Tag: encounter

cover lover or lover of the Word?

Karla Lees

I love getting a new version of the Bible. There is something holy and fresh to me about holding a brand new Bible. Opening the cover for the first time, and taking a peek at the insides.

As a book lover and word crafter, I can appreciate a pretty cover, fantastic graphics or eye catching images.  Yet if I never open the book, I  will miss the point.

If you don’t move past the cover, you miss the meat of the words inside which you are meant to meet.  To read.  To chew on. To ponder. To be challenged, entertained by.

Without reading the words inside the covers, a book becomes just an ornament on a shelf.

Which isn’t the point of a book.

Nor the point of the Bible.

The Bible, or the Word as I prefer to refer to it as, is designed to help us along our journey.

It not only instructs us, but gives us insight into situations we might experience, and the God we hope to encounter we meet inside.

If you remain a cover lover, the Word will not come alive for you.  For the Holy Spirit speaks to us as we read it, whispers the words He has for us in the moment, and reminds us that the Word is an invitation for a fresh encounter with the Living Word, Jesus.

The Bible is meant to be read, digested, interacted with. We are to allow it to shape our mindsets, fix our values, guide our emotions and be a foundation we can turn to in the hard times.

The Word reminds us…

  • We are not alone.
  • God is with us.
  • God is for us.
  • God is in us.
  • God lives through us.
  • God knows us.
  • God guides us.
  • We are loved.

Crack open the cover of your Bible, and allow His words to seep into you.  Ponder the mysteries.  Savor the love.  Delight in the truth. Align your path to the one He has for you.

Move beyond the covers into the best part of the Word, for He is just waiting you there!

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weight & see

Karla Lees

Let the weight of glory come settle on us now….

-Bethel Music

I am learning to wait.

Like most of us, I dislike wasting time.

But I am learning in His Kingdom, time doesn’t flow in an earthy fashion.

Sometimes we need to wait.

Not because God isn’t instantly able to answer us, but because there are times where we are first meant to encounter His weight.

The weight of His glory.

When we sense how awesome and miraculous and wonderful and Holy and mighty He is, somehow regular time comes to a standstill, and the heavenly clock takes over.

I can’t describe it any other way, but I have encountered it and was mightily changed as a result.

The first time I had a “weight of glory” encounter, I had just had a miscarriage, and both my hubby & I were still reeling from the aftershock.  We ended up at a Vineyard service, and during prayer, I fell to the ground and God profoundly met me in that moment.

I was not the same after His weight fell on me.  I met God in a way I never expected, but am eternally grateful for.  He instilled a peace beyond understanding, and calmed my spirit as He spoke into my life.

This weight of glory? It is not a heavy one, the way we thing of excess weight, but a depth of understanding into who He is & how much He loves us which significantly blasts beyond normal relationship building.

In heavenly encounters, God can do more in one minute than we can accomplish in a month.

Another time, I was in a counseling session where God escalated the speed of my delivery from my past beyond what my counselors were expecting. Believers, they quickly caught on to what He was doing and joined in.  I wasn’t aware of this being unusual, until the counselors revealed their surprise at the end of the session.  He accomplished in three hours what they said would have normally taken several sessions to do.

When God shows us, the unexpected becomes possible.

If I had not been waiting expectantly for Him, I don’t believe i would have met Him in the ways I did.

The weight of glory, encountering Him, is worth my wait, and yours.

Are you weary of waiting?

Take hope, my friend.

Those that wait on the Lord will be renewed in His strength and walk in His power. (Isaiah 40:31)

Wait in His Presence.

He WILL come to those who wait for Him. (Hosea 6:3)

His Word promises us, reminds us several times, that He comes to those who wait upon Him.

And His Presence will fall with the weight of His glory on His willing vessels, waiting to be filled.

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everything & nothing less

Karla Lees

God uses what we love most to speak to us.

For me, that is words, written or sung.

In the span of 48 hours, an unexpected locked door, a trilogy of books,  the Word and a new CD all combined to knock me to my knees and speak deeply to my spirit.

God was throughout each  moment, and I am not the same after this series of encounters.

Everything & nothing less.

That is what God gives, gave for us….His all.

That is the kind of love pursuing us, whispering our names with such love & devotion.  The love that gave His very life for us…holding nothing back.

This is the same sort of love we are to give Him back in return.

And it’s hard to not look back at where we have failed to do so when we keep our eyes focused on ourselves, where we have come from.

The cross was lifted up so we would be too.

We need to look up to see beyond ourselves…and we can’t easily look up when we aren’t on our knees, grounded on the solid rock of His love.

We need the reminder that we meant enough to Him for Him to give His everything and nothing less to win us back.

And He deserves nothing less than our everything in return.

That means the real everything…however that looks within each of us.
Our love
Our hurts
Our dreams & hopes
Our failures
Our skills
Our desires & plans
Our time
Our energy
Our devotion
Our worship

Just as we are,
everything and nothing less.

He desires nothing less than for us to come with our everything, right now, right in whatever situation or heartbreak you are in.

The One who gave His all will be delighted with you coming to Him, just as you are.  Looking forward into His gaze, accepting His love, giving Him your all.

It’s time to bend the knee, and move into the everything, and nothing less, which He has waiting for you with Him.

Seek a quiet space, and take a moment to read these heartfelt lyrics which have been soaking in my heart for the past few days. Meet with Him in this holy moment.  

If you take the time to listen, let Holy Spirit draw you in, and reassure you He is 100% for you, always, no matter what, in everything and nothing less.

This is your holy moment.

http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/everything-and-nothing-less-chris-mcclarney/

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break the yolk

Karla Lees

Yesterday, during worship, I had an encounter with God that shook me.

Literally & figuratively.

I have a few physical issues that have been bothering me, some of them long years of discomfort.

But i had a sense in that split second that although my physical issues are a big deal to me, there was something i needed to be set free from in my spirit. A foothold the enemy had been clinging onto, holding me back.

So when the call came to approach His throne and seek what He had for us in that moment, on that day- I answered, and obeyed His prompting.

I don’t remember much of what was spoken over me, because I had a warm but not fiery heat hit from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, and a weight of awesomeness fall.  Its pretty hard to describe, but my senses were completely awakened and captivated by Him. All i wanted to do was to worship in His Presence with every fibre of my being.

What my mind recalls of what was spoken over me? The very answer to what my spirit had been longing for, but I had not known i needed so desperately until i heard His declaration:

The anointing is soaking in to cover my all, from the top of my head to the bottoms of my feet.

The yoke of slavery is broken.

Freedom of body, freedom of mind, freedom of spirit.

Nothing missing, nothing broken.

I am no longer under the heavy yoke of the enemy, but am one with my God, moving forward together in the freedom He paid so dearly to gain for us, for me.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30 (ESV)

I felt something come to life within me after that time of worship.

I believe out of His great love, He can do the same for each of us.

Its time to wipe the yolk of the enemy off of our face, break free from his yoke, and stand firm in the position and calling God has for us.

No more shame, no more bondage, no more addiction, no more false guilt, no more hiding.

I want all He has for me.

He wants the same for us.

I believe inside each of us is that same longing, desire to be made whole.

When we stand at His side fully submitted to Him, the enemy will not be able to regain his footing in our lives.

The yokes he tried to place upon us will remain on his shoulders.

For we know Who wins in the end.

The yolk’s on him.