I live in Texas and have been inside for the past four days due to an ice storm. Texas is know for its Bi-Polar weather, as we can be hovering around freezing in the morning, and hit a comfortable seventy degree by noon. As I sit here, staring out the window and watching the ice pellets falling, my mind begins to marvel at the distinct beauty of the visions this wintery mix is deposting all around the rooftops, trees and ground.
It has been a mixture of sleet, snow and freezing rain. The end result is basically that the roads are frozen solid, and I sit here in awe at the way everything seems to look so pure, and innocent at the moment. The sound of the sleet hitting the North window is somehow calming, and all I want to do at the moment is sleep to its musical medly it is playing. I resist the urge to sleep because now my thoughts are beginning to take me to a higher place.
I have been in prayer for most of this time of refuge. I have been counting the array of blessings and fighting off a complaining spirit. It's easy to complain once cabin fever sets in. Much like the early days of the pandemic when we all were stuck home for weeks. The days of the pandemic left a much needed silver lining for me as I have seen how a spiritual battle has taken place. You don't believe in spirits? Well, you may change your mind if you feel led to continue reading.
I want to you think about a few things, without getting defensive, or judgemental to what I am about to share with you. I see things through a different set of eyes. Some call it spiritual eyes, some may chalk it up intuition ... you know, that 'gut feeling' we all sometimes get when something is array, but we can't put our finger on it. Call it what you will, but keep in mind that I am writing about the things I have been seeing lately.
I have basically stopped watching the news each night, as all I can see is a spirit of fear talking. Also, there are lying spirits at work creating content that keeps us locked in that fear. We were not given a spirit of fear, except to have a reverence fear of the Lord God. This type of fear is much like any child would have towards a loving father, who does not hold back on discipline towards his child. There is a difference if you may have grown up in a violent household, where the father was not loving, This is not the kind of fear I am speaking. I hope you understand what I am saying.
The other spiritual thing I was seeing was the spirit of infirmity. I should not have to speak much into this one as we are all fully aware of what the pandemic was all about - Covid-19 and all the varients that came with it. This spirit had a legion of spirits that followed as the spirit of death held hands with the spirit of infirmity. They also included a spirit of division. Racial wars, referred to as mostly peaceful protests, we witnessed cities burn, people turning on one another, statues being pulled down, and businesses set on fire. As these spirits of chaos, a spirit of perversion appeared. Think Epstein Island. I won't even go into what these children endured. Yet, as the spirit of perversion was reveal, a spirit of confusion also held the hand of perversion.
We began to hear of young children being confused about their gender. Medical professionals willing to mutate genitals to help them escape the entrapment they claimed. Now, hundreds of them are coming forward stating they wished they had never had those surgeries. The spirit of lies surfaced again as we were all told about how the government was demanding we get vaccinated. Our doctors supported them as they too, pushed for us all to be vaccinated. Our companies where we gave our loyaties to also demanded we get the vaccine. Many did, and many are discovering that they were lied to as we witness more and more young, healthy adults dying suddenly. Yet, they continue to lie to us and hide the truth of what is causing these so called sudden deaths. Time will reveal the truth as more data comes to light.
It all boils to down that we have all been lied to and deceived in so many ways. The anger we felt was based in fear, yet another spirit mentioned. But this anger is actually a righteous anger. Our world is at a tipping point. Many claim to be what has been called, Woke. I am honestly not certain what being woke even means, and from what I have seen from it, I personally don't want to be woke. It seems to lead people into a dark place. I have had my share of living in darkness, so I will do my best to stay in the light.
The light I speak of is God. You see, God has this order for recovery. He has an order in your life for restoration. Your walking in the spirit ...you see, one of the things the modern church today has forgotten is the concept of walking in the spirit. It's not just praying. There are times when you are going to have to step one in front of the other and every place your feet step there's a faith release your doing because you're having to press through that place that you're in, and when you get to it, you're in recovery. You're in restoration. You're in prosperity.
Psalm 23.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death.
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm 23:4 the valley of the shadow of death. Now, can you see that? If you are still reading this, you made it through the valley of the shadow of death. Congratulations on you ability to see through spiritual eyes. I believe that what I am seeing is that 2023 is a Psalm 23 year as more and more people seek the ability to see, as well as the ability to hear. The Bible spoke about people who have eyes to see and ears to hear. I have referred to those words to confirm that I was not going crazy when my eyes began to see things in a spiritual nature.
I want to encourage you to read this verse - Psalm 23. Memorize it. Meditate on it. You see the first spiritual discipline for success is meditation. Meditation means that it is going down in you, and it is coming back up, and then again, it is going down in you. It's transforming your thinking process. It's causing your blood to be purified. You see, Psalm 23 is a Psalm of prosperity. It reads, I will comfort you in stress and affliction and guide you out of lack. I hear God saying that we are currently in the devil's currency system. Personally, I am not a fan of having to pay $8.99 for a dozen eggs. Not to mention the gas prices. I do NOT want to part of this type of economy. Do you?
