Tag: within

resident

Karla Lees

Resident: noun; a person who lives somewhere permanently or on a long-term basis.

Reside: verb;
1. have one’s permanent home in a particular place.
2. be situated.
3. (of power or a right) belong by right to a person or body.

Beloved, did you know God wants you to live, to reside with Him always?  Permanently.

As gobsmacking as that concept is to take at face value, it goes way deeper than this…this idea of resident.

Because not only does He want you to live, reside with Him, He sends Holy Spirit to take up residence, to reside within each of us who belong to Him.

We receive the right to have Holy Spirit, in all His power & Godness, as full time resident within us.

Mind blowing, isn’t it?!

Jesus was a walking living breathing demo to us of this, as He and His Father were one, each living within the other despite one being wrapped in humanity & the other in full unharnessed radiant divinity.

He lives in me, I live in Him.

God situated, with me in every situation, as I reside, found in Him.

God invites us to become full time, permanent residents in Him, and longs for us to allow Holy Spirit to freely move in all the areas within us.

We get the keys to His home, when we give over our keys within to Him.

Each new room we give up releases us to run into a new wonder, more of the wide open spaces of freedom God has waiting for us.

I don’t know about you, but I love being at home, and being made to feel welcome wherever i visit.

We all long to return where we are wondrously welcomed.

And how You welcome us into Your arms, heart & Home!

God, I welcome You into my whole life. Jesus, I thank You for covering my sin & making me right with You. Holy Spirit, make Yourself at home in me. Wherever I need a makeover, gently lead me to the right tools I need to set me free, and rebuild as You desire me to be.

May I reside in You, be found in You, no matter what, all my days.

May I be so familiar with Your Presence that heaven will confirm my feeling of home in the here and now.

Take a moment, and listen to: http://soaking.net/sarah-busco-make-your-home-inside-my-heart/

image

Allow God to speak to your heart about His moving in, and your moving deeper into His Presence & Stronghold.  Soak in Him, rest in His embrace.

May He embrace you as you seek Him afresh.

Note: Sarah Brusco is a Vineyard worship leader, through whom I have been blessed by her worshipful heart. She can be followed at https://m.facebook.com/thewovenwhisper or @SarahBrusco.

space in your place

Karla Lees

The truth is,
inside of what GOD is doing
is the most spacious place
you could be in.

@SteffGretz

Stretching your arms seems to make more room for air in our lungs.

Yet rolling up our clothes as we pack them takes up less space in our luggage, doesn’t it?

How can we get more in yet take up the same or less amount of space?

By letting the Designer reconfigure the design.

I am learning to take a deep breath, and blow out whatever is wanting to take up space that I can’t afford to hand over within me…negative thoughts & feelings such as:
*offense
*crankiness
*lies
*anger
*envy
*jealously
*impatience
*irritation

Instead, I breathe out a thanks, and invite in what He has for me:
*love
*goodness
*kindness
*joy
*peace
*gentleness
*self-control
*hope
*faith
*trust
*life in its fullness

When we remove the blocks within which had been in the way, God moves in to those places and makes them richer, fuller and more spacious.

Life expands when it is given room to do so!

Take a moment, and breathe.
In and out.
Repeat.

Exhale the worries, anxiety, concerns & broken dreams,
the stuff you want to take your hands off, and the stuff you want to take its hands off of you.

Inhale His love as you draw close to Him.

Let His Presence steep deeper and deeper as you soak in His goodness, mercy and grace.

May He continue to stretch us, making spacious room in us
to hold all He has for us,
Himself, as we open our lives to His touch.

We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

Romans 5:2

He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved —surprised to be loved!

Psalm 18:19

image
#pressingin
#armsopenwide
#wideopenspaces
#hopeinHisPresence

Sunday Psalm: Safe Haven

Karla Lees

worrying & working
my fingers to the bone
only leads to exhaustion,
and hiding myself within
only leads to frustration.
You have better in store
for me
than that,
Your Spirit reminds me.

Your love
offers a portal of rest.
A safe haven in my storms,
a refuge in the midst of the battles that try to ensnare me,
a home where i am always welcome.
Always & forever.

You calm the storm
raging inside of me
when I come to You,
my safe haven.

You don’t just love me
in a heart adoration devoted overwhelmingly for you kind of way, but in a “Come away with me, my love, and find peace no matter the season, shelter in the storms, in my embrace literally” active kind of love.

Love does.

Your love is real,
and You want to move on my behalf.

Calmer of the storms
swirling inside of me
and all around me,
You invite me to pull
into Your harbor,
anchor myself in You
and find peace, rest
for my soul.

image

#hopeinHisPresence

hiding place- when is the right time to retreat?

Karla Lees

image

You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble & surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7 NIV

God’s my island hideaway, keeps danger far from the shore, throws garlands of hosannas around my neck. Psalm 32:7 MSG

I have learned the hard way that every time is the best time to retreat & seek His Presence.

When I was a newer believer, I felt I had to physically go somewhere to be able to find that quiet place to connect, and plug into God.

Graham Cooke changed all that for me.

