Walking Through the Fire of Change by Michelle Holderman - Identity Network

Walking Through the Fire of Change by Michelle Holderman

Identity Network

 

God raises up His agents of change through the fire. They must walk through the fire first before they can come out to help lead others through. And when it's time, God will bring them to the forefront to do what He has called, chosen, and/or commissioned them to do.

 

This is what's happening now on many levels.

 

The more intimately I come to know Him, the more I come to see and understand His ways are truly nothing like our own. They are much, much higher. This is why He often calls us to spiritually come up higher because it helps us to see and understand things from His perspective.

 

I say that because what He is doing won't necessarily look like what we think or expect. It will require us to come up higher in order to fully grasp.

 

Agents of Change

 

Many of these agents of change that are being raised up for this time will challenge the status quo everywhere they go because they know the very heartbeat of God. Their finger is not on the pulse of the culture. Rather their finger is on the pulse of the Lord.

 

And don't be surprised by who they are either. Just know the Father has chosen them, and He has every right to do so according to His will and good pleasure.

We are in a time where we must truly lay aside our own opinions and desires, and align ourselves with Him, His heart, and His purposes.

 

There will be much transitioning taking place. Some of it will look like turmoil, but in the midst of this, God is actually redefining the soil from which we grow and function. New things are going to spring up as a result.

 

Change is surely coming, and most importantly; this is change the Father is orchestrating. Despite what it might look like in the natural, there are a lot of good things that lie ahead. The Lord is going to surprise many of us. The key is to set our eyes on Him and what He is doing."

 

Directing Change

 

I hear the Spirit of God saying, "I AM directing them. I AM directing these God-ordained agents of change. I AM sending them forth. I will not allow the smoke to clear without accomplishing the purposes of My heart.  There are those who are crying out to Me, saying, 'Is there a way out?! Is there a way out of this, Oh Lord? A way out for me; a way out for my family; a way out for my nation?'"

 

And the Lord says, "I have heard those cries. I've heard them. Now, look unto Me and trust what I AM doing; for I know the end from the beginning. And I AM doing a new thing that will cause great change to come and take place.  Even now, a transitioning is underway. It is a transitioning from out of the old way and into the new way. It is a way I have chosen. I, alone, AM the answer for this change, and I will use those I have so decided to bring the purposes of My heart about in the way I desire.

 

"There are greater days ahead. And while there will always be some form of opposition from the enemy, I want to assure you; he does not have the upper hand. I do. So set yourselves in alignment with the purpose of My heart, for it is My purpose that is causing this great change to be produced.

 

"As My Son said, do not let your hearts be troubled. Don't let them be filled with fear and anxiety. But trust in God. Believe in Me. These are truly words to live by.  I AM truth. I AM justice. I AM light. I AM love. And I AM serving notice to My House - get yourselves ready; for I AM coming. And I'm not coming just to visit; I AM coming to stay. I AM coming to abide with you in a way I never have before.

Selah.

 

"So as you walk through the fire of change, know that I AM purifying you. Know that I AM bringing you into the land of purpose and vision that your very souls are longing for. And you must embody this purpose and this vision; for it is the purpose and the vision of the Lord your God. It is the purpose and the vision of the Kingdom.

 

Kingdom Purpose and Vision

 

"I AM calling you to bring My Kingdom purpose and My Kingdom vision into the earth. And not only is this the way out many are crying out to Me for, but this is divinely etched in who you are. And you are My true sons and My true daughters. You are carrying My very essence within you.

 

"Do not disrupt the sound of My change; for I AM the sound that is bringing this about. I AM evicting deception, nonsense, and encumbrance.  I AM dismantling contention, bitterness, and strife.  I AM removing victimization, haughtiness, and darkness.  I AM.  I AM promoting some and I AM bringing down others; for it is time.

