Their Response is Not Your Responsibility

by Laura Tyree // July 9, 2012 // No Comments

A week ago we watched someone we love and respect take a bold stand for truth and witnessed some of the backlash they faced as a result. This morning we received news of another similar incident. We’d already been praying for weeks about whether to post this note that the Lord has been relentlessly speaking to us again in this season. When I reread “Silly Song from the Savior,” a few weeks ago I realized I had mentioned I would post this note next, but never had. Since the Lord has reconfirmed this message multiple times for us again recently (and I know it’s for many others standing for Him and His Truth as well), I will share it now.

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In the first days of Spring 2007, I had a life changing moment with the Lord. We had been dealing with painful rejection from people about things the Lord had showed us that we had shared. On this night in March, because of our love for these people, the rejection had reached a tremendously painful point. As I lay there heartbroken and inconsolable, Jesse began to pray over me. I was crying out to God silently from the depths of my soul in desperation that I HAD TO HEAR from Him or I did not know how to keep breathing. At that moment, I heard Jesse ask the Lord for a special word, a specific personal rhema word for us that we would know without a doubt was from Him. Immediately, God gave Jesse this passage:

He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” …

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel- not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to Me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.” And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.“ Ezekiel 2:3-8; 3:4-11

We knew the Lord was giving us this message that He spoke to Ezekiel so long ago, making it a living, right-now word for us. The words penetrated straight through us to the depths of our being. As we sat wiping away tears, thanking God for this powerful word, and meditating on all that He said, He suddenly spoke very clearly to me, “You are only responsible to speak what I have told you to speak; you are not responsible for how people react to that message. THEIR RESPONSE IS NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!”
I was immediately flooded with His tangible peace and comfort. What a transforming moment that was! He thrills me beyond description! He can’t help but give Life when He speaks ~ even when His words bring difficult correction they are ultimately life–giving because His words are life; He can’t help Himself! 🙂

Often when we are trying to share a specific message God has clearly confirmed that He has called us to, the devil will condemn us and tell us that we have failed, or are failing in what God has called us to do if we don’t see the results that we desperately desire for His Kingdom and Glory right away. But God wants to heal our hearts and give us peace. He says that we are only responsible to do the part that He has called us to do ~ to speak the truth that He’s asked us to in sincere love. He calls us to do this faithfully and fearlessly regardless of the reaction of those He sends us to. People may reject us, misunderstand and misjudge our hearts, motives, and meaning, falsely accuse, mock, insult, persecute, and hate us without cause (or even worse). In fact, the Lord has repeatedly reminded us that when we stand for Him and His truth we can expect this response. When the disapproval and rejection even from those we love and respect causes us to question or want to quit, the Lord has faithfully comforted us, but also clearly and repeatedly told us “we must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29, Galatians 1:10)

Regardless of people’s response, God does not see us as failures, but rather says we’re a success if we have obeyed what we know HE asked us to do and have done our part. When we truly love others, we will risk everything in order to tell them the truth God has asked us to. We may make mistakes along the way, but He knows our hearts; and as we stay humble and close to Him, He will help us learn and grow in how we carry out His call. We cannot make people receive or respond to the truth He asks us to speak, but if we truly KNOW we have heard from Him and are doing what He asked us to do from a motivation of love, we can have peace and trust Him with the outcome. As we stay close to Him, He will tell us when to speak and when to be silent. He may ask us to deliver His truth and then step back for a season while we continue to faithfully pray and believe for Him to confirm the Word in people’s hearts. One may plant, one may water, but it is God who makes the seed grow (I Corinthians 3:5-9). But when we obey God know He has called us to deliver a message (and we have not just called ourselves to speak our own opinions), and if we know we have also sought His heart for how to do it, then we must speak what He has given us boldly from a motivation of His love for others, even if it means laying down our lives and reputations to do so. We can only do our part, and He says we MUST do our part, but then we must leave the results to Him, knowing that ultimately their response is not our responsibility! As we wholeheartedly seek to faithfully fulfill what God has asked us to, we can entrust ourselves and EVERYTHING to Him (I Peter 2:19-23 AMP).

