Blooming Inspired Network

This week Michelle introduces you to her friend, Karen De Armond Gardner, who is living her life #bloomingalive and victorious over past abuse she suffered in her previous 30 year marriage. We will be talking to Karen throughout the month of February on Blooming Inspired Podcast, so stay tuned each Tuesday to hear more of her amazing story as God brought her out of the shadows of abuse into the glorious light of His love, joy and hope.

Karen is an overcomer! She lives her life cracking the silence on domestic abuse with her upcoming book as she continues to champion other women who have suffered domestic violence and are finding their way to healing with God.

Learn more about Karen and her journey at https://facebook.com/crackthesilence

If you are suffering domestic violence in your relationship and are in need of immediate assistance please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 or TTY 1−800−787−3224. https://thehotline.org

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Thank you for listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. This show airs weekly on Tuesdays. Please take a moment to like, share and subscribe to this podcast. To learn more about this podcast and it’s network, or the ministries of Blooming Inspired Network please visit BloomingInspiredNetwork.com and click the podcast link at the top of the page.

This week Michelle concludes her new series called Faith & Power: Understanding the Power of Who Christ Is In You reading Hebrews 11 about those who lived by faith in The Passion Translation.

Show Transcript:

You are listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. We exist to empower the voices of women who live their lives #BloomingAlive through Podcast Community. Now, here is your host.

Blooming Inspired Podcast equipping and empowering the voices of women who live their lives Blooming Alive.

Introduction

Good Morning! This is Michelle Bentham, host of Blooming Inspired Podcast. We are in the last week of the series “Faith & Power: Discovering the Power of Who Christ is in You!” Our reading last week came from Matthew 13:31-32 as we talked about how Christ living in us is the hope of glory revealed to us and those around us. Today, our reading will be primarily found in Hebrews 11 of The Passion Translation. So, Grab your Bible and get ready to dig into today’s reading as we continue to consider the power of who Christ is in us!

Review

As you do let’s just review a few take-aways from last week’s reading:

We compared sins that take root in our lives to that of a tree stump that will resprout over and over again until the tree is taken up by its roots. So it is with sin, evidences of sin will continually represent in our lives until we deal with the roots of sin, whether the sins are our own willful decision or generational sin patterns we’ve picked up in life.

A Mustard Seed sized faith can speak to the roots of sin and life patterns that have been blocking your growth and sucking the life out of you for years and tell it to be removed from your life.

Whether you have walked long in faith, or your faith is new and small like the mustard seed - we must remember we can do powerful things when we believe that the source of our mustard seed faith is Jesus.

We can be saved, and still lack faith and power in our lives because of doubt.

We must hold onto faith, even when the answers to our prayers look different than we prayed, and be willing to lose a battle but still vigorously contend for the reality in other’s lives as well. This is how we stand by faith - even when our circumstances and reality look wholly different than what our faith can see.

This Week’s Reading

Let’s Pray, Father God, I ask that you would give each person within the sound of my voice eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to know you more. I pray that every person would encounter your living presence and power through the Scriptures today and that as we do we would be changed by them. Let our hearts be inspired to believe for more, to live for more and to experience more so your glory may be known upon the earth. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to know! I ask these things in Jesus’ Precious Name, AMEN.

The title for this episode is “Living By Faith” It comes from Romans 1:17 (ESV) “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Today we’re going to look at Hebrews 11 and what it means to live by faith. This passage of Scripture is often called the Hall of Faith, because it lists the people of God who by faith lived their entire lives without fully receiving the promise. Today we will read the entire chapter as we look for inspiration to carry us as we walk and live by faith. Let’s begin:

Verse 1-3: Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. This testimony of faith is what previous generations were commended for. Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God’s words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen.

The writer of Hebrews begins with defining faith for us. In the NKJV, Hebrews 11:1 reads: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

As I re-read verse 1 in the NKJV my mind begs the question, “What is the substance of the things I hope for?”

I mean, is it just wishful thinking, which requires not faith, or is it something I hope for that I can accomplish in my own power - things that I can accomplish within my own strength don’t require much faith after all. If faith is the substance of things hoped for then what qualifies as hope… And that is what we see in the last part of the verse. Faith is not just the substance of things we hope for, but it is also the evidence of things not yet seen.

I love the way that the Passion Translation says the exact same thing… “Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.

And this same faith is the foundation of our testimony - we have no testimony without faith. It empowers us to see that it was God, through His Word, that created and beautifully coordinated the entire universe as He spoke into existence every realm that now exists. It was the unseen spiritual realm that gave birth to all that we are able to now see.

As a matter of fact in Romans 4 Paul writes that Abraham believed by faith and it was credited to Him as righteousness. It also says that this kind of faith - the faith Abraham carried that was credited as righteousness - called things that were not yet as though they already are. Get this… Faith and Power walk hand in hand in our lives if we believe as Jesus commanded us that everything we ask in His Name will be done for us.

When Jesus manifests (The Word Speaks) - the invisible realm (what we do not see) - the Spiritual Realm - brings what is unseen into our reality. .

Verses 4-5: Faith moved Abel to choose a more acceptable sacrifice to offer God than his brother Cain, and God declared him righteous because of his offering of faith. By his faith, Abel still speaks instruction to us today, even though he is long dead. Faith lifted Enoch from this life and he was taken up into heaven! He never had to experience death; he just disappeared from this world because God promoted him. For before he was translated to the heavenly realm his life had become a pleasure to God.

By implication, we understand that Abel’s offering pleased God because Abel gave God his very best. He trusted that if he gave God his very best - even though it cost him much - that God as Abel’s provision would sustain him. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Abel’s sacrifice still offers us instruction for today.

In what areas do we withhold ourselves, our offerings and our lives from God? When we trust God as our source, we learn that through intimacy with Him we can give ourselves, our lives and our sacrifices to Him because He provides well for His children. He is trustworthy and true - there is nothing good that He will withhold from His children. If we will believe.

It is faith that leads us in a life that is pleasing to God. Not works, not lofty words and prayers, not even the finances we give out of compulsion or obligation… Because these things without faith are nothing to God, but with Faith everything we do becomes a pleasing aroma to Him. Think of Enoch. Many generations after Adam and Eve’s fall living a life that pleased God so much that God promoted Enoch from earth to heaven without requiring him to pass through death. Enoch walked with God by faith. Genesis tells us that Enoch walked with God and then he was no more. The only reason we know he went to heaven is because God reveals it to us in the book of Hebrews. But Enoch, his faith carried him home.

Verse 6: And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith knowing that he is real and that he rewards the faith of those who give all their passion and strength into seeking him.

What do you believe about God? That is what you have faith in… Faith is expressed through belief that guides our motivations, passions and our actions. The words we speak and the things we do come from the heart of what we believe.

What faith is expressed in your everyday lives?

I’m preparing to serve at a retreat in June and a friend of mine is leading worship, but she doesn’t play an instrument. Over the last few weeks we have talked about this concern for the worship sessions. This weekend, as she and I spent time together at a conference, I felt like God said, “Learn to play guitar.”

So before the event was over I told one of the guitar players on the worship team I needed to learn to play guitar by June. His eyes grew wide, and he laughed. He said, “I learned to play guitar quickly but I practiced like 3 hours a day.”

I smiled wide. “I can do that.”

Later, I told my husband I need to buy a guitar because I’m going to learn to play the guitar. #TheFisherman, standing with a few of his friends from the church response team, chuckled and said, “Good luck with that.”

My response was, “I don’t need luck. God says nothing is impossible for those who believe.”

I believe by faith that I am going to learn to play guitar well enough to lead worship at the retreat I’m servine at in Mid-June. This while I have speaking engagements, a non-profit to legalize and several trips planned in the midst of it all. But, my God is big enough to handle all of that and my desire is to live a life pleasing to Him. To lay my life down in His service, to help others worship Him and believe Him for something as complex as learning to play guitar and as simple as to take the next step of obedience to what He is calling them to.