 

"So do not be moved by what you see in the natural. My divine purpose is undergirding this time of great change. It will continue to get heated but do not be drawn into the rhetoric or the fray. Instead, let My hand guide you as you walk in My way.

 

"My change always incites upheaval. So it has in times past and so it is now. Nevertheless, My purpose is prevailing.

 

"I will perform My Word on behalf of those who love Me and are the called according to My purpose. For have I not told you that I will work all these things together for your good? Did I not say that My Word will not return void to Me, but will succeed in what I sent it to do?

 

Called to Be Ready

 

"This time requires you to ready yourselves for I AM calling. I AM calling you to be ready for this great, unimaginable change that lies before you. It will be filled with both goodness and hardship but the real matter at hand is that My purpose will prevail in it.

 

"As I expose deeper truths, as I reveal greater understanding, you will feel the heat building but you will not be burned by it. For My fire is a holy fire. My fire is a pure fire. My fire is a worthy fire. And My fire will burn the dross away that is holding you back. My fire will be the light which bears witness with you.

 

"For My fire cannot be contained as you know and understand containment. Rather My fire will rage with My purpose. And this is the sound you are going to hear - the sound of My fire burning.

 

"It will bring freedom to those who are in captivity; it will enlighten those who are in need of understanding; it will yield a purification and unifying of the saints; it will also drown out the voices of darkness that are trying to pervade many of My people. For this fire holds a holy roar of victory within it. And all who know Me will know this is My sound and will not be afraid of it.

 

"Do not misunderstand My words. For when My fire rages or burns strongly with My purpose, people will run to it. They will desire to immerse themselves in My fire.

 

"Those who do not know Me will want to know and understand how it is this fire can consume death yet also give life. They will want to know, who is this God that burns a fire so hot and so pure but does not destroy me? How can His fire burn with such immense love and light? How, they will ask, is this possible? 

 

"Then you, My sons and daughters, will tell them. You will answer for Me. And the answer you will give is Christ and Christ crucified. Jesus, Yeshua, will be glorified as you lift Him up and speak the truth in love to those who are far off. For My Son has already removed the barrier of separation.

 

"He is your peace. He is your righteousness. He is your hope. And He is the source of life and light with which the fire you inquire of burns. He will satisfy your hungry and thirsty souls. Only He can. Receive Him.  This is My sound that will proceed out of your mouths.

 

I Will Finish

 

"Be ready, for this is a time unlike any other. The Gospel will spread like a wildfire, unable to be contained or extinguished. I will pour Myself out as I've never done before. I will ignite many with a fresh spark of My fire. In this, new campfires will be established to give My people fresh sparks of My love, truth, and grace. And it will be extraordinary.

 

"Guard your hearts, beloved; not from fellowship with each other, but from the fruits of the flesh. Feed your spirits. Keep yourselves in My perfect will and peace, and do not allow another to lead you off course.  I will finish what I started. And it will be good!"

 

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 (English Standard Version)

 

Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable Kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29 (Berean Study Bible)

 

Michelle Holderman

www.theragamuffinsaint.com

 

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The Importance of Knowing How to Pray by Michelle Holderman - IDENTITY NETWORK

The Importance of Knowing How to Pray by Michelle Holderman

IDENTITY NETWORK

Just as important as praying itself, is knowing how God wants us to pray. The how is so important because when He reveals how He wants us to specifically pray, it puts us in alignment with His perfect will and order regarding the person, place, or situation we're praying for. It is a glass slipper moment if you will. Meaning our prayers must fit the purpose for which God is wanting us to pray, and not just what we think or assume is the best way.

In our enthusiasm, we can take off praying down our own course through our own thoughts, wisdom, and emotion. The problem with this is that our human wisdom and understanding doesn't always line up with the higher wisdom and understanding of God. And if we aren't careful; we'll end up praying soulish prayers instead of true Spirit led prayers.

