believer

Happy Valentine’s Day!

~ Patrice A London ~ 1 Comment

I just wanted to share some love notes from a class led by Francois Du Toit, author of The Mirror Bible translation. I hope you take the following thoughts to heart and know you are, have always been and will always be, deeply and immeasurably loved.

No one looks for something they’ve never lost possession of in the first place. You were always His. You can’t be lost if you did not belong to begin with.

My prayer for you today is that you would agree with God about you.

I pray that more than pleading with God to know His plan for your life, that you realize that your life is His plan.

I pray that you would rest beside the still waters and see yourself as He does. Your spirit remembers who you truly are.

I pray that you remember that whatever is true of Jesus is true of you too. As he is, so are we, in this world. (1 John 4:17)

Enjoy your day!

Love, Patrice

Who Do You Say I Am?

~ Patrice A London ~ 1 Comment

Recently, I drove along with my children, basically preaching to them about their identity in Christ.  We’d heard some things that were a bit off and I wanted to clear it up right quick and set them on a different path than what was proposed.

I believe this is a time where we who say we believe, really need to get to the business of believing God.  We know the Bible verses that say we are a royal priesthood. We boldly declare that we are more than conquerors; we are the head, not the tail; we are above only, never beneath.  We quote that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  We know these things by heart, but do we believe them?

I remember a song I heard growing up that I thought was kind of a cute play on words at the time.  The lyrics went, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about somebody who can save anybody.”  I couldn’t forget that song if I tried.  I also remember a song that started out with “I’m only human, I’m just a man…”  These songs are stupid.  They diminish our identity in a very crafty way and keep us from truly believing we are who God says we are.

Consider this, in John 14:12, Jesus said that we who believe will do what he did and greater.  How can one who sees themselves less than who God says they are, set themselves to do anything?  We are to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and more, but if we are running around, talking about how we’re only human, prone to mistakes, how can we do anything?  If we feel we are nothing, nobodies, etc, how do we take that mindset over to the sister or brother who is struggling with addiction and in need of a touch from God, and heal them?  Jesus didn’t say to pray for healing for others.  He instructed us to heal them. How does one heal anyone when they see themselves so low?

We must remedy this awful perception of ourselves.  It isn’t humble or cute or even true.  It’s religious nonsense that I believe comes straight from the pit of hell.  We need to spend time in God’s presence, asking Him to pour into us.  We need to allow His perception of us to become ours.  We need to see ourselves for who we truly are and move in that knowledge.  We need to get away from this pitiful, self deprecating way of seeing ourselves and others. It isn’t right and we won’t get anywhere with this mindset.

God is merciful in that He meets us right where we are, so I don’t pretend to speak for Him when I say that I am so tired of hearing people in church services and events, inviting Holy Spirit to come as if He left and needed someone to call Him back.  I am tired of hearing this pitiful, “More of you God, less of me!” cry.  I guarantee, He is very secure in who He is.  You are here beloved, because He wants you!  He thinks you are the bees knees and wants you here.  He doesn’t have any problem at all with you, your disposition or your idiosyncrasies.  He loves you, deeply.

Also, He never held back anything from us.  He literally gave us His all, and just to be sure, there is nothing left out of all.  He gave us everything, so why do we keep crying out for more of Him?  What part of Himself did He withhold from us?  Was it His right pointer finger that He held behind His back? My goodness!  Jesus said it is finished, yet we find so much to do in order to obtain this or that, not realizing that we are completely bypassing the finished work of Christ in favor of some thing we (the little old nobody human, prone to mistakes and folly) must do in order to fix things so that we can get something that God forgot or left out of the equation.  If this is the case, why did Jesus die?  Why did he say, “It is finished!”?  Did he lie?  Was there some little caveat that is in fine print that some have missed?

All that to say, get in His presence dear one.  Stay there.  Be ever and always aware of Him and allow Him to love on you and fill you with His truth, the truth, about you.  You are more powerful than you think.  You are more magnificent than you realize.  Let Him tell you and show you.  Allow Him to blow your mind and rid you completely of all the enemies lies about you.  You are not your family history, prone to this sickness, disease or that.  You are not merely human.  You are His, made in His image, His likeness.  Will you believe Him?  Ask Him, “Lord, who do You say I am?”.

Defy the Enemy. Get and Keep Your Joy

~ Patrice A London ~ Leave a comment

I am about ready to burst, and some say I look like it too, hahaha!  I don’t mean with babies though, I mean with joy!!  I am finding myself consistently overwhelmed with joy as I just look to the Lord and then look at all that He is doing in my life and the lives of others.

I am currently finishing up a devotional on joy and it has been pretty good.  I’m not one to do devotionals or read the Bible just to check off some imaginary (or real) checklist, I want it to always be applicable, meaningful and impact my life.  If I find it is kind of boring and I’m just going through it to say I did it, I will stop.  God is never boring and neither is His Word.  I refuse to settle for less just to be able to say I do something each day.

Anyway, the devotional stresses that joy is our right as God’s children.  We can literally have joy in any and every season we go through in life if only we will look to God.  Many a Christian can quote Nehemiah’s “The joy of the Lord is my strength!” or Psalm 16:11’s “In His presence there is fullness of joy”, but how many can say they experience this reality on a regular basis?  This is where we should be as believers, allowing our Heavenly Father to fill us and be our joy, peace and strength.  Anything that we go to in lieu of His presence, for the purpose of gaining peace is not only not going to last, but it can and will become an idol in our lives.  I don’t want anything to take His place and position in my life, because there is truly nothing like Him in the entire universe. When I allow Him to fill the space in me that only He can fill, I truly feel I am seated with Him in heavenly places and man, there is nothing that can compare to it!

Also, I am finding Him to be more and more of a complete show off.  You take a step in a direction that He is wanting and wham, surprise after surprise of provision, gifts, and so much more overtake you all along the way.  It’s the best!!!  I can’t imagine living any other way.

The enemy does not want any of us to get this.  He wants to be able to continue to manipulate us and get us to focus on our circumstances. This can be such an emotional roller coaster.  Living that way means that you’re only as good as what’s happening around you, and who wants to be a puppet of their circumstances? Not me! So, take what’s yours beloved!  If you’re feeling off today, get in His presence, lay it all bare before Him and ask Him to give you something magnificent in exchange.  He is more than happy to do it and you?  Oh, you’re just gonna love it!