Category: Growth in the Lord

God Notices Those Who Revere Him

“Then those who revere Adonai (God) spoke with each other, and Adonai took notice and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written before Him, for those who revere Adonai, even those who esteem His name.” Malachi 3:16

Oh wow!  What an honor that God takes notice of us when we are speaking together honoring Him, His ways, and His Name. Do you want to be a person that God takes notice of honoring Him? This is our loving Heavenly Father, who longs for a relationship with each of us. His love should evoke a desire in each of us to honor Him and His ways in all we think, say and do.

It is hard grappling with the reality that God loves us so much, but hates sin and will judge all evil. When you are in love with God because of His great love for you, it becomes so much easier to understand that God hates evil because it destroys – it destroys you, me, the world the universe, and others. He wants it all gone, and if one of His beloved creatures decides they prefer evil over godliness,  no matter how many times He has tried to get them to return to Him, they will end up under the judgment of the evil they embrace. It is not God’s will, it is not the prophet or teachers’ of righteousness will. It is the person’s will that produced the judgment. The greatest gift God gave all of us is free will.

Please don’t excuse evil by labeling your actions as “wokeness” because you think you are doing something loving toward someone. You are actually becoming part of or contributing to their fall away from the greatest love ever. We are called to be strong in the Lord, not strong in the flesh’s ability to hash out our thoughts and come up with a belief system that makes us feel good inside. We are called to yield to God’s Word, God’s love, God’s holiness, and in it, we will find joy, peace, righteousness, and will be able to lead others there. Stay anchored in the Word, praying in the spirit, worship from your heart not just to feel good, and above all stay in a place of a repentant heart. There is so much deception swirling around all of us. But greater is He that is in you and me, than he that is in the World. Our mission is that all people will awaken to who they truly are in Christ. Choose awaken over “woke”.

Dr. Lisa Winchell

Are You Looking For a Breakthrough?

Are you looking for a breakthrough? Have you noticed that often times many of us are living from breakthrough to breakthrough?  I remember one day recently when I was talking to the Lord in devotions, I said, “I’m done going from breakthrough to breakthrough!” and I heard the Lord say, “Yeah! Because the biggest breakthrough ever lives inside of you!”

Did you know that the greatest breakthrough ever lives inside of us? That’s Christ in us! That’s the mystery of God that was withheld for generation after generation. The greatest breakthrough ever, not just in your life but in the whole universe, is when Jesus Christ came down here as a baby, died on the cross, rose again. That is the greatest breakthrough ever! And the next step is that when you accepted Him as Lord and Savior, He came and now lives inside of you. What an amazing breakthrough! Let’s read it! Colossians 1:26-27, “The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

That’s powerful! Christ in you is the hope of glory! Jesus prayed in John 17:21 to the Father God and He said “…even as I am in You and You are in Me that they would be in Us…” So the Word of God is telling us that if you are born again that Christ lives in you and you live in Him. That is the greatest breakthrough ever! As we learn to live in Christ, in His identity in us, in His image in us, we become overcomers. The Bible also says it’s our faith that overcomes. Let’s read this! 1 John 5:4, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith.”

As I was reading this the Lord began to show me that it is our faith—believing that what God has said is true—that overcomes the world. It is not what we get with our faith that overcomes the world. Think about that for a minute. A lot of us are believing for this and believing God for that and we end up waiting to feel like we are living in our breakthrough or living in the kingdom of God or even living in Christ until that thing shows up.  When that thing shows up that we are believing for, then we feel like we are really in Christ now and we really have a breakthrough. But the reality is the Lord is trying to teach us that we overcome by our faith, not by what our faith gets or receives over time. So how do we do that?

In another Scripture, the Word of God says–it is actually Jesus who said this—He said, “…in Me you have peace but in this world you will have trouble. Be of good cheer because I have overcome this world.” I asked the Lord one day, “okay, you have overcome the world, so how does that work for me?” And He said, “Lisa, this is an invitation to live in Me, vicariously, to live in and through Me. Do you see? You are seated in the highest place ever.” As the Lord began to minister to me and began to show me, He said “…Lisa, I am seated above the universe, in the highest place ever and you are seated in Me. Do you get that? You are seated in the highest place ever! You are above all of these things in Me. Your job is to learn how to live in Me in your thinking, and your emotions, and your heart.”