Verse 7: Faith opened Noah’s heart to receive revelation and warnings from God about what was coming, even things that had never been seen. But he stepped out in reverent obedience to God and built an ark that would save him and his family. By his faith the world was condemned, but Noah received God’s gift of righteousness that comes by believing.

Here again, our righteousness comes from believing - from faith in Christ and His Gospel. To understand that I don’t get to heaven because I prayed a prayer to receive Christ, but because I believed in my heart by faith that what the Bible says about Him is true and that He is my Lord. The faith in this invisible reality alone attributes to me all of the righteousness of Christ.

Noah had faith to do something God called him to do because Noah believed what God said was true. He saved not only himself, but also his family by acting in obedience to God by faith. Imagine, what would be possible if only we believed. When my actions follow my faith in God victory is assured. Faith expresses itself through what we are motivated to do in response to it.

As we continue to read through the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob watch for how their faith motivated their actions to obey God and how God brought about the impossible through their steps of obedient faith - even when they did not know what the outcome would be.

Verse 8-10: Faith motivated Abraham to obey God’s call and leave the familiar to discover the territory he was destined to inherit from God. So he left with only a promise and without even knowing ahead of time where he was going, Abraham stepped out in faith. He lived by faith as an immigrant in his promised land as though it belonged to someone else. He journeyed through the land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob who were persuaded that they were also co-heirs of the same promise.His eyes of faith were set on the city with unshakable foundations, whose architect and builder is God himself.

I have been heard to say that I believe God doesn’t give us a road map to our destiny ahead of time because He knows that the knowledge of good and evil would cause us to hinder His work in our lives.

I can tell you that if God would have given me a grand vision of my life, and I could’ve seen that my son was going to die on August 23, 2005, I would have done everything in my power to stop that from happening. But, I would have missed the glorious comfort of a God who captures my heart-broken tears in a bottle and heals my heart through His beautiful love, joy and peace. A God who is big enough to carry me and hurt with me at the same time. My faith grew exponentially as I learned to walk by faith through the valley of the shadow of death.

Verse 11-12: Sarah’s faith embraced the miracle power to conceive even though she was barren and was past the age of childbearing, for the authority of her faith rested in the One who made the promise, and she tapped into his faithfulness. In fact, so many children were subsequently fathered by this aged man of faith—one who was as good as dead, that he now has offspring as innumerable as the sand on the seashore and as the stars in the sky!

We often focus on Sarah’s lack of faith when she gave her handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham which brought forth Ishmael, or how she laughed at Abraham when he told her that she would bear him a son. But, even after Ishmael’s birth when Sarah, past the age of childbearing years, could’ve left her husband to her handmaid, no… Sarah, believing the One who promised gave herself to her husband and they bore a son, Isaac, who was the child God had promised them. And Abraham became the father of many nations - not just one nation through Jacob/Israel, but many nations as Ishmael and Isaac’s seed went forth. Think of this, Abraham and Sarah had one son while Rebekah and Isaac had two sons, but Jacob through Leah and Rachel had 12 sons and those 12 sons would become the nation of Israel, while Ishmael’s would go on to marry both Esau and his sons. And so many nations came from two sons of one man.

Verse 13-16: These heroes all died still clinging to their faith, not even receiving all that had been promised them. But they saw beyond the horizon the fulfillment of their promises and gladly embraced it from afar. They all lived their lives on earth as those who belonged to another realm. For clearly, those who live this way are longing for the appearing of a heavenly city. And if their hearts were still remembering what they left behind, they would have found an opportunity to go back. But they couldn’t turn back for their hearts were fixed on what was far greater, that is, the heavenly realm! So because of this God is not ashamed in any way to be called their God, for he has prepared a heavenly city for them.

Think about your life - the place where you found God, and the life you’ve lived between here and there. We hear it said a lot, “If I had it to do over again, I would do it differently.” We mean to say we’ve learned some things from our experience that would help us if we had these things to do over again, but think of all you would have missed with God if you would have looked backward and gone back to something old the first time something you believed God for didn’t come fully into your reality.

These heroes of the faith lived their lives 1) not fully realizing the promise, and 2) as if they belonged to another realm - because they did. God’s Heavenly Realm is as real as this earthly one we set our feet down in every single day of our lives. It is real, and the promises of God exist there without repentance. It our lives of faith, steps of obedience and declaration of belief that bring that heavenly reality into our earthly one. We walk by faith in the unseen, not by the things we can readily see with our natural eyes.

Verses 17-22: Faith operated powerfully in Abraham for when he was put to the test he offered up Isaac. Even though he received God’s promises of descendants, he was willing to offer up his only son! For God had promised, “Through your son Isaac your lineage will carry on your name.” Abraham’s faith made it logical to him that God could raise Isaac from the dead, and symbolically, that’s exactly what happened. The power of faith prompted Isaac to impart a blessing to his sons, Jacob and Esau, concerning their prophetic destinies. Jacob worshiped in faith’s reality at the end of his life, and leaning upon his staff he imparted a prophetic blessing upon each of Joseph’s sons. Faith inspired Joseph and opened his eyes to see into the future, for as he was dying he prophesied about the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, and gave instructions that his bones were to be taken from Egypt with them.

And as each of the patriarchs of the nation of Israel walked in obedience to God, declaring and bestowing upon the next generation their faith and the promises/prophecies of God - they birthed a faith so great that it made the way for Moses to come and deliver the people of Israel from the bondage of Egypt.

Verse 23-31: Faith prompted the parents of Moses at his birth to hide him for three months, because they realized their child was exceptional and they refused to be afraid of the king’s edict. Faith enabled Moses to choose God’s will, for although he was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he refused to make that his identity, choosing instead to suffer mistreatment with the people of God. Moses preferred faith’s certainty above the momentary enjoyment of sin’s pleasures. He found his true wealth in suffering abuse for being anointed, more than in anything the world could offer him, for his eyes looked with wonder not on the immediate, but on the ultimate—faith’s great reward! Holding faith’s promise Moses abandoned Egypt and had no fear of Pharaoh’s rage because he persisted in faith as if he had seen God who is unseen. Faith stirred Moses to perform the rite of Passover and sprinkle lamb’s blood, to prevent the destroyer from harming their firstborn. Faith opened the way for the Hebrews to cross the Red Sea as if on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to cross they were swallowed up and drowned! Faith pulled down Jericho’s walls after the people marched around them for seven days! Faith provided a way of escape for Rahab the prostitute, avoiding the destruction of the unbelievers, because she received the Hebrew spies in peace.

Over and over again, FAITH is the answer to seeing the promises of God manifest in your lives with power. Moses’ parents put him in the river as an infant by faith, Moses’ Egyptian mother raised Moses as her own son, as a son of Pharaoh. And when Moses’ heart was moved by God, the anointing for deliverance would come to Moses that would ultimately lead him to forsake the life he knew, to live in the desert, encounter God and deliver the people of Israel as God commanded him to do. Moses’ life changed the lives of many - both the nation of Israel, and the lives of Rahab, a prostitute in a pagan land who helped the Israelite spies as they sought to take the promised land God had brought them into. Rahab’s life was not only spared, but is memorialized in the genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels. Faith makes a way of escape if only we will believe God is a God of His Word who keeps His promises.

Verses 32:40: And what more could I say to convince you? For there is not enough time to tell you of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. Through faith’s power they conquered kingdoms and established true justice. Their faith fastened onto their promises and pulled them into reality! It was faith that shut the mouth of lions, put out the power of raging fire, and caused many to escape certain death by the sword. In their weakness their faith imparted power to make them strong! Faith sparked courage within them and they became mighty warriors in battle, pulling armies from another realm into battle array. Faith-filled women saw their dead children raised in resurrection power. Yet it was faith that enabled others to endure great atrocities. They were stretched out on the wheel and tortured, and didn’t deny their faith in order to be freed, because they longed for a more honorable and glorious resurrection! Others were mocked and experienced the most severe beating with whips; they were in chains and imprisoned. Some of these faith champions were brutally killed by stoning, being sawn in two or slaughtered by the sword. These lived in faith as they went about wearing goatskins and sheepskins for clothing. They lost everything they possessed, they endured great afflictions, and they were cruelly mistreated. They wandered the earth living in the desert wilderness, in caves, on barren mountains and in holes in the earth. Truly, the world was not even worthy of them, not realizing who they were. These were the true heroes, commended for their faith, yet they lived in hope without receiving the fullness of what was promised them. But now God has invited us to live in something better than what they had—faith’s fullness! This is so that they could be brought to finished perfection alongside of us.

