Tag: leap

I AM: Free Verse Friday

Karla Lees

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My daughter,
now is the time for you to step into the fullness I have for you.

I am the God of the present, not just the past which has been and the future which has not yet arrived.

I have enough for you today….

Enough energy to get all I ask of you done.

Enough strength to face the hard times which may arise.

Enough peace to calm the waves of your emotions when the unexpected rears up.

Enough food and drink for your soul as you seek My Word to fill you up.

Enough love to completely soak your spirit.

Enough grace for all you may face.

I am more than enough to cover each sin you may commit.

I am more than enough to set you free and make you whole in the areas of brokenness within you.

I am enough.

I am.

My very name confirms who I am. Ever living. Ever present, in every here and now.

Are you willing to take the leap to discover all that I am first hand?

I AM.

#FreeVerseFriday

wading right on in

Karla Lees

That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Romans 15:3 MSG

Jesus jumps right in at the sign of trouble. 

He longs to come to our defense, take on our burdens and wade on into the nitty gritty muck of our lives. 

We don’t have a Saviour who sits all handsome up on His throne, watching what is going on from a distance. 

Jesus came down among us to show us just how much He wants to be involved in our lives: all in.

I am so thankful I follow a God who wants a hands on relationship with me.

He walks with me,
holds my hand tight when I need it to be gripped,
lets me cry on His shoulder when I am sad,
gave me His Spirit to guide, teach & comfort me all ways. 

What a Saviour!

Jesus wasn’t afraid to get His hands or reputation dirty when He lived among us.

Any request from the heart was answered.

He is all in wanting a relationship with each of us.

Are you holding back, or are you ready to wade in above your head and put your all in?

He will be there to catch you.

Because He is all in, no holds barred, He is right there waiting for us!

Not only is He always with us, He is always ready to come to our defense.

Tired of holding back? Afraid of making the leap.

Sometimes we just have to do it afraid to find out just how strong and present He really is!
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PS. Part of this post was posted this morning over at Remade Ministries, where I will be a regular Friday contributor 🙂
http://remade-ministries.org/devotion/our-defense/

pressed to release His fragrance

Karla Lees

I am in a season of being pressed.

Not to be broken & destroyed, but so that I can release Him more fully within me & to those around me.

Maybe you can relate.

I had a glimpse another pressing season was headed my way with some words spoken a few weeks ago, and then I got clearer direction as I soaked & waited.

There are three books He is calling me to work through & bring what gets pressed in me to Him- either because it needs to go, or He is releasing it to flow.

The first is to press the past out of me and lead me to a deeper rest.

The second is to break out from the beliefs & ways I have hidden myself away, to lead me to deeper relationships.

The third is to press through into the full release of freedom He has for me, and to move into His stronghold, to make God my refuge in a way I have not yet experienced.

I am excited enough to want to jump up & down with excitement, and scared enough to want to toss my cookies, all rolled into one.

Can you relate?

I heard clearly today that on the other side of our deepest hurts is the greatest freedom where we are meant to roam.

I don’t want my fear & desire to stay the same to hold me back from all He has for me.

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The first book is Finding Spiritual Whitespace by Bonnie Gray.

I am so weary from trying to hold all my broken pieces together for so long.

God is calling me out of hiding and into wide open spaces of grace & rest unlike any I have known before.

The second book is Scary Close by Donald Miller.

I have read half of the first section, and it is truly scary close how much this book is already resonating within me.

The third book has not yet been released, and was written recently by a new sister and fellow writer Beth Kinder, called Stronghold.
(Remade Ministries)

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Freedom awaits, and the cage door is opening.

I plan on running through it, albeit with tears, headlong straight into the embracing arms of Jesus, Daddy & Spirit.

It is going to be rough trying to work full time while I am undergoing open heart & brain surgery, but He is reminding me He is more than enough for ALL my needs, and this is the time.

Are you ready to leap towards the flight of freedom &  or allow fear to keep you bound & tethered?

Join me.  Press in for what He has for you today, in this season.

A richer, deeper faith awaits, along with a new level of wholeness for your life.

