October Word: War
In these waning moments of October, I want to capture the word the Lord had given me for this month: WAR.October was marked by incredible intensity. Forces were unleashed that created what seemed like a tornadic whirlwind in the personal worlds of many with subsequent quaking, shifting, and breaking apart of countless things as massive transition took place. Some of the transition was good, but it’s really changed the landscape.
In a war, each side employs weapons. Our enemy’s includes panic, fear, discouragement, depression, paralysis, confusion, uncertainty, stress, and attacks on health and finances - just to name a few.
Our weapons look entirely different – worship, gratitude, prayer, joy, surrender, waiting, peace, kindness, love, and so many other things that stand in contrast to the weapons used against us. They’re also often totally contrary to the weapons we would choose to use.
I had a dream this month. In it, I was climbing into a bush to trim it. Each time I trimmed a piece off, I got down to throw it off to the side. As I walked back to the bush, I dragged my flip-flop-clad feet through the crunchy leaves on the ground. When I was back up in the bush, I heard a faint noise behind me in the leaves – a rustle and a quiet rattle, then a huge rattlesnake revealed itself, lifting itself up to strike. One of our dogs and a white bunny were on the other side of the bush, leaving me between them and the snake. The snake had its eyes on them and shot past me toward the bunny but missed. I stayed very still and asked God what I should do as it turned its head toward me. Oddly, I slowly reached behind me, grabbed a pillow, threw it at the snake, jumped down, ran around the house, through the garage, and then safely inside, never looking behind me to see if the snake was in pursuit.
What I want to highlight in this dream is that the weapon I reached for was soft – and it was enough. It wasn’t a gun or a machete or even a stick. I didn’t kill the snake, but the snake also didn’t harm me. As I asked the Lord about that, He told me, “Some of the most powerful weapons are soft - and they’re enough.”
When we wage war against something, we want to pull out the big guns. We operate in our own strength to fight through things, create solutions, and “do” things to “overcome the enemy.”
Sometimes in the most intense moments, our greatest weapons aren’t ones that annihilate, but they’re still “enough.”
What if in the face of panic, you chose quiet peace? You exchanged discouragement for worship? You walked in His grace, rather than your failing strength? And . . . instead of figuring it out and being the solution, you partnered with Wisdom, waited on God in surrender, let Him work on your behalf, and trusted Him for divine downloads, strategies, and blueprints to follow?
Sometimes the noise of the enemy’s bombshells makes it hard to think clearly, which easily leads to us becoming reactionary. We’re also not a patient people and we translate waiting on God as Him not hearing us or not answering our prayers.
We storm the gates of heaven in intercession when what God is really asking of us is to simply spend time in His presence experiencing His love and goodness. It turns out it’s in that space where we learn His art of war and how to wield a pillow instead of a stick.
Psalm 91 speaks so powerfully of God’s protection of us; however, it doesn’t say we won’t fall into the enemy’s traps or not live in times of destruction. Instead, it speaks of how we can feel safe and secure in the knowledge that He WILL rescue and protect us in the midst of it.
The war has already been won through the cross and we’ve been declared the victor, but we rarely remember that truth in the midst of the battles we face.
I was reading Proverbs 31 in The Passion Translation this morning. Brian Simmons explains in his note on verse 10 that the Hebrew word, “khayil” used to describe the virtuous wife needs multiple English words to capture the meaning of it, including it being related to military prowess and the Bride being a warring wife, “mighty like an army.” Verse 11 goes on to say, “Her husband has entrusted His heart to her, for she brings Him the rich spoils of victory.”
We can’t avoid war. We must engage it, use the right weapons, and present our Bridegroom with the spoils of victory. Our choices disarm or empower the enemy. What weapons will we choose?
November’s word is a continuation of this conversation. It’s time to STAND. More on that soon . . .
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
P.S. As always, if we can pray for you, please reach out!
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
September 2022: Breath / Breathe
The Lord gave me two, similar words for this month – breath and breathe – a noun and a verb, two ways to look at what the Lord is speaking for September.
This month, it’s time to take a breath – a moment away from the intensity that life has been. It’s a pause to refresh and strengthen weary spirits and souls for what’s ahead. Breath is LIFE to us. It’s time to breathe in life and exhale anything that’s been toxic.
Breathe this month. Many have been holding their breath in anticipation – of good or bad. For some, anxiousness has crept in. Others have been holding their breath in defiance before God, much like a child trying to get their way and prove a point to a seemingly unresponsive parent. There are those who have held their breath to dive deep into God and the things of life and the Lord is saying it’s time to come up for fresh air.