When we were attending the Vineyard, Graham came as a guest teacher at a prophetic conference I attended.

God spoke a word through him that is with me still.

Jesus so obviously demonstrated it when He was here on earth, I don’t know how I had missed it.

Holy Spirit confirmed it for me then, and continues to whisper & remind me of its truth daily.

The place where we can meet God, retreat?
The secret place of the Most High?
The quiet place where we can connect with Him at anytime?

Within us.

How did i miss that we are LITERALLY His temple, not just figuratively.

God literally moves in and dwells, inhabits, lives within us!

24/7.

Any time is the right time to seek Him.

When I quiet myself, I can plug into Him inside. I can sense His Presence, hear His voice, feel His heart beat & the rhythm of His breathing.

He guide me, calms me, loves me, heals me, is with me.

He is my hiding place.
With me wherever I go.

I cannot fully explain just how awesome that revelation not only made me feel, but how it radically gear shifted my brain.

Jesus walked this out for us, but some of us missed that it was possible because of His being God.

But fully God fully man was to show is the blend of the possible, no longer the impossible.

We can be one with God.
We are made one with Him when we accept Him
He is with us, always.

When you start to calm yourself. press into His Word & worship Him, He awakens this presence afresh within, and heightens our awareness of Him.

Anywhere you or I go, He goes.

When the bully hits you with their words.
When the project falls apart.
When a loved one breaks your heart.
When you can breathe under the weight of loss and grief.

The secret place?
Your hiding place?
Your quiet retreat?

He is there with you.

Right now, take a deep breath.
Close your eyes.
Begin to pray.
Claim the verses above.
Tell God of your love.
Ask Him to awaken your senses
to His indwelling Presence.

It doesn’t matter where you are,
it matters Who you are with.

when you are far from Home: 3 tips to help you through

Karla Lees

Like Mary, Joseph & Jesus, you too may feel far from home…. in a strange city, foreign country or in an awkward family gathering.

You too may be longing for the familiar surroundings or faces you are missing.

If you too feel far from home right now, here are a few tips to help you find your way back:

1. Love the ones you’re with:

You are never alone. There is someone around you most of the time- whether family, friend, coworker, barista, boss, server…

If you can’t be at home, make others feel at home around you. Throw out the welcome mat to your kindness.
image

2. Ask for help:

If you are struggling, speak up. Get help if you can’t cope. The beat thing I ever did when I hit a sudden depression many years ago was make a list of how I was feeling & what I thought was contributing factors, after praying about things. List in hand, I ran it by a wise person I respected to ask if they thought I should talk to my doctor. She said yes.

My doctor read my list, asked me a few questions to clarify, and then told me he would have been in his doctor’s office getting help if he had half a list as long as mine. Six weeks later, I had improved enough to stop taking meds.

You may not need physical help, you may need spiritual or emotional help. Whatever the help you need, find the right resource and ask.
image
Not asking for help when you need it makes you the main problem.

Don’t miss this step if need be to help make it back home.

3. Remember, home is with you everywhere you go.

You carry home with you everywhere you are. All the good memories? With you!

image
Tune out the loneliness by taking a trip down Remember Road and reexperience the joy Home brings you.

Have you caught sight that Home is not just a place yet?

Mary & Joseph weren’t the first to bring God home with them at Christmas.

Holy Spirit resides in all who believe. He moves in and begins to make Himself at home.

Home moves outside our walls and within us.

We take Home with us everywhere we go.

As we end this year, and this series, you may be dreaming about when you will get back Home. It may not be about missing a physical place or loved ones. It may go deeper than that.

When you feel far from Home?

A simple prayer invites Him to move in.

God with us.
God within us.
Home.

#TheWhenSeries
#LoveCameDown

PS. Don’t forget to pray before you act. God will lead you, just as He used angels and a star to bring the Carpenters, the shepherds, and the wise men to Himself. If you need another reminder that He is trustworthy? Reread the Christmas story 😉

unforced rhythms of grace

Karla Lees

Rest and I are wrestling again.

I am not talking about just physical rest, which is where 75% of my struggle is right now.

I mean resting in God type rest.

The rest that has eternal implications.

In the busyness and weariness of the past week, I am once again struggling to maintain my inner rest.

And that is the crux of the problem.

In making rest about me, I take my eyes off of Him, the provider of rest.

Trying to force rest in the natural when it isn’t. Natural that is.

It takes a supernatural spark for us to catch the rest God is offering us.

Unforced rhythms of grace.

Kind of like the force. Yes, I mean the Star Wars sci-fi idea of the force. Focusing on joining with what the force is wanting to do, and becoming one with it.

But in the real world…releasing ourselves to join with the Spirit, allowing Him to flow through us.
Resting in His Presence, no matter what may be swirling around me.
Letting go of my need for control, and letting God direct me- from the inside out.

God’s way is not one of force.

He wants willing partners, ones who will come to Him, walk along with Him on the unforced path of grace, finding our home, our rest in the One who loves us forever.

As He walks with us, we find that rest.

image

May I stop trying to struggle for rest within, and allow You to release it inside of me in waves of grace as I seek You.