Tag: prayer

when counting sheep doesn’t help you get the sleep you need

Karla Lees

Breathing in, breathing out.

In the quiet, I can hear my heart beat as my body is overcome with its need for rest as I lay down. Another coughing fit takes over, and I find myself desperate for my next fresh burst of air.

God, how I need You to intervene.

I am now so weary that unless You show up, I have no passion left to offer. I am sinking more and more into the depths of just get it done.

I want to serve You willingly everywhere I am. But to do so, I desperately need You…

  • Your strength in these weary bones.
  • Your energy to flow through my veins.
  • Your love to spill over in my heart.
  • Your voice, Your presence to captivate my senses.
  • Your rest which You promise Your Beloved, me.

So I lay myself down into Your promises of rest again today.

Come to Me all who are weary and weighed down with burdens. I will give you #rest. (Matthew 11:28)

God gives His beloved #rest. (Psalm 127:2)

Break this heart to fully surrender to what You have for me, the best of rest, deep in my soul.

Just let go let His love wrap around you and hold you close. Get lost in the surrender, breathe it in until your heart breaks then exhale. Exhale. – Plumb

And if You touch my body to help it to get to sleep as You do, this sheep would be most appreciative!

needing-sleep

comfort in community

Karla Lees

Hi chicks! (that’s what I call my girlfriends in Christ) If you are a bro, welcome.

I know some of you are single, separated, divorced or in a hard place in your marriages.  I know it can and does hurt. I know sometimes you feel you can’t ask people to pray for your spouse, for reconciliation and/or healing.  For you to become whole when you feel ripped apart.

Please do.

Being single does not mean God has abandoned you.  It does not mean His plans for you are always to be without a partner to love beside you on this earth.  He may draw you so deep into Him that you will sense Him as your partner through it all.

You are beloved just as you are, whether you are single, married, divorced, separated, a mom or not. God adores you, and will not leave you or fail to give you hope in your heart’s cry.

Please know its okay to be hurting and say so. We need to be able to be real with one another in the safety of supportive relationship.

I will caution you. Not everyone else believes as you do. Because we are all so different, we may need to share where you are at by starting with “This is where my heart is at. I am inviting you to pray for me as I have requested. I am not asking for answers, but comfort in community.”

Coz we don’t need to speak the answers to support one another, sisters & brothers. 

We need to leave the answers in His hands to be spoken in His timing to our hearts.

Sometimes we just need to know we have been heard, accepted for where we are at, and loved in that moment.

We all need to know we are not alone, and loved as we are. We were meant to find comfort in community.

I pray we will all learn to be better keepers of one another’s deepest longings when they are shared, and continue to point one another to God as we love up on each other right where we are at.

If you are in a state of singleness, and hurting over it, please hear you are not alone.

My suggested best to-do list when you are single, not by choice?

1. Spend more time with God than ever before in prayer, worship and His Word. Press in to Him for your needs, all of them. Ask Him to bring the right people into your life to be part of….

2.  Put together your support group: of sisters (brothers if you are a guy) in Christ, health professionals if you need them, and people who can give you wise counsel. 

3. Allow yourself to be real, but not wallow in your lowest points. 

4. Practice being positive. Speak His Promises out loud over your life.

5. Believe He has good plans for you and they will come to pass, even if you can’t see beyond the pain of today.

6. Remember you are never alone. Stop isolating yourself. Make sure you to be in contact with someone in your support group every day.

Keep pursuing health for yourself in the midst of your hard season. How you make it through can impact you for the better if you seek Him, surround yourself with support and always remember you are not alone.

I also invite you to pop by Whole Magazine to be encouraged as you read:
http://www.wholemagazine.org/posts/5-steps-to-getting-over-your-ex

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Spirit soaring

Karla Lees

Today was to be a day off, but God had other plans for me, which is why I am currently find myself carefully trying to type on a bus!

I got a heads up last night, as I was checking an email, and a new favorite song has been added to our to learn list at church.