We do this by faith.  We do it by intentionally putting our hearts and our minds on Christ in us. Pulling up the Word of God and what it says about who you are in Christ. You are seated in heavenly places, you are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus, and you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. There are over 300 Scriptures in the New Testament that teach you about who you are in Him!

Our purpose is to empower people through this ministry to walk in God’s image in them, Christ’s image inside of them. When we live there, here is the difference: if I am focused on Christ in me and throughout the day I am dealing with something and I stop and say, “Wait a minute! Where am I seated, Lord? Oh yeah!” and the minute I go to that place with Him I end up walking in this sense of value and strength and significance and authority over the thing in my life because I chose to take the time to yield to realizing to where I really sit and where I really live which is in the Kingdom of God.

If we focus on the trouble around us or even focus on trying to get rid of the trouble through our faith, then we are still really not living in Christ right now  We are working to get rid of something instead of living in what we already have. Now as we live in what we already have, many of these things we believe for begin to start happening. But some of them are not because Jesus said we live in this world and there will be trouble. And oh, do we see trouble! We see trouble in our personal lives. Other people see it in the world and the country around them. So it’s time, it’s always been time, but it’s time to learn how to live in and through Christ in you and Christ in me.

Jesus said that the work of God is to believe. Now think about that – many people don’t know that Scripture. The work of God is to believe, Jesus said that. That is our labor, our labor is to believe. And we will talk more about this in the identity moments and all of the scriptures that lead to this.

So how do I believe? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It is important to take the time to get in the Word of God – not just other people teaching you but you personally in the Word of God. I want to encourage you this week to get into 1 John. Read and write down every concept that God shows you about your life in Him. As you write it down say, “Lord, show me more about that. Tell me more about that.” And write down whatever He gives you.

We are going to learn how to engage in these truths, not just hear them in a service and go, “Wow, that’s great!” and walk away and go yell at somebody or get offended at the news, or get offended at this or that. All of those are signs that reveal I don’t know who I really am. When we know who we are in Christ, we are not walking around offended because we know our value and our significance and our authority over all of it.

I encourage you to get into 1 John this week and read through it.  Invite the Lord to reveal to you and your heart these truths. Until next time, remember, it is Christ in you that is our life and our hope for glory.

Blessings!

Dr. Lisa Winchell

Walking Like Christ

“I have loved you, says the Lord.”

“..As I have loved you…”

“God so loved the world that He sent Jesus His Son for you!”

3 direct scriptures that declare how much He loves you! I love the first scripture that starts off the book of Malachi. It is so personal. The Lord is calling out to all who have been created in His Image. I love you!!!! You are valuable to me!! I have been hearing from some prophetic people that the revival coming is not about longer meetings, but about family. What will revive our families in this nation more than God’s love?!?!

 

Dr. Lisa Winchell

The Two Most Important Foundations of Belief: Who God is and Who We Are in Him

The Word of God says, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” This is very important. I’ve always said this Scripture should be posted everywhere because this is literally how we function and how we live. You see, the Lord created us as human beings who live psychologically from how we see ourselves. The cool thing is He not only created us as beings who live from how we see ourselves but He also created us in His image so we can see ourselves through His image in us.

You see, there are two great foundations we need to understand inside of ourselves if we’re going to walk in joy and victory and overcoming. Those two greatest foundations are: who God is and who you are in Him.

I love a statement that Dr. Caroline Leaf says. She says that in order for us to truly represent our unique identity, we have to understand our identity in God. In other words, our identity in our Creator is our core identity and from there we’re able to reflect our unique identities from our culture, such as male/female, groups we join, athlete, business owner., etc. These types of things that people often see as their identity are actually their unique identities. Your temperament, your specific temperament personality traits are unique identities but they are not your core identity.

