In this post, I would like to share some things that can help keep us on track to live and love with consistency as we travel along sharing the goodness of God in our every day lives.
I'll begin with something the Lord opened up earlier in 2017 during a time of united corporate worship with multiple churches from our community. As we worshiped, I saw in my spirit an enormous fortified steel structure. It had the appearance of a high rise under construction with heavy scaffolding attached to it. All I saw was the steel framework - it wasn't finished but it was massive and intimidating. Suddenly, the building disappeared and in it's place stood a precarious house of cards. Out of nowhere, a powerful wind blew and the cards were scattered everywhere. The house of cards was completely destroyed in an instant. As I saw this, I immediately heard in my spirit, "At the blast of His breath..." and the Lord brought to mind Exodus 15:8,
"At the blast of Your breath, the waters piled up! The surging waters stood straight like a wall..."
All of the problems and difficulties we encounter in our personal lives, in our communities, in the nation and around the world look like that heavily fortified steel structure to us. But to Him? - oh, to Him they're just a mere house of cards! Child's play! And at the blast of His breath they are all brought to nothing. There is nothing that is too difficult or impossible for Him!
The Lord went on to reveal that, as we focus on the problems around us, we add on to and strengthen that steel structure. We build it - in our minds. It's not that the problem gets any larger in reality, we just perceive that it is as we focus on it and literally construct this enormous difficulty in our minds. But, if we run to Jesus and dive deeper into relationship with our Father, He grows bigger and assumes more real estate in our minds and the problem dwindles to a flimsy house of cards that doesn't have a chance of standing. The goal imbedded in every difficulty is to run to God seeking to build and strengthen our relationship with Him. A by-product of that "construction" is the problem, in due season, will be either completely cleared out of our path or so greatly diminished in our minds that it is no longer even perceived as a problem. That's the fringe benefit that accompanies the real reward: Jesus.
Several months later, while in a time of prayer, I received the following word:
"As you worship Me, I will pour out My Wisdom. You are about to see a "rain" of this like never before. It will take you to a whole new level of holy and humble confidence in Me. As you act on the wisdom I reveal to you, My peace will govern your hearts. You will no longer be harassed by a spirit of 'rush' or 'react'. You may be called to move quickly (in action or thought), but your spirit will be at peace and rest. My peace, coming to you as a by-product of My poured out wisdom, will be the governor of your hearts."
The word "governor" jumped out at me immediately as I received this and this portion of Isaiah 60:17 came to mind, "I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler." It felt like there was a connection between the function of a "governor" in an engine and God's peace governing our hearts.
The function of a governor system in a small engine is similar to that of a cruise control. It keeps the speed of the piece of power equipment, (such as a lawn mower), steady regardless of the amount of work the engine must perform in changing conditions. In a lawn mower, the engine load can be affected by things such as hills or height of grass. Without a governor, the throttle would have to be adjusted manually every time the mower ran across a dense patch of grass or encountered an incline. The governor system does the job for us by detecting changes in the load and adjusting the throttle to compensate. Under a light load, the crankshaft spins quickly closing the throttle and limiting the air-fuel release into the engine. Everything clips along at a fast pace (pun intended!) Under a heavy load, the crankshaft slows down, opens the throttle and releases a generous air-fuel mixture into the engine to handle the increased load. It is the governor system that holds the throttle/crankshaft at the desired maximum speed.
Well, what's true even in the mechanical/natural holds true in the spirit. The Lord himself is the air and fuel of our spirit:
"God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth." (Isaiah 42:5, NLT)
"Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever." (John 6:35, MSG)
When we are under a light load in life, we can clip along at a pretty good speed, requiring a smaller air-fuel mixture to run. Under a heavy load, the need is to slow down and allow a rich air-fuel blend into our "engine" so we can continue to run. We have a tendency to do just the opposite. When the pressure is off, we like to kick back and often overindulge ourselves but when the load of life increases, we try to go mach 2 and handle it with very little fuel. Too much air-fuel on a light load? Our "engine" floods, gets bogged down and doesn't want to run. Too little air-fuel on heavy load? We run out of gas.
We run into changing "load" conditions every day, throughout the day. We need a governor system. The bad news is we are not fully equipped to do the job ourselves. The good news is Jesus is! And He is offering to live inside us, (through the Holy Spirit), to be our perfect Governor. With Him in control, we can run at a consistent and optimal level regardless of the changing conditions around us. He is Jehovah Jireh - the One who sees ahead, perceives the need and provides for us. He knows the changes in the landscape ahead of us long before we do and knows how to adjust our "throttle" accordingly.
