BT – Stay close to Me. Don’t let distractions enter in. You cannot do things as you did and expect to change (be refined; move closer to God). Change is at hand; seize the opportunity. You can do it I AM with you every step of the way. The enemy wants you to think you cannot change. This is not so. I have called you out. You can flow with Me. I have ordained it (commanded it). I have said it is so. We must be one in will and purpose. Now come flow with Me.
CT- Magnificent. The Lord’s reign is magnificent. There is nothing unappealing about your relationship with the Lord. Be Holy as He is Holy. I AM always here just like the green of an evergreen plant. I never leave you and I don’t change. Nature’s splendor makes me undeniable yet the world still ignores me and what I set forth.
Broken chards in the master’s hand can be made into a beautiful mosaic. You are the sum total of your experiences but why do you allow poor choices in? Even so (inspite of your poor choices) these broken pieces can still be made into beauty. Don’t allow regret to stop forward momentum. Forget the past and step into the here and now. When you are focused on past mistakes you are unable to focus on the here and now with Me. How can our relationship grow if you dwell in the past? How much do you trust me? Do you trust me to forgive? Do you trust me to lead? Do you trust me to protect? I haven’t changed (but) will you step out for me? Will you allow me to lead? Will you allow me in for a deeper here and now? This is where true success lies.

The Lord spoke to us in the words above about having a deeper relationship with Him through refinement. He also spoke to us about how the enemy will utilize our emotions and experiences to impair this refinement. His words made me think of things like free will, change and trust. In this lesson we will examine how both outside forces and the choices we make affect our walk with the Lord. These are serious times and the Lord said that, We must be one in will and purpose.

Free Will

When I began thinking about free will, in preparation for writing this lesson, a line from the song “Hotel California” popped into my mind. The line says this: “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.” A prisoner is a person who has been deprived of his liberty. He has been kept under involuntary restraint, confinement or custody. I think the line from the song is speaking philosophically of course. But it’s message is that we have become prisoners of our own making. And like the song many of us have become prisoners of our own choices. The bible, however, speaks of another choice we can make.

Psalm 25:4-5
Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; on you I wait all the day.

The Lord has given us the gift of free will because He understands that true love cannot be forced. He wants us to want Him. He spoke to us and said, There is nothing unappealing about your relationship with the Lord. Be Holy as He is Holy. And He gave these words also, You cannot do things as you did and expect to change (be refined; move closer to God). When we are refined we are in fact moving closer to the Lord just as it was noted in Psalm 25. However, we cannot be refined until we examine those things which inhibit this process of refinement   Therefore let’s take a moment to look more closely at our “prisons”.

Prisons and Prisoners

When it comes to prisoners, some humans are held captive by other people; however, we can hold ourselves captive also. Some are prisoners to substances, others may be prisoners to envy, anger or past regrets, and some are prisoners to tradition. Yes, there are many ways we can hold ourselves prisoner. But the Lord gave us these words, Forget the past and step into the here and now. The enemy wants you to think you cannot change. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. It is the enemy who does not want you to change. He wants to keep you from becoming (the bride) refined.

Let’s stop and think for a moment about the enemy through this question. What has he gotten a hold of in all of us that has kept us from being refined? I think the answer to this question is “self”. The enemy has used the “self” in us to pull us away from the Lord. After all we will not be thinking about the Lord if we are focusing on envy, anger, regrets, or desires etc. This is part of what the Lord revealed about “self” on the THH website. http://www.takehisheart.com/forgivenesslibertyfreedom.htm

10-13-04
I awoke to the song phrase “Boldness, truth, healing and deliverance is gonna reign, reign in this place,” (Victory has Come) with a vision of the word “Liberty” exploding out of a white cloud overhead in our meeting place. The Lord said, “Freedom was birthed into this place in one evening. Some have not found it because of ‘Self!’” I saw all of us on that narrow path to being married to the Lord by standing on the Flow Chart. The Lord said, “You cannot walk hand in hand with me as My bride and have ‘Self.’