For one is regarded favorably (is approved, acceptable, and thankworthy) if, as in the sight of God, he endures the pain of unjust suffering.²⁰[After all] what kind of glory [is there in it] if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you take it patiently? But if you bear patiently with suffering [which results] when you do right and that is undeserved, it is acceptable and pleasing to God. ²¹For even to this were you called [it is inseparable from your vocation]. For Christ also suffered for you, leaving you [His personal] example, so that you should follow in His footsteps.²²He was guilty of no sin, neither was deceit (guile) ever found on His lips. ²³When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return; [when] He was abused and suffered, He made no threats [of vengeance]; but he trusted [Himself and everything] to Him Who judges fairly. I Peter 2:19-23 AMP

Blessed and happy and enviably fortunate and spiritually prosperous (in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!¹¹Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account. ¹²Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:10-12

Blessed (happy—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and to be envied) are you when people despise (hate) you, and when they exclude and excommunicate you [as disreputable] and revile and denounce you and defame and cast out and spurn your name as evil (wicked) on account of the Son of Man.²³Rejoice and be glad at such a time and exult and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is rich and great and strong and intense and abundant in heaven; for even so their forefathers treated the prophets. Luke 6:22-23

Sobering Song from the Savior

by Laura Tyree // June 30, 2012 // No Comments

Since the previous two notes highlighted songs from the Lord (“Song from the Savior” and “Silly Song from the Savior”), in keeping with that theme, I will share one of the stories of the recent songs I’ve received from the Lord (the one I posted a status about a month ago). There have been several beautiful songs in the past year that the Lord has let me know were His song to me in this season. But none quite like this.

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During the season before Easter/Resurrection Sunday (Lent), Jesse and I dedicated special time to seeking the Lord. In those 40 days, He gave us one message repeatedly until we were convinced beyond all doubt this was His next instruction for us. So we began to ask Him exactly how to do what He was asking us to do. Several thoughts came to mind about what He could mean. One of the ideas was soon dismissed after I presented it to Jesse. Surely that’s not what He meant! He’d already called us to that assignment (speaking His hard truths to confront false teaching and calling His people to repentance) more than a year earlier, and we followed despite fear and trembling in obedience to Him, until He told us to stop. In fact, we had just wrestled through that whole issue again a few months earlier (concerned He was calling us to return to that assignment again in the same way), and He’d answered and confirmed in a crystal clear way to continue to be still and wait on Him. So, why would we drag that whole issue up again and bring it back into question so soon after? Relieved with that decision, we quickly set the thought aside and began to pursue the other things we believed He meant.

Several weeks later, while we were in the middle of working on all our ideas of how to fulfill what He’d asked, He set about the task of interrupting us in an overwhelming, undeniable, and inescapable way. Submerged under the deluge of words He poured on us, we realized that apparently we were still not accomplishing what He’d told us to do. (Or at least that we definitely did not have the entire picture; there was more.). This launched us into another season of intense seeking to get crystal clarity regarding exactly what He was asking us to do to fulfill His instruction.

Based on the flood of words He gave when He interrupted our attempts to obey, it seemed He truly was asking us to do that one thing that had briefly crossed my mind; that one thing we had quickly ruled out; that one thing we hoped it wouldn’t be. Because of all we’d been through in trying to fulfill that assignment the year before, it was something we had absolutely NO desire to do again unless we KNEW beyond all shadow of a doubt that God was truly calling us to. Over the next days and weeks as we wholeheartedly sought Him, surrendered to His will, He poured out many more words confirming that He WAS asking us to go back to finish the “impossible,” difficult, risky assignment that we thought we’d already completed (at least that one aspect of it).

One night, after I’d been pummeled with confusion throughout the day about the situation, we were seeking clarity. Jesse went upstairs to seek the Lord and I headed to the couch downstairs to spend time with Him. As I flopped on the couch I told the Lord, “I feel like I need to turn on some worship/soaking music to escape into Your Presence, to relieve the intense confusion and fear surrounding whether You’re really asking us to do this.” The Lord replied, “What if those songs are not the song I’m singing over you right now? Is that not just another form of someone prophesying, ‘Peace, peace’ to themselves when there is no peace? (Isn’t that like Jonah escaping to Tarshish when He’s being called to Ninevah?) What if the song I’m singing over you is ….” He then brought to my remembrance the words of the early church’s song which Paul reminded Timothy of in II Timothy 2.

Struck by what I believed the Lord had just spoken to me, rather than escaping into worship/soaking music, I cried out to Him to continue to bring clarity and to obliterate all confusion, doubt, and fear. I felt led to one of Rick Renner’s books that the Lord often speaks to me through with astounding precision – responding word for word to things I’ve just been talking to Him about. After praying, I opened the book and there on the page were the EXACT words the Lord had just said to me!

