Where is This Secret Place, and How Do I Get There?

It seems for most of my life I have prayed that He will keep me in the secret place of the most high, no matter what situation I have found myself in…I have prayed this over:

My babies…

My loved ones…

Myself..

My home…

My pets….

My jobs

My clients

I have taught Psalms 91 as my answer to freedom from anxiety, fear, you name it.  

I know He is talking to the Israelites in this passage and there are those that say I am taking scripture out of context to make it mine.  

What about when it’s mixed with faith?   Over you and yours?  That which belongs to you. 

Here’s something to consider.  What if I just made the words from Psalm 91 up based on my faith of who I know Jesus to be?   Would God honor those words?

Sometimes we strain at gnats and swallow camels.  (Yes, that is a scripture too)

Without faith its impossible to please God.   Even when we are clumsily clanging around our room of faith, boldly claiming our inheritance, and maybe even be a little off on our stand…I believe Jesus is so personable and so delighted at our steps of blind faith that he will be there and perform for us what we believe him for…why?

Because He loves us so and loves it when we look to Him for that which we need and believe Him for.

He who ^[a]dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].

In the New Covenant the Most Holy Place has been made open through the sacrifice of Jesus. He is the veil through which we pass to come to the most intimate holy place with God. When our trust is in the blood of Jesus the way to His presence and all His resources freely opens to us, and this happens as we trust in our heart.

Your heart is the real you.  Your spirit.  It is the doorway to the inner chambers of God. 

That is the secret place!

When we enter into the secret place God reveals Jesus to us. He shows us what is ours, He ministers to us, He comforts us and gives us all the promises of Psalm 91.

To dwell in the secret place means to live in a place of continually drawing near to Jesus through constant  communion. It is a place where you talk to Him in the morning, at night, and throughout the day, without the motivation of being recognized by people, only the pure desire to know Him.

It means to engage in fellowship with God and then never leave. Consistently coming before Him in sweet communion with our Lord, moment by moment.

This is what you and I were created for: to live in daily fellowship with the Father and to be empowered by His Spirit to bear His image to a lost and dying world.

We make walking in this place with God so complicated.   It’s not!

He desires you, and only you.  Your heart.  You were created to walk and talk with him daily, the same as Adam and Eve….that was the original plan.  When they sinned, the plan was formed for a redeemer (Jesus) to move sin out of the way and restore our relationship with God…

So now we have that access.  Can you imagine.

Walking and talking to Him all day long?   A relationship.  Not rules and regulations. 

How many Christians have this knowledge but don’t apply or make themselves aware of this privilege every single day?

No doubt about it.  My many clients right now are seeking this new relationship.  Even though, they have been a believer for years, now, when the fire is getting hotter, they realize they have not cultivated a real daily relationship with a very real Jesus…

Yes, it takes work and perseverance.   Are you up for it?

We are in troubled and scary times.  If we don’t apply these truths we will deal with anxiety and fear.  And who knows when this onslaught of evil will stop…but if it does, we know that the end times will increase the fear.

Whenever I am overcome with the current happenings, I pray Psalm 91 and feel a release from fear and a boost of faith that God is in control…an assurance that my loved ones are covered and surrounded by the blood line of Jesus because of faith. 

Just a note that there are not rules to this.  Jesus is freedom to be our human selves…yet we walk in the spirit every minute.  We are not weird looking or making weird gyrations to try to impress with our spirituality.  Remember HE made you and knows you inside out.  You can look very normal and sane and be at your most spiritual because HE dwells in you….

That, my friend, is the secret place!!

‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].   I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.[Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, there shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent. For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service]. They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never] He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.’

Hey, if you are reading this and you don’t know who this Jesus is I am talking about, pleaseeeee message me….This is not a fairy tale.  Its real and I can ply you with miracle stories of His deliverance and presence in my life and the lives of others!!

 Don’t miss out!

What in the World Are We Looking For?

Our souls are relentless in their pursuits.

