SOAKING IN THE SPIRIT by Shelly Mathis
November 23, 2008
The Lord said that our time of soaking in the Holy Spirit is going to be like the time of Esther in the oil and that she was six months in the oil of myrrh and six months in perfumes. I keep thinking about the myrrh as representing bitterness, and I believe the first portion of this is going to be dealing with flesh and the fire, then will come the sweeter part. Esther was in that for a year, and I don’t know if that’s how long we’re going to do this, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit said that if we will personally soak in His presence for a year that we will be totally changed as she was. She went in as a child of captivity, and she was totally transformed and was prepared to take the royal throne, and in that place she exercised the authority that set her people free. I realized that those perfumes and oils were not just applied to her face, and her hands and feet; it was her whole body. I believe that is a two-fold thing for us – if we will soak in the Holy Spirit there will not be one area of our lives that goes untouched and unchanged. And, it will be a “body” soaking, that will change us corporately.
"But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
Kindness.
Today as I sat in a restaurant for breakfast, there were two families wherein the husband and father were being unkind and emotionally abusive to his wife and children. I remembered that when my children were young, I often treated my wife and two children the same way. One day the Lord seemed to ask me the question, “Why can you not show kindness and love as you have received from Me. Is that too difficult for you?” Since then I have sought to be kind, loving and understanding not only with my family but with others around me. Indeed it is not always easy. But when I am kind, the fruit is good. God was good to remind me to not slip back into my old ways. Kindness.
2 Peter 1:5-11 “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”
You have started believing not the best about someone. This is not like you. The enemy hears, as you have begun to express the wrongs you see. He is spreading those words abroad affecting others. He is also peppering your thoughts with more ideas of where this one is not measuring up. Don’t stay on this downward spiral. I know some things are wrong, but I am working with this one. Get back to being who you really are, who I have made you to be. Rise above your negative thinking. Concentrate on the good deeds of this one. This causes things getting better, because of faith. I reward faith.
Romans 12:14-18 “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Bev Robinson**
I am coming to My beloveds on the wings of the WINDS, and I will pour out My grace, My love, My power upon the weak, upon the meek, upon My bride, that she may endure the hardships coming, and give hope to the weak and dispossessed, and broken. I am stirring up the winds, and I am blowing away all the chaff. Once I am stirred, I will not stop to persevere in My intention for you.
My intention for you is RESTORATION, FREEDOM, & OVERCOMING GRACE ! My intention for you is GLORY that will never fade. I will help you to OVERCOME all that has overcome you ! I will pour out My kindness, and tenderness so that you will believe ME and know that I have loved you despite the lies the enemy has sown in your hearts. I will make a DISPLAY of MY KINGDOM that the WORLD will know that I have loved you ! And the enemy will be stirred against you. But ALWAYS REMEMBER, that I am WITH YOU, and He cannot do anything to stop what I WANT TO DO IN YOU or for you. TRUST ME with all of your heart, and lean NOT on your own understanding. Acknowledge ME in all of your ways, and I will make your path straight, and I will smooth out the rough edges .
I am MAKING YOU MY JEWELS. I am RESETTING YOUR PRIORITIES.
I am RESTORING MY KINGDOM IN THE CHURCH, and in the WORLD.
I am BENT on RESTORATION of ALL THINGS. Let the world know, I am coming soon. Let the world know, that I AM LOVE. LET THE WORLD KNOW, that I will have preeminence !
I will RESTORE your children ! I will restore your marriages ! I will restore your finances ! I will restore FAVOR where there has been no favor. I will restore all that the enemy has used to try to steal from you, cleansing you from all unrighteousness, IF you will allow me first place in your heart, and allow me to do the surgery needed.
I WILL APPREHEND THE HARDEST HEARTS. I ALONE CAN DO THIS.
I will show you as you pray for ONE ANOTHER, how much I intend to do.
I will BREAK ALL BONDAGES ! I WILL HEAL ALL INSECURITIES, all FEARS, all ANGER, all despair and distrust. PUT ALL YOUR TRUST IN ME…just lay all your cares at MY FEET. CAST YOUR CARES UPON ME, for I care FOR you !!! Before you call I will answer you ! I hear the groanings of your hearts, and I see the longing for ME. To the thirsty, I will give drink, and to the hungry, I will fill you. I will do a marvelous work in this hour, and your hearts will LEAP FOR JOY !
I will pour out kindnesses........
"And All These Things Will Be Given"
You are a giving and generous God. You love to "give good gifts" to Your children (Matthew 7:11). And You love to move on the hearts of Your children to give good gifts to those in need. That's one of the ways Your fulfill Your Word to give "all these things" to those who try to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, while trusting You to provide for all we need. By the moving of Your Spirit in the seeking and the giving, You bless the gift, the giver, and the gift receiver. And whether we are the one giving or the one receiving, Your Holy Spirit moving in our human spirits to seek You first is our greatest gift of all (Luke 11:13).
Friday morning, I needed to have my laptop computer fixed. For several years, it's been my morning journal to write and send my daily devotional prayer devotional, Morning by Morning. And though I never want to be dependent upon anything but You, it seems to have become like my right hand in ministry in many ways. I use it to prepare and often present my teaching and preaching of Your principles of the kingdom of God. In a strong sense, it has become a key of Your kingdom for me, a weapon of my warfare, and a means of Your grace to encourage lives of many in the journey of faith and prayer with me.
But it was broken, so I asked my friends to join with me in prayer. Before the end of the day, someone had tracked down all the details and anonymously arranged to get me a new computer! It turned out that my old one was broken beyond repair, but You had it in Your heart all along to bring Your blessing out of my brokenness. I couldn't quit saying, "Praise God! Praise God!" to the young man on the phone at the store, who was as stunned as I was to see the extravagant provision of my giving and generous God through one of His giving and generous children. What a witness and testimony to Your goodness that was to both of us. As they say, "You can't out-give God!"
I know provision does not always come to suddenly and miraculously. I know You call us to be thankful in all things and content in all circumstances. And I know as that we often have not because we ask not (James 4:2). In Your timing and in Your way -- sometimes in Your sudden and exciting ways -- You provide all our needs according to Your riches in glory, as we seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness (Philippians 4:19). Lord, thank You for these blessings of "all things" You've poured out on me. Lord, pour out Your abundant blessings on my friends who prayed and my anonymous friend who paid -- "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over" (Luke 6:38, KJV). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
music to read with.....
http://songsofpraise.org/song.php?songid=213
I would need a thousand songs to tell how God's love
Makes me new - yes, it's true!
And of how my whole life changed
When I acknowledged that His Son
Died for me - just for me.
That was how (That was how)
I was changed (I was changed)
When I gave my life to Him Who loves me so.
Through His Son (Through His Son)
Vic'try's won (Vic'try's won)
For God's love makes me new!
I am lost in wonder when I think how God's love
Takes the old - makes it new.
How He changed the bad things in
My life once I had met His Son
He who died - just for me.
Takes the old (All the old)
Makes it new (Oh, so new!)
And a new creation He has made of me.
By His Son (His dear Son)
Vic'try's won (Vic'try's won)
For God's love makes me new!
No more debts to pay once I acknowledged God's love
Cancels sin - by His Son.
Ev'ry stain was wash'd away
By Blood so freely shed for me
When He died - just for me.
And His love (His great love)
Takes me home (I am home)
To a wonderful relationship with Him
For His Son (His dear Son)
Vic'try's won (Vic'try's won)
With God's love I am new.
Yes, God's love makes me new!