Therefore, the Lord has revealed that “self” keeps us from walking hand in hand with Him. However, with these words He also reinforced the thought that being full of “self” keeps us in a “prison” of sorts. The Lord made this pretty clear when He said that the absence of “self” equals freedom. Why do you suppose this is? Here are some additional thoughts on “self” that may answer this question for us. This information can be found at http://www.takehisheart.com/selfobediencetogod.htm

Moses got into "Self" when He struck the rock instead of speaking to it like the Lord commanded. He momentarily lost his "hand-in-hand" with the Lord and it kept him from going into the promised land. "Self" will keep an individual or a corporate body from receiving their full reward. This makes "Self" a big issue! Let's examine what happened.

Moses got into "Self" revealed by what came from his mouth, "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" "Ye rebels" reveals Moses' disgust and "must we" reveals total "Self" at that point. But more importantly to understand is that because Moses got into "Self" the Lord was not able to get the result He wanted with the children of Israel. You might say, "But Israel got their water!" No, that's not the important thing! The Lord's full purpose was destroyed. Consider His statement, "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel,...." The Lord wanted to do something, besides giving water for the children of Israel, which Moses and Aaron were completely unaware of. God does not always reveal the end results of our being instantly and totally obedient until we obey correctly. This is true individually and corporately. So we catch a glimpse of why the Lord told us, "be obedient to Me. Take this not as a light thing." Perfection in obedience (with no "Self") is important, so we must pay attention and do exactly what God says to do. "Self" interferes with the Lord's governing being established in the earth.

The Lord taught us that we can lose our hand in hand with the Lord (through this story of Moses) by allowing self in. But this story also demonstrated another consequence of being full of “self”. What do you think that consequence was? Well, in this particular story the Israelites saw Moses anger or in other words they did not see the Lord shining through him. Therefore, being full of “self” keeps us from projecting Christ. Not only do we become a prisoner to the pitfalls of self, losing our freedom in Christ, but we also lose an opportunity to have our “light” shine.

Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Change

The Lord, however, offered these words of support when He said, Change is at hand; seize the opportunity. You can do it I AM with you every step of the way. The Lord has been and still is encouraging us to seek after brideship. He has called us to be pioneers of this change. Just look at these words from THH uncharted waters at http://www.takehisheart.com/instructionsunchartedwaters.htm

01/25/00 I am calling you to be pioneers, yet I have sent pioneers ahead of you to mark the way. You will feel lost (for a moment of time) - for your ways must die in order for My ways to live. (Self must die, the traditions of men must die) Know that I am still there. You must have understanding to walk hand in hand as My Bride. Seek it, be open to it and know, change is here. Take this not as something light. You know My existence. Oh that the peoples of the earth should know the glory of My existence. (In our words this week He spoke similarly when He said, the world still ignores me and what I set forth) I am calling you out to become one with Me. Did I not ordain it from the beginning? Have I not made it possible? Do not think this is not so! Did not the Father say in marriage that two become one? I and My Father are One, yet My Father remains My Father and I remain the Son. We are one in covenant. We are one in truth. We are one in desire and plan. We are one in purpose. I desire for you to come into covenant with Me. I desire you to come into one truth. I am that truth. I am God and I change not. Understand this beyond what you have understood. You must allow Me to change you. You must allow Me to change your ways and plans, for I am unchangeable. I am calling you to be My hands and feet. I am calling you to bear My Name in the earth according to My plan, My ways, My pattern of doing things. My ways are not your ways.

You can see in these words from “Uncharted Waters” that the Lord spoke of getting rid of self, of letting our light shine and He added that we must change for He is unchangeable. And He said this is serious. The Lord’s message like Himself remains unchanged. He offered these same messages in the words we received on 11/01/11 when He said, I have called you out. You can flow with Me. I have ordained it (commanded it). I have said it is so. We must be one in will and purpose. Now come flow with Me. And He also said this, I AM always here just like the green of an evergreen plant. I never leave you and I don’t change. Therefore, this change must take place in order for us to be refined. But could there possibly be something that is holding back this change?