 It seems we are always searching, seeking, and running after something. We seek relationships to satisfy our longing for intimacy. We pursue careers to make it in this world. We search for significance or purpose through various means.

 

We must keep a close eye on the direction of our souls (mind, will, emotions). They often have a mind of their own.

Misguided pursuits that have one goal in mind, to satisfy misguided desires that were never meant to be fulfilled. Many feel the only way to satisfy these desires is to yield. They foolishly believe to give in, is the end of the struggle.

But even then, they quickly discover that the surrender leaves them and they succomb to something they quickly regret.

I have a client I’ll call Maddy.   She was constantly searching for meaning to her life.  But she doesn’t understand why nothing she tries ever brings satisfaction.  In and out of relationships, jobs, marriages, and so many other things, she finally reached out for help.  She was so lost and confused.  She had struggled for years, but when she finally reached the bottom of herself she sought help.   Today, she is finding so much purpose to her life and has been set free from that nagging dissatisfaction she lived with for years.  How?  She realized that Jesus can fill her empty self.

The answer is, simple, really.  

And I always feel the simpler we make understanding spiritual growth in our lives, the easier it is to apply it to our lives.

I’ll be honest, I once had an addiction to ministry….yes, you read that right. I would spend all of my time developing and teaching bible studies and ministering to people every time the church doors opened and had my own outreach outside the church building.   The problem, though,  was that my personal life had so many serious marital  issues that I was frustrated with and needed to confront, but just couldn’t find the energy to do anything, so I searched for something else to take up brain space.   I convinced myself that as long as I was in service to the Lord  He would take care of my life.   I was so spiritual I ignored my marriage, and ultimately lost it.

 

Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, friends.

 I got my accolades and validity from people and not the Lord.

 and I became addicted to it….

 It was a back and forth struggle. One part of me loved indulging in it, but the other part knew it was not a wise use of my time. I repented several times in my failings, but finally lost most of everything I was ignoring.

 You see I wasn’t using faith….I dismissed my dislocated busy-ness by saying it was for the Lord,

 As if He could only use me and no one else.

 

I think any human has the capability to become hooked on anything. We generally assume addictions are limited to those who abuse narcotics, drink alcohol to cope, gamble their money away, or view sexual content on the internet regularly.

Addictions can come from any angle. They wrap tightly around us until we are enslaved to them. Why are they so powerful? Because they give us a sense of fulfillment or pleasure−although short lived. They start off seeming innocent, but the more we come back for more, the more we become imprisoned.

Romans 6:16 reads, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey…..

 Slaves is a strong word. A word that we don’t like to identify with our own lives.

 Have you noticed how easy it is to identify the problems of others? We       may see an area of weakness in their personality and we inwardly identify the changes they need to work on, especially if it is not a problem in our own lives.

 As a person who does not usually get easily angered, I can quickly identity the wrong in someone who is angered or irritated easily. It’s so easy for me to judge them because it’s not a weakness for me. It takes brokenness and humility to turn inwardly and admit my own enslavements, and then turn to God for help.

 

Are there areas of enslavement in your life that you want to be free from?

 The answer is simple.   We were created with a vacancy,  an empty place, within our hearts that was only…ONLY meant to be filled with God.  

 That’s it!   Not complicated!

 We try to fill that emptiness with everything we can find to satisfy us temporarily.   It will NEVER work.   You will ALWAYS come to the end of yourself and realize you still aren’t happy or joyful or fulfilled….and you move on to something else.

    Our most lonely place is when we are missing our loving creator, our King, our Jesus and we need to sit with Him and talk to Him about our hearts and what we need.

 Service to Him will follow that relationship of intimacy that will so fill you to satisfaction you can’t help but want to share it with others.  

 Service follows relationship.   No amount of service, if you don’t have the relationship of intimacy with God,  will ever satisfy you.   You will wonder why you feel burned out and disillusioned.  

 Because you were walking in an illusion of thinking “things”  “people”  “service”  (fill in your own word) will satisfy.