They died not seeing the fulfillment of all God had promised them because they looked forward to a BETTER promise. One that includes all of us. Each generation who dies in faith, leaves both a higher foundation and a legacy of belief for the next generation to step out onto. Let’s live declaring, believing and fastening our faith to the promises of God so we can see His Kingdom truly come and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven right now - in our lifetimes. Amen?

Poppa God, we come today humbled by your words of exhortation and the lives of the faithful who have gone before us preparing the way. Help us to believe bigger, live stronger and faithfully walk out the steps of obedience you call us to so that we may see your Kingdom reality come to earth as it now exists in Heaven. Keep us steadfast and fruitful Lord as we look forward to that better promise and that heavenly city that only you can build. IN Jesus’ name I pray, AMen.

Closing Remarks

Thank you for tuning in with us. Next week I will begin a conversation with my friend, and upcoming author Karen DeArmond Gardener who has overcome lifelong abuse and lives to help others, especially women in similar situations find freedom as the break the bonds of abuse and walk into God’s loving arms of protection and healing. Join us next week for this powerful testimony of God’s redemptive power and healing.

I also want to ask you if this podcast has been a blessing to you: would you consider subscribing to it and share it with your friends and family? We’d love to partner with you in sharing messages that encourage and inspire.

If you’d like to be a guest on this show or get more information about hosting your own podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network - please reach out to [email protected]. I’d love the opportunity to connect with you and figure out how we can share your voice with the world around us.

Join Us Through Facebook Live for Bible Study on Saturday at 10am (CT)! We’ll continue reading Luke 9 this week and digging into the life of Christ Verse-By-Verse considering what we would believe if reading the Scriptures was the primary way we inform our faith! You can learn more and catch up on last week’s study by visiting facebook.com/bloominginspired.

Once again, I’d like to remind you that I will be speaking at a women’s conference (R.E.A.L. Women Conference) at (The Ranch Cowboy Country Church South) in Edna, TX. Registration is available for $40 through January 10th, and will be $45 after the 10th through the day before the conference. Tickets at the door will be $60. This one day conference is February 22 this year and includes a continental style breakfast, full lunch and dinner provided. I’d love to see some familiar faces attending. If you’d like to register please email or DM at the email listed above or through our FB page for details or visit theranchsouth.org for more information!

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Thank you for listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. This show airs weekly on Tuesdays. Please take a moment to like, share and subscribe to this podcast. To learn more about this podcast and it’s network, or the ministries of Blooming Inspired Network please visit BloomingInspiredNetwork.com and click the podcast link at the top of the page.

This week Michelle continues her new series called Faith & Power: Understanding the Power of Who Christ Is In You reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke about Mustard Seed Faith from The Passion Translation.

Show Transcript:

You are listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. We exist to empower the voices of women who live their lives #BloomingAlive through Podcast Community. Now, here is your host.

Blooming Inspired Podcast equipping and empowering the voices of women who live their lives Blooming Alive.

Introduction

Good Morning! This is Michelle Bentham, host of Blooming Inspired Podcast. We are in the third week of our new series “Faith & Power: Discovering the Power of Who Christ is in You!” Our reading last week came from Colossians 1:15-29 as we talked about how Christ living in us is the hope of glory revealed to us and those around us. Today, our reading will be primarily found in Matthew 13:31-32 with additional readings from Matthew. Mark and Luke as we look at faith the size of a Mustard Seed from The Passion Translation. So, Grab your Bible and get ready to dig into today’s reading as we continue to consider the power of who Christ is in us!

Review

As you do let’s just review a few take-aways from last week’s reading:

When God looks at you as His beloved child, He sees you through the veil of Christ

If Christ lives inside of you, if it is true about Jesus then it is true about you - whether you live from that reality or not.

All of the power that you need to accomplish those ideas, dreams and passions in your life rests with Christ. The only thing you need to understand is His purpose in your passion. And that often comes through executing - taking steps of faith and watching Him work wonders through them.

Jesus has first place in everything. In Christ, you hold first place with Him. Victory is yours in Christ.

Jesus restores everything and every person who comes to Him back to our original design, purpose and back to innocent purity once again.

YOU CAN BE MADE PURE AND WHOLE THROUGH THE POWER OF CHRIST IN YOU.

Living as Christ in us and expressing Him to the world around us. It is a MYSTERY (to us)… Being unveiled day by day, hour by hour as we pursue Him in intimacy and truth.

Taking on Christ’s Sufferings is a powerful reality in the Christian life, to live as Christ is to take on His sufferings.

This is the work of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit: to be in the midst of great struggle and turmoil and experience peace that passes understanding is truly a mark of Christ on our lives.

There is a divine mystery: a secret, a surprise, has been concealed for many centuries but through Christ is now being revealed, unfolded and manifested for every holy believer to experience. Our faith in God is not just something we read about, but instead is a life to be lived, a reality to be experienced daily in our lives.

Last week we closed with the last two verses in this passage: “Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Jesus Christ.” This is a key: when we preach Christ as our message, awakening hearts and bringing others into a full understanding of the truth - His power flows through us perfecting us in the only one who saves - Jesus Christ. Transformation in our own lives will draw others to the one who transforms us day by day into His glorious image. Amen?

This Week’s Reading

Let’s Pray, Father God, I ask that you would give each person within the sound of my voice an encounter with You today through the Scriptures. Give our hearts, minds, souls and bodies your truth today as we read and give us understanding by revelation and wisdom from Heaven to seek, act and live from the truth of Your words. I thank you our faith, though as small as a mustard seed, can powerfully move mountains and uproot trees if only we believe. Let our hearts be inspired to believe for more, to live for more and to experience more so your glory may be known upon the earth. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to know! I ask these things in Jesus’ Precious Name, AMEN.

The title for this episode is “Mustard Seed Faith.” It comes from Matthew 17:20 in the the passion translation: “He told them, “It was because of your lack of faith. I promise you, if you have faith inside of you no bigger than the size of a small mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move away from here and go over there,’ and you will see it move! There is nothing you couldn’t do!”

We’re looking for what it means that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains and uproot trees. How does Christ in us plant a seed of Faith that, when activated, releases His Power to do the impossible? So let’s begin with the parable of the Mustard Seed in Matthew 13:

Verse 31-32: He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” (This parable is also found in Mark 4:30-34 and Luke 13:18-19.)

First of all, have you ever seen a mustard seed? They are tiny, as tiny as a speck of dust or lint. I read on the Home Guides website that when planted in cool, moist soil they germinate quickly and reach maturity in anywhere from 80-95 days depending on the type of mustard seed. And Jesus compares His Kingdom to a mustard seed.

The website Hunker.com provide even more insight: “Mustard seeds like growing in cool weather. However, if they are grown in hot weather, the leaves will become tough and spicy, which is a treat in certain culinary dishes. Mustard plants like getting lots of sun and water, so plant them in a clear, sunny area and water them during dry periods. A weeded garden bed will minimize the mustard's competition for water with other plants.”

They grow best in cooler environment (above 40 degrees) and if grown in hotter weather become tougher or spicier (they carry more flavor). They need lots of sun (LIGHT) and Water.

So how does this apply to us? When we place our faith in Christ by believing in Him we aren’t just getting salvation - we are getting Him living inside of us. And that seed of faith, picture it the size of a mustard seed, will grow and thrive the more we expose our hearts to the Light of the world (Jesus, the Word of God) and Living Water (The Holy Spirit). As our mustard seed faith grows, it makes a place of shade and rest for others who need a respite from the harsh realities of the world we live in and the enemy’s assaults.