Your, and my, core identity is where we came from. It’s in God, in our Creator, and who He made us to be in Him. The first of the two foundations I mentioned above was knowing who God is. And if you’ve done a lot of growth in the Word of God by studying and really learning who God is then that’s powerful and foundational.  Next it’s time to move on to who you are now in Him. Because both of them are required in us to be able to function wholly and not be driven by fears of failure, fears of rejection, victim mindsets, and many more.

If you are not sure or you think you know God but you haven’t been in the Word very much, then I encourage you to go back to the Word of God. Start by studying Genesis and then study the Gospel of John.  Then move forward from there.  I encourage you to ask the Lord to show you during your study time the following  four key ideas:    (1) His love, (2) His mercy, (3) His Holiness, and (4) His Justice, because God is all of these things. There’s not just one; it’s not just love and mercy and grace. It is holiness, righteousness, and justice.

That’s important for us to understand in the Kingdom of God but it’s especially important in this season. I believe, and most people believe,  we are headed into the third great awakening and the only way any of us are going to experience it is if we are walking in the fullness of God’s counsel. Not just walking in a piece or part of it such as only preaching grace and grace alone. Let me back up. We could be preaching grace as long as it is about true Grace which is the empowerment not to sin. Grace is not just a freedom from our sin, as in the concept of, “I can do whatever I want now because Jesus sees me as a new creation in Christ Jesus.” This is what has gotten some people in trouble and this is one of the reasons why we’re where we are right now in this country. It is so important for us to understand that love leads us to righteousness. Jesus said, “…if you love Me you’ll obey My commands…” He also said that when you are obeying His commands you are loving Him, so it’s important.

The Lord showed me this several months ago when I was pondering the concept of why walking in righteousness was so easy for me when I came to the Lord.  He showed me that it was something I longed to do because I was so in love with Him, and I knew how much He loved me.  Little by little I began to feel differently about behavior that had never bothered me before.  I began to feel in my spirit things like “Eww, I don’t want that in my life”, “I don’t want to watch that”, “I don’t want to say that”, “Oh, I don’t want to be there”.  As His love was filling me up, the Lord reminded me that I learned righteousness from love, not from the law.  If you have learned righteousness from law and you are reacting to it by going into an extreme grace message of doing whatever you want because God loves you, then remember there’s a place to come back to now, to the place of balance of who God is – His full counsel of love, mercy and grace, holiness, and justice.  They all go together.  For example, for holiness, you could say righteousness, holiness, and put those together too.

It’s important for us to understand and embrace walking in righteousness from a place of love, not from a place of law. I encourage you to go there and really learn who God is and then you will be able to see who you are because we are to be a mirror image of the Lord. When we look into His face it’s like looking into a mirror and we become transformed into His image.

That’s what God wants to do. He wants you to allow Jesus to be your mirror so that you become His righteousness as you look into Him.

Alright, that’s our identity moment for the day!

Be blessed!

Dr. Lisa Winchell

Identity Crisis

One of our board members heard these words from God:

“Identity Crisis”. That is the issue in America and across the globe today. People are searching for who they are.

They think they are who others say they are.

They think they are their occupations and roles.

They judge their worth by the size of their wealth.

They think they are the sum of the actions they have performed or committed in the past.  The world is telling them they may not be who it appears they are.

They search and search for themselves when they should be searching for Me! I have created them for a purpose and a calling. Apart from that purpose, they will have no purpose. Apart from knowing Me, they will never know who they are. When they ask the question “who am I?” they will find the answer in the reflection of that statement… I AM who I AM! That is My eternal name. Until they know who I AM or until they know I AM, they will never know who they are. Their search should not be for themselves but for Me! In their search to know Me, they will come to know themselves. I AM the mirror that shows them their reflection. Everything on earth either reflects or rejects Me. I give identity to those who seek Me. There is no crisis in My Kingdom. To know who you are you must know I AM.” (Michelle Rumreich)

 

Dr. Lisa Winchell

Preparing for the Future?