Every time I sing along to this song, God stirs me within.  I can’t quite put it into words, but He has my spirit begin to stretch itself bigger than I imagined while i worship.

Holy Spirit soars along side me as I learn to soar.

He is taking me into a new beyond I am not yet able to fully communicate.

And I am finding I am not as fearful of what is to come as I would have been a few years again.

As He sweeps me up in His embrace, I feel so secure in Him I begin to tap into who He wants me to become, and His strength to do just that.

Even last year, I would have been ticked off at being called in on my day off.

He has been rewiring me to go wherever He is calling, and today I got that even includes work.

For if we can’t be there for our coworkers when He whispers ‘Go’ into our ears, there may not be someone else primed to go.

Just because His Spirit is leading us into something new, that doesn’t mean He won’t send you to a familiar place.

You may be a more improved version of yourself, able to sense  Holy Spirit to a greater depth, and hear His to do list more clearly.

I sense Holy Spirit soaring over my obedience, like a waterfall of joy rushing over me right now.

I have a peace this week I have never had before at all my works.

They haven’t changed, but I have.

The key for me is to jump into the Word,  as i worship unhindered, listening for His voice as He guides through the day ahead.

I am only as effective as He has space within me.

He longs to change us all for not only our better, but His pleasure.

For you, vocalizing or writing your prayers after your time in the Word may be where He is calling you to expand.  For others, being in His Creation stirs you to open yourself up to Him to a greater degree. If you are like me, soaking in His Presence through worship is where He meets me the deepest.

He knows how we best connect with Him, and longs for us to meet with us there as often as we can.

Holy Spirit is waiting within each of us to help us soar to the new level of connection He has for you, me as He Himself takes us there.

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step behind to move forward

Karla Lees

Most of us like to lead.
To be in control, to make the decisions, to head up the charge.

As Christians, we need to let go of our desire to lead, and learn to follow.

There is only One Head of the church, and His Name is Jesus.
He laid down His life in order to restore & love her, us. The one He adores.

Not only has He physically earned the right to lead, it is His birthright as the Son. 

The Father has Jesus sitting at His right hand & sharing the throne of Heaven.

Jesus waged the first major battle for His Bride, and came out victorious.

With a battle equipped and ready leader in our corner, why do we struggle so with allowing Him to lead?

Because we forget.

We forget He made us exquisitely complicated & meticulously  detailed to plan by His hand.

We forget He made all things, knows all things, and rules over all.

We forget He has plans for us to prosper, overcome & have a great future.

We forget He is with us, every single moment, intimately a part of our lives when we are His.

God came with the ability to lead hardwired into all He does, based upon His mighty strength, never failing wisdom, and His loving sacrificially servant heart.

We don’t.

Oh some of us have leadership abilities and wonderful talents.  In the Kingdom, He is to lead the way.

We are to follow Him home.

The road ahead will have pitfalls, gains, heartbreak, blessings, pain, joy, and road blocks.

We cannot navigate on our own if we want to make it through victorious.

For the part we cannot always see in full, He walks confidently aware of with the authority He was meant to wear.

The battle is not only waged earth, but in the spiritual realm as well.

Without the head of Heaven fighting for us, we will be damaged, wounded and defeated by the enemy.  Not because God isn’t almighty & capable to defeat him, but because we refused to let God lead.

When we go into the battle without our Shield & Warrior, we become an easy target for enemy snipers.

In Ephesians, we are reminded that most of our weaponry is defensive, made for our protection. 

Our main weapons?

Listening for instruction.
Putting on our armor.
Obeying His commands.
Following where He goes before us.

The only weapons we are to actively use are prayer & Word: both as led by the Spirit, who does all things proclaiming the Lordship of the Son & honoring the plans & Name of the Father.

The Father is the strategist.
The Son is the Warrior.
The Spirit is the Messenger.

We are to live out the message that Jesus saves.

We are to follow where He leads.

We are to remain in Him.

His part is to protect, instruct & guide us to live the lives He desires for each of us.