 Maybe you like all the things that fill your life right now, and you see no need to examine their place in your life.

 The thing is, we will never come to a place where there is no need for change and growth.

 There is always room for cutting off, turning away from, getting to the root of things. Our pride, selfishness, jealousies, evil motives, and the like require a daily examination…I have many such talks myself.

 You will only get as much of God as you want.

     It’s up to us how close we draw near to God. The less we want, the less we will seek. The more we want, the more we will seek.

 Our actions will reveal our pursuit.

 

 

“Come Away With Me, My Beloved”

“I know everything about you, Dixie.  I know what you have need of.  Sometimes there is a battle going on over you that you sense but cannot see.  You are a danger to your enemy.  You are strong in me and he doesn’t like it.  My warriors are very busy on your behalf.  Always remember, I Am never too late.  My timing is always perfect, even if you can’t see why you had to wait.  I love you.”  ♥ Jesus

It’s really hot on the central coast of California right now.  I really don’t like the heat and I don’t do well in it.   Contemplating keeping cool, I am reminded about the day my husband and I decided to go walking on a well known, beautiful beach path that we often frequent.    It was warm when we decided to go but since it was by a beach we figured it would be bearable.  About 3 miles into the hike we were walking in a stretch of sun that was beating on us unrelentlessly, and the temperature was climbing to almost 100.  We both were so hot and could find no shade or relief.  

I said we needed to pray that God would send angels to rescue us somehow.   I really think Greg was just pacifying me but he agreed to pray with me to ask the Lord to send an angel to rescue us.    After all, the bible does say His angels are there for us who are heirs of salvation.

Isn’t that us…aren’t we the heirs?  

Do we think to ask for their bidding?

So, there we were, sweating and trudging, thanking God for an angel to fly us out of there.

And then it happened!  We heard a sound behind us and turned around and there was a golf cart with a guy driving.  He pulled up beside us and said, “You two look like you could use a ride.  Hop in.”   We jumped on back with much relief and he then drove us right up to our car a few miles away.  

Now we could have said, “No thank you, we are waiting for an angel!”    But no, we both knew this guy was the angel sent by God and we told him so.  He chuckled and drove off. 

There is always refreshing at the end of our suffering.  No matter how long or what kind of suffering there is…. that refreshing comes from Him alone, in whatever form He wants to use.  We cannot box God in.

At times the presence  of the resurrected Jesus penetrates the usual walls, and the One whom “no one has seen or can see.” is, for a moment,  felt, in the most unexpected ways. (1Tim 6:16)  The conditions can dramatically differ.  No location or mood assures it.  No worship center, event, group or speaker always has it.  There is no formula.  God’s tangible presence can be sought but it can’t be planned or harnessed into our preconceived notions…because it is not of man.

We can’t poke the Holy Spirit into a box, either…the word tells us that;  

 “ Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom he will next bestow this life from heaven.” John 3:8 NLT

Did you ever read how He fell on all those folks on the day of Pentecost? 

“As the believers met together that day,  suddenly there was a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them and it filled the house where they were meeting.  Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on their heads. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages they didn’t know, for the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” Acts 2 Amp

 

Well, they were pretty swept away weren’t they?  Why can’t we be?  Because we don’t expect it.  Start expecting!!

Wild, isn’t it?   Something God is doing around us– is happening to us.   This is not something mystical.  This is something spiritual. 

Let’s not get so paranoid of the mystical that we shut ourselves off from biblical spirituality.  God can do what He wants.  He never works contrary to His word, but He can never be boxed in either.   We think we have Him figured out.

We don’t.

He is exciting, extravagant, humorous, and oozing love.

Because love is who He is.

My point is that God is ready to show Himself mighty on our behalf at any given moment.  But we must live in a sense of expectancy that He will show up supernaturally when He wills it….and even in those times where everything seems mundane and we haven’t heard from Him for a while, He will honor your faith in continuing to keep on expecting.  

