believe it. They talk it but don't walk it. So many Christians bound by fear, worry, unbelief doubt and every such thing right as this topic is so prevalent in Christian circles.

I know some people that always tell me to 'Be Free." When they say it I want to cringe because they are so bound and have only been taught to speak it with the right Christianese tone and gestures to look spiritual but are wrapped in grave clothes in their personal walk with the Lord. I believe we are saying things that we truly may not mean. Or perhaps we want to truly mean them but we don't know how to take that first step. Enter Debra Westbrook. My call is FREEDOM. Freedom to walk, to make mistakes, to confront our failures, to fail, to fall, to get up.....let's see. What else? Well, let's see as the weeks go by.

So how to start this? Okay - freedom starts from the INSIDE OUT not from the OUTSIDE IN. It is not what you do but who you are inside. That is why I have avoided using freedom pictures that depict all those people jumping and dancing and such. That is the second step. The first is internal. Internally free in Christ will allow the external to be motivated within you to move out. And you can't just talk it or live it through anyone else. It must come to you to exit through you.

The best verse. The absolute best verse. This freedom verse says it all. No doubt in my mind. Here goes.

Acts 17:28 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, NKJV

There is NO freedom apart from Jesus Christ. None. Know Christ and you have freedom. He is freedom and He is the way, the truth, and the life. In Him is the path of freedom. So to talk freedom is to talk Jesus...........no other way. You walk in Him. Move in Him and have our being in Him. So while the majority of people around you are TRYING TO BE FREE or TALKING TO BE FREE, you my dear ones are simply to walk........in Him. Go ahead. Try it. Walk a little. Step by step. Then extend that foot and dance a little. Then sing a little. Shout a little. But do it IN HIM and WITH HIM as He directs you because when you have nothing to prove, you have nothing to lose. You are free. You just don't know it and perhaps have been living your life through something or someone....................................bad decision. Find Him. Find yourself in Him. And you will be free.

More coming......what a great journey is beginning.

Ready to Run!

2010-11-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in Abu Dhabi and we head to Dubai to fly out on Monday. I am reflecting on how to end this portion of this writing to go on to the next phase of this blog........we are ready to run. I say "we" because I feel that it is time, whether we feel like it or not. It is time. Time to run and not look back on all the stuff. Time to run with grace, in humility but in power and authority. Time to run and I, for one, am ready. I am ready for God to lead the way in all of this and transition us to our next assignment by His Spirit. I am excited about all that there is to write in the coming days - what we have seen and observed and what has been revealed to us over the past 10-20 years of our travels.

Where has the past 10 years or more taken us......I prophesy this out over my life and I pray that you prophesy over yours. Out of the desert and into the nations, the cities, the countries......into your destiny . I will sound like the culmination to the Amazing Race but here goes.......

After 10 years or more and from traveling to these countries where we have lived, visited, prayed, observed, loved, and where we have set our foot on to bring glory to His name..............from the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Netherlands, France, Italy, Poland, Ireland, Switzerland, England, Philippines, Japan, China, Kenya, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Canada, Trinidad.........................and now coming full circle back to California to start a work for the Lord. To build up His kingdom in His glory and to take teams to the nations.

What is your calling? What is your destiny? Prophecy it now and call into existence that which is not as though it were by the Spirit of God and walk by faith and not by sight into your future where all is settled by His hand. You need only to follow Him. I am not doing this to hype anything up. It is time.

I have so much in me to speak to regarding these years of travel and exploration. All that God has put in us regarding His kingdom now and in the coming days. Speaking forth without presumption and without hype, without a need for reputation or honor to our name, we humbly submit to our Savior to carry His truth to a world in chaos and align with His plan and purpose for our lives. How about you?

We end this season with humility and joy, amidst the pain of rejection which has humbled our heart to trust Him. Amidst the pain of grief and loss over the years we look forward to taking off our mourning clothes and put on the joy that has been promised. We look for that city, where the builder and maker is God, serving Him wholeheartedly and with complete abandonment. Having nothing to prove and nothing to lose, we bless and forgive all those who have hurt us purposely and in ignorance, assuming things about us without truly wanting to know our hearts. We in turn ask forgiveness for any thing we ourselves have done and we know that all is under the power of His blood which takes it all and casts it away so that we may walk forward in newness and freshness of purpose and destiny.

I prophecy out to each of you reading this simply to MOVE. MOVE whether it is one step, one inch, one foot, one miles, one nation, one city, one house.......but MOVE and He will indeed walk with you and talk with you. You were not created to exist but to live and move and have your being in Him. Take risks and take the adventure that Christianity has promised as we live in Him. Oh how He is worth it..............how glorious and wonderful He is to call us and choose us for His purpose in the earth today. You were born for such a time as this. Relinquish your throne and allow Him to be Lord over your whole life and see what the future has for you that He holds in His hand.....onward.............to California and to the next season.....come on.......go with me. As a prophet I say..............it is time. NOW.

Harsh Reality - The Desert!

2010-11-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

Nothing is glamorous about the desert. All those pictures we see of sand dunes looking so romantic and real. Palm trees. Oasis. Shifting sands. Camels. In reality, look to your right. This is the desert and this is what I see in part on the way to Dubai from Abu Dhabi....nothing........as far as the eye can see. There are cities on the way that are monotone in color and mosques in white all over the place. But everything just seems to blend in to a whole lot of nothing. Overall, the color of the desert is basically colorless where I live in the UAE. (But I shall only be here for a few more days. Yay!) The color is monotone and drab. The scenery never seems to change. In the summer where temps are easily daily at 45-50C or at least 120F, the heat rises up and there is a haze in the air most times. That is the desert..............

The desert is HARSH REALITY. You can't assume anything or presume anything in these harsh conditions. One can often die in the heat. Water is life here and not to be wasted. These are just facts. In the natural there is no shade. The desert lends itself to a condition whereby you can't hide. In fact, look at that picture again. There is nowhere to hide. That is WHY God puts us into the desert. Some of us go there physically but all of us, hungering for God, go there spiritually. It is the harsh reality of Christian existence. Harsh reality can harden one indeed or................you can look for the beauty in that which is around you. You may have to look hard but you will find it.

This is your picture. My picture. We exist by grace even through the harshest conditions, showing forth God's grace. And we shine through with the beauty of our salvation, both male and female, in the dryest conditions under submission to the One who loves us.

Isa 51:3 3 For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. NKJV

Look to the picture to your right. This one is called “Alone in the Desert”. How appropriate to our condition. Exposed to the dryest and most trying conditions, we live. We don’t just survive folks. We live. Growing. Stretching. Living in the most extreme conditions. We live and not only do we live, we break out to be something that we were not when we entered this place.

Song 8:5 5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? NKJV

Tonight as I sit here in our hotel, waiting to leave the desert in a few days I see that the desert has changed me for good and by His grace. It has been a time where I have learned so much that I will talk about in the days ahead to build you up with a strong love to believe that you are called by God for such a time as this. Do not believe the lies that say anything else.

What else can I say tonight to each of you who blesses me by reading this? My heart is full that I would be so honored by God to suffer so that I may share in His glory. To suffer loneliness, persecution, rejection, trials, afflictions - all during these past few years so that as I, and you, have been stripped down, we arise into the glory of His presence in His grace.

Selah.

A Broad Place of Freedom!

2010-11-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

There is a narrow gate that beckons one to forsake all to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The gate is narrow and when we choose to submit to Him to be set apart for His glory, we do it through an act of our own will. It is true that forced love is no love at all. God is looking for a people who will lay it all down, follow Him into an uncomfortable place, and walk with Him day by day, trusting in Him implicitly. Can I stress this enough? No. Why? Because there is no shortcut and Christianity is not cheap. The blood which was shed by Jesus Christ is precious and costly, bringing us out of death into life.