I believe this is an Ezekiel 37 month – a time when God is asking if the dry bones of things we’ve believed God for can actually have life still breathed into them. So many have been in the midst of the valley and seen nothing that would give them hope – just the dry bones of dreams, promises, and things we thought were going to come to pass. Yet, God is asking, “…Can these bones live?” (vs. 3)
Breathe in, remember life is found in His breath within us, and dare to hope.
This month, God is inviting us into deeper partnership with Him in bringing life back to dead bones.
Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ “ (Ez. 37:4-6)
Breathe in. On the exhale, PROPHESY! Death and life are in the power of your tongue – which will you choose? (Proverbs 18:21) Breathe out LIFE with the words you speak and watch as the bones begin to rattle, come together, and have flesh cover them. But . . . DON’T STOP THERE!
Breathe in the Breath of God and release it into continued prophecy over the things you had thought were dead.
Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. (Ez. 37:9-10)
What will form out of the bones you prophesy over?
Multiple times in Song of Songs, God calls us His “equal,” but always in the context of being His love, His partner, His Bride. As we breathe this month, it’s in absolute partnership with Him – breathing in the life of God and releasing it to a dying world around us.
First? Take your own breath in. Let it be life to YOU. Pause for a moment and let it refresh you. Focus on the act of taking a breath in, then releasing it. As you do, you’ll come into sync with the heartbeat and Breath of God. Then you can move forward in partnership with your Bridegroom-King to bring life to dry bones as you breathe!
Here's a great worship song for this month sung by Chris McClarney:
Next Thursday, September 8th, I'm relaunching the "Watchmen & Gatekeepers" online prophetic intercession group that was on summer break. If you'd like to participate in the FB group and Zoom prayer meetings, we pray together on Thursday mornings. Click below if you'd like to join the group.
Brian and I have also said, "YES!" to God's nudging on our hearts to host a "Gathering" in our home, creating a place and a space to gather with others, encounter God together, and come to know Him more fully and intimately in the truth of who He is, rather than who religion has portrayed Him as being.Have you had a longing in your heart to connect more with God and understand Him better?
Have you wanted to grow in intimacy with Him?
Have you ever longed to hear His voice and enjoy a deep friendship in His presence?
Have you felt disconnected from God because of the "shoulds" and "have tos" of religion and felt like you just couldn't live that life or measure up, but still had a longing for God to be in your life?
Have you wanted to connect with a community of others in pursuit of His heart in a relaxed atmosphere, but haven't found that place yet?
Come to "The Gathering" and encounter Him with us!
Launch Date: Thursday, September 15th
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Canton, GA
Send us a message for more details and our address. We'd love to have you come to "The Gathering!"
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
P.S. If we can pray for you, please reach out to us.
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
August 2022 Prophetic Word: Press
I’ve been lingering on and marinating in this word for the last week. When I began asking the Lord about it at the end of last month, He gave me a few picture illustrations – wine, oil, and a flower press. When something is pressed, pressure is put on it in the form of physical force. It can be a verb or a noun. In each case, flattening, shaping, smoothing, and / or extracting can be part of the process.The most amazing things can come from being pressed – wine and oil are two of them. It takes a lot of work to extract even a minimum yield from a lot of grapes and olives, but the fruit of the labor is often highly prized, especially when given time to age and mature.
Pressed flowers are a delicate thing of beauty. I have an antique flower press given to me 30 years ago by my mother-in-law. It had been given to her by her parents before that. It’s made of thick, heavy pieces of wood and has a big, corkscrew handle that you screw down tightly with flowers or plants nestled between sheets of paper placed between the slabs of wood. In the coming days, the screw handle is tightened even more as the flowers continue to be pressed until the moisture is removed and the petals and leaves become nearly transparent when dry. In each of these, increased force, effort, and time are needed for the pressing to have its effect. We’re in a time of pressing. What will come out when we’re squeezed?
This month we’ll see an outpouring of Holy Spirit, represented by the oil and wine. It’s a time to believe for the miraculous and to be the ones through whom God works to bring about those miracles. Press into Him with the pressure of faith and trust and you’ll see Him work miracles through you!
This is also a month of outpoured blessing, but it will only come as a result of pressure. Oil and wine are also filtered, allowing impurities to be strained out. There’s a “taste and see that the Lord is good” element of wine and oil flowing abundantly, but it can only follow the pressing required for it to flow, as well as filtering, and it may need time to mature to come into its fullness.