You will not be disappointed.

One day, I was feeling Him pulling me away to Himself.  It was the most delicious feeling ever.    We had an appointment to meet and I couldn’t wait.  I don’t feel like that all the time.  I wish I did.  But I don’t.  But this day I did.  My husband was leaving on a hunting trip, it was raining, and I couldn’t wait to head to my special place by the window to just talk to Jesus. 

Me: ” I feel the call to come away with you my Beloved Savior.  As my thankful spirit begins to rest in You, I can feel your pull, the relentless pull to sneak away with You….to reunite with You in this way; to draw close to Your bosom; like the Lover you are–my blessed Redeemer, Lover, Friend, Confidant, Comforter, Encourager, and Guide.  Lord, I can’t imagine what you have for me now.”

 When I finally got there–where He was waiting–I was immersed immediately in a love and presence I can’t describe.  I couldn’t talk.  I could only sit there in the soaking presence of Jesus.  When I finally could talk all I could do was praise Him and worship Him in all of His perfectness.  I wish I could describe this supernatural experience better.  It is like the highest high ever…nothing can compare to Him immersing you into Himself.

Jesus says:  “Oh Dixie, I have plans for you.  Hold on to my presence, for I am here.  Don’t trust your emotions–let go of what you think you want and let me give you what I know you want… what I want.  Let me show you what it is.  Let me love you and give you a different perspective and outlook.  I have so much more for you.   You see into my Kingdom much of the time–You feel my heart and you love like I do, (most of the time, smile).  Until I bring you into my arms for our first dance, in person, face to face, I shall dance this faith dance with you on earth and you shall see the remnants of my presence that far exceeds anything you ever thought of.  Enjoy Me.  I am here.  I hold you and I perform on your behalf because you know how to call on Me.  I love you, Dixie.

Me:  “I respond to the call of my Groom today.  I dance with you Lord in the spirit…..and I find peace in Your presence.”

Remember, Jesus is not a respecter of persons….but He does respond delightfully and extravagantly to those who are willing to press into this kind of relationship with Him. 

I urge you to take that step of faith today!

Feeling Undone in His Presence

Have you ever been so overcome with the intimate love of Jesus that you feel totally undone?  

Over the past many months, through some great emotional trials, I have leaned into Him… like in a wine press.  

And you know what?   He actually became my strength.   The hardest  times in our lives are the very  times He most reveals Himself. 

 Have you noticed that?  

Well, I guess we do know it is because when all is going well we really don’t lean into Him quite as much as when we are desperate for relief.

I am just talking to you today from my heart.  

Every issue you may deal with in life, if you would only allow Him into it, you will find extreme comfort, growth, and an intimacy with Him that will stay with you forever…why?  Because once you experience it you won’t want to lose it. 

Nothing compares to it..nothing!

Recently, I was very anxious about something that I had to do and the outcome for someone I love.   I fervently sought Jesus for His peace to flood me.   I was relentless to find His presence in the midst of my fear.   I pressed into Him and would not stop.  I figure if he says His strength is found in my weakness then I needed to believe it and literally not stop until I felt it.

Because I was sure weak!

And right when I needed calm most, it happened.   It felt so foreign in the face of what was happening.  I slept like a baby in His arms.   I had no doubt He was right there.

Then, He started talking because I was so in the realm of listening to Him.   He speaks to us all the time, by the way, but we aren’t listening; or we explain away what we hear, not believing that God is actually speaking to us.

Every night I pray before sleep taking authority over the enemy bringing in evil or fear into my mind and dreams…I, with the authority He gives us, post sentries (angels) over my unconscious mind while sleeping, to not allow anything in that isn’t from God.  It works every night.  

While in this trial, however, as I went to pray, before the words were out,  I clearly heard Him say to me;

“Yes, Dixie, I have already posted My sentries over your mind tonight and no evil or fear shall overtake you.”

Well, now that was different….He knew my prayer and already answered it before I asked and spoke it back to me!   How awesome is that?