Something interesting happens when we enter through the narrow gate into our confinement in the wilderness. We begin to blossom in a very dry, dusty, mundane and uncomfortable place. Yet the process between entering the desert and total submission and acceptance to your surroundings, brings one through much trial and error. What is God after in this place? YOU. Interestingly enough, no matter how much you kick, scream, cry out................He sees your heart and only He knows when the time is ready for you to leave. You actually can go anytime you want because He is not forcing you to be here. The entrance is open. We have a free will. The only reason that I kicked and screamed and whined and complained was because I wanted something easier to achieve the same results. Ain't gonna happen baby..................hindsight is definitely better than foresight.

I learned something very important here in this time. So important that it has literally changed me and is continuing to change me from the inside out. FREEDOM. Freedom in the desert. Freedom to dance when no one can see you. Freedom to sing when no one is listening. Props are removed. You have an audience of ONE and He is indeed watching and listening. Why are you doing this all? Inner motives are exposed and left to be examined on the dry dusty sands. It is YOU exposed and naked and transparent in a place where you simply can't hide. And you have chosen this of your own free will. Why? Because you love Him. Selah.

I love this verse and it was always in my mind over these past 3 years.

Psalm 18:19 He also brought me out into a BROAD place. He delivered me because He delighted in me.

I was in a broad place. Not exactly what I expected but it was what God desired for me. This place of confinement was broad and free. It appeared to be restricted in the natural but it is not the natural that God is looking at in you. He is looking deep to see if you can be FREE in your confinement to focus and look at Him. Worship only Him. Dance for only Him. All props removed. Okay.........did I learn this overnight? No way. It took me a few years because I was flat out angry to find myself in this place. So outwardly I went through all the motions. Sort of like a little child that you have just disciplined and he or she says to you "But Mom, I'll be good. I promise. Just let me out of my room and I promise I will be better." Yeah.........right. God sees deep and keeps us in this place even when it hurts. Mothers know that. I am a mother, a grandmother, a woman of God, a Deborah and a Spiritual Mother. I know all the tricks and yet I tried using them myself. :)

This broad place of delight is now IN ME. I can dance when no one is watching. I can sing when no one is listening. For Him and Him alone. A funny thing happens when what God desires is accomplished in you. Suddenly you are dancing and singing and you notice that the scenery begins to shift around you. God sees and knows that you are ready. You are His and even though you may have days of ups and downs, you are His. You are free to go but the desert is inside of you and what you are learning here will be with you all the days of your life. Never forget this time for it is precious and invaluable.

Patience - In the Moment!

2010-10-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like this??? I was looking for the perfect picture for PATIENCE and instead of all the cute sayings.........I found this. The funny thing about this picture is that we once had a Golden Retriever, AJ. Marvin actually would teach AJ to do this and he did. When the time was up, AJ would move his head, flip the biscuit back and catch it in his mouth. AJ had patience to wait for the reward that was inevitably right before his eyes. :)

Now about us, or rather about me and you can relate to this. I am not........patient. (I hear a resounding amen from my husband, family and friends.) But, I am learning to be.

Heb 6:10-12 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. NKJV

Patience, in the wilderness, is something that is essentially learned and imparted into our lives by a wonderful Savior who has all the time in His hands. He is in no hurry and can wait to see that all is accomplished in our lives. We are simply to submit and allow Him to work this in and through our lives. Yet, it is not that easy. Trust me.

Patience is linked to God's timing and the two become worked together as one. God has a timing and patience is required to move in the reality of that timing, not to go ahead or lag behind. It is the perfect scenario of working and walking alongside your Lord. Patience to simply focus on the moment and not think ahead or behind but to trust Him. He is the Master and you are the child. Kind of like the dog up there...............a good Master trains for a purpose and does not withold but gives at the right moment under the right circumstances.

In the wilderness, you should learn to be IN THE MOMENT. Too much hindsight or foresight will drive you crazy because, let's face it, the scenery doesn't change too much. Hot, dry, uncomfortable. :) The moment requires faith and patience to look at only Him and to disregard your peripheral vision, no matter how much it actually calls to you from across the fence or beyond the borders. You must silence all the what ifs, the maybes and all that talk talk talk. Quiet down in the moment and trust.

Looking to the past brings a wide array of fears that somehow or someway you have been disqualified or missing it. Looking to the future will only cause you to miss the journey and actually folks...........God is concerned about the journey and what it is doing in you. Enjoy the journey! I would hear that often while in this place. I hated it. Why? Because I was impatient. Hmmmmmmmm need I say more? Yes. :)

God desires a people finely tuned to His movements - moving when He says to move, being still when He says to be still. The moment focuses on Him and Him alone. Patiences eliminates unnecessary distractions which try to pull you out of the moment. Patience to simply focus, wait and trust that God will do what He says He will do. Again, easier said than done. But hey, I get to write this from my experiences. And to think it only took me 56 years to get to this point. Would have liked to encounter this at 30 but God chose this point in my life so I say "Bring it on Lord. More more more."

Look at this verse. This is an ouch verse when you are focused on what everyone else is doing and all you want is to hear God say "Poor baby. I will release you right now because you asked for it." Nope, instead He says this to our impetulance and anxiety.

John 21:20-22 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me." NKJV

All around there is movement. I envied that for it seemed that I was standing still. But in hindsight once again, I was not. I was actually moving - at His speed, not mind. That required patience.

Let me give an example again. I had such a desire for ministry. I wanted to see this ministry move forward and the indication of this would simply show me how much God loved me and poured out His favor on my life. But it did not happen that way. Instead of moving forth, the promise which was deep inside of me, brought me miles away from my destiny. Happens to a lot of us right? Anyway, this desire to prove myself brought me into such a fleshly desire to have this ministry that my vision was distorted, anger set in, frustration, worry, fear and a whole range of emotions. Ministy defined my life because I had nothing else at that moment. I felt that I had given up so much to follow Him and here I was - without anything in the middle of nowhere. I could not get past the tensionan in me that brought me fear of missing it all. And when I saw others around me moving, that fear intensified. That was the problem........I was looking around me and not at Him. I know that now. I did not know that then.

So what is the deal? Here I sit in Abu Dhabi waiting to leave on Monday to head back to California. I am a bit more patient ( and I say a bit) but a lot wiser. I have allowed the Lord to tame me and yet there still is a sanctified restlessness in me that wants more and yearns for more for my life. I think He likes that a lot........and I can see Him smiling.

Injustice! Ouch!

2010-10-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Okay back to talking about horses........no I am not done yet talking about confinement and being corralled...............I will be within one week. The page turns for us when we arrive back in California on November 8. A new day and a new season. But until then.................

Confinement can either bring out the best in a person or the worst. It is all about how you perceive the journey. The Master takes us on this journey of separation. He calls us apart and He does it with a pure purpose - to capture our heart and to bring it under total submission to His Lordship. One can't quite experience this when one is running here and there, wild and free, untethered and immature. It is when one enters the corral of their own free will that they realize they have just made a decision that will make or break them, most probably both. This time will break you and then make and form you by God's hand. God gives us a free will and we can leave this place any time we want. I personally did not want to leave because deep inside I knew that this was the path that would lead into greater relams of His presence. Greater suffering, greater glory. No matter how hard it got, no matter how many times I threatened to quit, no matter how much pain............I stayed in confinement and that was all by God's grace. In my weakness, He is strong.

In this place of confinement I want to talk about a few things before I go on to another subject in a few weeks.........today I want to deal with injustice. The injustice that I felt was coming at me, being confined, submitted.....in other words, I did not want to be in that place. Kind of like a little child and a mom talking. Goes something like this.