So many more are talking about where to put their money, in preparation for all going on in our economy. This currency or that one or stocks, etc. In doing so, let’s remember our greatest currency is our ability to hear the Lord!  Build that each day, learn His voice, practice His presence and He will guide you for the future. Begin to confess, “I hear the voice of my Shepherd and the voice of a stranger I will not follow.” The key is we all must build this precious ‘currency” into our lives, a stronger ability to hear God’s voice. I remember the man who walked up to the tower on 9/11, put his hand on the door, and the Lord said, “get back in the cab and go home.” Minutes later the plane struck that tower. How many was God saying that to, who had not built that ability to tune into God’s voice? We will not know until heaven. But we want what that one man had, a fine-tuned spirit/soul to the voice of God, whether it leads us to our last breath on earth and into His presence or to more victory in Him, while on this earth. His voice will place us where we are supposed to be. Our job is “investing” the time in our relationship with Him to know His voice clearly! My grace is sufficient for you, says the Lord!. His grace is found in His presence!

The 3-1 Miracle to Peace and Joy

Do you know the Word says when you put your mind on gratefulness, you will have the peace of God? God is calling us to put our minds on who and what we appreciate every day, especially Him and our salvation. Want peace and joy? Practice daily, three times a day, for one minute, appreciating God 1st, self 2nd, and others the 3rd time. I call it the 3-1 miracle to peace and joy! Remember to use your imagination to SEE what you appreciate. When you only engage your thinking, it will not transform you as it will when you engage your imagination. The Word of God says to take every thought captive, casting down vain imaginations and breaking strongholds. So therefore, we need to take that same path to develop good strongholds of peace, joy, and love.  Put your thought on what/who you appreciate, then “see” it in your imagination until you feel completely engaged in joy and connection.  You see,  a strong emotional capacity is the ability to stay connected in the midst of pain, connected to God, your true self, and others! When we get offended, frustrated, angry, anxious, and fearful, we disconnect from God and our true self (who we really want to be) and often from others. We get in self-preservation mode, and that sends us into what we call enemy mode. That is when you and I act in a way that those around us feel they are all of a sudden our enemies.  But we can turn that around to love by focusing with our imagination on who we appreciate and retraining our brains to go that way instead.  So it works like this.   In the morning, I think, “hmm, what do I appreciate the Lord for? Oh yes, Lord, thank you so much for being near to me each time I have been in a hard struggle.” Then I engage my imagination to see those times He was so near and “see” them over again for 1 minute or more. When you are done, you will feel peaceful and connected to the Lord. Then when a struggle comes that day, it will be easier to retrieve that place of peace with Him at that moment and not react.  Then do yourself at lunch or when you want.  You will think, “what do I appreciate you for self (name)?  Oh yes, I really appreciate how kind you were to those people that other day.” Then see you doing that and stay in that appreciation for a minute or more. When you are done, you will feel so at peace with yourself and will more clearly be able to hear God and follow Holy Spirit,  because you are not jacked up with self fears, etc.  Then that evening, move on to someone else and do the same thing about them in your imagination for 1 minute!  If you practice this each day, you will find in a month that you are far more peaceful and joyful and far more able to stay connected to the Lord instead of being triggered by the world around you!!  Remember the 3-1 Miracle to peace and joy!  Dr. Lisa Winchell

Born for Relationship with God

As I ministered to a client about the spirit, soul, and body the Lord began to show me something in Genesis 2:17. Many see that verse as talking about Adam and Even eventually dying. But I have always seen it as much more than that, as the death of the spirit. But the spirit could not have actually died, because a body apart from a spirit is dead, as Paul said. But what did they die too, they died to their full connection with God and their ability to walk in His freedom, love, and holiness, thus peace and joy. They were now slaves to fleshly passions, and could not freely go into the presence of the Lord anymore. I began to think that the word die is a strong word for God to use for this. Dead is dead, gone for good, without a resurrection. Then I began to see that the connection they had with God was so full of life and flowing freely back and forth, that God saw fit to use the word death to describe what would happen to them if they disobeyed. Ponder that for a moment, they had a connection with God that none of us have ever experienced consistently, day after day. They had no bad thoughts that got in the way, just pure connection, love, relationship with the Father! That is what we were meant to have, we are born for that. We are born created in His Image, and were meant to reflect that image through our relationship with Him!! Wow! Lord I long to have that depth of connection, don’t you?

