Category: driving your roots deeper

Consuming Love for Jesus and His Legacy…

God’s dream poured into all creation through the prayers of Jesus is a unified love and the legacy of his family on earth as it is in heaven. (John 17, Matthew 6:9-13)

I will be forever grateful for having been born into a home and a church family who led me into God’s love. The legacy of God’s family is self-sacrificing love for him, each other and his creation.
Several decades ago I fell down on my face and prayed a prayer of brokenness that shifted the trajectory of my life… “Jesus, whether this makes you glad or not, you are stuck with me.”

The life-story we have written together is all about his relentless love consuming me. He keeps pouring it out even though so many times I am disappointed with myself. And, it’s not just for me. Somehow, he causes that same love to flow out of me to our wild world. When he planted me as his child, his intention and dream for me was a full grown, productive tree that has sent out deep roots and is not afraid of the heat and the storms. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

The living word of the Lord for you and everyone in your life is that you are designed to be in Christ. By faith receive the fact that the Father loves you the way he loves the Son because you are in Christ. Your life has meaning and purpose because you became a part of God’s legacy on earth as in heaven by that same faith. You don’t live for yourself anymore. The consuming fire that started in your heart when you surrendered to Jesus is increasing with love for all nations and generations to embrace the same oneness you have with him.

God’s family, his household exists as a fulfillment of his dream and the answer to the prayers of Jesus to the Father. Take a few minutes today to ask the Lord to increase your capacity to receive and give more of his consuming love for all nations and generations.

You are a blessing!

Not Alone

There are days when it is only the momentum of my habit that carries me here. It brings me to this time of solitude where I am alone with God. Every morning he is faithful and never fails to reassure me with the living word.

I reconnect with meaning here in this space. It is an unseen garden where I walk with God. You could say it is the Father’s vineyard. He joyfully sends me to work here. (see Matthew 21:28-32) I long to hear his reassurance in my soul. I need to taste the living water as he reminds me that he loves my perseverance. He is blessed when I keep showing up to work the vineyard day after day for the glory of Jesus’ name.

As I think about you today, I am thanking God. The fact that you would take a few minutes to read these paragraphs is in itself life-giving. According to God’s living word, I don’t look at you from a limited, worldly point of view. I know that in Christ you are part of the New Creation work of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We thank God for each other because we are members of one body. Through the living presence of the Holy Spirit, we are formed into a temple where God dwells.

So, this morning was one of those times when it was only the force of habit that pulled me to be awake and alone with God. Thank you, Father, for good habits. We love your vineyard. Open our eyes to see that you have favored us by sending us to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17).

Thank you, friend, for encouraging my soul as you read what I have written. Let’s remember each other today and pray that by a miracle of God’s grace we will perceive heaven as it flows all around us in those places our habits carry us. He has promised to never leave you or forsake you. We are not alone.

You are a blessing!

Finding Our Sanity

Our new self in Christ speaks so powerfully that it overwhelms our life… our experience of the world. We each find our sanity as a branch grafted into the vine. Jesus is the vine and The Father is the gardener. Find yourself by staying in life-union with him and by allowing his living word to flow in you. (see John 15 TPT)

Praying with your spirit…

Here is a little personal history. Thirty years ago this weekend, my dad, John Lamos passed away at sixty years of age. Since 1962 (the year I was born), that man showed me how to live in friendship with Jesus. By the time I was eighteen, I had surrendered my life to Jesus as my father did.

In friendship with Jesus, I have learned that I am a living soul. That is a complex but foundational reality. As a living soul, I need to pray. Prayer is like breathing. It keeps me alive. I have to breathe. I also have to pray to stay connected to the life God intended for me… eternal life. (John 3:16)

I feel like I will always be in training when it comes to prayer. I am always learning to pray more effectively. Through prayer, we engage with God’s agenda… to see his kingdom come and his will done on earth as it is in heaven. I want to grow as a prayer warrior in every season of my life.
A half-century of friendship with Jesus has shown me much about prayer. I have discovered that as a living soul, I have a spirit and a mind. Both are active in prayer. But, not just randomly. It matters whether I lead in prayer with my mind or my spirit.

The Apostle Paul taught us, “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” and “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also” (Ephesians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 14:15) Through his teachings, I am convinced that no one knows my mind like my spirit.

It is the same with God. No one knows the mind of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) So, I am continually learning to pray in the Spirit. To do that, I intentionally engage with the Lord with an expectation that the Holy Spirit will help me. My objective is always to pray with my spirit and with my mind. But, it is crucial that I train my spirit to lead the way. My mind has to stay submitted to my spirit for prayer to be effective.

With my mind submitted to my spirit, I can trust the Holy Spirit to protect and guide me to pray with the heart and agenda of God. Can you learn to do that in a day or a week? No. This will be a life mission for anyone who wants to fully explore their potential in prayer.

The more I pray in the Spirit, the more I perceive the prophetic. With my spirit, I discern access points where heavenly doors or windows or wells are open making God’s provisions available to me for earthly issues. Praying in the Spirit empowers me to receive and declare the living word of the Lord.

Without a commitment to grow more and more in prayer, I would never have taken my journey in the prophetic. It has been a desire to pray that has fueled the prophetic.

If the idea of praying with your spirit is new to you, I encourage you to make a habit of asking God in the name of Jesus, to help you activate your spirit in prayer. Don’t pressure yourself to copy someone else in this. The Father can be trusted to lead you based on the way he designed you.

One gateway into this sort of activation is to watch or listen for impossible things to come before you in prayer. Your spirit is designed to agree with the Holy Spirit for impossible things to be accomplished for the glory of Jesus Christ. As impossible things come before you in prayer, don’t back off. Instead, lean into them and say something like, “Yes, I believe in the name of Jesus that it will happen on earth as it is in heaven”. Allow yourself to worship and to become more aware of who you are in the spiritual dimension. The Lord will help you gain awareness and fluency as you practice and persevere. Be patient with yourself and ask a father or mother in the Lord to help you.

My prayer for you is that you will not settle for a default prayer position with your mind constantly leading the way. We need you, the church needs you, the world needs you to pray in the Spirit on all occasions. Don’t lose heart and keep going after it.

You are a blessing!

Flowing beneath the surface…

It is a profound mystery to drive your roots deeper in search of the wisdom you need to live your story. I declare to you that regardless of your feelings or your current perceptions, you are God’s workmanship (masterpiece) created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God has already planned in advance for you. (Ephesians 2:10)

The relentless river of God’s creativity and design is flowing and creating pressure underground and beneath the surface of your life. If you will turn aside at any time (the sooner the better) and prophesy over yourself the announcement that Jesus made about the Spirit of God bursting out from deep within you, you will begin to see realness and authenticity flourish again. It is irreplaceable and unmistakable. Here is that announcement recorded in John 7:37-38 “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

You cannot afford to lose heart and it’s not necessary. I agree with you in faith that change is happening for you as you drive your roots deeper in pursuit of hope and power for your life. The Spirit of God will meet you there for the glory of King Jesus.

You are a blessing!