Child: I want to go out and play.
Mom: You can't go out and play.
Child: But I WANT to go out and play.
Mom: You can't go out and play.
Child: But I WANT TO.
Mom: But you can't.........because I said so.

Injustice. All the time I was in this place, as I was dying a slow death, to me it was not fair. It was not fair that others were moving ahead. It was not fair that I was obscure and hidden. Injustice. Simply not fair and there were days when my attitude showed it. I was angry and hurt for so many weeks. And those around me knew it..............I was not pleasant to be around for my family or friends.

In God's sovereignty, I saw that He brought me to this place. But as I looked around and saw others having so much favor in their lives and ministries, I questioned His love for me in what I considered the injustice of my situation. I can relate this to the bridle and saddle going on the horse perhaps..............these are meant to make a horse able to be tamed and ridden but they don't like it at first. And neither did I. I did not like that I could not have my own way. I just did not like it at all. It hurt. That is all I can say. It hurt so much and so deep.

What was God trying to get at in me? Jealousy, submission, trust.....and some other things. I had to come to that place that no matter where I was or what position I was in, I had to trust God and His sovereign plan for my life. I have to say to each of you that I truly felt inside that I was a radical Christian, sold out for Jesus, knowledgeable in the Word, passionate and wholeheartedly in love with Him. But as I spent time in this wilderness place, I saw that I really did not know what was inside of me. And it is in this place, that what is inside of you truly comes out. Why are we surprised anyway? Who ever said that we were perfect? I was, and I say was, an angry, insecure woman..........in fact let me end with this.

While in this place, God spoke clearly to me one day and simply said this........strong and clear with the voice of a good Father........

"Debra..................do you want to be a Woman of God or a little girl all you life?"

My answer was clear. I want to be a Woman of God. Okay God....................lead on.

Nothing to Prove, Nothing to Lose!

2010-10-28T03:19:00.000-07:00

Sitting here, doing nothing at the moment, looking out the window in Abu Dhabi, and wondering what to write. How good God is - I heard some great words of wisdom.

"When you have nothing to prove, you have nothing to lose."

Several people have said this to me over the years. When one is in a season of separation by God's hand, one chooses to suffer loss. Choosing to let go. Choosing to fade into the background for as long as the Lord wants so that He is glorified in our lives. I don't hear that preached much today. And if it is preached, quite often it is preached as mere words without substance. Those who truly preach this truth, will walk this truth to bring forth this truth with power. The Body of Christ is in need of much discipline, must like a child needs to be spanked by a good father. I see it coming.

Paul said it best:

Phil 3:7-11

7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. NKJV

What is it I see? I see so many people trying to prove something to someone - trying to prove there is revival, trying to prove themselves, their ministry, their reputation...........trying to prove something, anything - for what? Jesus says to find your life, you have to lose your life. It seems to me that most people want to bypass some steps in their walk with God yet reap the benefits.

I don't want to prove anything anymore. I just want to follow Him in submission and humility and with grace as oil flowing down the path that He chooses for me. I am forsaking the fear of man for the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. And at the same time, I don't want to respond any more to people always trying to prove something...........................why would I respond right? That would mean I would just join the ranks of trying to prove something to them.......let God do it and let me walk in the anointing that He has for me. I am concerned at the lack of discernment that I see in the Body of Christ and the lack of wisdom and so much more, chasing after one thing and another. I say no. To who? To me and to those I mentor. I say no..................seek God not man. Seek God...........not man.

So where did this come from today? Why am I writing this? In this place of confinement, I am discerning that which is real from that which is false. I am separating the precious from the vile. Watching and observing. I am not released to talk about certain things yet for they are still between God and me and I am seeking the mind of Christ. For those who are anointed to shake things in the coming days, we will indeed be bringing down more golden calves that the Body of Christ is accepting as Christianity but is indeed just more hype, preaching a Gospel that is not Christ centered but man centered.

In this place of confinement, our spiritual senses are HEIGHTENED. They are indeed. You know that old expression..........I could hear a pin drop in a crowded room. That's it folks. Sometimes I hear things and they just don't sound right. They appear to be right but they don't sound right to my inner man. I see things that by outward appearances look right but they aren't right and in my secret place, they conflict with what I know to be true. How am I learning this and how can you learn this? There are no formulas and no quick short cuts..................intimacy with the Lord. Allowing Him to love you, rebuke you, chastise you, anoint you, and so much more.

I would not trade this time in the desert for anything........not anything for they have been glorious for me. I am strong and clear and focused right now. I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I am like that horse that Bill Britton talked about......I am waiting and watching My Master and My Lord and until He says "GO!" I wait.

Selah.

Ready to Run...................Not Yet!

2010-10-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

Ready to run........hmmmmmmmm I bet you are. I bet we all are but not quite yet. I am going to keep posting on this wilderness thing for at least 2 more weeks. Why? Well we are transitioning our move away from Abu Dhabi back to the San Francisco Bay Area and I feel that I must write about this while I am still here in Abu Dhabi. Then when I leave this area, I will move onto a new topic which, of course, will be just as interesting because I am thoroughly enjoying this. Thank you for reading this. By the way, before I write more today, please keep us in prayer about whether we are supposed to start a 'work' in California...........a gathering place for Rivers of Eden to advance the kingdom. Onward to write about today. :)

I once heard this statement: God does not call the qualified but qualifies the called. Perfection is only found in Christ Jesus and we are in Him so it goes to figure that we are being perfected along this journey but.....we are not there yet and we work out our salvation day by day. That includes times of testing that hold great relevancy to where exactly God is taking us. We don't always see it when we are IN IT but we actually don't need to. We just need to trust. Trust Him 100%.

The wilderness............hot, dry, lonely, uncomfortable, irritable, anxious, fearful, angry, unforgiving - you choose one or more of the above to describe the emotions you deal with at any given moment. These are being drawn up and out of you and me as we are in this place of confinement. Hey, it is just flat out uncomfortable in this place. In this place, we are exposed to the elements within ourselves. The elements of various emotions or bondages that need deliverance in order for us to walk in a greater level of wholeness and healing. We are being conformed to the image of Christ and He is perfecting us to carry greater weights of His glory.

What else is the wilderness for? So that we come out looking better? No.....................so that He comes out looking better..........IN US and THROUGH US.

The called are qualified in this time and season. We all will endure this time and willingly walk through this time if we are going to carry His glory and walk in greater anointing and authority. There is NO bypassing this no matter how hard we try. He alone qualifies the called with His sovereign plan for each and everyone of us. You me and whoever is willing to enter this fire will see that in order to share His glory we must share His sufferings. Greater sufferings qualify us for greater glory. We will never bypass the cross being worked through our life. Never. So on to something personal that perhaps you can each relate to in this blog. At least I hope so.

My pain, my time. I discovered I did not really trust God. I could quote Scripture. I could revel in the amount of prophecies that had been spoken over me. I could even be a leader but................to bring my trust level up, God separated me to show me that He is faithful and He is enough. He did this in the wilderness for me. I had a plan for my Christian life and I was intent to work my plan..........my way. Thank you Lord! God had another way and because I love Him, I walked His way. Not always with ultimate submission but at least I walked. I was scared.

I can remember times of 'bottoming out' when conflict and tension arose from aligning my expectations into His reality for my life. My expectations and desires simply had to die, sometimes a slow painful death. I had to come face to face with my biggest fear. What was it? That God would simply pass me by. That I was unqualified to be placed into my destiny and purpose. This thought drove me into deep weeks of discouragement where I was surrounded by the devil's lies as he tried hard to make me believe this in many different ways. I was surrounded by a cloud of lost hope and lost dreams and darkness. I walked in a fog for a long time, confined while I saw others passing me by day by day. It hurt and I can still feel the pain right now as I write this but I am doing this for you. Those were lies which I no longer believe. God is faithful. For me and for you.

