it really is all Spiritual...
There have been several times when the Lord has woken me in the middle of the night and instructed me to start writing. Or in the middle of the day, when He says to drop everything and pick up my pen. Those times, in particular, I know are going to carry a weightier message that the Lord doesn’t want me to miss. And every single time, they have been significant messages, each one costing me a little bit more.
So this entry back into the blogging world is one the Lord put on my heart, stirring until I could no longer ignore it. Some may view this as a political piece, but I can assure you it is very much about a spiritual battle that is ravaging our nation. And while there might be a political aspect woven throughout, the heart of the matter remains spiritual. When we are able to look at the scenes playing out before our eyes through a spiritual lens, we have a better understanding of what the enemy is cloaking himself in, in order to deceive us.
Let me start back at the beginning, at the time in my life when the Lord began giving me a heart for our nation - I just didn’t realize it. I was on the speech team in high school traveling to different competitions, one of which was through Veterans of Foreign Wars - a competition that was called Voice of Democracy. During that particular competition, I gave a 5-minute speech, one that kept me advancing all the way to Nationals in Washington DC. While I lost the competition in the finals stage, it was when I stood on the steps of the Capitol that the Lord began to stir something in my heart. I didn’t understand it at the time, but God was using that moment and the words of my speech to begin depositing in me, not only a love for my country, but for the freedom it’s given me to be able to live and worship the way in which we are called to do.
As a country founded on God, the roots of our nation belong to the Lord, and because of that foundation, a freedom unlike any other nation was established. There’s been a lot of chatter about Christian nationalism, but I just don’t buy it. God calls us into this world, not to be of it, but to be in it. This means being actively involved in all areas, including the field of government. I read something recently that put words to what I’ve been feeling and what I believe we’re witnessing across a national stage… the world has taken biblical issues and turned them into political ones. So when the body of Christ attempts to deal with those things, they’re told to stay out of politics, when in reality, they are the very issues the Lord has called us to engage in. The result of our absence is a hurting nation that desperately needs God, and because of the void we’ve left, instead of being influenced by Holy Spirit-filled believers, they have become inundated with ungodly policies and laws created at the behest of chaos and corruption.
What a spectacular tactic of the enemy - to keep the church away from the very things closest to the Lord’s heart, intentionally clouding our sight and minds with a foggy haze to keep us blinded to the truth of Jesus Christ and the calling He has for each of us. When we began to believe the lies that we weren’t supposed to engage or be involved, we stepped out of all the areas we should have long been influencing for Christ, which, in turn, gave the enemy a gaping opening to slide into. We sheltered in our churches, gathering in the name of ministry, and yet we forgot that we were supposed to be a light to a world in need. Created by God to be that light, we each have different gifts and God-given skill sets that could change an entire field if we lent our Kingdom mindset to the occupation. And one of those really important areas is our government.
Seven years ago, the landscape of our nation changed drastically when a certain virus entered the scene. It came in like a thief, taking the world by storm, catching people off guard, stealing life in more ways than one, and impacting millions of people. While the virus was tragic and took a tremendous, heartbreaking toll on so many, the Lord has continuously revealed to me that it wasn't about the virus itself but about the spiritual battle we're in. The events that happened in our world surrounding the virus, and the circumstances we find ourselves in the middle of now, in actuality, have more to do with an infection that sits deep within our hearts and the fog that has descended across the earth, clouding our vision. I believe that God allowed something like a virus, brought on by the enemy, to permeate our nation, settling over us like a fog, to check the condition of the heart of the church. Everything that has happened and is happening, from the virus to the chaos in the streets and the political upheaval, is a spiritual battle that the enemy stirred up to create division and hate. To create a diversion and blind us from what we should really be paying attention to... Jesus and getting back to our first true love. While sadly, it was a plot that worked better than I think we'd like to admit, it at last exposed where the hearts of many truly lie. By spreading a virus and creating distraction, the enemy stirred up fear and anxiety, putting our focus on everything but what the Lord is asking us to focus on. And it lingered long after the virus left. A nation that has lost its way, we've become complacent, tolerant, and compromised, drifting off to sleep each night to the lullaby of the world, with hearts full of infection and eyes that could no longer see through the haze.
About a month before the virus invaded our country, the Lord gave me a series of very specific visions, prompting me to walk through those years with a different lens than many others might have had. Flags of countries, logos of companies, as well as the initials of individuals the Lord showed me were involved with the virus, were all eventually officially connected through headlines that hit the news cycle. Those visions, along with others showing the enemy's strategy, and a series of dreams, are what I’ve been warring for in prayer for nearly seven years and have been what the Lord has used to guide my actions through that time. I’ve only shared the entirety of it with a handful of people and have shared a few portions of it along the way through Rhema and Logos. And that’s where I thought it would remain—in my heart and in my prayers. At the end of a 21-day Daniel fast, however, the Lord instructed me otherwise and asked me to start writing it all out. What follows are a few of those visions, the timeline in which the Lord showed them to me, a few of the unpolished notes taken from my journal, to give a little background to each and the message I believe God has asked me to share. And so begins a "blog" that in reality began over seven years ago...