It is hard to acknowledge you are not meant to be on the front lines 24/7. Because we always think where the visible action is is where we want to be.

Without the reconnaissance of satellites, millions more of our military could walk into unnecessary ambushes & to their deaths.

It’s because of the bigger picture, both the overview complete with the details, which the information gatherers collect, that they are able to know where to head for safety, or where to go to avoid the ambushes & stay on target.

The planning makes the most of the data taken in, and the use of the might at hand as it aims to defeat the enemy.

When we know where best to go & how to fight, the battle is more easily won.

The Father is our satellite,
Jesus is our weapon,
Holy Spirit is the data transmitter.

We are meant to tune in, and follow as God leads.

Some of the battle being fought around us is handled by His angels.  Some through our prayers.

The one common denominator, which leave the enemy quaking in His boots is Jesus.

The One who defeated death & broke the chains forever has already tossed the enemy out of Heaven, and shown Himself the Eternal Victor.

One of the only strategies the enemy has left is to deceive us that we can successfully fight without our Victor.

Take a moment, and acknowledge to Him how much you like to be in control. (Don’t worry, I am repeating this out loud right alongside you! You are not alone.)
Tell Him you want to lay down your right to lead, and invite the One who reigns to take the reins of your life. Pour out your heart and all the burdens you have before Him.  Allow Him to comfort & strengthen you. Put on your custom fitting armor, and get ready for His battle cry to go to war on your behalf. 

Pray, listen obey, repeat.
Move out remaining under His protection, as He leads you to move.
Fall into step behind Him to safely move forward.
Let Him make the way safe before You.
Keep vigilant, and watch Him do what He does best- fight for the one He loves.
You.

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Sunday Psalm: Heart Cry

Karla Lees

may the Father’s love
the blood of Jesus
and wave of Holy Spirit
enter,
and may the cloud of Your Presence
find rest &
make Your home
in this temple.

When
hopelessness
loneliness or
depression
try to grip me,
Your Presence
holds me close.

I never walk alone,
for even
when i can’t sense You,
Your Word promises
You
are
here.
With me.
🙂

#SundayPsalm
#HeartCry

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come as you are(n’t)

Karla Lees

Holding it in has no benefit for us, unless it’s your tummy 🙂

Emotionally, mentally & spiritually holding things in ends up costing us dearly.

We feel lonelier, ostracized, isolated and unheard. We begin to buy the lie that we are not to speak up, because we have nothing of value to say.

If it matters enough to us to hold on to it, it is worth speaking up about….for we don’t store long term the emotional things we don’t care about.

And as I have said before, if it matters to us, it matters to God.

God wants us to come running to Him just like our kids do when they have good news, or had a hard day because they failed a test, missed that puck or ball, got teased or aren’t feeling well.

I have struggled in this area, because I have felt that some of the stuff that bothers me wasn’t important enough on the big scale of world issues to bring to God.

This week, I completed a bible study where the following quotes rose up to smack me squarely in the noggin:

Our wounds, our shame, our struggles are sacred ground to Him and become precious offerings and to place upon the altar before our King….

God calls you to intimacy from right where you are….

Our failures allow God the opportunity to shine His unfailing lower, love and Presence through our brokenness.

Chapter 6, Stronghold: The Secrets Beyond the Wall, Beth Kinder

God WANTS all of us.

We can come as we ARE.

And we can come as we AREN’T.

Probably like you, I know what I lack, and am not good at, because I live with myself 24/7.

I tend to forget that God too lives with me 24/7.

He already knows what’s within me… all my thoughts, hopes & dreams, hurts & wounds.

So why do I, and some of you, want to keep it all in?

Because I (you) have believed the lie that we are not His beloved.

We have listened to the Liar for way too long, and kept way too much hidden away at great cost to our relationship with God, which ends up overflowing onto & affecting our relationships with others.

And as we have carried these secrets as burdens and lied to ourselves that we are not important to God, we have become bound by what we have not said, instead of freed by letting it out with what we do say.

As each night watch begins, get up and cry out in prayer. Pour your heart out face-to-face with the Master.