Be Intentional

We must be intentional in our prayer life. That means we need the counsel of God's Spirit to guide us. We must ask, listen, and wait for direction from the Holy Spirit regarding how to pray in any given matter; whether it's for ourselves, our family, a friend, church, community, or nation, etc. We must get our prayer directives from the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth (John 16:13), and then pray what He shows us to at any given time - nothing more and nothing less. It really is that important.

Sometimes, praying in our spiritual (heavenly) language is the only way to accomplish what the Father wants. Said another way, it is often the how. The Scriptures refer to this as praying in the Spirit, because only the Spirit of God [Holy Spirit] truly knows the will of God (Romans 8:26-27; Ephesians 6:18).

The Lord's Prayer

Let me interject something. We know when one of the disciples inquired of Jesus how to pray, He revealed what we refer to as The Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1-4; Matthew 6:9-13). And this is clearly an important instruction from the Lord himself. Nevertheless, when we are praying about specific matters, we require specific prayer instructions and strategies relevant to the need. This is what the Holy Spirit shows us, according to the Father's will, and this is why it's vital we seek Him.

Our prayers will be most effective when we pray according to the will of the Father. This is where the how comes in. Praying how He wants is to pray according to His will. And when we pray the will of the Father, we are coming into agreement with Him and His purposes.

The Holy Spirit will define "the how" as we seek Him because knowing how to pray matters just as much as knowing when to.

Michelle Holderman

www.theragamuffinsaint.com

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The Beautiful Breaking Process of God (Deeply Cut) by Michelle Holderman

The Beautiful Breaking Process of God (Deeply Cut) 

by Michelle Holderman

Identity Network

I am broken.

I am cut.

Deeply to the core of my being.

And God did it.

I liken it somewhat to Jacob and his limp (Genesis 32:22-32). Wrestling with God will bring you to a place of complete brokenness, and perhaps less hair, but there is also a divine beauty in the breaking He brings. It changes you. And absolutely no one can understand this unless they've experienced it too.

It's a lonely, painful place to be. But it also produces something of great worth: refining us as gold. I call it a painful but precious process.

Through it, we find Him out. And I'm not talking about superficial things. I'm talking deeper layers. Deeper within deeper and then even deeper places. We're brought into greater depths in Him because we are in His breaking process.

Many people don't want to hear this or even entertain the thought that He works in this way, but I have found He does. And He has a purpose for it, which we don't often fully understand while it's happening.

The truth is it's gut-wrenching. It's maddening. And it feels like you're going to die. Actually in a way you do. There is a death to self. A beautiful death. We die with Christ and are also raised with Him (Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 3:1). But we also die more to the flesh in order to make room for the Holy Spirit to expand within us.

Real Talk Moment

In this place God seems harsh, distant, and uncaring. Suddenly, and rather shockingly, He's not exactly who we thought He was. This is not as awful or fatal as it sounds but it is true. It's not fun when we're going through it, but if The Father is going to use us in a great way, we must go through His great breaking process. And through this necessary process, we come to know parts of Him we never would otherwise.

It can feel like a paradox. His kindness seems to take a back seat to the breaking that's underway. It seems severe like He's tearing us a part. It also seems awesome because He's teaching us so much and revealing more of Himself and His ways to us. It's altogether wonderful and painstaking. The key is in realizing it won't last forever. However, we will be forever changed.

You can't go deep with Him and not come out changed.

Just as Jacob left limping after His encounter with God at Penuel, He also left with a new name. He found out who he really was called to be. He found out his true identity.

"What is your name?" the Man asked. "Jacob," was his reply. "It isn't anymore," the Man told him. "It is Israel - one who has power with God. Because you have been strong with God, you shall prevail with men." Genesis 32:27-28

So it is With Us

We will all have our Penuel times with The Lord. And if we keep holding onto Him, if we don't let go, we'll emerge forever changed. We will be empowered by God because of the struggle. The question isn't will we struggle. The question is, will we keep holding onto God despite the struggle?