August 1, 2018 - vision of a heart filled with infection
the heart of the believer that has strayed from their first love
walking through life completely unaware of the infection
“I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” (Revelation 2:3-5)
two years later, at the beginning of February of 2020, the Lord revealed to me that a virus, used as a bioweapon to control people, would be how He would expose the heart infection of both the church and our country
February 14, 2020 - vision of the Lord gathering a handful of long matchsticks, as if getting ready to build a fire
had been thanking the Lord for loving us so deeply and asking Him to keep us in a place of purity and love
a picture of the Lord preparing the hearts of the remnant for revival
vision of a lit candle in the middle of stick matches
came as a result of praying into the previous vision, match heads flipped upside down and placed in the ground
the lit candle burned closer to the ground, eventually lighting the matches, setting the earth on fire and blowing up in a spectacular way
the most explosive remnant, hidden, until the time is right - the ones the Lord calls to be the pockets of revival and awakening across our nation
February 17, 2020 - vision of a smoking gun
a warning of something on the horizon, along with the evidence to prove it was from the enemy.
smoking gun: “an object or fact that serves as conclusive evidence of a crime of proof”
exposing true colors...an epic unmasking of theatrical proportions
February 18, 2020 - vision of a capsule- like bomb
picture of the virus manufactured attack that descended on our nation
light was shining on one section that made it like an x-ray exposing a “nucleus” inside that looked the virus the Lord had shown infecting the heart
revealed the smoking gun evidence...not only all the hidden things the enemy has planned, but also gave insight for a plan of action
February 19, 2020 - vision of a robotic type person holding a scrub brush, slowly rocking their body back and forth in a methodical manner
hand began moving at a crazy fast speed, scrubbing furiously
saw myself inside the body, near the heart, and the Lord was asking me to scrub out all the areas around the heart
robotic cleaning that was put in motion by the enemy to take our focus off the bigger picture
the distraction - obsessive cleaning on the outside, distance
the real problem - the purification of hearts that needed to happen on the inside, lack of unity
February 20, 2020 - vision of the arm of a knight, extended outward, holding a “curtain shield” that displayed a picture of a landscape
fake shield, one made of fabric, to trick those who saw it
fake landscape... an illusion of peace to lure us into the imitation
prayer, however, revealed a bow and arrow the enemy had hiding behind the knight's back, ready to attack
a picture of the importance of prayer to see the hidden schemes of the enemy and how he is tricking us
The simplified message the Lord revealed to me through all these images is that our hearts have become so infected that we've lost sight of our first true love, Jesus Christ. A love that was forced out by an infection that grew from years of neglect. As believers, we have been walking through life completely unaware of the infection we carry, because it has wound itself so intricately around our hearts, becoming a part of who we think we are—not who we were designed by the Lord to be. When a heart is clogged, there is a risk of heart attack, and the Lord has been revealing that our nation is on the verge of a heart attack. Hearts filled with things that have become intertwined with our DNA that weren’t part of the Lord’s original design. Revival in each individual heart is the “surgery” that is critical right now and our only cure—to remove what doesn’t belong and has worked its way into our DNA. We have allowed the infection to settle in because we don’t want the pain that comes with true, complete removal and repentance, whether it’s severing completely or being willing to do an invasive internal check for infection. The enemy brought on a virus that God used to expose the infection, and while the world cleaned and scrubbed, the Lord gave us the opportunity to clean out our insides and to purify our hearts. The prayer on my heart throughout the seven years of studying these images has been one of restoration over our nation that comes from Lamentations 5:21 and Isaiah 6:10… “Restore us unto Yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored. Renew our days as of old… lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
A few months later, on June 22, 2020 I had a dream that felt deeply significant to the season we were walking through. The interpretation the Lord gave me was that if we lose “George Washington,” we’ll get a different kind of George in his place. The dream led to some interesting facts that I learned as I researched more about George Washington: born on February 22, 1732, he died on December 14, 1799, from epiglottis - commonly caused by an infection that results in inflammation, which then blocks air to the lungs. He basically got a throat infection and couldn’t breathe. As I read that information, the Lord brought to my mind the attacks of the enemy over the last seven years - attacks that have been on our throats, voice and breath. “Can’t breathe,” cancel culture, shutting down the prophetic, mask mandates, the virus affecting oxygen levels - attacks that went after the voice of God through manipulation and control. The enemy trying to silence God’s voice in His people, moving about the earth with a false sense of control, threatening to take our children, families, cities, nation. Watered down and weak, we became quiet and complacent while the voices around us become louder - the church so infected, we didn't even notice that we had lost our voice. Through events taking place on the national stage, the Lord continues to confirm through that dream that we have a choice - to be a voice for Jesus, as one nation under God or to live silently, in a godless society.
