May 2022: FORWARD
As I began to type the word “forward” God gave me for this month, it popped into my head how “May the Fourth Be with You” has become such a popular date for people to highlight. It’s a totally different reference, but . . . fourth . . . forth . . . forward . . . yep! Sounds about right! Isn’t it just like Jesus to use a pop culture reference to confirm a prophetic word?!
April was a month when the Lord encouraged us to “let go.” Some things were big, some little; some easy, some heartbreaking. I think it’s very fitting to have the word “forward” follow last month’s word.
What does it look like for you to move forward now that you’ve let go of the things the Lord asked you to let go of last month? We can’t stay stuck where we were – there must be forward movement.
Interestingly, this is also the Hebrew month, Iyar, which is known as a month of transition. I believe the Lord is transitioning people this month. As they position and align with Him and take steps forward, I believe many will only know the first step they’re to take, rather than see the full picture of the plan for what’s ahead. As that first step forward is taken, while it may feel risky, the next step will be revealed once you’ve said “yes” to taking that first step in faith. It’s an invitation to trust Him in the transition and it’s a time to make decisions you’ve been waiting on. Each step taken and decisions made are prophetic and tangible acts of moving forward into what the Lord has for you. I believe it’s very much connected with calling and destiny. What the Lord is moving you forward into is totally related to what you’ve been created and designed for since before the beginning of time. 
I heard “what was sown in tears will be reaped in joy.” It’s harvest time! (Psalm 126:5-6) The saying “April showers bring May flowers” has been spoken of by others and I couldn’t agree more. Some of those April showers flowed in the form of tears. The ground was watered with your tears and because you pressed in even harder into Him in those difficult places, rather than turning away from Him in anger, you have a beautiful harvest coming and you’re about to bloom.
I also see those May flowers reflecting God’s glory. Last week, God highlighted a portion of John 17:1 to me, “Father, the time has come. Unveil your glorious splendor of your Son so that I will magnify Your glory!” Fields of flowers are glorious in appearance. I believe they’re pictures of God’s glory all around us. His glory is breathtaking and as the glorious splendor of His Son is reflected in and through us, we magnify God’s glory, just like May’s beautiful flowers.God has also been continuing to speak to me about His light shining in and through us and how light dispels the darkness. Where light shines, darkness can’t be present. His glory is linked with light. Understanding and revelation are like light shining in areas of darkness where we’ve felt confused or lacked insight and knowledge. God has said to ask Him for wisdom, and He would give it to us (James 1:5). This is a month when God will pour out wisdom in the form of understanding and revelation, but He wants us to ask Him for it.
I believe this is an Isaiah 60 month – a month marked by His glory and His promises fulfilled, including long-awaited provision and healing. Don’t back down on this. You may have felt weary continuing to believe God for answered prayer in these areas but strengthen yourself in the Lord and stand firm on His promises! Do a study on Isaiah 60 and ask the Lord to give you wisdom, revelation, and understanding into it you’ve never had before. What is He personally speaking to you through it?
I hear Jesus resoundingly declaring over each of us, “The time has come! The time has come! The time has come!” This is the transition into our callings and destinies at a higher level than we’ve known before. We’ve allowed the refiner’s fire to consecrate and purify us. He’s made us ready over the last season. The time has come to see His covenant promises fulfilled and manifested in our lives. A friend said this to me recently and I believe it’s for all of us. . . . Remember your past prayers. Remember past prophetic words. Remember His promises to you. Bring each of them before Him and remind Him of those things. Contend for them. The time has come to see them come to pass!
Move FORWARD into all the Lord has for you! What is the first step He’s leading you to take? Listen . . . He’ll speak. Watch . . . He’ll give you direction. 
“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, TPT)
Want company on the journey ahead? Join us for our upcoming 6-week course! Need details? Reach out to us!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
WHAT ABOUT THE ONE?
I think we each have an innate desire to make a difference in the world. There's a longing in our hearts to make our mark, do something significant, have it be on a large scale, and make a name for ourselves.