Dr. Lisa Winchell

Jesus the Passover Lamb – His glory for your shame!

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! I am humbled and floored. I was reading last night, I read John 2:24 and my eyes wandered to the other page to my right John 3:34-36 and they became powerfully connected. “during Passover, many believed in His name, seeing the signs He was doing. But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all men. He did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man.”  Next chapter “The One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. the Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hand. He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

So this man/God/Jesus who has the Creator’s Spirit without limit in Him, doing miracles for these people He could never entrust Himself too. He, who came to preach the good news of the gospel to the poor, set captives free, heal the brokenhearted,  and give sight to the blind, did all this for us but could not trust Himself to any of us fully. He knows what is in man, He will never receive back all He has given because we are not capable and only by Him are we partly capable of not betraying Him daily. He has come to give us full participation in eternal life, with Him, this people He can not even entrust Himself too. Yet He shows up on this earth that He could wipe out in a minute and lays down the glory of fully being God only, to put on a man suit for people He can not entrust Hisself to fully. Michael Kouliannos, In The Jesus Book, adds to this so powerfully, talking about Jesus’ torture and crucifixion, laying there with deep wounds on a dirty floor, eyes swollen shut from beatings, sweat, and blood everywhere. He is then taken to see this high authority, Pontus Pilate. A place you typically go dressed your best.  But Jesus had no choice in the matter, in that moment. He went as He was.  Yet, Ps 88:9  says “My eye wastes away because of affliction.”  Jesus had decided before the foundation of the earth how this would all go down. After quoting Ps 88:9 Michael continues, “It was His decision to stand before His accusers looking this way (it was planned from the foundation of the earth). Because He chose to become a spectacle of shame, we will shine with glory in Heaven. He trades His beauty for our disgrace that we may receive His beauty.” This Passover, Good Friday and Easter. Let’s remember the man, Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit pouring out His love for each one of us so we can be free from sin and be transformed into His Image on this earth, and enjoy His glory for eternity. We are a blessed race!! We have the greatest God ever!! There are none like Him! Truly!! Has He won your heart? Whether you think He has done anything else for you or not, This is His love that brings you eternal joy, even beyond this earth!!

Walking Away from Sin by His Love and Grace

I had a dream last night. As I considered and prayed about the dream I realized it was part of a series of dreams over 8 months or more. I will not give all details but rather the substance. Some are walking down an “aisle to be married to perversion.” (symbolic for most). You don’t feel it is a problem because many around you don’t say anything. In fact, some pastors you know do not see it as a problem. You feel at ease and are assuming that is God’s peace or at least a lack of His conviction. Yet there is still a “knowing” in you which makes you almost wonder why everyone is okay with you in it or not saying anything. But remember when you or I have engaged in a lifestyle, attitude or process that seems to be well accepted by many, over a period of time, we get numb to God’s conviction. Especially, if someone can find a pastor or ex-pastor to confirm it with words like God loves you right where you are at, so I do to”. They stop there instead of truly loving you by saying “this choice, attitude or behavior is ungodly and will hurt you. and grieves the heart of God. Let me lead you into freedom.” In the continuum of dreams, in this last one I heard come out of my mouth (I was a representation of the church and individuals) “No, I am not doing this” and walked away with great strength and peace.”. God wants you to know whatever you may be engaged in that is not biblically considered godly, you can keep getting led by the enemy down that aisle unaware or you can go the Word of God and allow God to show you how much He loves you and has delivered you FROM unrighteousness, not into unrighteousness. “therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled” Study Hebrews 12, and let God bring peace and wholeness through His love, His blood, discipline and a harvest of righteousness in you. In my dream, I saw that is possible for many of you to just say no and walk out of the “wedding hall”, so to speak. Whatever agreement you have made with unrighteousness, its time to say no by the grace of the Holy Spirit that is all over you right now, call on Him and ask for more grace. He will give it to you!