A phrase the Lord gave me years ago was “the great divide," and I realized the message was something He has been speaking to my heart for a long time… a message about a divide that I believe has already begun through a nation of Christians who are “at ease.” On a natural level, I think it’s fair to say the divide is obvious to the naked eye, especially in these tumultuous times. The sad reality is that our nation sits very divided. Just when you think a subject like a virus couldn’t possibly divide us even more, a new breed of hatred and division is spawned. And it continues to spin and grow, sucking-in as many as possible in its path, creating a wake that leaves destruction much like the latest hurricane or storm brings about. But this “great divide” that the Lord was speaking of isn't a division between political lines, denominations, or even between the lost and the saved. It’s a division between those that know the Lord’s heart, seeking Him with everything in them and those that are living a lukewarm life, settling comfortably into a life of compromise. It’s a division between the ones that have fully surrendered, sacrificing to live as Jesus - and those who would rather live their unimpeded lives of complacency, sitting in the pews on Sunday and leaving their faith at the door as they walk out. It’s a division the Lord is exposing deep within the hearts of believers. A spiritual divide that can be seen by those whose eyes the Lord has opened from having spent time with Him in His Word and in His presence, and missed by those that have let ease slip in. A division that the Lord, Himself, is orchestrating through the shaking and stirring we’ve been experiencing over the past seven years. A division between those who are crying out to God to expose the deception, no longer willing to sit idly by while the enemy claims yet one more “victim”, and those that haven’t taken notice of the darkness that has crept in or would rather put their head in the sand. A division between the ones looking for the cross versus the ones that keep pushing it beneath the surface in order to continue a life steeped in the ways of this world. A life of authenticity versus a life of imitation. The Lord is drawing a line for us, because we won't do it ourselves, and it's up to us to decide on which side we'll stand. Our nation is reflective of the inability of a body of believers to draw a line in the sand - a church at ease, because drawing the line means taking a stand, which in turn means sacrifice and obedience. When we neglected to draw the line, a foundation of compromise and tolerance was laid. We got so busy building our own things for the sake of a name or a platform, that we forgot to build the Lord’s house and began tolerating things contrary to the Word of God.
We’re at a pivotal moment where I believe the Lord is asking us to look deep within our hearts and to allow Him to reveal the things of impurity we’ve been “tolerating” by putting a microscope on our own lives and hearts. By allowing Him to extract the infection that has wound its way around the delicate parts of our heart, our spirit is healed from the sickness of this world and the fog is lifted from our eyes. Called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to the world - the most brilliant light comes from the purest vessels. We’ve really made it harder than it needs to be. Simply put, we are to turn our eyes back to the Lord, look FULLY in His wonderful face. Repentant, pure in heart, fully surrendered and walking in obedience. When believers have gone through the process of repentance to reveal and remove the infection of the heart, the plans of the enemy are exposed and rendered useless and powerless. It’s then we begin to rise up as the remnant the Lord is calling us to be. Muzzles off, throats and hearts cleared of infection, eyes open, fog lifted, it’s time to take a stand and speak truth with the authority given to us by Christ.
Two things I know to be true - 1) God is the same yesterday, today and forever and 2) there is nothing new under the sun. As we read through Scripture, we can see the days of old replaying in today’s world and because we know we can trust that God hasn’t changed, we can be reassured He will respond. He not only dealt with a disobedient people but He also heard their cries, answering them with a reprieve. So part of this message from the Lord comes as an invitation to pray with urgency for restoration of the promises we’ve been given by Jesus Christ. Both our assignment and our hope... for it’s by His stripes that we are healed and by His death that we have been set free. Hearts turned back to the Lord, staking our ground and “enlarging the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes” (Isaiah 54:2). We can’t stay the same, it’s not sustainable. And even though the circumstances look overwhelmingly big, we serve a God that’s bigger, the God of the impossible. But it's up to us to do our part and make an appearance in the areas of our nation that God has called us each to.
I spent years traveling throughout the country, going into some of the hardest parts of the cities to share the Gospel, and the one thing that remained consistent everywhere we went... people were longing for Jesus. Searching for a love they couldn't find and wanting the answer as to why they couldn't find it. So the question is... are we going to let our voices be drowned out by a spirit that’s set to destroy us, or will we stand up and stake our ground for the Lord? This life with Christ isn’t easy; it was never promised to be. But Jesus is calling us back to the cross. And our nation is crying out for us to come back to the places we left vacant. It will definitely cost us something. But it’ll be worth everything we've lost to gain the freedom that allows us to praise the name of the One who gave us His life, so we could have ours. As I dug through the Extensions of Remarks of the US Congressional Record to find my speech that had been recorded, an excerpt stood out to me, and I was taken back to the time I stood on the steps of the Capitol… "They fulfilled their pledge. They paid the price. And freedom was won. To be born free is a privilege. But to die free is an awesome responsibility. Yet freedom is never free. It is always purchased at great cost."
We have a choice... we will either return to the cross as a nation founded on God, or we will continue our walk toward Babylon. The way the heart of the people go, the way the nation goes.
"I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." - John 17:14-18
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"...And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. But I have said to you, 'You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.' I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” - Leviticus 20:23-26
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“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” - 1 John 4:1-6
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“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” - 1 John 5:4-5
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“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” - Romans 12:11
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“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” - 2 Corinthians 3:17
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