It used to be a hope that we'd be remembered for something "great" after we'd left this earth, but now, we want to be known far and wide through social media in the now.
It's no different in the ministry world. The perspective is simply shifted to having a platform that will enable us to reach more people for Jesus. Sometimes that's great; other times, it's still all about self-promotion. I'm not here to judge and won't. I'm simply acknowledging it.
The thing is . . . I'm no different. I want to make a huge difference in the world around me, too. What God has recently been speaking so powerfully to me about is the importance of seeing and reaching the ONE. Yes, multitudes are great. Jesus Himself drew them to Him and spoke to them. Yet, He noticed and stopped for the ONE - the blind man, the Samaritan Woman, the paralyzed man, the woman with the issue of blood, the Centurion . . . In reaching the ONE, He transformed generations - and nations.I've been a lot more focused on the one because that's what God has been prompting me to do. The added bonus? I've found tremendous freedom in letting go of trying to create something larger myself and instead, leaving that up to God and His plans in partnering with me.
What's been amazing to witness is the transformation happening in the lives of the "ONE" and how that's being worked out in families. Families means generations and generations shape culture. Reaching the ONE makes history.
I'm asking God to make me more aware of the ONE in front of me. I can get so task-oriented that I miss people more often than I want to admit. I'm thankful each time He opens my eyes.
Need a conversation or prayer together? Please reach out. I'll stop to make time for you. You're ONE who matters!
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
APRIL PROPHETIC WORD: LET GO!
The month of April is an incredibly significant month in several ways, and I feel the weightiness on this month hugely. This month will set the course of the next year, which I’m sensing both prophetically and through some reading, which I’ll explain.This year, Passover and Easter fall within just days of one another. It’s hard to miss the significance of that timing or the correlated meaning of sacrifice, life, deliverance, and redemption found in these two celebrations.
This is also the Hebrew month of Nissan, which is the first month of the year according to the Jewish calendar. In the book, “A Time to Advance” by Chuck Pierce, he shares the significance of Nissan. Among other things, Nissan is associated with the tribe of Judah and is a month characterized by repentance, redemption, and miracles. It’s especially important to watch the words you speak during this month because your words will set the course for your future. It’s also a time to ask God for His strategies for aligning with His purposes and plans.
Just a reminder . . . His plans are never just about you. You have a role to play in establishing heaven on earth, so keep in mind the global influence and impact you have – your words are far more powerful than you realize! You literally set the course of your life through the words you speak (James 3:2-5) and your life, and how you live it, affects countless others.
April is a time to advance, a time to fearlessly run toward the giants we’re facing, remembering the ways God has defeated our enemies in the past and how He’ll do it again with even greater, more far-reaching impact. David first killed the lion and the bear, which affected his personal life, but when he took down Goliath, it impacted his nation and others as the news spread of the enemy’s defeat. This is a month to fearlessly run toward any Goliaths standing before you and be a giant slayer! Your aim will be sure, and your stone will hit its mark! You have more influence in the world than you realize . . .
The Lord has been strongly talking to me not just about setting a guard over the words we speak, but He’s been highlighting the importance of making decrees and declarations that will literally create our future and mark our history, both individually and globally. He spoke the world into existence. We’re made of His DNA and Jesus told us, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12) If God creates using His words, we do the same with ours. What are our words forming, building, constructing?
The key for this month?
LET GO.
There are things we’re holding onto that are preventing us from advancing, slaying, creating, and aligning. Something I keep hearing over and over in my spirit and in conversations with Brian is that we aren’t our pasts; we’re our future – who we’re becoming. Steve Backlund shares a couple of related declarations, “I am not who my past says I am; I am who God says I am” and “I get my identity from my future, not my past.” (@IgnitingHope)
God has declared about us that “old things have passed away” and “all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). If we can’t let go of things from the past – traumas, wounds, mistakes, past relationships, poor decisions made, and so many other things, we can’t freely, confidently, and fearlessly move forward into all the Lord has for us in our coming days. We embrace excuses that justify our lack of forward movement and reason away why things stay the same and . . . we stay stuck where we’ve been.I get it – I know how valid it can be to lay blame on things in our past. But . . . if we can’t let go of those things, we can’t advance and that’s exactly what the enemy would like for our lives. Don’t give him the satisfaction! Give God the things you’ve been holding onto. He can be trusted with them and with any needed solutions or healing you’ve been longing for and trying to work out yourself.