I believe the Mustard Seed parable shows us how the Kingdom of God is supposed to affect our lives and how we then become Kingdom Influencers in the world around us. A bird does not make its nest in a tree because the tree calls it out, but rather because the fullness of limbs and leaves provides the necessary cover and protection that is required for baby birds to be born and nest within the branches.

So it is with us, the more the Kingdom comes alive in us through growth and maturity in both the Word of God and The Holy Spirit’s Power - the more appealing we become to others because we look like Jesus.

Now let’s read from Luke 17:6 & Matthew 17:14-20:

Luke 17:6: Jesus responded, “If you have even the smallest measure of authentic faith, it would be powerful enough to say to this large tree, (in some translations, a Mulberry Tree) ‘My faith will pull you up by the roots and throw you into the sea,’ and it will respond to your faith and obey you.”

Have you ever tried to uproot a large tree? No… Well, let me tell you. We have a large tree that grows in our back yard every year blocking the view of the lake behind our house. My husband cuts down this tree to a stump every year, but with the roots still in the ground, the stump resprouts and grows up again and again. If the trunk grows very large it will require a tractor to pull the stump out by i’s roots.

This is like sin that has taken root in our lives. Whether that sin stems from your own willful choices or learned patterns of behavior that has been handed down from generation to generation in your family - the result is still the same. Until the roots are dealt with - the tree of sin will continually grow back. So what does it take to uproot that sinful tree?

A mustard seed of faith - that’s it. A Mustard Seed sized faith can speak to the roots of sin and life patterns that have been blocking your growth and sucking the life out of you for years and tell it to be removed from your life.

In other words, someone who is new in the faith, whose seed is just about to take root and grow can do powerful things if we just remember that mustard seed of our faith is Jesus Christ.

Our passage in Matthew 17:14-20 is a bit longer than the passage in Luke, but let’s take a look as we close out today’s show:

Verse 14-16: They came to where a large crowd had gathered to wait for Jesus. A man came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, please show your tender mercy toward my son. He has a demon who afflicts him. He has epilepsy, and he suffers horribly from seizures. He often falls into the cooking fire or into the river. I brought him to your followers, but they weren’t able to heal him.”

The situation is that a man has brought his son to the disciples because his son was afflicted by a demon that caused epileptic seizures. He had fallen into the fires and the river before - which meant his life was severely threatened by this affliction. But, Jesus’ followers who had reported back that they had been healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead after he had sent them out could not bring healing to this boy.

Jesus’ response is telling…

Verse 17-18: Jesus replied, “Where is your faith? Can’t you see how wayward and wrong this generation is? How much longer do I stay with you and put up with your doubts? Bring your son to me.” Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the boy was instantly healed!

I don’t know about you, but it seems Jesus is concerned that His disciples have no faith and have lost their way with Him. Jesus attributes the inability to cast this demon out by His disciples to doubt.

Did you know you can be saved, and still lack faith and power in your life experiences because of doubt?

Have you ever prayed for something and then doubted whether or not it would happen?

For me that season came when my oldest son was struggling with choices, consequences and we were just trying to hold our family together. The police would call us to pick him up or we would call them to the house for his out of control behavior. I remember the doubts that rose up, Maybe my son is the one child God cannot pull out of the fire. What am I doing wrong? Am I praying the wrong things? I understand what you do when you raise Isaac, but it seems I’m raising Ishmael.

One day on the way home from a funeral for a childhood friend, I felt in my heart God said, You need to prepare your heart to lose your son. An odd peace settled over me, I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew God was preparing me for something I could not yet see. Turns out it would be my worst confessed fear: the death of my oldest child.

A few months later the accident came, it’s been more than 14 years since I got the call to get to the hospital as soon as I could because my son had been in a car accident with his friends. That day as I rode to the hospital I wrestled with my one confessed fear and what I believed about God to be true. As I prayed I said to God, “Lord, if this is what you’ve been preparing me for all these months then you better be everything you’ve promised me you’d be. Your word says you are my strength, well, you better be because right now I’ve got none. Your word says you are my peace, well, you better be because right now I’ve got none.”

And as I prayed I saw the puffy white clouds dotting a perfectly cerulean afternoon sky and I confessed, “If you can hold this world in orbit around the sun, and those clouds up there in the sky then I know you can take care of my son.”

Before that day I had studied the story of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert after Abraham had sent them out of the camp - where Hagar carried her nearly grown son through the desert after he fainted from a lack of nourishment (their food and water had run out) and she laid him under a bush there in the desert to die. She walked about a bow-shot’s distance away and sat down waiting for him to pass as she could not bear to watch him die.

That afternoon as we sat in the waiting room of the hospital my pastor asked me how I was doing. I had a Bible in my lap, turned to that familiar story in the book of Genesis and said, “I just keep thinking about Hagar and Ishmael in the desert. If God took care of Ishmael, He’ll take care of Justin, too.”

God did take care of my son, and eight days later he delivered him safely into the arms of Jesus who carried him home to Heaven’s safe keeping. I would later receive the Scripture from Isaiah that says, “The Lord takes the righteous early to spare them an evil that is yet to come.”

I believe God knew a fate worse than death was coming for my son in those days of his coming into adulthood and in His mercy, God took Justin home to spare him that worse fate - indeed to spare us all.

I’ve come to realize God answered my prayers for mercy for my son, and indeed He gave me peace that passes all understanding. The very things I asked for as I prayed by my son’s body while he lay in a coma those long perilous days in the hospital.

It wasn’t easy to hold onto my faith in those moments of utter despair as my son lay dying and after He passed, but God delivered me from all my fears and He held me close as I walked out the painful reality of our lives in those difficult days.

Verse 28-29: Later the disciples came to him privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we cast out the demon?” He told them, “It was because of your lack of faith. I promise you, if you have faith inside of you no bigger than the size of a small mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move away from here and go over there,’ and you will see it move! There is nothing you couldn’t do!”

As I have read the passage over and over again, and recounted my own experience of not receiving a miracle healing in my son’s life and I realized that though I lost that battle - I still pray vigorously for injury and illness to be healed and I’ve seen much healing. My faith in God is strong, though the enemy did his very best to steal my faith in those early days of walking out my grief.

A mustard seed is all the faith it takes to turn tragedy into triumph and see the impossible become probable - if only we will believe. What mountains in your life do you need to speak to with a mustard seed of faith today?

Closing Remarks

Thank you for tuning in with us. I want to ask you if this podcast has been a blessing to you: would you consider subscribing to it and share it with your friends and family? We’d love to partner with you in sharing messages that encourage and inspire.

If you’d like to be a guest on this show or get more information about hosting your own podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network - please reach out to [email protected]. I’d love the opportunity to connect with you and figure out how we can share your voice with the world around us.

Join Us Through Facebook Live for Bible Study on Saturday at 10am (CT)! We will be reading Luke 9 this week and digging into the life of Christ Verse-By-Verse considering what we would believe if reading the Scriptures was the primary way we inform our faith! You can learn more and catch up on last week’s study by visiting facebook.com/bloominginspired.

Once again, I’d like to remind you that I will be speaking at a women’s conference (R.E.A.L. Women Conference) at (The Ranch Cowboy Country Church South) in Edna, TX. Registration is available for $40 through January 10th, and will be $45 after the 10th through the day before the conference. Tickets at the door will be $60. This one day conference is February 22 this year and includes a continental style breakfast, full lunch and dinner provided. I’d love to see some familiar faces attending. If you’d like to register please email or DM at the email listed above or through our FB page for details or visit theranchsouth.org for more information!

If you’d like to get this podcast delivered to your smart device, we're available on both Apple and on Google Podcasts - take a moment to Subscribe today!

Thank you for listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. This show airs weekly on Tuesdays. Please take a moment to like, share and subscribe to this podcast. To learn more about this podcast and it’s network, or the ministries of Blooming Inspired Network please visit BloomingInspiredNetwork.com and click the podcast link at the top of the page.

This week Michelle continues her new series called Faith & Power: Understanding the Power of Who Christ Is In You reading Colossians 1:15-29 from The Passion Translation.

Show Transcript:

You are listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. We exist to empower the voices of women who live their lives #BloomingAlive through Podcast Community. Now, here is your host.