God never let up. He kept asking me that simple question. "Am I enough?" Each time I answered Him, more seemed to be stripped away from my life. I was indeed being qualified in my call by God, not by man.

There were days, during this time, of deep intercession when the cry of my heart was not verbalized but came forth through a deep groaning in my Spirit. "What do You want from me Lord?" I remember weeks on end crying this out. A river of tears came forth in this time which was opening up a well of life in me.

In answer to the question...."What do You want from me Lord?"

He said "I want YOU!"

Selah

Single Eye!

2010-10-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

While corralled and constrained by God's hand, one is apt to lose focus unless one purposes in their heart to focus on Him and Him alone. Easier said than done.

Frustration, rebellion, emotional outbursts of anger, unforgiveness, contention, strife - all of these which lie down deep within all of us suddenly come forth. They were hidden if not for the place of confinement which created the perfect scenario for them to come forth and be displayed in order to be repented of and healed within us.

How to say more? My spirit is full right now and I want to say this right but I will forsake perfection and just speak from my heart. When you are confined by God's hand, there will be times when everything outside the corral seems to be better then what you are seeing inside your place of confinement.

But, you see, your sense of confinement, when placed in perfect submission unto the Lord, will actually be your place of perfection and breakthrough.

It is in this place that God hones our peripheral vision away from that which surrounds us, away from comparison and jealousy, and away from looking outside to looking within. Focus on Him and Him alone. Trust in Him and Him alone that He knows where you are, where He has placed you, and what His intentions and purpose for you are in your current place of confinement. Again, easier said than done. Do I have an amen? LIstening..................listening. There I heard it from some of you. I look in hindsight with great wisdom but while going through this the scenario in my life went something like this.

Example: Place a stubborn rebellious 2 year old in a place of confinement as a time of discipline and what does he or she do. Well, I guess it depends on the 2 year old. I was strong willed and rebellious so I threw things, cried, pleaded, begged and even stripped down my bed to nothing one day.......just to get out. But, alas, I did not. So what eventually happened? After much fanfare and outward displays of emotion, I simply submitted to the place I was in and calmed down. My focus was then turned to the room at hand. I guess I must have thought "Okay I am not getting out of here right now so I better must make the best of this." Looking focused on what was at hand allowed me to make use of the time in my confinement.

Now that may seem silly but it is true. Simple and true. A horse that is to be used mightily must learn to be content in the corral and not fight their place of confinement. The restlessness for greater things must die within. The presumptions of what if or what else is there must fall by the wayside. Jealousy over those passing by must fade and all sense of competition must die until.........................you are single eyed on the ONE who alone holds the key to your release.

Then one day, when you least expect it, when you are enjoying this place of confinement so much that nothing matters any more, God knows He has your heart. When that happens, suddenly the gate is opened and the Master calls to you to come forth to follow Him and serve Him wherever He leads you.

Confined, Corralled, Constrained!

2010-10-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

Confined, corralled, constrained. There is a time where we are subdued by the hand of the Lord. In this time, we must submit with our heart willingly and obediently to His hand. You cannot bypass this step if you long to serve the Lord. Those who are destined to move In Him will be confined, corralled and constrained by His hand for a season.

Bill Britton in his article - "The Harness of the Lord" says this:

"God is dealing with inward rebellion of our wills which must be brought into absolute and complete surrender to the will of our Lord."

What can I say about this time in my life? I am sure if you are reading this, you also have a distinct testimony of your time of constraint. It is not a pleasant time while you are going through, but in hindsight, I would not have it any other way. During this time, my flesh was so strong and my pain was so great. The tension pulled me between two places. With all my heart I wanted to submit but with all my heart I did not want to submit. I wanted the process to be easier that it was so I could join the "mix" - those I saw all around me moving forward, seemingly oblivious to the pain I found myself in and the process I found myself in. God got down to the distinct motives of my heart not letting anything go. What others could seemingly do, I could not. Not only could I not do what I wanted, I could not justify or explain why it seemed that I was forsaken and forgotten with no anointing and no plan in my life. I sat in silence many times, moving around the corral with fury and vengeance, wanting out at any moment.

I would even pretend that I wholeheartedly accepted this place but God saw deep into my heart. The words that I was speaking did not match up with what was going on inside of me. There was an inward rebellion that I justified in so many ways and questioned in so many other ways. I wanted out as quickly as possible.

But as the years went by, I did not get out. The promises seemed dim and forgotten and my hope started to wane to the point of losing hope. The corral seemed like a prison to me and a place of pain and sorrow. I wanted out.

Every time I started to compare myself to those outside of this place I found myself in, I lost hope. I saw people running to conferences, moving forward in networking and ministry, going at a breakneck speed and then smiling at me as they went by. Many times I tried to stop those walking or running by my corral and tried to explain some things to them.

I would shout "Hey how are you? I am called. I am chosen. Oh this is just a short time for me......wait I will join you shortly." They would keep walking and ignore that simple fact that I was anointed of God for His purpose. Here I was - just a nobody, a horse in a corral that was going nowhere and quite plain.

But God.........................He saw things a little differently. My loss over the years of 2008 and 2009 was a loss of self-confidence and human effort to fulfill a supernatural purpose and destiny. My place of confinement was boring, simple, and so mundane. Each day I fought to get out and each day God kept me in that place of confinement. I mean, let's face it, I could have walked out. There was no keeping me there except my love to submit and obey. I could have also promoted myself and joined the 'mix' of people that seemed to be going somewhere but when push came to shove, despite all the pain and suffering to my flesh and my life, I stayed in the corral.

Why? Because I am a spiritual giant?? No. I simply knew that there were no shortcuts to a walk of wholehearted abandonment and surrender to God. To live in His increase and His, you must die to your life and lose it. So I stayed with one eye on the outside and one eye on God........I stayed and I waited. My focus was still divided but that would change over time.

For deep inside of me, I loved God with all that was in me. I had a seed of hope that I had to believe in - that He had not forgotten me and that there was coming a day where a breakthrough and a breakout would come.

But in the process, I had to learn to keep my eyes focused on Him and Him alone. Not easy but oh so so worth it.

The Harness of the Lord!

2010-10-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

Horses, horses, horses - I am thinking about them all the time. Seabiscuit (the movie) makes me cry as I feel it shows me a lot about the breakthrough of Rivers of Eden in God's timing. He was truly a broken horse that united a nation in the midst of the Great Depression.

Then there is the new movie Secratariat which I truly want to see. But instead of writing today, I have a favor to ask you. Read something and then I will write more tomorrow. Will you do that for me? It will truly bless you. I assure you of that. And if you have read this, read it again.

The Harness of the Lord
by Bill Britton
http://tinyurl.com/3xdtgry

Read it with yourself in mind and cry, smile, and see God speaking to you in this article.

Then tomorrow more things on horses, being harnessed for His glory, times of confinement - so much good stuff. All our wilderness adventures coming alive in a blog. My mom used to say that I got bored easy and how right she was. I am easily bored and had to be tamed by God's hand to submit in every situation He put me in whether I liked it or not. It worked. I whine and complain less and less each day. But oh God...........now my sanctified boredom is always trying to think creatively and out of the box. How dearly I want that in my Christian walk. So read this - Please!!!!! And check back tomorrow.

People have been writing me to say how much they like reading this. Thanks..........from the bottom of my heart, thanks. I have opened up this blog for anyone to comment on it at the bottom below this, I believe.