I’ve been clearly hearing the Lord releasing and declaring hope to the world. It’s desperately in need of it! We’re called to be hope carriers, hope-bringers, and hope catalysts. Through the words you speak, birth hope in the hearts of all you meet and align your actions with your hope. That alone is going to shift so much in, around, and through you!
So, this month, LET GO of the things holding you back - past, or present. If you need to ask His forgiveness for anything, it’s the perfect time to do that, especially as we celebrate Jesus’ redemption of us all through His death and resurrection. Take steps forward into your future and embrace the hope God is putting before you. Take aim at the giants you’ve been facing who have tried to intimidate you and make you afraid. Remember - like David, God has already given Goliath into your hands, and you already have the victory (I Sam. 17:47)! Align your words with these truths and believe God for miracles for yourself and others. You’re a miracle worker because Jesus lives in you – walk as one!You’re going to be in awe of the shift that happens this month as you LET GO . . . and advance!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
HIS MIRACLES
“. . . For Your miracles have made us who we are.” Psalm 68:28bSince reading this verse this morning, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
How many of us, including me, have defined ourselves by the things we’ve faced or overcome?
I’m a “survivor” – of childhood sexual abuse, of a bitter divorce between my parents, of a mentally unstable and alcoholic, biological mother, of abandonment, of a relationship with an abusive, alcoholic ex-fiancé. I could continue the list. I’m sure you have your own.
You can’t live life in a broken world and not experience trauma.
Long ago, I stopped viewing myself as a victim . . . but I fully and proudly declared myself to be a “survivor.” It seemed to be a badge of honor giving a nod to my ability to overcome by the grace of God.
That survivor trophy in some ways became a sacred part of my identity that couldn’t be touched. I proudly gave testimony of who I’d become through Jesus, despite the traumas I’ve faced and overcome.
Brian has tried to help me see beyond that definition of myself but was only met with an angry response in return. In my mind, he had no ground to stand on to speak to me about this topic. He’s never had to endure what I have and doesn’t know what it means to survive. Never mind the fact that he’s nearly died more times than we’ve kept track of, and he hasn’t let that define him . . .
This verse created a massive shift within me this morning. I’m not the sum of what I’ve survived. I’m a product of His miracles in my life. The amazing thing? The list of His miracles I’ve experienced is FAR longer than the traumas I’ve faced.
God’s miracles have made you who you are, my friend. Let that truth reshape your thinking, your beliefs, and your identity.
You’re a walking sum of miracles!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
FEELING PARALYZED?
God has been speaking to me over and over recently through the story of the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda. Reading the account in The Passion Translation has helped me to see and hear things I’d never noticed before.
You can find the story in John 5: 1-16. You’ll read how Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts and while there, He went to an area in the city near the Sheep Gate, which is where the sacrificial animals were brought into the temple. The note on this verse makes an observation that “the sick gathered there like bruised, wounded sheep, needing healing” (note, vs.2). I was struck by the recognition that hundreds were lying under the covered porches . . . “all of them waiting for their healing” (vs. 3). The Lord pierced my heart when I read that because I sensed His longing for ALL to be well – then and now. So many are still waiting on God for healing – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually . . .
The man at the pool had been waiting for 38 years. Time after time, he had tried to scramble into the pool when the angel stirred the waters, hoping to be the first in and be healed, yet he was unable to get healed from the source he had relied on for so long.