Blooming Inspired Podcast equipping and empowering the voices of women who live their lives Blooming Alive.

Introduction

Good Morning! This is Michelle Bentham, host of Blooming Inspired Podcast. Last week we began a new series called “Faith & Power: Discovering the Power of Who Christ is in You!” Our reading last week came from Ephesians 1:17-23 as we talked about the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. Today, our reading will be in Colossians 1:15-29 from The Passion Translation. So, Grab your Bible and get ready to dig into today’s reading as we continue to consider the power of who Christ is in us!

Review

As you do let’s just review a few take-aways from last week’s reading:

Deepening our intimacy with God is a key to experiencing His Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

Ministry happens in the culture of relationships. Impartation happens in the culture of intimacy.

God wants to light up your imagination and use it for His glory!

Another key comes from understanding who Christ is in you. Discovering who Christ is unlocks revelation and wisdom insight into who we are… Then, we need only find the way He wants to express Himself through us to fully realize His purpose in our life. And this comes through intimacy.

The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, is in and works through us.

Faith activates the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit in our life, empowering us to live as Christ commanded us to live.

This Week’s Reading

Let’s Pray, Father God, I ask that you would give each person within the sound of my voice an encounter with You today through the Scriptures. Impart Your truth to our hearts, minds, souls and bodies - we ask for Holy Spirit wisdom and revelation to illuminate our eyes with your light so we may see as You see, heighten our sense of hearing so that we may know and obey Your voice, empower our minds with your understanding, and rend our hearts as we come to know Your heart in intimacy and truth. I thank you that though Christ in us is a mystery that you are continually unfolding - it is that very thing - He in Us that is the Hope of Glory. Remind us of these truths as we read today and make them real for us! I ask these things in Jesus’ Precious Name, AMEN.

The title for this episode is “The Hope of Glory.” It comes from Colossians 1:27 in the New King James Version: “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

We’re looking for what it means that Christ in us is the Hope of Glory in a lost and dying world, and how that leads us to His Faith and Power. So let’s begin:

Verse 15-17: He is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God, and the first-born heir of all creation. For through the Son everything was created, both in the heavenly realm and on the earth, all that is seen and all that is unseen. Every seat of power, realm of government, principality, and authority—it was all created through him and for his purpose! He existed before anything was made, and now everything finds completion in him.

We begin with a portrait of who Christ is from Heaven’s Perspective - A Divine Portrait.

A number of years ago I was reading in the Gospels where Jesus was baptized at the Jordan River by John the Baptist. When Jesus comes up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends from Heaven and comes to rest on Jesus like a dove. Then the Father’s voice comes down from Heaven declaring, “This is my beloved Son in Whom I’m well pleased.”

As I read that verse and asked God to show me what He wanted to see about it I felt in my heart He said, “If it’s true about Jesus, it’s true about you.” And by extension, every believer who is in Christ.

Have you ever thought about that? That when God looks upon you as His child, He sees you through the veil of His Beloved Son. You see, apart from Christ there is no righteousness. We cannot be righteous without Him. As a matter of fact, the only righteousness we can ever possess is His righteousness imparted to us through our relationship by faith in Him.

Jesus often said, when you see Him you have seen the Father. He is the divine portrait and the true likeness of the invisible God - the firstborn and heir of all creation. We are His inheritance - Paul emphasizes this over and over again in His epistles. Here we also see that God’s act in creation was executed by the Son - both in the heavens and on the earth - everything we can see and what cannot be seen!!! This is beyond our ability to fathom really. Just as we cannot look beyond the stars in our own sky without a powerful telescope - and to think that the vast reach of God’s Kingdom and the heavens extend well beyond what we know as the universe.

And in this God created every seat of power, realm of government, principality and authority through Christ - He is in charge of it all. He has authority over it all. He existed before anything else was created and everything that has ever been created finds its completion in Him.

That is who CHRIST is. He is the Son. The creative power and authority of the Son of God lives inside of you. Do you get that?

So if that power lives inside you --- what does that mean?

I’m a visual artist, and I’m passionate about connecting people to God’s heart through Creative Expression. As I’ve grown through the arts, I’ve come to understand that God empowers my mind to think creatively -- and when I am empowered to think creatively I have faith to act creatively. I’ve taken sparing little art instruction in my lifetime, but as I’ve grown in trusting God through the process of creating - I’ve discovered I can do things that both intimidate and challenge me. Right now I am using professional grade watercolors and brushes to paint a portrait of my granddog, Cooper.

It wasn’t very long ago that I said I didn’t paint with watercolors because I didn’t know how to use them, and refused to paint anything that might look like a real person for the fear I would fail at it miserably and remarkably… My painting of Cooper looks like Cooper. It’s amazing to me everytime I put a brush to canvas that God shows up and guides my hand to reveal through me a skill greater than I could ever learn on my own.

What is it that you dream to do but feel powerless to accomplish? All of the power that you need to accomplish those ideas, dreams and passions in your life rests with Christ. The only thing you need to understand is His purpose in your passion. And that often comes through executing - taking steps of faith and watching Him work wonders through them.

Verse 18-20: He is the Head of his body, which is the church. And since he is the beginning and the firstborn heir in resurrection, he is the most exalted One, holding first place in everything. For God is satisfied to have all his fullness dwelling in Christ. And by the blood of his cross, everything in heaven and earth is brought back to himself—back to its original intent, restored to innocence again!

Jesus has first place in everything! Have you ever wanted to come in first? Well, in Christ - you are first with Him. We are co-heirs. And yet, He is still the most exalted one - the Head of us who are His body. The fullness of God dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in you - that means that the fullness of who God is resides in YOU!

It is through Christ’s work on the cross, the shedding of His blood to make atonement for all the sins of the world, (that’s past, present and future), God, Himself, has already restored everything in heaven and on earth back to Himself, back to original design and intention -- meaning what was lost in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned and fell short of God’s glory -- through Christ has been restored. This means in Him, part of our responsibility is to exercise His power and authority by faith to bring that restoration into our reality, think: “On Earth as it already is in Heaven.”

Restoring us back to our original design, purpose and back to innocent purity once again! For someone within the sound of my voice today this is good news. YOU CAN BE MADE PURE AND WHOLE THROUGH THE POWER OF CHRIST IN YOU.

Verse 21-23: Even though you were once distant from him, living in the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, he reconnected you back to himself. He released his supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of his own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in his presence. And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for he sees you as holy, flawless, and restored, if indeed you continue to advance in faith, assured of a firm foundation to grow upon. Never be shaken from the hope of the gospel you have believed in. And this is the glorious news I preach all over the world.

THERE IT IS AGAIN… Christ is the one who reconnected us to Himself. Jesus said that no one can come to Him except the Holy Spirit draws them to Him. Even your ability and capacity to believe and have faith in God comes from God Himself. And as we receive this faith from God, the peace of Christ comes to us as His payment for sin is credited to us that we may live in His presence, experience His glory and know His power.

The scripture tells us that nothing stands between us and Father God - He now sees us as holy, flawless and restored, that is the foundation of our faith - that the work of God in us was finished at the cross and the power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us so that we may continually act, live and do what He has purposed us to do according to Him will. This is powerful truth, my friends. s

The key is to continue to advance (or mature) in the faith. You see our hope of the Gospel that we have believed is not just about salvation - it is about being made complete or whole in Christ. That in our lives, as we mature in His word and His works that we would come to look and act more like Him so the world would see Him through us.

If that does not make you want to jump up and down --- I don’t know what would! This is the point of it all. Everything in life leads us to this moment. Living as Christ in us and expressing Him to the world around us. And still, much of it is a MYSTERY… Being unveiled day by day, hour by hour as we pursue Him in intimacy and truth.

Verse 24-25: I can even celebrate the sorrows I have experienced on your behalf; for as I join with you in your difficulties, it helps you to discover what lacks in your understanding of the sufferings Jesus Christ experienced for his body, the church. This is the very reason I’ve been made a minister by the authority of God and a servant to his body, so that in his detailed plan I would fully equip you with the Word of God.