I prefer to be taken through the pastures where lack cannot over take me. I would rather walk through the paths of righteousness for 'my name's sake' - God is going to do things because he needs us this year. Righteousness just means you're at the right place at the right time. Here me on this, God wants to take us through a new cycle. As we follow His lead, he is going to guide us who are willing to follow him, into right standing in a new way.
So many times throughout my own life, I find myself in what I call a 'loop cycle' and it seems impossible once I get in that loop cycle, I am just walking in circles. I was going crazy as I knew I wanted to accomplish so many things, but there I was, stuck in that loop cycle. I had to find a way to break out of that loop cycle. What I discovered is that God is breaking old loops from the past, and showing me how He is creating a new cycle.
God's word states that He will lead us properly, and he will lead us through the valley of death. Goodness and mercy will follow you - He will even lead us before our enemies, and even our enemies will recognize that we have been favored. So when the enemy rises up against you, you decree that the favor of God will rise up in you and your enemy will feed you. That is God's promise of restoration and prosperity.
As the words are flowing so freely from my inner spirit, I feel the Lord expressing that we all must develop a backbone and speak accordingly. I don't know about you, but when I look at our nation here in America, it doesn't have the backbone it needs. If we don't stand for something, we apparently fall for anything. So what do you choose to stand for? No more being tossed to and fro this year. We are calling good, evil, and evil, good. This needs to end and we as belivers need to STAND for truth.
You see, when our loved ones die, we go through an array of emotions. I just want to encourage each of you to embrace those emotions. Pause, and identify exactly what it is you are feeling at the moment. There are spiritual aspects in our grief. The same lying spirits that whisper, "You should have done this, and you could have done that ..." I know you relate. Those are merely thoughts and it is normal to have them, What is not going to provide the healing you are seeking is to get caught up in the guilt, shame and believe the lies. They are taking you in to that "Loop-pattern" I mentioned.
There is a verse that reads: Blessed are those who mourne, for the Lord is close to the broken-hearted.
We have all had those moments where we just want to blame God for their deaths. So we get angry with him, and turn our backs on the only true healer of our brokenness. He understands that, and he simply waits on us to come to the end of ourselves. I know I have had my season of being angry with God, and looking back, I realized that he was there the entire time. I stepped away, he remained just as his word states. Then it was like I had a spiritual heart surgery - He removed the bitterness, the unforgiveness, the resentments, the guilt/shame, and he was so gentle as a lifetime of painful memories surfaced. He revealed the lies I had believed, and the loop-cycles I was telling myself each day. He reminded me that it was not his intention to torment me with those memories, yet, he needed them to surface so he could show me the areas that were infected, and in need of his divine healing.
I learned to trust in that season. Trust is hard for me. Betrayal, deception, and the lies I had held onto made it nearly impossible for me to trust anyone. The miraculous wonder of it all is that now I have a heart of flesh, and I do like His Word states - I guard it. I ask every night in prayers for God to search my heart. Show me if anything is inside of it that is not for Him. He does. It slips in like a theif in the night. If we don't guard our hearts, they will deceive us. I can testify to that. I lived a life of anger that was based in a lot of fear and unforgiveness. My past was holding me back in so many ways, until He gave me eyes to see, and ears to hear.
There are so many people, like me, who have what is known as Father Wounds. He understands how hard it is to heal from those wounds, and to trust in a Father whom we cannot see physically. That is where our faith begins. Faith is like any other muscle. It needs a good workout, so feel led to keep that journal and record how many times you have made it through a challenge. Look back on those painful moments and discover with Him, what you thought you could not live through, yet here you are today, living and able to testify about the lessons.
You had some incredible determination, and patience to sort out the pieces of your life's situation. You do you part to honor your special person, with photographs, and some have created non-profits in their name. I know, as a human-being, my biggest fear is that my special people will be forgotten. I have come to see that as long as I carry their memories inside my heart, they are still with me.
I will close by asking if you can identify to being in that Loop? If you answered, 'yes' then you are in the perfect place for recovery, restoration, and breakthrough.
Let me know if I can be of service to help you work through life's pain.
From my heart, to yours -
Kim
Hello Kim Wolfe! I read this with much interest (as with all your writings) and have to admit I started to sink at a point, but picked it up quickly as I think you intended. A variety of things contributed to my interest such as a new young pastor at my church, a renewed significant friendship, and I am currently reading a book "A Shepard Looks at Psalm 23". Thank you for again bringing encouragement into my Life!
Dave