This month we’ll see an outpouring of Holy Spirit, represented by the oil and wine. It’s a time to believe for the miraculous and to be the ones through whom God works to bring about those miracles. Press into Him with the pressure of faith and trust and you’ll see Him work miracles through you!
This is also a month of outpoured blessing, but it will only come as a result of pressure. Oil and wine are also filtered, allowing impurities to be strained out. There’s a “taste and see that the Lord is good” element of wine and oil flowing abundantly, but it can only follow the pressing required for it to flow, as well as filtering, and it may need time to mature to come into its fullness.
This is a month to become a thing of beauty through the pressing – even to the point of transparency, like the pressed flowers, with nothing hidden in His sight. As I thought more about this, I also saw a potter molding clay. We’re each going to be molded (pressed) this month – shaped, smoothed, rough edges flattened out. Don’t complain or question it. It’s for destiny’s sake (Isaiah 45:9-11, TPT).It’s important to be discerning in what you listen to this month. Whose report will you believe? This is the Hebrew month when the Israelites chose to believe the negative report of the 10 spies, rather than believe the report of the two who were in the minority. They chose to stand in unbelief and not enter the Promised Land with faith to conquer and take hold of what God had promised them. It delayed them 40 years.
Filter what you hear and be discerning in your understanding of it. What actions will you take based on the reports you hear? We each have promises from God that have to be obtained through faith and it may mean taking risks to stand with the minority report. We get to choose what we’re going to believe, and that choice will bring celebration or delay.
Filter what you hear and be discerning in your understanding of it. What actions will you take based on the reports you hear? We each have promises from God that have to be obtained through faith and it may mean taking risks to stand with the minority report. We get to choose what we’re going to believe, and that choice will bring celebration or delay. Embrace the pressing and press into Him with a return pressure of faith. Be discerning in what you listen to and the corresponding decisions you make. Allow time for maturing and aging.
NEW WINE, Hillsong Worship, Songwriter: Brooke Gabrielle Fraser, New Wine lyrics © Hillsong Publishing.
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
P.S. If we can pray for you, please reach out to us.
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
JUNE PROPHETIC WORD: PAUSE
I never would have imagined “pause” would follow last month’s “forward” word, but it actually makes total sense. Brian and I were talking about it as the month of May came to a close and he agreed. He said after moving forward, it’s the perfect time to pause and gain your bearings. As soon as he said that it resonated so deeply in my spirit, that I knew the Lord was all over that phrase. Even though I knew what it meant, I still looked it up knowing the Lord would speak even more through its definition.From “The Free Dictionary,” the idiom “to gain your bearings” means “to recognize or determine one’s orientation, position, or abilities relative to one’s surroundings or situation.”
This is a month to gain our bearings as we’re positioned to advance.
It’s important as we’ve moved forward and God has been aligning us with our destinies, callings, and timelines that we pause, orient ourselves, get acquainted with where we’ve come to in this new season and take an assessment of any new abilities we now need. I got the sense that this month of pausing, will include learning and obtaining new skills or tools through trainings, courses, and reading. The Lord has moved us forward into new realms of influence and that may require us gaining additional knowledge that will increase our abilities, enabling us to better administrate our responsibilities.
As we pause, it’s a time to look at the map the Lord has laid out before each of us. There are two purposes for this. First, it’s an opportunity to recognize and celebrate how far we’ve already come on the journey the Lord has had us on. I clearly heard it’s a time to remember your testimonies of the things the Lord has already done in your life as you’ve moved forward. It will encourage your heart, cause hope to rise up within you, and will strengthen you for the journey ahead. Our testimonies are significant in their declaration of what God has done in our lives because they set a precedent that if God has done it before, He’ll do it again (albeit differently than before). Celebrate what He’s done and let joy and gratitude overflow from your heart and spirit!
The second reason to pause and look at the map with the Lord is to gain a sense of the direction we’re headed in as we advance. It’s to orient us, set the course, and align us on the road before us as things are going to begin to move swiftly after this month. I also saw it as an invitation to more closely work in partnership with the Lord as He shares His bird’s eye view with us. I saw a picture of us standing singly beside the Lord, looking together at the map laid out on a table before us. He was pointing things out on the map and giving direction that will lead each of us as we continue to move forward in the second half of the year.Pausing is also for a time of rest. It’s a time to catch your breath, take a break from the intensity of the day-to-day, and refresh in body, spirit, and soul. Rest is active, even if you’re napping. Ask the Lord how to engage in His active rest this month. It may mean getting to certain projects you’ve waited to have time to do because they were “wants” instead of “needs” and other things took precedence in the time you had available. I see gardening happening and the Lord speaking as you have your hands in the dirt. I also see other home projects happening, including rearranging furniture and spaces for new or better function. These are physical, prophetic acts of reorientation for what’s ahead. June is a month to complete things that have taken a back seat to other things that were more pressing in the first half of the year. It’s important to complete things that were left hanging in the past season so you can more easily move forward better aligned for the rest of this year. This is a pivotal month of alignment.