Where is this taking me? I am not sure but I sense in my spirit it is taking me down a path that is leading to our breakthrough. The nations are in my womb as my friend Pat tells me. We want to reach people and touch people............from home groups to churches.

But for right now, here I sit in Abu Dhabi. Could not go to Marks and Spencer yesterday so off I go today. See you..........

Read read read..............please???

Later..........................

Go Beyond Borders!

2010-10-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

Each day God gives me something to write about. I have determined to follow the anointing of where God is leading. That is important and essential to our walk. Follow where He leads, not where you want Him to lead. In years past, I somehow felt that I must secure a spiritual prophetic position to impart by saying "Thus saith the Lord" or somehow to be added to some prophetic network or list, etc. to be part of the mix or gain credibility. Yet recently God is telling me to get out of any boundaries (even in the current prophetic environment) and invade the world with myself. What is in me, who is in me - He comes out so well in the midst of confrontation with the world's systems. So each day I look and listen and observe to see where God is moving and how He is speaking to me so that He may speak through me.

This writing is not started with any hype to try to prove I hear God by hyping up any surperlative language to make you want to read. I pray you do read and that you discern God is speaking through me as He wants to speak through you, in fresh and new and creative ways.

I woke up in Abu Dhabi this morning about 7 am. We live in the middle of a city of a million people, traffic, mosques, noise. Just felt compelled to have some coffee and watch CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera.................so I did. I am a Christian with a brain, and a spirit that is alive in Christ. I use it. I am not afraid to hear that which contradicts what I believe. I love it for I love confrontation. I know I have what the world needs. The question is "How do I make them see that?" Well I have to go beyond borders.

I kept hearing CNN's catchy phrase "Go Beyond Borders!" So that is my phrase for the day as they may have been speaking it but God was speaking through them to me. Go beyond borders!

That's a big statement to make for anyone. They claim to do that but they can't for they are of this world and are constricted by this world. We, as Christians, are not. We must have a Kingdom View or we will get swept up in the prevailing climate of fear and trepidation that is taking over the world. The world is like a house of cards - one little wind and it is going to crumble down. What will you do?

Now back to the statement. "Go beyond borders". You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. You are to set your mind on things above not on things of this earth. You are a person, as a Christian, of living physically in one realm while living in Christ in heavenly places. You are beyond borders. So why do we live like we are confined and constrained by the world's demands and dictates. Go beyond borders - soar in the Holy Spirit, see things as God sees things, hear things as God hears things, prophecy, live, love, challenge, confront, move, shake, disrupt, agitate......................that is LIFE.

Let fear go. Let anxiety go. Let apathy go. Let confusion go. In the name of Jesus. Wake up and move. It is time. Just move a little and go beyond the borders of your confinement and live in Christ. Don't ask me how. Ask Him and follow as He leads you out of yourself and into greater realms in Him. :)

See ya! Waiting for our car to come back from the shop so I can go to Marks and Spencer....quite British you know in Abu Dhabi......................:)

Cracked Glass and Distorted Vision!

2010-10-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

Okay I am keeping you on the edge............radical! :) Changed the picture to the other side. What will she do next? I am in a good mood this morning, smiling and filled with joy - listening to Fred Hammond and just dancing and praying. Selling all our stuff as we leave the Emirates in one month to head back to California (the Bay Area) and our next assignment from the Spirit.

So on to today - what to say? Cracked glass and distorted vision. I lived in a PROTECTED PARADIGM and so do you probably. A paradigm that protects us in a sphere of comfortability - until God listens to a cry that comes from our Spirit one day - MORE LORD!

Then He smiles and begins to bring about a sanctified destruction of our life to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. Ouch - it hurts! But how worth it. Rather than tell you about all the pain and destruction that I have been through in my life, I am choosing righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I will speak forth that which will bring glory to Him through my broken distorted life that He filled, healed and made whole.

I have been in the desert physically and spiritually for about 3 years now, traveling between living in Finland and the Emirates. Both are deserts in their own ways and both changed my life. As I lived day by day, wondering, through all the stuff, where exactly was God and what was He doing, I realized that my paradigm was shifting through a massive earthquake, until it began to crack right in front of my eyes. All that I thought I could count on, I realized was shifting and shaking all around me. Props falling before my eyes. I lost friends. I had no ministry. I was separated from family and home. Physical attacks constantly barraged me. I fell into bouts of depression with great spiritual warfare. As Marvin and I were both going through this at the same time, God also saw fit to separate us at times for several months. (I am not talking about our marriage. That is excellent and intact. ) He stayed and worked in the Emirates and I lived in Finland attempting to minister as the Spirit led us as a team. Wow - such pain in Finland but that is another story. We were both 'going through'.

Now my comfortable paradigm of Christianity was laid open and bare and cracking before my eyes - my vision was distorted and I saw just like that picture of that glass above. I was humbled as God began to reveal how little I knew. Western Christianity has the uncanny ability to form you into its image - the conferences, the images of a diluted God, the books. the distortion, the materialism and on and on. We get wrapped up in a paradigm of seeing Christianity through a distortion. God led me overseas to develop a Kingdom World View with Jesus Christ as the center of my life and my universe.

Living in the Emirates alongside over 125 nations represented here, assumption is deadly and presumption will humiliate you. My paradigms were shaken the moment I left the apartment - language, dress, weather, Islam, Arabs from all over the Middle East, Europeans, Russians, Asians......whew.........it was enough to keep you inside for the day. :) But ones gotta eat!

I read newspapers that exposed me to politics from India, Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa and all over. I talked to people from so many nations. We had Muslims eat at our table and share with us their lives and their religion. There is so much more and I loved it all. I want to come back and minister in the Middle East as God opens doors.

Paradigms cracking little by little. So what to do? I had an idea from a simple verse of Scripture. All this variety, culture, world view, religion, opinions, belief systems can either make or break you. Tolerance is not a word in my vocabulary. I believe that word is demonic. I am not tolerant but asked the Lord to clear my vision to begin to truly see through a new paradigm.............one where the cross took center stage.....slowly it did! I lived this verse day by day....

1 Cor 2: 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. NKJV

I saw Him - everywhere. I heard Him - everywhere. Not behind walls of comfortability but through love and grace and faith - not tolerance or ignorance. I challenged people with my faith - was accepted and rejected. I walked in the midst of Mosques going off and people rushing in malls to prayer times. I got up at 4 in the morning and awakened the dawn as the Mosque call went off. I loved it all. I can say that now.

Hmmmmmmmmm I see Marvin smiling when he reads this...................I did not always say that or believe that but hindsight is of great benefit to me.

More tomorrow.

Christians are not called to opt out as ostriches hiding their head in the sand. Get out there. He is real and He can handle all of it for He sits on the throne now and forever more.

Baca - Weeping, Tears, Cleansing!

2010-10-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

Ps 84:5-7 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion. NKJV

Any type of moving forward out of your past into healing, requires that you walk through God ordained valleys of remembrance. Not to stay there of course but to keep walking. In those times there are tears, sanctified water that proceeds from the innermost part of your being to cleanse, renew and restore.

I experienced lots of that in those years of 2008 and 2009. Called as a prophet, I had to walk though tears, releasing all anger, bitterness, self-pity, control, unforgiveness - need I say more? Just add to the list for yourself. What is God cleansing you from? Indeed, what has gone in you from years of life must come out some way. Aren't tears, real tears, better than all the rest of unsanctified emotions such as anger and unforgiveness? It is all worth it to walk into a sense of freedom and wholeness. Trust me. It truly is. And God is wiling to walk with you through these times for a greater glory awaits you in days ahead. But, you can't bypass these moments of releasing sorrow. Releasing guilt. Releasing shame. BUT neither can you stay there. I continually see people that define themselves by their shame and their pain rather than His healing and His freedom. I saw so much of that in Finland in my years of living there. A constant introspection of oneself is never healthy and is not wise. I saw depression in Finland take on a whole new meaning. I love Finland but I actually saw numerous people choose depression rather than prayer for wholeness because some definition of life was better than releasing it all to walk in Him. I did not want to be like that - I am a warrior and I don't want to stand in the midst of where I am but to walk in what is new, even though it kills me off in the process. Are you?