“I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!”  Isaiah 65:24 NLT

This was one time I wasn’t doing all the talking…I shut up and listened. 

He then began speaking to me about the present situation and told me that He was actively involved in the outcome and that , “He had this.”  Every single time I started to fear and take the anxiety back, I clearly heard Him say to me,

“I have this, Dixie”……or  “Take a breath, Dixie”  “Lean into me Dixie.”…..  all day that day, His words were constant in my spirit.

It took everything in my will power to stay focused on Him alone when everything around me looked like it was crashing and I knew, that once again my faith was being tested with emotional pain like I seldom experience, and I found that He was more than enough.

Going back several years ago when my life came crashing down around me and it seemed all was lost and I thought my life was over….I even thought my relationship with Jesus took a hit that might never come back…even in that darkness and agony, I found Him there. 

Or I should say– He found me there.

And He said, “Nothing will separate me from you, Dixie.  My love for you and my faithfulness to you will become the most important thing in your life, even when all else fails.”

And there He was, ready to lead me into a world unknown to me then, but I found it was just the beginning of a new season of my life with Him….before I taught about Him…now I really know Him–intimately.

When our hearts long for Him alone,

When our souls thirst for Him,

When the yearning inside of you moves you towards Him,

…and you know that He knows the secrets of your heart and nothing is hidden from Him,

and He sees deep inside of you and every part is revealed,

And still He chooses to cherish you,

His love will dissolve you…

and you will feel undone in His presence.

Do you desire this kind of relationship?   Believe me, if I can find Him in these places, then so can you.   Would love to hear from you about your walk into His secret place……….

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:38 NLT

An Intimate Encounter with Jesus…The Most Transforming Experience of Human Existence.

  I was driving along a country road one day with a heavy spirit.  It seemed hard for me to articulate to the Lord what I was feeling.  You know those days when you just want to say to Him,

“Lord just hear my heart.”

I began to sing to Him what I was feeling and I kept singing this chorus over and over….

 “Lord, do You see me? Do you hear my heart?”

From the depths of my pain.

After about 30 minutes of singing to the Lord I felt the urge to sing new words.  So, I just yielded myself to it.

 To my amazement I began to sing His words back to my own spirit, right there in the car. 

Yes, that is correct.  He began to sing to me through my own voice. Yet, to me it was directly from Him.  It is hard to explain but definitely a supernatural experience. 

He sang back to me,

“My child,  I see you. Dixie, my child I love you.  I will never leave you. I will perform and deliver.  You will see.”   

I can’t even describe how penetrating His love became to me as His words were delivered to my spirit.

I felt buoyed up and exhilarated, full of joy and hope, and overcome with a love that saturated my very being from the inside to out.

   He is our Bridegroom with desire for us and who pursues us relentlessly.

He is our King with power, and He gives us the power to love as He loves.  Imagine it!  We cannot love the unlovely without His anointing to see them through His eyes.  He sees the heart.  In our own power, we cannot.

Did you know He pursues us far more than we pursue Him.   Yet we still struggle with making the time to meet Him.   I don’t know how many times I have known He is sitting at my place of pondering, prayer, and meditation, waiting for me, and yet, I find a hundred other things I must do first.   The whole day passes and I have put Him off again.  

I pray my days of walking past Him grow less and less as I continue to realize that my strength to walk with Him and to fight the battles of my warfare only come from Him and Him alone.

No area of Jesus’ supremacy and power and authority is expressed or experienced more than when His love is manifest in us.   It fills us to capacity and changes us from the inside out!

  Jesus Himself announced that God loves us in the way that God the Father loves God the Son. The Father feels the same intensity of love for us that He feels for Jesus.

Wrap your mind around that fact!

The God of the universe longs for relationship with you.   He wants to walk and talk with you as He did with Adam and Eve when He created them.  

That is so hard to imagine in our finite minds, but true none the less.

The ultimate statement about our worth and value is that Jesus has the same measure of love and  affection towards us that His Father has towards Him.