Lamentations 2:19 (MSG)

The Bible is filled with the prayers of those who poured their hearts out like water before God….
we too are invited to come & lay all we are out in His Presence.

The good, the bad,
the beautiful, the sad,
The delights, the griefs,
the gifts & the thieves.

All we are is always welcome in our Father’s house.

All we have to do is come, and be ourselves.

The truth is? He knows anyways. and chooses to love us despite our weaknesses & lack

The Truth will set us free, as He leads us to become more truthful about what we think He doesn’t want to see.

All of us is welcome to come as we are(n’t).

We don’t need to be more than we are, for He is more than enough for all we lack & need.

He has taken the first step,  and made a way through Jesus to rebuild, clean & redeem us.

We need to just take the necessary step towards Him, open our hearts and let our prayers pour out in a constant stream of conversation with Him.

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motivation matters

Karla Lees

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We are the people of busyness, aren’t we?

Life has become faster paced with the addition of increased technology & connectedness in our world. You can now have 24/7 access to almost any topic of interest around the clock. With email & cell phones you can be reached world wide.

We need to unplug from the busy & ask ourselves the why behind what we are doing.

Busyness for the sake of being busy is draining, lonely & empty.
With the radical rise of depression (by 2020 it will overtake heart disease as the number one cause of death & disability) we need to take the time to know the reasons we have for our actions, and live out lives of purpose.

Before we do anything else, as His people, we need to come close to Him. Enter His Presence, soak up the Son, connect with His heart, listen for His voice, act on His guidance….before anything else.

A wise man I work for says, “Make the most important thing the most important thing.”

Does God know you have made Him #1?  Do you make spending time in worship, prayer & the Word the priority in your day?

Does He have your heart? Do you know His heart for you?

Does the clamor of demands overpower the desire to connect with Him?

The sobering reality? No one else is going to help you make Him number one in your life.  They can make suggestions, share tips & resources, but only you can put them into practice.

For several years, I had my 30 min of quiet time in the afternoon, when my kids were napping and/or in kindergarten.

When they got older, around eight pm after bedtime worked for a few years, when hubby worked evening shifts.

When I worked the opening shifts at the coffee shops, I woke myself up with worship music, and had my quiet time when I got home from my shift while everyone else was still out.

I now get up earlier to do my 30 min before my work days, so they don’t become a daze of pointless busyness.

The past year, I have determined to do so, and I am healthier overall for it.  I feel closer to God, know He is for me, and I can depend on Him, so when the next wave of demands crashes on me, I am able to keep my head above the water & hear His voice.

Join Remade Ministries {and me :)} for 30 days of 30 minutes of time investing in blessing our King.

He not only deserves it, He longs for one on one time with you too.

Relationship over task, every time.

We can best serve with our hands & feet when our hearts & minds are fixed on doing what He ask us to do.  When our whole hearts are invested in making Him first place in our lives.

Then, and only then, our ministry will have impact for His kingdom.

For 30 days, give Him your first 30 minutes.  Make getting to know Him your priority over all else, and see how your life will change for the better.

When God reminds you what to say yes to, you will have no problem saying no to busyness for busyness’ sake. Your priorities will start to shift and fall as you follow His lead.

We are not meant to do it all, but we are all meant to know Him.

honor on her

Karla Lees

This week we will be visiting my hubby’s mom for mother’s day.

We speak fairly regularly by phone when we can, however in order to show her honor we don’t visit too often.

Here is a hard lesson I have learned about honor.

We can honor a person without honoring their choices.

My mother in law is a very broken woman.  I know without a doubt that she loves God. She is however very bound due to trauma in her past that has not been resolved. Many of the choices in life have not been ones I can honor.

However, God has given me the ability to move past the hurt she feels and wields as a weapon at times, and honor her as the daughter of the King she is.

Do you too struggle with loving someone who is not making wise choices?

I see the disciples struggling with this a bit in the gospels, and I love them all the more for it, because they represent us. The regular Joes & Joannas, whom Jesus came to walk beside, and show how to honor.