This year, we celebrate Pentecost on June 5th. Ask for and expect a refreshing wind of His Spirit to blow over and empower you for what’s ahead. Expect to have your eyes opened to see what you haven’t been able to see previously as He’s going to expand your vision through increased anointing in your life.
This is also the Hebrew month of Sivan. It’s associated with the tribe of Zebulun and is considered to be “the businessperson’s month.” Ask the Lord for His orientation in business this month. “Business” can relate to any of the ways the Lord blesses the work of your hands – even if that’s outside of the “business” field. This month, God is going to be giving downloads of wisdom, strategy, and blueprints in the area of the work of your hands. Take the time to ask Him about your work. Listen to His leading and guidance and watch for open doors of opportunities and connections with strategic alliances / alignments with others. There’s an orientation and alignment happening in the realm of business this month that will position you for increase in the second half of the year. His word declares, “You crown the year with Your goodness and Your paths drip with abundance” (Psalm 65:11, NKJV). It's important for you to listen and keep your ear attuned to His voice, then act on the direction and strategies He gives you. You have an important role to play in how the rest of this year unfolds in the work of your hands. Give Him your "yes," be willing to be uncomfortable, and willing to take risks.
Be generous in the month of Sivan. Give of your resources, but also of kindness, forgiveness, and mercy. “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38, NKJV).In June, pause to get oriented and equipped, celebrate what the Lord has already done, rest, refresh in His presence and power of Holy Spirit, and listen as He downloads strategies and blueprints and positions you for swift advancement in the second half of the year. Be particularly mindful of business strategies, alignments, connections, and open doors. Be generous.
Pause in order to advance!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
P.S. If we can pray for you, please reach out to us. Also, Brian and I each have a men's and a women's online group that we lead. The women's is a prophetic intercessory prayer group; the men's is prayer and mentoring. Both are free. Please reach out if you'd like more information or would be interested in joining either group.
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
UNVEILING JESUS
You know when you layer a filter over a photo and it changes what the subject of the photo looked like in person? It might be nearly imperceptible to others or totally transforming, like when you simply brighten a photo or completely change a color one into one that looks black and white or vintage. We do the same in every aspect of life. We all view any number of things through filters. What veils our eyes may be the result of past experiences, teaching we’ve had, the homes in which we grew up, the friends we’ve surrounded ourselves with, culture, media, those who have been in positions of leadership or authority in our lives, or any number of other things.
It’s the same with our perception of Jesus.
We “know” Jesus through the filters of religion, through what we’ve been taught by our parents and church leaders, by how we see Christians act and how they treat others, by what unbelievers say and believe about Him, by the disappointments we’ve faced, and the suffering we've seen. Not only that, culture, media, politics, and so many other things in the world around us shape our “truth”.
Do you know there are multiple places in the Bible that talk about a time to come when Jesus would be unveiled? (You can find a few in John 17:1, Philippians 1:6 & 10.) That time has come.
God is unveiling the truth of who Jesus really is and who He’s not. He longs to remove the filters from before our eyes so we can finally see Him clearly and experience deep, intimate friendship with Him.
Sometimes, you simply need someone to help you lift the veil or remove the filter you've been using, allowing you to clearly see what's been right before you.
Jesus is all about relationship, not religion. Come encounter Him.
STARTING THIS WEEK!6 Week Online Course, May 12th – June 16th
Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. EST – FB Live* (Recorded so you can still catch it even if you can’t make the live.)
Thursday Night Topics: Relationship, Not Religion; Made to Worship; Communion & Communing; Chatting with the King; When Life Gets Real; “Swept Off Your Feet”
Plus, “Coffee & Conversation” – Tuesday mornings 8:00 a.m. EST (Join us on FB* with your cup of coffee or tea in hand as we have a chat about that morning's topic. These are bonus sessions that will also be recorded.)
Coffee & Conversation Topics: Hope, the Prophetic, the Supernatural Aspects of God & Heaven, Decreeing & Declaring, Being the Church, Live Q & A
Cost: $150 (payable via Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, or check)
Those who seek Him find Him…
Chase after His heart.
Know Him in truth…and be known in love.
Register to be added to the group.
*Not on FaceBook? Ask us about other options.
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