It gives us all the right to view ourselves as “God’s favorite”.

This is a gold mine of truth that deserves our focused attention continuously.

 At the last supper, Jesus emphasized this truth to His disciples just before their failures in denying Him.

 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love…These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (Jn. 15:9-11)

Did you realize He said this to the disciples while already knowing they would fail Him?  His love for me and you does not depend on how ‘good’ we are….anymore than your love for your child changes when they are not ‘good’ kids.  He loves you because you are His child.   And you have accepted Jesus which means your unrighteousness has been exchanged for the righteousness of Jesus and He sees you as His precious child.

How do we find this place of divine love and stay there?

1. Abide:

Stay focused on God’s love.  By abiding, beholding Him, and living in this truth, we position ourselves to experience it more.  Don’t  be distracted from this truth.

Go deep in it…… Surrender to it without resisting or negotiating with God about it.

 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. (1 Jn. 3:1)

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord… (Jude 21)

2. Joy:

When we experience Jesus’ love for us, it changes how we feel.  Feeling God’s affection for us exhilarates our hearts with joy—a deep sense of well-being.

Jesus is telling us where satisfaction and emotional transformation are best found.

The revelation of God’s love for us gives us confidence before God, even in our weakness.

It reveals to us our value and dignity in God’s eyes…

Empowers us to walk in deep partnership with Jesus….

It gives our lives relevance in knowing that we are loved, not based on how we perform, but because we belong to Him.

Such love overwhelms me, how about you?

   The Bridegroom’s message is about Jesus’ emotions for us, His beauty, His commitments to us,

….to share His heart, home, throne, secrets, and beauty.

An intimate encounter with Jesus is the most transforming experience of human existence.

Jesus is not the religious guy in white robe and sandals that you are afraid to approach or be yourself with.

But He is the Jesus who gave us oceans and rivers, beauty and laughter, sunlight and love……His penetrating love that will transform you.

There are millions who try to relate to Jesus but experience him only occasionally, rarely knowing the joy of hearing his voice, feeling his presence, receiving his powerful, healing love.

We need Jesus, Himself. And you can have Him.

Really.

You can experience Jesus, intimately.

You were meant to.

   You can know the comfort of his actual presence, hear his voice speaking to you, receive healing of your brokenness.

You can live as he did.

 

The Gnawing Ache of Our Restless Discontentment

My prayer:

“I’ve been in a slump Lord and wondering why I feel bored with my life and finally realizing the One I miss is You.  Interesting because I feel You with me all the time.  But You are teaching me that if I don’t take the time to sit and listen to You, my intimate needs of connecting with you will wane.

You are who I miss.  It is You I need. 

When I can’t put my finger on what I’m lacking, then I can always know it is You.  Oh, for the body of Christ to learn this truth!  There wouldn’t be so many needy people. 

So, here I am my Love.  I long for You in the deepest places.  In the depth of my soul. 

Fill my cup back up Lord.  Fill me up and make me whole.  Give me energy again, and health, and vitality.

Hope and vision.

Thank you for Your patience with me and your long-suffering.  Thank you also for the vision of me as an uncut diamond that You are in process of chiseling away the dark coal–which is causing the light of Yourself to shoot off of me in so many ways. 

Wow!  I can see it!

As I waited on Him, He replied, “Yes, my love it is about your depletion of me.  This is the next step of intimacy.  You already know that I walk with you every moment, but now you must remember that when you are feeling lonely, sad, bored, and have a lack of vision, it is me you are being called to connect with.

Your reserves are depleted when you give out of yourself so much of the time and you get distracted.  You forget to move all distractions out of the way and just sit with Me, so I can fill you up.

I am your very life line.

Instead of turning to everything else, including connecting with people, you must turn to Me.  If you do this, you will find your rest and peace and restored hope for the life I have called you too. 