Suffering for God’s glory is a real thing. Paul eludes to it here as he writes about the suffering of the believers in the Colossian Church. He said that when we struggle in our suffering we lack understanding of the sufferings Christ experienced for us. You see to live as Christ is to take on His sufferings.

I don’t know about you, but there was a time in my life when my suffering drove me from God and made me question His goodness. You see, in my immature understanding I did not know God well and did not understand that suffering comes to us in this life for many reasons: as a consequence to sins I commit or because of the sins of another that affect me, the enemy’s desire to steal, kill and destroy to keep me from realizing God’s goodness and glory in my life and because the earth has not fully been redeemed from the curse that human sin has brought to it.

Yet, the very One for Whom nothing is impossible - Jesus, Himself - was not spared suffering, but willingly took it for our sakes. How could we not endure suffering as the Old Testament believer Job did in saying, “Shall we only accept good from God and not evil.” He would not curse God in His suffering.

I think God can handle our questions, doubts and even our anger at Him over things that happen in our lives we struggle to make sense of along the way. I think He wants to speak to us and heal us. It is in the overcoming that we see His glory. As we experience despair by choose joy instead, or perhaps fear paralyzes us but we choose love instead… That our lives feel completely out of control and yet, we choose self-discipliine instead. This is the work of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit. To be in the midst of great struggle and turmoil and experience peace that passes understanding is truly a mark of Christ on our lives.

Let’s live this way my friends, pursuing the best of God in the worst of what life has to offer us. Being marked by His glory, His power and His promise so that when others see our suffering it makes them hungry to know Him, too.

On of my favorite teachers, Bill Johnson, often says that it is only on earth that we have the honor of offering God a sacrifice of praise. That in the deepest sorrows of our lives, when the questions come, the power to praise God in the midst of such pain is a fragrant offering to the Lord most high.

And, before we move on, I want to highlight this portion from verse 25:

This is the very reason I’ve been made a minister by the authority of God and a servant to his body, so that in his detailed plan I would fully equip you with the Word of God.

This is the heart of my ministry through Blooming Inspired Network!! To equip and empower women to walk in their role and reign in God’s Kingdom. That women around the world would realize the detailed plan of God’s purpose in their lives and live fully from who Christ is in you. This is why I live and breath - to help you move out into the world taking the ground you walk on for the Kingdom of God wherever you may serve Him. It is a daunting task and I need many prayers and women to both walk alongside me and to partake from the ministry and service Christ has entrusted to me. I’m grateful for each person who has come along to this point and I pray that if God commends you that you would reach out to us and let us know how we may serve you in this calling we have to women in His Kingdom.

Verse 26-27: There is a divine mystery—a secret surprise that has been concealed from the world for generations, but now it’s being revealed, unfolded and manifested for every holy believer to experience. Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory! This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it!

There is a divine mystery!!! Paul writes, that in his time that a secret, a surprise, has been concealed for many centuries but through Christ is now being revealed, unfolded and manifested for every holy believer to experience.

Did you know your relationship with God is not just something you read about, but it is a mystery that is revealed through experience. We are supposed to know Him through the Scriptures and experience Him through His presence. Practical manifestations of His glory revealed to us and through us in our everyday lives. We are all supposed to experience the unveiling ministry that manifests through His presence.

So let me ask you, When was the last time you experienced the presence of God in a powerful and revelatory way?

Let’s press into this truth, my friends. Let’s live this way - on that edge with Jesus, looking for His power and presence to reveal mysteries and wonders to us and through us every single day of our lives.

And as we do, the Christ who is living (active) within us floods us with the expectation of His glory!!! And this mystery that is embedded within us - a part of who we are - becomes a trove of treasured hope - a hope-filled glory rich for God’s people, and He wants everyone to know! Let’s make Him known as the hope of glory that lives within us for the rest of our lives. Let’s live like this every day. Oh the glory of it all… That He would choose to live through us and express Himself through us - what a wonderful mystery and revelation all at the same time!

I’m so overwhelmed by the goodness of God in this moment, my heart is bowing low before Him, it is a moment when I need to be on my knees rather than speaking these words… so that all I can say in humility and pure devotion is, “Here I am Lord, Send Me.”

And now I will close with Paul’s parting words in this passage:

Verse 28-29: Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Jesus Christ.

Closing Remarks

Thank you for tuning in with us. I want to ask you if this podcast has been a blessing to you: would you consider subscribing to it and share it with your friends and family? We’d love to partner with you in sharing messages that encourage and inspire.

If you’d like to be a guest on this show or get more information about hosting your own podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network - please reach out to [email protected]. I’d love the opportunity to connect with you and figure out how we can share your voice with the world around us.

Join Us Through Facebook Live for Bible Study on Saturday at 10am (CT)! We will be reading Luke 9 this week and digging into the life of Christ Verse-By-Verse considering what we would believe if reading the Scriptures was the primary way we inform our faith! You can learn more and catch up on last week’s study by visiting facebook.com/bloominginspired.

Once again, I’d like to remind you that I will be speaking at a women’s conference (R.E.A.L. Women Conference) at (The Ranch Cowboy Country Church South) in Edna, TX. Registration is available for $40 through January 10th, and will be $45 after the 10th through the day before the conference. Tickets at the door will be $60. This one day conference is February 22 this year and includes a continental style breakfast, full lunch and dinner provided. I’d love to see some familiar faces attending. If you’d like to register please email or DM at the email listed above or through our FB page for details or visit theranchsouth.org for more information!

If you’d like to get this podcast delivered to your smart device, we're available on both Apple and on Google Podcasts - take a moment to Subscribe today!

Thank you for listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. This show airs weekly on Tuesdays. Please take a moment to like, share and subscribe to this podcast. To learn more about this podcast and it’s network, or the ministries of Blooming Inspired Network please visit BloomingInspiredNetwork.com and click the podcast link at the top of the page.

A week into 2020 Michelle opens up this new season of podcasting with a new series called Faith & Power: Understanding the Power of Who Christ Is In You. She begins the series reading Ephesians 1:17-23 from The Passion Translation.

Show Transcript:

You are listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. We exist to empower the voices of women who live their lives #BloomingAlive through Podcast Community. Now, here is your host.

Blooming Inspired Podcast equipping and empowering the voices of women who live their lives Blooming Alive.

Introduction

Good Morning! This is Michelle Bentham, host of Blooming Inspired Podcast. We are a week deep into 2020 - Can You Believe It? A Brand New Decade! I’ve been sitting with the Lord the last few months, resting and listening. Quieting my heart to hear His truth and His word as I walk out God’s plan and purpose in my life for 2020. I’ll share a bit about this in a future episode, but the short version is God gave me several passages of Scripture from Habakkuk 2:1-3 (NLT), Amos 9:13-15 (MSG), and Isaiah 14:24, 7-8, 4 (tpt). Through these passages He revealed to me that most of my year is beyond “The Finish Line” and that as I walk with the Father - my vision will increase, as I walk with the Son - my victory will increase, and as I walk with the Holy Spirit that velocity will be added to my life.

I’m in an entirely new season, seeking intimacy with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit like never before and seeking to run the uncharted path of my race with vision, velocity and victory as I move out of the old season and into the new. How about you? What is your word for 2020?

Leave it in the comments or email or send it by direct message to me: for email send to [email protected] or on Facebook DM @BloomingInspired. Everyone who sends in their word will get a photo print of my Word of the Year as a free gift for engaging with the podcast.

This week we are beginning a new series called “Faith & Power: Discovering the Power of Who Christ is in You!” Our reading today will be from the book of Ephesians 1 in The Passion Translation. Grab your Bible, your favorite winter beverage and get comfy as we dig into this new study for our new year.

This Week’s Reading

Let’s Pray, Father God, I ask that you would give each person within the sound of my voice an encounter with You, Your Son and the Holy Spirit this morning as we read Your words of life together. Impart the truth of who You are to our hearts, minds, souls and bodies today - we ask for Holy Spirit revelation to open our eyes to the way You see, open our ears to hear Your majestic voice, and open our hearts to know Your heart in intimacy and truth. I thank you that when we believe in Christ, we are hidden in Him and His blessings, and that same power that raised Him from the dead now lives bodily in us and we have access to it by Faith. Remind us of these truths as we read today and make them real for us! I ask these things in Jesus’ Holy Name, AMEN.