Focus

I believe our focus might be what is holding us back from making this change. The Lord revealed this to us through these words: Don’t allow regret to stop forward momentum. Forget the past and step into the here and now. When you are focused on past mistakes you are unable to focus on the here and now with Me. How can our relationship grow if you dwell in the past? Our focus is important. For example, if we are focused on past mistakes, past hurts or grudges then forgiveness would be an important part of moving on in life. I am speaking not only of forgiving others but forgiving ourselves as well. When we are unable to forgive we are holding onto “self” aren’t we? We are becoming a “prisoner” of the past. Therefore, we have taken the focus from the Lord and put it back on us haven’t we? Philipiians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. The Lord wants our focus to be on Him. We are to close the door to the enemy. He said, Stay close to Me. Don’t let distractions enter in.

Trust

Thus far we have talked about “self”, prison, change and focus. We have discussed how they hamper our walk with the Lord but there is a “hidden” factor I would like to discuss also. It was eluded to in the words from “Uncharted Waters” when the Lord asked, “Do not think this is not so?” He was saying in effect, “Do you trust what I am saying here?” And the Lord also spoke of trust when He said, How much do you trust me? Do you trust me to forgive? Do you trust me to lead? Do you trust me to protect? I haven’t changed (but) will you step out for me? Will you allow me to lead? Will you allow me in for a deeper here and now? From the very beginning of this lesson we said that the enemy would utilize our emotions and experiences to impair our refinement. He will try and shake your trust in the Lord, he will try to convince you that you are damaged or unworthy of the Lord. He will try to make you feel guilty (unforgiving of yourself) But we must put our trust in the Lord and in the words He has given us when He said, Broken chards in the master’s hand can be made into a beautiful mosaic. You are the sum total of your experiences but why do you allow poor choices in? Even so (inspite of your poor choices) these broken pieces can still be made into beauty. Our Father is the creator of this universe. He made the heavens and the earth. Nothing is impossible for Him. He is deserving of our trust. He gave us these words to encourage us, You can do it I AM with you every step of the way. The enemy wants you to think you cannot change. This is not so. I have called you out. You can flow with Me. I have ordained it (commanded it). I have said it is so. We must be one in will and purpose. Now come flow with Me. And He added this, This is where true success lies.

The Lord has given us no reason not to trust Him. He has given us the freedom to choose. Therefore choose wisely. He is seeking His bride. He gave these words in October of 2009 http://www.takehisheart.com/wordfromgodwordfromthelord.htm

"Thus saith the Lord, those who say they have a heart for Me but won't let go of the past, YOU MAY LEAVE. Those who won't recognize My order and the different callings of men, YOU MAY LEAVE. Those who won't learn to follow after My Spirit, YOU MAY LEAVE, says the Lord. Those who won't come out of harlotry, for I am calling you out, YOU MAY LEAVE! You are dressed in filthy rags, are haughty, and I will not have this in My church, as I am the Head, and you cannot accomplish My purposes in the earth with those filthy rags on. You will come to order, and those who won't yield to Me, MAY LEAVE, says the Lord! Those who want to complain and whine, YOU MAY LEAVE! You are useless to ME, says the Lord! 'Woe is me's' won't get it, says the Lord, YOU MAY LEAVE! Those who give Me lip service and have the wrong motive of heart, YOU MAY LEAVE! Examine your hearts! I am looking for the act of obedience without complaint! I am looking for people who 'walk in forgiveness,' not lip service! You are lying to yourselves. DEAL WITH IT! I am going to do what I am going to do, says the Lord. If you don't like it, YOU MAY LEAVE. I am calling you out! The choice is yours - make it!"

Deuteronomy 30:10-20
“If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
            “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.”
            “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them.”

This is serious business. It is your choice, choose wisely, The Lord is asking, Will you allow me in for a deeper here and now? This is a time of refining. The Lord is calling worth His bride. Will you answer His call?

May the Lord Bless and Keep You,
Cindy