Yes, you are My diamond. The rays of My light shoot off of you as I have been chiseling away on everything that obscures my light.  This will continue to manifest more and more as you walk on in the face of the chiseling.  Your suffering for me has not gone unnoticed and your maturity in rising above the flesh in the many hardships you have faced has made Me delight over you with joy. 

Feel My smile, Dixie.

Feel My love, Dixie.

Feel My presence enveloping you, Dixie.

I love you!”

I have shared with you my most recent conversation with Jesus.  This came out of a time when I was needy and not realizing what it was I needed.

So I asked Him!

Do you stop and just ask Him what it is you need at those confusing moments?  Sometimes we just don’t even think about asking Him what our problem is.

Jesus sees you as His precious treasure…and He longs to have a close relationship with you.

More than anything, He wants you to have an intimate love relationship and friendship with Him.  God wants you to spend time with Him and intimately communicate with Him, to enjoy fellowship with Him, to trust and follow Him, and to give your life meaning and purpose by giving you the privilege of joining Him in His life here on earth.

All of humanity, can be defined as a vast, gaping need.  Looking across the globe of this generation, we witness men and women, young and old, throwing themselves into entertainment, recreation, technology, food, music, friends, and a host of things as they grope for the answer to the riddle of why they are alive and seek to silence the screaming voice of yearning in their souls.   

And throw in these troubling times of terror and the unknown of what we will face before we are taken out of here is gripping people with fear…and distracting them from the very One who can give them peace when our world is seemingly falling apart.

No matter how much we buy, who we know, or what fleeting pleasures we experience, we find that none of it can quench the insatiable thirst in the depths of our being.  So it is that day after day we go about panting and groaning for something that will satisfy the desires that dominate our inner man.

It is in the gnawing ache of this restless discontentment so familiar to us all that the subject of intimacy with God finds its significance.

Intimacy is a word being thrown around a lot in our day, both inside and outside of the Church.

 Some of us are afraid of it.

 We all know that we want it because, on some level, we believe that only God can fill that void in our hearts.  Still, for most of us, we don’t know quite how to get it, and what it actually means when we’re referring to intimacy with God Himself.

We must realize that it is not just a certain way of speaking about God, nor is it merely a feeling we experience.

Intimacy with God consists of relational knowledge – we are most intimate with those whom we know at the deepest levels.  Jesus stands at the center of this pursuit because in His face we see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, and that is what intimacy is really all about.

One of the most common disillusions relates to how He feels about you.  From years of various and sundry teachings born out of our organizational churches, deep inside we think that Jesus is mostly unemotional and distant, except for how disappointed He is with us – that is the one feeling many of us are convinced He does actually feel.

Yet, the truth is that His heart is full of love and desire for you.  This isn’t just an idea or a sweet sentiment, but a reality that He put on display in every moment of His life.

In drinking in the wild beauty of this Man, your soul will at last find its rest.  This is intimacy, and this is what you were created for – to enjoy and adore the splendor of His glory forever.

So forgetting what is behind, let us press on to know Him.

First Day of 2015: Talking To Jesus and What He Told Me.

I found myself alone on New Year’s   day.  On New Year’s Eve I felt the call to start the year with inviting Jesus into the year, and by morning I knew I had a date.  I came with a list of requests to lay down at His feet.  But as I began talking to Him I was overwhelmed with His presence and could not get any of those requests past my tongue.  I could only sit at His feet and love on Him with my whole heart.  His response to me seemed to take on a message for His church as well.  I knew He wanted me to share my intimate moments of this day with you in the context of my blog.

Me:

“Happy New Year, dear Jesus.  You are so precious to me.  I love You so much.  I have gone through so many emotional ups and downs over the last quarter of 2014 and always those ups and downs direct me back to my Center–YOU!! 

You are the One who fulfills my every need–no matter what the circumstances are, You are there.  You are…

my Anchor,

my Companion,

my Universe.