The title for this episode is “The Same Power.” We’re looking for what it means that the same power that raised Jesus from the Dead now lives bodily in us. So let’s begin:

Verse 17: I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know him through your deepening intimacy with him.

Paul has just commended the believers at Ephesus for their love and devotion as well as their strong faith in God. Then He prays for them - as we reread those words, what do you hear God saying to you?

I pray that the Father… would impart to you the RICHES of the SPIRIT OF WISDOM and the SPIRIT OF REVELATION to KNOW HIM through your DEEPENING INTIMACY WITH HIM. Last night I was painting bookmarks I will send off to Edna,TX this weekend for the gift bags that will be given to women attending a conference where I’ll be speaking on February 22nd. I am a bit overwhelmed painting bookmarks for 100 women, but I’m also deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve in this way. I love creating gifts for people that spark a desire in their heart to know God more.

I went to bed very late and as I laid my head on the pillow I had these sentences running through my mind: “Ministry happens in the culture of relationship. Impartation happens in the culture of intimacy.”

My question becomes if Wisdom and Revelation is imparted by Spirit that comes from knowing Him in intimacy - what cultivates intimacy in your life?

For me, it’s worship… Hands down. Not just singing songs to God, but focusing my heart on His presence and His goodness. Engaging my heart with what I see the Father doing and hear Him saying. Prayer and Intercession birthed out of the deep ache of my soul drives my heart in longing toward God in intimacy. I want to lean back against His chest and feel His heart beating - then I want my heart to find that rhythm in my own life. I want to be attentive to what He is doing every moment of every day not just in the ministry moments.

What I’m realizing is I can know God in a relationship with Jesus Christ and never fully engage or incline my heart toward Him. I can do ministry for God, serve the people of God and never fully know the heart of God because I do not engage His heart in intimacy.

Intimacy is a key to experiencing the Wisdom and Revelation that comes only by the Holy Spirit. For many years I read the Bible seeking to understand the words of Scripture with little to know understanding, but then as I learned to listen and hear from God as I read. The more I inclined my heart to deeply know Him, the more He revealed Himself to me through both Scripture and Experience. Encountering the Presence of God - Holy Spirit - will change my heart, my mind and my life.

So let me ask you… How engaged is your heart with the presence of God?

Moses, David and the disciples and apostles knew God in this way. What would happen if we inclined our heart to know God deeply through intimacy and presence? Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Verse 18: I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones!

Paul prayed that the imagination of the believers at Ephesus would have the eyes of their imagination illuminated. Come on… If you love to dream, explore and create then this should get your heart pounding! God wants to light up your imagination and use it for His glory!

Isn’t that exciting?

I remember being a young girl in third grade and we had to write a story and draw a picture to match it. My momma and daddy loved the oldies music from the 50s and 60s and so we had tons of little 45 records with various songs on them. The Purple People Eater was one of my favorite songs. I wrote my story about this one-eyed, one-horned, flying Purple People Eater and drew a picture of it. My teacher told my parents at the open house that I had a “Very Vivid Imagination.”

And I do… When I read fiction I picture myself as one of the characters in the story so I can understand what is happening. The same thing with Scripture - I’ve begun to read Scripture as if I were living it rather than just reading about it. My redeemed imagination has the power to tap into the Holy Spirit’s revelation and wisdom in a way my natural mind and reasoning cannot. Now, I’m not saying we throw logic and reasoning out the window - I’m just saying to truly know God in intimacy we need an integrated approach where our intuition and imagination plays an equal role as we Engage His presence, Read His Word and Encounter His Love.

Faith brings us into this relationship with God, but it is all the fascinating ways He created us, and the fact that when we believe in Him by faith all of who He is comes to live inside of us.

Paul also writes in this passage that when He floods us with His Light, and we experience that flooding until we are full of revelation of the Hope of His Calling… That somehow, and this is atrue mystery and a wonder, that this revelation of Hope and His calling makes us a full expression of the wealth of God’s glorious inheritance that He finds in us… We are called Saints - His Holy Ones!

Christ in You - that is the key. Discovering who Christ is unlocks revelation and wisdom insight into who we are… Then, we need only find the way He wants to express Himself through us to fully realize His purpose in our life. And this comes through intimacy.

Verse 19-20: I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm!

C’mon! Not only does Jesus by Holy Spirit come to live inside of us, but the same power that RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, Paul writes in Romans 6 & 8 that this same power lives in us and if it raised Jesus from the dead it will give life - more than eternal life, but abundant life here on earth as well.

Matthew 10 indicates Jesus commissions His disciples to carry the same power that He carries to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and cleanse lepers. The SAME POWER - He even says that the signs of healing, casting out demons, and handling deadly poison and snakes should not harm the disciples (poison and snakes both bring death) and in John 14 He says that those who believe in Him and did not see Him will do all the works He has done, He being Jesus, and even greater works because of their Faith in Him.

At the end of Matthew, what most believers in the Western Church call “The Great Commission” tells the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus to go into all the world preaching the Gospel, baptizing believers into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to teach them all the things He had imparted through commandment to His disciples. He imparted to His disciples authority and power by the measure of their faith over every evil thing the enemy is empowered to do in this earth. And yet, we live fearing the devil and cowering at death’s door.

Faith in what you have not yet seen, but believe in empowers us to do the greater works! Works greater than the signs, wonders and miracles we see Jesus performing in the Gospels. He even told His disciples not to rejoice in the power they had to work miracles, signs and wonders among the people, but rather to rejoice that these things were evidence that their names were written in the Lamb’s book of life. Faith should bring us into revelation, wisdom, and power. Do You Understand?

Verse 21: And now he is exalted as first above every ruler, authority, government, and realm of power in existence! He is gloriously enthroned over every name that is ever praised,not only in this age, but in the age that is coming!

Do we really live like we believe Jesus has been exalted as first above every ruler, authority, government, and realm of power in existence? DO WE? He is now and forevermore gloriously enthroned over every name that is ever praised! And yet professing believers in the body of Christ believe to live is a Struggle and to Die is to Gain Everything God Promised. But, that is not what Paul said.

Paul wrote so eloquently that he would count his suffering with joy, just as Christ endured the cross for the Joy Set Before Him. And Jesus counted it joy, that He would gain us, when we endure suffering and overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit - knowing that as Paul wrote, “To Live is Christ and to Die is Gain…” What if we believed it is true that to live is Christ and die is gain?

What would we do with the power and authority that comes to us by faith?

What kind of victory could we realize if we only believe Faith and Power belong to us in Christ?

They are both brought to us by the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1 and 1 Corinthians 12) and because Jesus, by the Sealing Work of the Holy Spirit, now lives inside of us - so do this faith and power, the authority to act as He acted when He lived upon the earth. He is our archetype and model. Not, the traditions of men we are often taught by well meaning leaders in our church houses today.

Verse 22: And he alone is the leader and source of everything needed in the church. God has put everything beneath the authority of Jesus Christ and has given him the highest rank above all others.

How would we live differently if we truly believed that Jesus is who Paul prophesses him to be, who the disciples and apostles knew Him to be? How would we live differently if we believed that in Christ we find the lone leader and source of everything we need as His body?

Jesus outranks everyone. EVERY. ONE. He alone is sufficient to meet our every need. He alone is the provision and the protection we are looking for - and He alone paid the price that we should live free, empowered and faithful to all He calls us to - especially the work of His Holy Spirit within us.

Verse 23: And here’s where we’re going to wrap it up. And now we, his church, are his body on the earth and that which fills him who is being filled by it!

I don’t know about you, but the way the Passion Translation transcribes this verse is a bit confusing to me, but I can read it in the NKJV and see how it says, that we as Christ’s body are continually being filled by Him, who fulfills Himself in us. IN OTHER WORDS, as Brian Simmons included in his footnote for this verse in the Passion Translation: “That is, we are those who are filled (completed) by Christ, we also complete (fill) Him. What a wonderful and humbling mystery is revealed by this verse.”