When Jesus saw him, His first question to the man was, “Do you truly long to be well?” (v. 6b) That may seem like an odd question to ask, but this man had created an identity as “the paralyzed man” and to be able to walk again meant letting go of who he was known as and who he identified himself as being. Life and his approach to it would look very different and feel unfamiliar if he were able to walk again. That was likely a little scary. Did he prefer to remain as he was, or was he willing to let go of how he saw himself? The man never answered Jesus’ direct question. Instead, he made excuses and blamed others for getting there first, “stealing” the healing he was longing for himself, yet he didn’t recognize the Healer who stood before him. How often do we do that ourselves? We blame others when we don’t get what we feel should be ours, we make excuses why we can’t obtain it, and we may even miss the solution being right before us.
Interestingly, in turn, Jesus didn’t respond to what the man said, neither did He pray for him to be healed. Jesus simply said, “Stand up! Pick up your sleeping mat and you will walk!” (v.8) The man had to act in obedience and do what he hadn’t been able to do in 38 years.
In picking up his mat, he also had to break the Jewish Sabbath law that he had lived by all his life and choose to literally step into the new covenant Jesus was making available to him. The law he lived under couldn’t heal, but Jesus was the fulfillment of the law (Matt. 5:17) and healing was found in Him.
The man never questioned Jesus’ command to him. He acted immediately and when he took that step – I think more out of obedience than faith, he was healed, no longer paralyzed but taking steps forward into his destiny. The man didn’t even know Jesus’ name, let alone that He was the Messiah. Yet, he experienced the fullness of Jesus in that encounter – His love, miraculous healing, and also His passionate pursuit of the man’s total freedom in every way, as we’ll soon see.
The crazy thing? The Jewish leaders didn’t rejoice over the miracle of this man’s healing but focused instead on the man breaking the Sabbath law. They were so steeped in religion, they couldn’t rejoice over the freedom that had been gained through relationship. Unfortunately, we still see that in churches and Christian circles today. When Jesus doesn’t fit within religious confines, many find it offensive.As the story continues, Jesus found the man a second time. In this encounter, Jesus affirmed the man’s healing, then told him to “Walk away from your sin so that nothing worse will happen to you” (v.14) Jesus’ words to the man left me confused. What sin had the man committed?
As I spent time in God’s presence asking Him about it, I asked if the man’s sin had been not living life and engaging with his destiny and calling even though paralyzed? Maybe it was that he hadn’t “walked” forward, despite his physical limitations, but instead wasted his life in self-pity? Maybe Jesus was telling him to act and take steps forward in his life because if he didn’t, he would remain “paralyzed” and would end up in an even worse state of hopelessness that would steal life from him in even greater measure. If the man continued to believe he was useless, powerless, too many years had been wasted, and he was too old to make a difference now, he would remain just as paralyzed as he had been when he couldn’t walk and that would be a sin. How often do we do and think similarly?
I believe Jesus was telling the man that he still had life to live and purpose to embrace. He was to walk forward, leave the past behind, and not allow what he had known previously in his life to keep him paralyzed from moving into all that still lay ahead of him. If he wasn’t willing to do that, he would continue sinning by remaining paralyzed by his past mindset and perspective of his life.
The story doesn’t record how the man discovered Jesus’ identity, but he went back to the Jewish leaders and told them who had healed him. It ignited the Jewish leaders’ persecution of Jesus – all because of what Jesus did on the Sabbath and how it broke their religious laws (v. 16).
So many of us remain in a paralyzed state each day. We allow mindsets, beliefs we have about ourselves and perceived limitations, as well as any number of accepted obstacles to prevent us from taking steps forward into our destinies and callings. We don’t engage in the things God is telling us to do because we don’t believe we’re able, worthy, or young or old enough to accomplish the dreams God has placed in our hearts. We’re afraid we’ll stumble and fall, so we stay put, never venturing to stand up, pick up our mats, and walk.
I believe many have been paralyzed for a long time – even decades. God is able to make you walk. He’s inviting you to stand up and take the first step into all He has waiting for you. Your future doesn’t have to look like your past or your present.
Will you stand up? Will you let go of the identity you’ve embraced as your own and be willing to walk forward in the truth of who you’ve been created to be? Will you allow God to redeem “wasted” time and make something beautiful out of your testimony?
If your answer is yes, paralysis ends now.
If we can pray for you on your healing journey, please reach out to us!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