Releasing lost hopes, dreams that never materialized, false expectations, lies and every such thing came through my tears. I personally knew that my testing was extreme and hard for me. My tears became a sign of obedience and submission to His ways even when I had to walk through pain and misunderstanding.

The glory that is here and is coming is the person of Christ Jesus. Christ in you the hope of glory will dwell in vessels that are cleansed and free. Not perfect of course but perfect in His wholeness.

Again personal recounting on my part. Lost in a time of weeping and crying for months on end, I was tired of crying. It seems that was all I did for so long. And please know this...........as many of my friends can tell you, I am not a crier in the natural. But tears flowed in me and through me as I kept walking. I would cling to the hem of His garment and just cry trusting Him to secure my destiny and my future as He walked me through my need for healing and cleansing in Him.

Cleansing brings great joy - supernatural joy from the Holy Spirit. That was what I had to walk through - tears. Not tears of self-pity but tears that held the weight of His glory in each one for each tear signified a release of my way into His way and His way alone.

So much for the wilderness..............not easy but worth it.

One more thing for today. When I cried, God would hold me accountable for my tears - were they real or contrived? Let me explain. Real tears come from the pit of your belly without justification - lots of pain though as you truly look at yourself in the light of His glory. I was not feeling sorry for myself during these times. I was in deep pain and did not see a way out but God showed me a way through - one way.

The Valley of Baca became a place of pools of living water for me - my tears. I walked through this time, birthing a testimony in my life of forgiveness but I walked and so can you. I walked from strength to strength but I walked............so keep walking and don't stop. Or if you truly can relate to what I am saying - then rejoice for your personal testimony will be used to heal many.

Later.......................:)

Pour Water On It! Coming Through the Tunnel (Out of the Cave)

2010-10-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

Okay so let me speak about 2008 and 2009 for awhile in this blog. I don't want to relive the past or be stuck in a rut but stay with me. I am going somewhere. The future gives me more definition when I see where I came from.In other words, each step of where I walked has brought me out - out into a clearer reality of who I am in Him. When all is said and done, the future awaits us and beckons us to come out of the cave and get free from the tunnel. So for those of you who are reading this.......you are out there right? Okay for those reading this, bear with me as I look back at where we came from to see where we are going. Makes sense to me.

I feel out............of the cave, of the tunnel, of the grave. Now the outward manifestations of being out are not easily apparent to me yet I know I am out and getting ready to venture forth into our calling and destiny as Rivers of Eden. How do I know? By the Spirit. As we pray and wait on God in times of intimacy and worship, He is speaking to us in dreams, visions, and revelation. I move forth by faith on what is not seen to get me to the place to where what is seen is manifested.

The Word proves that to be true. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Also it says that we walk by faith and not by sight. There is more but why don't you look up these verses by yourself. Then they can indeed settle into the foundation of your life, as they have mine.

So back to my thought. I see by faith that I am out of the tunnel and out of my dark night of the soul, which lasted intensely throughout most of 2008 and 2009. Those were years, as I have heard from many, of great trials, persecution, humiliation for the remnant. Many of us were lied about, slandered, gossipped about struggled through intense times. God was so silent during those times at the same time the enemy was constantly accusing me with lies and intimidation. BUT I DID NOT CAVE. :) I am still standing. Yay!

Some of us struggled with health issues. We also struggled with a loss of faith to a certain degree, discouragement and even depression. Hey I feel that I am just telling it like it is. I have decided that after all this time I just want to speak out this truth that is forming in me through experience.

The dark night of the soul left me silenced in the face of all that I went through. There was no defense on my behalf as people lied about us, called us all kinds of things. I am not exaggerating here. I did not let anyone know about this except a small group of trusted friends because in the silence facing my accusers, I had great strength imparted to me from the Lord. I learned to trust Him when I could not hear Him and to follow His voice when I could not see where I was going. It was all so good for me.

So what about you? Do you think I am writing this just to complain or bring glory to myself? No I am not. But you must know that we were 'going through' in some intense years. Along this path, the devil was so busy causing confusion and chaos around us. I called out to God and cried out to Him and all I could see at times was His gaze. But let me say, that I went a long time not sensing His manifest presence or hearing any particular word for me. But I walked by faith and not by sight.

Let me give you an example and then I will call it a day. The story in Kings about Elijah on Mount Carmel. Do you remember it? Well, remember that God told Elijah to pour water on the sacrifice and to keep pouring. He got that sacrifice so wet that there was no way that anything could have been set on fire except by God. And God came through. God had Elijah face an impossible situation just so that He could come through for him and show His glory. Pour water on it became my buzz words for these years.

Further explaining - stay with me. I felt like I had nothing - no life, no ministry. I felt that I was hidden and obscure and no one knew I was even alive. And one day in the midst of feeling lost and forgotten, an opportunity came my way to 'come out' via a ministry invitation.I smiled and I showed signs of hope. Here was some release from my cave. When, suddenly, I heard the Lord say "Debra, pour water on it!" I knew that the Lord meant - let this go. Pouring water meant, to me, that I was releasing the only thing I had at that time to even feel like I was called to do anything for Him. I faced the impossible. Without the Lord I was nothing and had nothing and this command was not making me feel any better. Pour water on it. I was pouring water on my desires and watching them fade away and trusting that the only way I would be moved out and up would be by His fire from heaven on the sacrifice of my life. Then He,and He alone would get glory from my life.

The Lord was saying to me "Let this go. Even though it looks like all you have to give you a measure of definition. Let it go.But...............as you pour water on your desires and you see them fade into oblivion, I will come through for you in My timing and My way."

So what happened? I turned it down and obeyed the Lord. I then looked around me and what did I have? Not much in the natural but I kept on walking despite great discouragement. I kept walking. I held onto the promise that when God moved me forth out of this time, He alone would get all honor and glory from my life. My life became His and each time a good idea came up to get me out of this dark time, I poured water on it and stayed in the fire and waited for Him. I focused on Him and looked at Him and here I stand.

What do I have? Him. I have deep in me a destiny and purpose that beats within me. I have a dream that was imparted to me from the throne of God of where my life will go..........He is faithful.

But so important is that I have found myself again. I found myself by losing myself in those years of 2008 and 2009. I lost my need for vindication. I lost my need to understand everything and to have my life all lined up the way I want it to go. I learned to forgive over and over and over, even when it hurt so much inside. I learned to love in a new way. A real love, not a corrupted love as I see so much around me.

There is more coming but let me take a breath and smile, leaving you now, knowing that God has indeed done a good work in my heart.

What comes into the light, is untouchable by the enemy. Truth is light and truth is Jesus Christ. So the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy........................amen and amen.

Silence Speaks Louder Than Words!

2010-10-13T02:02:00.000-07:00

I read this quote while at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi one day. I did not get all of who the author was but thought you would enjoy this. Let me tell you what it says.

"It is very hard to live with silence. The real silence is death and this is terrible. To approach this silence, it is necessary to journey to the desert. You do not go into the desert to find identity but to lose it, to lose your personality, to become anonymous. You make yourself void. You become silence. You must become more silent than the silence that surrounds you. And then something extraordinary happens. YOU HEAR SILENCE SPEAK." Edmond J.