Submitting to His authority is not about working hard under the whip of a harsh taskmaster. It is about letting Him have full control of the inner workings of our hearts and minds so we can become everything He already sees when He looks at us and do all He planned for us from before the foundation of the earth (Ephesians 2:10). It's always about possibilities, freedom, launching and His empowering grace. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are our governor system and it is the peace of God that will govern our hearts:
"Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always]." (Colossians 3:15, AMP)
I sense as we train ourselves to turn our minds away from focusing on problems to turning towards the Lord, and we receive this outpouring of His wisdom, the resulting peace will bring healing to the Body as a whole. A healing from the inside out rather than the outside in. Every born again Believer has the Governor inside them. I believe we are entering a season of upgrade in activation, shifting us from looking for help and healing via the Governor in others to connecting and activating the reality of the Governor in ourselves. The governor system in lawnmower "A" can't help lawnmower "B" navigate changes in terrain. Both mowers need their own governor systems and they must be activated and functioning.
We are entering a time in which the Lord is inviting those of us who are willing to pursue deep dependence on Him, receive His wisdom and confidently act on it as He directs. He is promising His peace will accompany us as we do. We have the privileged opportunity in this time in history to be His vessels and ambassadors, allowing the government and peace of His Kingdom to flow through us.
"For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder,
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
There shall be no end to the increase of His government and of peace,
[He shall rule] on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From that time forward and forevermore.The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this." (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Let the whole earth
be filled with His glory!
"God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth." (Isaiah 42:5, NLT)
"Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever." (John 6:35, MSG)
When we are under a light load in life, we can clip along at a pretty good speed, requiring a smaller air-fuel mixture to run. Under a heavy load, the need is to slow down and allow a rich air-fuel blend into our "engine" so we can continue to run. We have a tendency to do just the opposite. When the pressure is off, we like to kick back and often overindulge ourselves but when the load of life increases, we try to go mach 2 and handle it with very little fuel. Too much air-fuel on a light load? Our "engine" floods, gets bogged down and doesn't want to run. Too little air-fuel on heavy load? We run out of gas.
We run into changing "load" conditions every day, throughout the day. We need a governor system. The bad news is we are not fully equipped to do the job ourselves. The good news is Jesus is! And He is offering to live inside us, (through the Holy Spirit), to be our perfect Governor. With Him in control, we can run at a consistent and optimal level regardless of the changing conditions around us. He is Jehovah Jireh - the One who sees ahead, perceives the need and provides for us. He knows the changes in the landscape ahead of us long before we do and knows how to adjust our "throttle" accordingly.
Submitting to His authority is not about working hard under the whip of a harsh taskmaster. It is about letting Him have full control of the inner workings of our hearts and minds so we can become everything He already sees when He looks at us and do all He planned for us from before the foundation of the earth (Ephesians 2:10). It's always about possibilities, freedom, launching and His empowering grace. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are our governor system and it is the peace of God that will govern our hearts:
"Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always]." (Colossians 3:15, AMP)
I sense as we train ourselves to turn our minds away from focusing on problems to turning towards the Lord, and we receive this outpouring of His wisdom, the resulting peace will bring healing to the Body as a whole. A healing from the inside out rather than the outside in. Every born again Believer has the Governor inside them. I believe we are entering a season of upgrade in activation, shifting us from looking for help and healing via the Governor in others to connecting and activating the reality of the Governor in ourselves. The governor system in lawnmower "A" can't help lawnmower "B" navigate changes in terrain. Both mowers need their own governor systems and they must be activated and functioning.
We are entering a time in which the Lord is inviting those of us who are willing to pursue deep dependence on Him, receive His wisdom and confidently act on it as He directs. He is promising His peace will accompany us as we do. We have the privileged opportunity in this time in history to be His vessels and ambassadors, allowing the government and peace of His Kingdom to flow through us.
"For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder,
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
There shall be no end to the increase of His government and of peace,
[He shall rule] on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From that time forward and forevermore.The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this." (Isaiah 9:6-7)
“Moses said, ‘Please. Let me see your Glory.’ God said, ‘I will make
my Goodness pass right in front of you; I’ll call out the name, God, right before you.’” (Ex 33:18-19a)
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