The holy breaking process is ordained by God himself, and will leave us cut and empowered with His will and His purposes. And it will reveal our true identity in Christ.

Just like Jacob's limp was a sign of his struggle to never let go of God, so is the proverbial cut.  His cut on us is our mark from Him, so to speak. It says we've been in the deep places with Him.

So many believers are only concerned with how trustworthy God is but that's a two-way street. He is also looking for those He can trust as well.

How do You Find Out Who You can Trust?

It's usually in the most painful of places this is revealed. You'll see who you can really depend on there. Not everybody will get in the dirt with you; or for you, for that matter. Not everyone can tolerate the deep places or the heat and pressure that comes with it. But those who can, those who will, are the ones you'll find you really can trust. And they'll trust you back. It's a place of revealing.

So not only do we find Him out, He finds us out too. It's a unique place of exchange that transpires through much difficulty and controlled chaos. Like a birthing process, the pain produces something beautiful. I know that might not make much sense - unless you've experienced it. If that's the case then you know what I'm saying is true. And it's one of the most difficult truths to convey because it is such a deeper revealing of how He desires to lovingly work in our lives.

In his book, The Root of The Righteous, A.W. Tozer pens this difficult truth so well. Or at least I think he does:

"The flaming desire to be rid of every unholy thing and to put on the likeness of Christ at any cost is not often found among us. We expect to enter the everlasting kingdom of our Father and to sit down around the table with sages, saints and martyrs; and through the grace of God, maybe we shall; yes maybe we shall. But for the most of us it could prove at first an embarrassing experience. Ours might be the silence of the untried soldier in the presence of the battle-hardened heroes who have fought the fight and won the victory and who have scars to prove that they were present when the battle was joined. Thus, it is necessary for God to use suffering in his holy work of preparing his saints, it is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply." 

Two Ways to Look at This

We can ultimately look at this in one of two ways.

We'll either see God as being a cruel and uncaring taskmaster.

OR

We'll see the love and wisdom of our Heavenly Father at work; preparing us and purifying us for His greater purposes. And greater, deeper intimacy is always a result.

God doesn't entrust His power to just anybody; especially novices. He's looking for people who will allow Him to take them through His process. People who are truly led and walk by the Spirit. People who allow Him to operate outside of the box in their lives. This is why the breaking process is so costly. He's looking for those He can entrust His heart and His purposes to. And that's no small thing.

I've found the more He does this in my own life, the more of himself He pours into those broken open places, and the more abiding friendship I have with Him there; unlike any other place. What I realize most is how very much I need it.

Please don't mistake this for something it's not. God isn't being mean or on some kind of sadistic power trip. The breaking process is vital in a believer's life. And that process looks different for each of us. Nevertheless, through it, we learn to surrender our will to His so that we ultimately know how to walk in true obedience.

Just as Jesus learned obedience through the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:7-8), so do we.

Mind you, it's for different reasons, but as we truly follow after Christ, as we take up our own crosses daily, we learn to walk in obedience as our Lord and Savior did. Not in an overbearing or legalistic kind of way, but in the way Jesus was yielded to The Father. As a result, we become more deeply rooted in Him. We also take on more of His nature. It's really a transformative process. And while it is often painful, the outcome is truly beautiful and freeing.

Listen, The Lord doesn't just cut us open and then leave us exposed. Instead, He fills those places with Himself - with His beauty. As a result, we come to know Him better, and in turn; we're better able to reflect more of who He really is. He shines brighter through us.

And that's always a beautiful thing.

Michelle Holderman

www.theragamuffinsaint.com

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Winter Seasons Produce Stronger Roots by Michelle Holderman

Winter Seasons Produce Stronger Roots 

by Michelle Holderman

Identity Network

 

When we're going through something painful, especially when it's long term, it can leave us feeling weary, frustrated, and forgotten. After so long it feels like nothing will ever change. We feel stuck in it. Stuck in a barren, lonely place. What once used to be vibrant and full of color has now muted into a hundred shades of dull gray.