Okay what to say now? Selah may be an appropriate word. Chew on this. Take the meat and spit out the bones. We can hear God in anyway He chooses to speak. Meditate on this. Think on this. Most of the hungriest people I know are coming out of the desert with nothing but Him. He is enough. They have heard in the silence the sound of their Lord. Silence does speak and it speaks when we decrease so that He increases in us. I am not trying to be eloquent or so cutting edge as to defy reality. I am simply saying that when I quieted down, He spoke from the silence that surrounded my life. When the tension in me decreased and I relinquished all to Him, He imparted to me His mind, His heart and His wisdom. The silence was good for me. The desert was good for me. In fact, I have to share something with you. I am a little concerned about leaving the UAE to come back to the States. My faith in Jesus is challenged and more alive in the midst of Islam than in the midst of Western Christianity. This is true for me. But in obedience I follow so America here we come.

I followed Him here into the desert along with others that had gone before me - Jesus, Paul, John, Jacob, Naomi, Ruth, Moses - the list goes on and on. They all faced a time when all they had in them was simply not good enough. They were pared down and stripped down in the midst of the monotone sound of the desert, the mundane colors of the sand. In that place, they looked and Moses saw the burning bush, Jacob saw His ladder, Ruth found her way.........they all found someone, not something. They found Him. Out of this experience did not come form or structure but relationship, trust, dependency and a wholehearted love for the ONE who called to them to follow Him into a place where silence speaks and to lose themselves they would actually find themselves.

Selah............more coming. Keep reading. Let's journey together. My hope is for you to find more of Him and less of yourself.

Obedience - Simple?

2010-10-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

Obedience - a word constantly spoken and of great importance in the kingdom BUT............... Simple obedience. Is it that simple? Our flesh cries out constantly to be satisfied and babied and catered to in every way. We are so easily offended in the Body of Christ and want our way. Case closed.

Yet............simple obedience is a simple command with great rewards - maturity being one of them.

Simplicity brings you into the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ. He stands before you - invites you to walk with Him, talk with Him. Simplicity can't be learned from afar but from near Him.

Remember what Mary said "Whatever He says to you, do it!" So just do it. But to just do it, you should remember that you must hear His voice, not yours and walk in His ways, not yours. Now is it so simple? Yes for someone who has relinquished their throne and allows Jesus to be Lord of your life. It is that simple. Not always easy but always worth it.

The simplicity of obedience strips us of our wisdom through trials, persecutions, and even outright humiliation which the Lord allows to get our attention. We are brought down to the moment. The future is found in the steps of obedience we take each day as we hear His voice and have relationship with Him. The past is lost in His love, forgiveness and mercy.

And the present is secure in knowing that He is enough. Why do I keep saying that to you? Well, because it is true. If you can't see it now you will. When the storms of life surround us, and there is nothing left to cling to, we cling to Him and then lovingly He looks at us and says " I am enough for you."

The simplicity of hearing His voice and following it can be fearful at times if you have trust issues or fear of failure or even fear missing your destiny. This is all a lie from the devil. Let me say that again. It is a lie, okay? Start today listening and obeying. Don't be so complicated and don't live your life through anyone else. Live through Him and in Him and with Him. Obedience brings you into the simplicity of adventure with your Lord. Into amazing things that await you when you turn your life wholly over to Him.

Now my journey........2008 and 2009 were the hardest years of my life and as I have heard from many, they may have also been hard for you. So let's talk about what happened over the next few weeks as I share with you the clash of kingdoms that went on in me so that I would relinquish my throne so that He can occupy the throne of my life being Lord and King.

Then..........after all is said and done, I may proceed on to the next subject. I love this blog. Do you? Hope so because it is making me very free and very happy.

Out of Intense Complexities, Intense Simplicities emerge!

2010-10-10T02:28:00.000-07:00

"Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge." Winston Churchill

How true this is! This quote grabbed me when I saw it. When all is said and done, and the dust settles, every knee will bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the midst of the complexities of life, our refuge is in Him. It is Him alone by Holy Spirit that navigates us through the raging waters of life. It is His light, His life, and His truth. He is drawing us to an intense simplicity in Him to weave our way through the coming days by His Spirit. It is best that we learn NOW how to make life simple and enjoy the journey for it is going to get rough out there.

Aha - here is another quote I like. Perhaps she is not so famous but her source is awesome.

"Rivers of Eden is a catalyst of truth to a world in Chaos." God to Debra Westbrook

The essence of Christianity is a simple reality. Jesus Christ. We live in a world in chaos and intensity. Simplicity wins out every time. Simplicity pairs our life down to simple truth. To presume that we know anything apart from Christ is ridiculous for without Him we can do nothing.

He says it best.

1 Cor 1:20-22 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. NKJV

Simplify! Simplify! Simplify! That is all God has told us for years now and I believe we are getting it so I am now speaking it forth. There is chaos surging throughout all the world today - wars and rumors of wars, intense weather patterns, new diseases. I have decided not to opt out in fear, worry, or anxiety for despite everything ..........it will not get better but His glory shall arise on us, in us and through us. Can't get any better than this. In chaos we shall find ourselves in the eye of the perfect storm. Amen and amen.

The more complex the world gets, the intense simplicity of the reality of the cross will quickly become more and more apparent. The simplicity that our salvation is indeed grand and awesome. The simplicity that we are seated in heavenly places and live supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. The practical implications of simplicity worked through our lives will be a courageous, fearless warrior that will stand in an uncompromising love for their Savior. This Christian will be formed to move by the Spirit, live in the Spirit - living a life sold out for Christ, supernaturally natural. They are in the making as I speak. I am one of them. Are you?

Nothing impresses me anymore but Him and I want to follow Him wherever He leads. So out of the complexity of life I have found peace and simplicity - in Him.

Ps 19:14 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. NKJV

I mean what I say and I say what I mean. Thanks for reading. I love what the Lord is doing in me as I write this. May you be blessed.

I Am Not Impressed!!!

2010-10-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here it is. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai. I have seen it quite often over the past few years as we live in Abu Dhabi which is a little over one hour away. God prompted me to take this picture of the Burj Khalifa. So I took this one awhile back while shopping in Dubai. I stood next to this building, which is the tallest building in the world, I looked up, I stared, I gazed. I guess I thought I should be impressed. Ho-hum! I was not.

It is supposed to be so iconic, so magnificent, so awe inspiring. That is all we hear here. We hear SUPERLATIVE words all the time to describe what is going on here. Words such as BIGGEST, BEST, AWESOME, MAGNIFICENT, LUXURY, PRICELESS. This nations thrives on SUPERLATIVES to describe all this man made stuff. Yet we are not impressed. Who cares right?

Well, God does. He sent us here to teach us to NOT be impressed - with iconic structures, Arab millionaires, luxury sport cars that cruise by us constantly on the roads, and money money money. I am not impressed. We see money, power and greed jockey for an earthly dominance in a nation that is intent on proving its superiority in the world today. I am not impressed. What does impress me? What does astound me? What do I marvel at?

I am not impressed with anything or anyone except our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the SUPERLATIVE LIVING WORD in my LIFE that surpasses the glory that man tries to achieve in this world. There is no one like our God. I have learned that here surrounded by so many mosques. so much of Islam, so much wealth, so much reputation..........and so little life.

My faith has been challenged to grow and expand each time I hear the sound of the mosque cry out. I cry out with SUPERLATIVE statements such as "There is no God but Jehovah! Jesus you are magnificent and awesome and filled with glory and wonder!"

He is the only ONE that impresses me. I have been raised up in the desert, stripped of so much, with no reputation, no big ministry, no great wealth to discover that He is enough. My superlative God. He is enough.