Jesus never once told a sinner it was okay they had sinned. He loved them where they were at, and pointed to a better way.

He honored them as people, while not liking their choices, the fall out of their sin.

I am now able to show honor as He leads me to my mother-in-law, because I too know that I don’t always make wise choices.

Yes God honored me by choosing me, in the midst of my sin.

Its time for us to extend grace and honor those He came to save. Seeing them as He does…the broken, hurting, lost who don’t know how much their Father loves them.

He bestowed the biggest honor on each and every one of us through the Cross.

He took on our failures, sins, bad choices so we could be free, and become part of His family.

What an honor.

If you too have a loved one you struggle to be around at times, remember God honored those who didn’t deserve it with His gift of Jesus.   You, and I included.

As His beloved, we need to extend that honor to all those around us.

There were moments when the disciples didn’t get it, and Jesus patiently would offer an explanation, and I am sure offer His Father prayers that they would understand at the right time!

He modeled showing honor to us all when He was with us on earth:

Love.
Grace.
Mercy.
Patience.
Forgiveness.
Honor.

(P.S. I am not suggesting you purposefully put yourself in front of any kind of firing gun, if a relationship is abusive.  In that case, you can best show honor through prayer, and seeking His direction.  Honor His request to pray for those who hurt you. for them to come to see Him and be transformed. Jesus didn’t intentionally seek out the Pharisees, but was prepared to answer them when they turned up.)

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come-passion

Karla Lees

In an interesting unexpected conversation yesterday on the bus, I touched an aspect of God in a way I had not yet done in such a way before.

As i was listening to the earnest young missionary from the Latter Day Saints speak about his church having the ‘living prophet’ and 12 apostles, I felt compassion for him rise up within my heart.

He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.

Like many sheep, he is following the wrong shepherd, and doesn’t know any better.

He hasn’t yet met the Shepherd.

What makes Jesus unique to me after this brief conversation is how much compassion He has ALL THE TIME.  Yes, He did lose His temper once or twice. but because of His passion for serving God, and wanting us free of what binds us.

He came to us because of His passion for His people.
All of them.

The ones who know, the ones who don’t yet know,and the ones may choose not to know Him.

Come, Passion.
Compassion.

Lord, may the passion that led you to choose to walk amongst us here on earth , willingly taking on the cross, sin & death?
May that passion arise anew in us and flow out from us in a wave of compassion that will draw people to discover You.

Come, Passion. Well up within us until we can’t help but burst forth in worship, praise as we shower Your love, mercy & grace wherever we go.
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Presence

Karla Lees

The past few days, I have felt overwhelmed physically.

A few of my sore muscles are having a hard time giving up their tension, despite prayer and the efforts of my physio & massage therapist.

Sleeping on my left side is foreign to me, I have always been a back or right side sleeper, and with my right side sore, staying asleep HSS now become an issue.

I am generally not a big whiner, but a solution finder.

I am in a situation I cannot control. nor see a quick end too.

The trail ahead seemed very steep last night.

I could only pray, “Help” before falling asleep.

This morning, as I awoke and spent time in His Word & Presence, He has reminded me I am not in this alone.

He is with me.

He is strengthening me.

He is helping me.

I was only looking at my physical symptoms, but God was looking at my whole person.

My spirit is reaching out for Him more than ever before, because I don’t want to make it through without Him.

My solution, my Hope is found in Him alone.

I am actively bringing my thoughts into alignment with His Word & promises.

I am being honest about my feelings, but not letting them run my decisions.

But how I am physically weary of being sore.

And that is the area God reminds me I need to bring into alignment with His truth.

I can keep going when I depend on His strength.

He is more than enough for me, even as I struggle.

Its okay to be real before Him, and fully rely on Him for all I need.

Maybe one of you needed to hear this this morning too.

I hope He draws close to you, and reminds you of what you need to hear from Him directly as well.

Once again, it is well with my soul.

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Because all things are possible, in, with and for our God!