 

This is actually a truth I see expressed through nature this time of year. Those vibrant, beautiful colors in the peak of fall will eventually give way to the barrenness and harsh cold of winter. And during those long winter days, it can feel like spring will never come much less summer.

 

But even winter has its beauty. Even winter holds value and significance. Winter is a season that is more about unseen preparation than outward adornment. All the action is happening underground and out of sight. The beauty of spring, summer, and fall is more tangibly visible. And although I personally find tangible beauty in it, winter is not nearly the eye candy that spring, summer, and fall are.

 

Unseen Preparations

 

But, and this is a big but, the sweet eye candy we start seeing in spring that proliferates through summer and fall would not be possible if it weren't for the unseen preparations of winter. What goes on in winter - the barrenness and dormancy - has everything to do with preparing for the budding and blooming of spring. Summer leaves, plants, and flowers cannot blossom without spring's buds and blooms. And autumn's brilliant colors would never show apart from summer's fullness. It's the cycle of growth. The cycle of life. We cannot have one without the other. They're all necessary.

 

Root systems are what nourish and anchor trees and plants. While everything above ground is in dormancy during the winter months; roots maintain a readiness to grow. In fact, winter causes root systems to dig deeper underground and expand in search of nutrients and water in advance of spring budding. What beauty we see with our eyes - the limbs, the leaves, the stems, the buds, the flowers - is but a reflection of what is unseen beneath the ground. A tree, a plant, or a flower is only as strong as its roots. Roots are the life source.

 

God is our life source. And when we are rooted more deeply in Him, we can better endure the elements and outward assaults that come our way. Including all those He allows into our lives. In fact, they can drive us deeper into Him. I know it doesn't feel like anything comforting or miraculous while it's happening. Believe me, I understand well. It can actually feel pretty harsh, agonizing, lonely, and perhaps even a bit maddening. But if I've learned one thing it's this: growth is painful but oh so necessary.

 

Pruning and Purging

 

And the Father is very interested in our proper growth. He wants us to excel and succeed in what He's called us to do for the Kingdom. That means we will all go through times of pruning and purging, as well as times when He will place us in a winter season, what appears to be a state of dormancy, in order to mature and nourish our roots deeper in Him. There isn't as much outward growth happening because it is an appointed time for inner growth. This is also a time when we can learn how to truly rest in Him. A place where we come to learn for ourselves more of who He is.

 

It's necessary.

 

He is a really good God. He is. And He loves us so much and has a deep longing for us to really know Him. He also likes to bless us. However, we aren't always ready to handle the greatness of what He desires to bless and entrust us with. So He will place us in His designated growth process. And it usually hurts. Just like we experience growing pains during the physical or natural process of growing up, so do we experience growing pains in the process of our spiritual growth.

 

But here's the good news; it draws us closer to Jesus. It roots us deeper in His love, truth, hope, and grace.

 

This will produce beautiful, abiding fruit in our lives - that sweet eye candy. The harvest we reap for Him will also be greater because of it. And our faith will expand and grow stronger as well. We will have more productive and abundant spiritual seasons as a result. But never forget that eye candy is only a reflection of what's been really going on down in our root systems; deep down where the Holy Spirit has been at work in us, in our hearts. That's where the producing of greater things starts taking its form. That's the part we can't always see or fully understand during those long winter seasons. But He does. And this is where our trust in Him is required. He's safe.

 

I believe when we live and move and have our being in God; nothing is wasted. Absolutely nothing. Not even the winters of our lives.

 

Let your roots grow down into him [Christ], and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with gratitude.Colossians 2:6-7

 

There is a season for everything, and a time for every purpose under heaven.Ecclesiastes 3:1

 

That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:16-19

 

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.  Jeremiah 17:7-8.

 

Michelle Holderman

www.theragamuffinsaint.com

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