What if we REALLY believed this is true!? That our identity is so wrapped up in Christ and who He is that when we fully realize who He is… We fully become who we are supposed to be. That in Him we find ourselves, and our purpose and our destiny… As we allow Him to be fully expressed through us - finite as we are - somehow we complete Him as His body reaching a lost and dying world. What a glorious thing to consider.

As I close out today’s show I want to say something a bit strong - to challenge you a bit - and, I hope that is okay! I want to challenge everyone within the sound of my voice to consider this one thing…

When you are singing, Waymaker at church on Sunday or are contemplating that prayer request where the outlook is not so lively, and here is what I want you to consider:

Either we believe this is true or we don’t.

Are we living our lives full of faith and power, believing God for the impossible and the greater works, or are we dumbing down the testimony of Scripture about faith, power and impossibilities to fit our experience and expectations or traditions from a religious perspective?

Do we live like Pharisees?

Questioning every sign and wonder, warning people off of the devil while dismissing the power of God and holding onto our set of rules, taboos, doctrines and superstitions about God.

Do we leave no room for revelation, power or even repentance to have a perfect work at any moment of our lives? Have we studied the Scriptures searching for Him, but miss Him when He shows up in power and moves among us.

Where is the bold faith that steps out and risks everything for God, seeking to see His Kingdom come and Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven?

When was the last time you stopped, listened and prayed to know what the Father was saying or doing so you could partner with Him rather than try to talk Him into doing what you thought He should do?

And finally…

Do we live like the Apostles?

Stepping out in risky, unfavorable and downright dangerous circumstances BY FAITH - seeing the impossible not only become possible, but probable as the miraculous becomes mainstream.

Do we live by supernatural power imparted by the Holy Spirit or by the whims of our Human Heart? Are we satisfied with our normal religious preferences and failing to step out to take up a cross and follow Jesus with Bold Faith to see His Kingdom become our reality even now?

Lord God, I pray that as these words go out penetrating the airwaves through the internet that your will would be accomplished. That they would be guided to the hearts of those who listen and bring with them the HOPE of Your Faith and Power that is waiting for us to step up, step out and step into the Kingdom of God. Saying, “Your Kingdom come Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Is not a passive wish we speak out, but a promise from Heaven, that when we ask, seek and knock that you will respond and answer, reveal and unlock what we are seeking you for… So Lord we are asking, seeking, and knocking - meet us where we are with your faith and your power and give us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation as your light illuminates our imaginations with Your Impossible Possibilities! In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Closing Remarks

That's all the time that I have today! Thank you for tuning in with us. I want to ask you if this podcast has been a blessing to you: would you consider subscribing to it and share it with your friends and family? We’d love to partner with you in sharing messages that encourage and inspire.

If you’d like to be a guest on this show or get more information about hosting your own podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network - please reach out to [email protected]. I’d love the opportunity to connect with you and figure out how we can share your voice with the world around us.

BIBLE STUDY SEASON IS UPON US! We began our The Gospels: Verse-By-Verse Bible Study in October. We will be reading in person (Granbury, TX) and on Facebook Live at 10 am (Central Time). That’s right - This season our study is found in the book of Luke. We will be reading Luke 8 this week and digging into the life of Christ Verse-By-Verse considering what we would believe if reading the Scriptures was the primary way we inform our faith! You can learn more and catch up on last week’s study by visiting facebook.com/bloominginspired.

As I mentioned earlier, I will be speaking at a women’s conference (R.E.A.L. Women Conference) at (The Ranch Cowboy Country Church South) in Edna, TX. Registration is available for $40 through January 10th, and will be $45 after the 10th through the day before the conference. Tickets at the door will be $60. This one day conference is February 22 this year and includes a continental style breakfast, full lunch and dinner provided. I’d love to see some familiar faces attending. If you’d like to register please email or DM at the email listed above or through our FB page for details or visit theranchsouth.org for more information!

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Thank you for listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. This show airs weekly on Tuesdays. Please take a moment to like, share and subscribe to this podcast. To learn more about this podcast and it’s network, or the ministries of Blooming Inspired Network please visit BloomingInspiredNetwork.com and click the podcast link at the top of the page.

Michelle interviews LaDell Dudley as she shares her story of living from Trauma to Triumph.

LaDell Dudley is a wife, mother and intercessor with a strong prophetic voice. She makes her home in Loveland, Colorado with her husband.

She was raised in Texas where she heard the Lord call her name at the tender age of 5 years. She experienced a number of traumas throughout her childhood and into her adult life which opened the doors to destruction. After multiple marriages and broken relationships, she found herself like the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus met her in her pain and the brokenness of her life to remind her of His unconditional love. With the help of mentors, counselors and guided by the Holy Spirit - LaDell found her way to freedom one grace-filled step at a time.

Today, LaDell serves in her local church, Citipointe Church, in Loveland, Colorado. She remains passionate about intercessory prayer and sharing her testimony of God's faithfulness.

Michelle interviews LaDell Dudley as she shares her story of living from Trauma to Triumph.

LaDell Dudley is a wife, mother and intercessor with a strong prophetic voice. She makes her home in Loveland, Colorado with her husband.

She was raised in Texas where she heard the Lord call her name at the tender age of 5 years. She experienced a number of traumas throughout her childhood and into her adult life which opened the doors to destruction. After multiple marriages and broken relationships, she found herself like the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus met her in her pain and the brokenness of her life to remind her of His unconditional love. With the help of mentors, counselors and guided by the Holy Spirit - LaDell found her way to freedom one grace-filled step at a time.

Today, LaDell serves in her local church, Citipointe Church, in Loveland, Colorado. She remains passionate about intercessory prayer and sharing her testimony of God's faithfulness.

Michelle interviews LaDell Dudley as she shares her story of living from Trauma to Triumph.

LaDell Dudley is a wife, mother and intercessor with a strong prophetic voice. She makes her home in Loveland, Colorado with her husband.

She was raised in Texas where she heard the Lord call her name at the tender age of 5 years. She experienced a number of traumas throughout her childhood and into her adult life which opened the doors to destruction. After multiple marriages and broken relationships, she found herself like the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus met her in her pain and the brokenness of her life to remind her of His unconditional love. With the help of mentors, counselors and guided by the Holy Spirit - LaDell found her way to freedom one grace-filled step at a time.

Today, LaDell serves in her local church, Citipointe Church, in Loveland, Colorado. She remains passionate about intercessory prayer and sharing her testimony of God's faithfulness.

Michelle interviews LaDell Dudley as she shares her story of living from Trauma to Triumph.

LaDell Dudley is a wife, mother and intercessor with a strong prophetic voice. She makes her home in Loveland, Colorado with her husband.

She was raised in Texas where she heard the Lord call her name at the tender age of 5 years. She experienced a number of traumas throughout her childhood and into her adult life which opened the doors to destruction. After multiple marriages and broken relationships, she found herself like the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus met her in her pain and the brokenness of her life to remind her of His unconditional love. With the help of mentors, counselors and guided by the Holy Spirit - LaDell found her way to freedom one grace-filled step at a time.

Today, LaDell serves in her local church, Citipointe Church, in Loveland, Colorado. She remains passionate about intercessory prayer and sharing her testimony of God's faithfulness.

LaDell Dudley is a wife, mother and intercessor with a strong prophetic voice. She makes her home in Loveland, Colorado with her husband.

She was raised in Texas where she heard the Lord call her name at the tender age of 5 years. She experienced a number of traumas throughout her childhood and into her adult life which opened the doors to destruction. After multiple marriages and broken relationships, she found herself like the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus met her in her pain and the brokenness of her life to remind her of His unconditional love. With the help of mentors, counselors and guided by the Holy Spirit - LaDell found her way to freedom one grace-filled step at a time.

Today, LaDell serves in her local church, Citipointe Church, in Loveland, Colorado. She remains passionate about intercessory prayer and sharing her testimony of God's faithfulness.