The Uncaged Journey

"To worship You I live, to worship you, I live, I live to worship you." As we sang the words to this song at church, it felt like nothing else mattered in life other than being able to worship God. What a profound blessing it is to be worshipers of God! We are a people whose lives are founded upon a lifestyle of loving God and living in such a way that we exhibit His love to the world around us. There are varying seasons of our life, some flourishing with Kingdom fruit and others spent in the stillness of His presence. But in truth, every season will bare fruit when we are worshipers of God. Regardless of whether we are in a season of stillness or business, it is to be embraced with an attitude and lifestyle of worship.  The lifestyle of an abandoned worshiper is manifested in fearless love. (1 John 4:18) We aren't afraid to be vessels of His love towards others. We aren't afraid when things don't work out the way we hoped, because as worshipers we res

I most definitely prefer the bliss of the Lord's presence and the joy of His nearness, to the Fires of purging. I really, really do! However, I have learned over the years that His cleansing Fire, is the Fire of His passion that burns within us. We can learn to have peace and joy even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, by fixing our hearts and minds relentlessly on the Lord. At any time during trials & spiritual attacks, if we begin to react out of our flesh instead of our spirit, we will feel the Fire of God's passion trying to consume what is not of Him, in order for us to not become contaminated by things like sinful reactions, demonic oppression, etc.  The reason we feel such contention inside of us during these trying times, is because His passion for us is trying to draw us into Him instead of away from Him. When we begin to react to our situations in the flesh, we feel the Fire burning, doing it's cleansing work. However, this pain can becom

God gave us emotions on purpose. It wasn't for us to be led by them, but for the expression of the deep things that stir within us. The other day I sensed I needed to birth something in the spirit which emotionally can really get to me. I wanted to be sure my desire to hit this thing in prayer was coming from Him and not what I was feeling in my soul, so that I wouldn't become vulnerable to an emotional burden He doesn't want me to carry. This morning as I began to pray with focus, faith, and determination, I sensed the joy of the Lord's presence. This was my key to know that I was, in fact, being led by the Spirit. My prayers fueled the faith in my spirit, positively affecting my emotions. When I was done praying I began to understand how our prayers can be hindered or helped by our emotions. When we are led by the flesh into prayer, it is a lot of work! It is true that circumstances which influence our emotions, will lead us to pray, but if we remain centered on the

 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. " John 14:21a When I committed my life to Jesus, I really went all out. I was so in love with Him that all I wanted to do was read my Bible, ask questions, and talk to Him non-stop. I wanted nothing to do with my old lifestyle. I remember reading this first part of John 14:21 and telling myself that if my obedience to Him would prove my love for Him, then I would be the most obedient person on the earth. (Yeah, we all can have a good laugh at that one!) However, He began to teach me that it wasn't my obedience that proved my love. Obedience without love is  a slave mentality. It was my love that naturally caused a desire to be obedient. My heart's cry to know Him more and my love-sick heart were seeds of love that would blossom into branches of a new lifestyle. My desire to pray, read my Bible, etc., wasn't done out of religious obligation, it happened naturally because I couldn't g