It’s amazing Lord to witness You in the lives of those I’m vulnerable enough to share my own weaknesses with–and how You take my weaknesses and inabilities and use then to show others they can do it too!  I marvel at Your workings in the lives of my husband and children and grand children…all that pertains to me You are exceedingly interested in and are very much involved in their lives because of our love for each other–me and You–and because Your Word does not return to you void of accomplishing all that you promise–because YOU are the Word!  How could you ever deny Yourself.  I think of what I wanted to ask of You today on this first day of the new year, and my requests pale in comparison to my deep need to…

praise You,

extol You,

glorify You,

worship You,

thank you,

Soak in Your essence and Your sweet undeniable presence here in this spot of the Divine.

I can’t seem to stop the flow of words of admiration and joy at my delight in You, my Lover and my King. 

I came with requests but somehow I have sensed as I pour out my heart in sweet communion with You that those requests are already taken care of in Your time for You know my heart and what I have need of before I even ask….and because I’m talking to You all the time about those issues that my heart seeks for.

Today, the first day of 2015, I just want to absorb You, love You, and dance the dance of love with my beautiful, all consuming King. 

I sense a shift in the atmosphere, Lord–something I am not clear on– and I can only trust as I wait expectantly on You.  I know this year will be restorative for so many, including me, and countless others who love You and who seek You with all their hearts. 

Let the rain of Your presence fall on me Lord…let Your glory shine through my countenance…and all the angels of heaven with me….at Your absolute, infinite, and all consuming love. 

You ARE Love Himself.  Let that Love shine so forth through me that it blinds the evil hearts of those who seek to destroy and let that love burn out all deception and wrath of those I meet.  Let that love break down even the most stubborn and fearful hearts and bring Your light into the darkness.

I love You, Jesus!”

Jesus then replied:

“Dixie, I delight in your praise and you have touched on my heart in such a way that I indeed am smiling and dancing the dance of joy with you.  Remember the vision you had of Us dancing above the mountain tops and into the stars?  I see it as our dance of unity and faith and deep love….and all that we have shared this past year. 

But this year of 2015 will hold new depths of dance for us my love.  We will soar into the heavenly sphere of the supernatural.  There indeed will be a shift in the spirit in your life and in the lives of those who seek Me with all their heart. 

When they realize that serving Me is not about where they ‘go’ or who they talk too, but really knowing Me in the truest sense, and is finding the time to talk to me–allowing me to talk back–allowing Me to speak to them in the midst of their business.  Those who desire Me above attendance, works, pride, self absorption, family, friends, obsessions, addictions…in spite of those things, they will still reach out to Me alone….then they will find Me.

I feel such sorrow when my children say they love Me but they don’t pursue this kind of intimacy with Me.  For I have so much more to give them but I don’t because they wouldn’t recognize my voice.  Unless they begin the journey outside of their complacency, their doubts, and their busy lives–those parts of themselves that consume them…they will either forget Me or just be too busy to take a moment to meet with Me.

I will never, ever leave you My love.

The year ahead holds much uncertainty and fear and dread for those who focus on the evil reports of this world.  And they will come, those evil reports.  These days are ones of unrest…of the earth groaning with birth pangs, as if ready to give birth to a new heaven and a new earth.  There is so much destruction, so much pain, so much evil, and so much deception.  Without Me as their Center they will give way to the enemy and be tormented and uncertain.

I am raising up a remnant of the church body to be examples in these last days of what true relationship and intimacy with Me really means in their lives.  They will be the forerunners of strength and faith that my weaker body can run to find hope and example of what the reality of knowing Me can bring them through.  They must learn to turn to me in adversity and trials for it is there they will find my presence and deliverance and stabilization in the uncertain times.

I am not just a ticket to heaven, though it be so.  But I am also here to lead my sheep into eternal Kingdom living.  This, my child, is the beginning of becoming eternally minded and how you can all learn to live IN Me, within My Kingdom.

You are my bride.  I AM your Bridegroom.  I love you, My Dixie, with an eternal, all consuming love.

I love My body with this same love.  I long for them to know it.”

♥♥♥