He will release a new sense of His presence within us, and we will become a sweeter fragrant aroma as a result.

NOW is the time for freedom!

PS. I will be asking God each time i hang out with Him where i am meant to  work through that visit. Where to start, & where to stop.
An avid reader, I have a tendency to speed read, and He is wanting His words of freedom to soak in & take root as He uproots the weeds of my heart & mind.  Allowing Him to take the lead declares my belief I am safe in His hands, and willing to go wherever He leads.

wide open spaces

Karla Lees

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

2 Corinthians 6:11-13 MSG

It is time to step out of our confines, and hop over the fences we have hidden ourselves behind.

Wide open spaces in His Presence await.

That sentence sent a shiver down my spine, not because its scary, but holy and awesome and amazing all rolled into one.

The freedom to be ourselves out wherever He leads us is a gift many of us are missing out on.

We can’t see how the money will come in to support this wild new adventure, so we don’t make room to let the seed grow, even in our dreams.

We can’t come out from behind our fences because we are trying to do it in our own strength & abilities, and its a supernatural freedom we need to move beyond.

We feel stuck between two camps, the safe where we may be bored but we know what to expect, while part of us is longing for the unexpected adventure that could await us if we took the leap.

And just like you, I am in the same place.

Longing for the freedom to run wild & free beside Jesus, and feel stuck in the quagmire of the day to day.

Today I realized something.

Although I have a to do list (just as we all do) that doesn’t mean I can’t make space & time to go running with Jesus into the freedom He beckons me towards.

Because in this case, freedom is a spiritual thing.

We can escape our inner fences and move into the wonder He has waiting for us, even if we still have the same job, sick kids, bills to pay and mountains of laundry.

We are designed for forever living. Our spirits are eternal.

I don’t know about you, but that truth is wonderously wild and sobering.

We don’t have to wait until heaven to begin to soar.

Today, take a moment and ask God to reveal where you have a fence holding you back from the gift of freedom He has for you.

Ask Him to break you out, destroy the fence and set you free.

Take hold of His hand, and head on out into those first steps into the unknown now ahead, knowing He has your hand tight in His grasp.

God with us means we don’t have to be afraid.

He’s got you.

The wild open spaces are beckoning you to come…you don’t even need to leave home to get there!

Step through the door into the wonder that awaits you.

Live wide!

#pressingin
#echoesofNarnia
#hopeinHisPresence
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what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

Karla Lees

What would you do if you knew that ultimately you could not fail?

How do you get strong enough to believe it?

Love.

Specifically the kind of love God offers all of us.

The love that loves us no matter what, always…

There is nothing I could do to make You love me more. Nothing I could to do
to make You love me less.

There is Grace by Lara Langdon

If you believe that…

How high would you soar?

How far would you jump?

How long would you push?

How deep would you dive?

Writing for me is based on the foundation of being His.
Offering the gift back to the Giver.

If the giver of the gift thinks you can do all things when they are with us, then why do we talk ourselves out of believing it, let alone living it?

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Image from: http://wildsister.com/2012/08/feel-the-fear-take-the-leap-declare-your-greatness/

Its time to take a step in the right direction.

If God is for you,
with you,
backing you,
equipping you,
cheering you on
& loving up on you
every moment of every day…
there is no good reason
not to leap.

Unless we are the problem.

We can stay rooted in our fears and what ifs too long, which slowly rots away our trust and faith, undermining the future He has for us.

Fear roots us on the spot, and limits our growth.

Its time to push through into the confidence He has waiting for you, for me. To stand on the foundation of who we are in Him (His) who we are to Him (beloved) as we tap into His strength (empowered).

His beloved empowered.

We could change not only our lives, but those we come across of we lived this every day.

Press in.

Ask Him to show you what you need to see on the other side of your fear.

Ask Him to speak what you near to hear to receive your freedom.

Ask Him to pour His love into your heart to overflow, washing out the doubt, fears & worries.

Ask Him to be your anchor, the core of strength you need to move ahead boldly.

Walk out your gifts, your calling & your purpose, without fear weighing you down!

Find hope anew in His Presence.

#betheyouGoddesigned
#morethanaconqueror