Everything pales in comparison to Him and Him alone. I will never be the same after our stint in the Middle East. The desert has been good for me. Now I am ready to come out to serve my King with a SUPERLATIVE attitude of praise and worship as we are called to the nations of the earth. \

So back to the Burj Khalifa.....................when you've seen one tall building, you've seen them all. Have I said it enough? I am not impressed!

Clarity

2010-10-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

Focus on simplicity and clarity. After I wrote the blog yesterday called Pared Down, I left the apartment in Abu Dhabi to drive to Al Wahda Mall to go to Starbucks ( where I am having the best time with the Lord). Stopped at a traffic light, God prompted me to look up. He wanted to speak to me. When I saw this I smiled, pulled out my camera and clicked. What a wonderful confirmation to me from the Lord. God's prophecy in the midst of all the noise, the traffic, and in the midst of my day.

Simplicity pares us down in not having to prove anything but just resting in the simplicity that is Christ. Resting in the Lord is active, passionate and filled with momentum. Resting is not lethargic, apathetic or dull. But the momentum supplied in the simplicity of rest comes from the moving of the Holy Spirit, revealing Christ in us, to us and through us. Our Christian life then becomes a moving adventure led forth by the Spirit at all times, following Him at all times in the most simplistic ways. We don't have to prove we are cutting edge, or that we know all the right words to say or the right people to quote. We don't have to prove anything but that we are nothing without Him and that without Him we can do nothing. In that revelation, we find everything.

I have to say that trying to keep up with the Jones (old saying)............is not my style. Let me convert that into Christianity. Trying to keep up with the latest prophetic conference, word, revival, book or any such thing is not my style anymore. Why? I am not against these but I see that others so often are mimicking and imitating what they see or experience and in the process lose the simplicity of their own walk with the Lord. We are called to conform to His image and in doing that we come into the perfect unity in diversity that is found in Christ Jesus.

Why am I so passionate about this? Because my mandate to bring forth is FREEDOM and to encourage people to passionately draw near to Christ and in doing this, they find the template He has created for them. When we find ourselves in Him, we find life and in finding Life we find creativity.

Simplicity pares us down to looking at Him.
Clarity opens our eyes to see what He sees.

What am I saying? He is enough.

Pared Down

2010-10-06T01:10:00.000-07:00

Pared down. Simplicity. These seem to be the words for the hour FOR ME. Are they for you? This blog (which by the way I said I would NEVER do) is for me and for those of you reading right now who I hope are being blessed by all of this. My heart. My thoughts. No pretense. No justification. Just feels good. In my own life, I am a messenger and called to prophesy and in that the message has to be worked in me before it can come through me. The words that God uses me to post are definitely worked in me before I can speak them. I impart that to which I die to. In other words, in order to speak I have to walk through much of what I speak.
Pared down. Those are words for me for this hour. Decrease Debra so Jesus may increase in me.

I found myself dealing with so much spiritual boredom over the past few years with the church at large. I will expand on that over the next week or so. Boredom with so much of Christianity but not losing my passion or love for Christ nor for people. Why was this happening? I withdrew from conferences, the latest books, the latest CD's, offers, words, prophetic lists and so much more. I became very selective without becoming self-righteous in it all. I needed what was real and I am finding what is real - Jesus Christ. He is enough. I would spend hours just sitting in His presence and writing and writing and meditating on so many things.

I was asking for wisdom to discern what I was seeing and experiencing. I was not opting out of Christianity. I was opting out of all the hype and the superrflous stuff that goes on. I am so tired of it. It does not live up to what it proclaims to be. The ultimate book left me feeling just so so. The stupendous conference left me with a time of feeling ho-hum. Now please know this is what I was going through and you must understand, when I was going through this I constantly questioned whether something was wrong with MOI.

Have I lost something? Have I lost my position in Christ? Have i lost my cutting edge? The questions to me, right now, seem so ridiculous to say that I hesitate writing them. Aren't I supposed to give the impression that I have it all down? Heaven forbid. This boredom that was setting in on me was actually setting me up. For what? I should say. For whom? For Him. This boredom showed me that while all around me was whirling and swirling in ministry and books and conferences and every such thing, I opted out to spend time with Him. I simply began to believe His promises to me. Him and Me. In that I was and am never bored.

Complexity

2010-10-04T23:21:00.000-07:00

To move past all the complexity and to return to the simplicity that is found in Christ Jesus, we must navigate to the simple truth of trust. We trust Him. We set our compasss on Him and Him alone, allowing Him to be Lord of our life and allowing Him to rule and reign over all our decisions and all our mindsets. Amidst all the hype that is out there, it is not my job to judge it, speak to it, or rail against it in any way unless the Lord gives me specific words. My task is to stay far from it so that I find the simplicity of His presence.
He is enough. That simplicity of heart and mind leaves us amazed and fascinated with Him. When we lose peace and rally around introspection we give the enemy access into our lives. In doing that the enemy brings forth condemnation, rejection, distress, discouragement and so much else. We navigate back to peace, the peace that is found in Him.
We are surrounded each day by a deluge of information that seeks to draw us forth into its whirlwind of ideas, formulas, and directions. Those who resist it are often labeled out of touch with reality. But what exactly is reality? It is not in what we see but in what we don't see. Our reality is Christ Jesus and He is moving contrary to the ways of the world or of religion that tries to surround us and get us in its grasp. Simplicity is the word for the hour. We don't lose touch with what surrounds us. Instead we filter through a new paradigm - the paradigm that we put all our trust in Him to lead and guide us through it all, taking what we need and leaving the rest.
So much of what is out there in the realm of prophetic writings and words and revelation, leaves me feeling at times frazzled in trying to keep up. So I don't. I trust God knows where I live, what I think, what destiny He has for me. He will keep me and guide me every day of my life. I need not worry or be anxious. He is with me and I shall not be shaken.,

New Day - No Hype

2010-10-03T23:25:00.000-07:00

Thinking this morning about the simplicity of Christ. Does it all have to be so complex? How to say this? Hype is the fuel that empowers so much of what I see in the church at large. For instance, I recently bought a book that I loved and realized that it had only one endorsement in the front of this book. The book spoke for itself, or rather I should say, Jesus spoke through the author of this book without any fanfare or hype.

Yet I also have bought books where there were page after page of endorsments trying to convince me that this book would be the end all, be all to my Christian experience. Sadly it was not. The hype that surrounded it diluted the true value of the book. Was it good? Perhaps but it was not as superlative in nature as the hype that surrounded it.

So back to simplicity..................Jesus did not announce Himslef. The heavens backed Him up, the Father's voice proclaimed Him, and His sound of TRUTH went before Him.

So my question.......why are we trying so hard?

It is because it is all about US a lot and not Him and when that is true, we end up believing our own press and that is dangerous. Very dangerous. I refuse to submit to anything that say I need this or that or this or that for my Christianity to be enhanced. I only need Him.

Conversations from the Mercy Seat Introduction

2010-10-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

My daily blog. Thought I would never do it but the Lord said to start.......short and sweet and full. The Truth as a catalyst in a world of chaos. I add my thoughts to the mix. Welcome!!!

These entries will be my creative expression of truth through me - Christ in me. Truth that sees in part, knows in part - still seeking, still observing, still discerning, still moving. Posted often as Holy Spirit leads me. Don't want to get caught in a religious trap. Tired of hype. Tired of boring Christianity but don't judge or blame. Trying to keep things positive but truthful. Speaking the truth or saying nothing at all has become my motto. I like it. I am not bored with Jesus Christ. He is alive and I am passionately seeking Him with all of my heart. So enjoy the journey with me.