The entire devotional was focused on this very song of the early church that the Lord had just spoken to me about (If you have Rick Renner’s “Sparkling Gems from the Greek,” see pages 573 – 576).

“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him (which Rick later translates, ‘If we are killed like He was killed, then we shall live again as He now lives’): If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: If we deny Him, He will also deny us: If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful, He cannot deny Himself.” (II Timothy 2:11-13)

Rick says that Paul reminded Timothy of this song “to encourage Timothy to bravely face the challenges that were before him.”

Rick continued, “Can you imagine getting together in church to sing about martyrdom? This was not an allegorical speech; this was reality for these early believers! Persecution and death were so imminent that Christians actually included these subjects in their worship services! …the leaders of the early church understood that to prepare themselves and the people to live bravely for the Lord, they had to use every available tool to instill bravery in the ranks” including hymns. “Today we still need songs that produce brave warriors.”

Rick states this song in II Timothy was one of powerful faith, essentially proclaiming “Come hell or high water, we’re in this to stay! If they kill us, that’s all right, because we will soon join Jesus in His glorious new resurrected life!” When persecuted, “…they faced it bravely in the power of the Spirit. Although they didn’t seek to suffer, they weren’t afraid to suffer if it was forced upon them because of their faith. These were the lyrics of a fearless people. They were determined to win the victory regardless of the price they had to pay. … From the content of this hymn, it is quite clear that these early Christian saints were extremely serious about what they believed and about the Kingdom of God. … Christianity was their all-in-all for they had given their lives – lock, stock, and barrel – over to this cause. …As time moves on and the coming of the Lord draws nearer, God expects you to step forward and take your place in His modern-day army. It is very possible that in the days and decades to come, there will be clashes between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God. Are you ready for this? Are you ready to follow the voice of our Commander-in-Chief? Are you committed to getting in the fight and staying in it until the victory is won?”

The time Rick speaks of is here now. Though we don’t like to think of persecution occurring in our nation towards those who hold to the Truth of God’s Word, the fact is that it is already occurring. And it will become much worse if we do not see the church and nation turned back to the Lord. As God is calling us to rise up and be the mighty army for Him that will not compromise or water down the Truth of His Word, He wants us to develop this same mindset of fearless faithfulness that was instilled in the early church, remembering one of Jesus’ less popular promises ~ persecution is just part of being His true disciples (Isaiah 51:7, Matthew 5:10-11, Matthew 10:14-42, Matthew 24:9-13, Luke 6:22-23, 26-27, John 7:7, John 15:18-25, John 17:14-18, I John 3:11-13). He says we can consider it a privilege and endure it with joy! (Still working on that part! Help me Jesus!)

I wrote in my status shortly after receiving this word and confirmation from the Lord, “…There’s no hiding in the soaking music of the bride when The Commander-in-Chief is singing the early church’s song of brave warriors in battle and the sacrifice of martyrs.” If we’re truly in unity with God’s Spirit, we can find no peace in prophesying things to ourselves from our own spirit/soul to comfort, console, and make ourselves feel better, if in doing so we’re escaping from God dealing with us, retreating from the battle lines He has called us to, and running from the trumpet blast of His Spirit. He is sounding the battle cry for His people to stand for Him and His Word, advancing His Kingdom in His grace, love, and uncompromised Truth by the power of His Spirit (remembering that our “violent” battle is not against flesh and blood – Ephesians 6). He’s made it clear, we do not want to face the consequences of failing to respond to His call!

Rick concludes his devotional, “The believers in the early church maintained the attitude to never give in, give up, or surrender to defeat. As a result they conquered the world in which they lived.” That same Spirit of fearless courage resides in us! It’s our turn to take our place in history in turning the world upside down (or rather right side up) for Him!

(click on image to see full size)

Summary Word for the Church/Nation – 2012

by Laura Tyree // June 24, 2012 // No Comments

(FB post June 24)

Jesse and I have been seeking the Lord intensely for more than a month in response to things He’s been telling us. Earlier in the week, I wrote a summary of what He has said. I then wrote this miniature version (below) yesterday, and we’ve been praying about whether we were supposed to post it. This morning we sat in awe as we heard confirmation after confirmation of what I’d written, so we will share this short clip for now:
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The Lord is saying that many are dressing the wounds of the Nation and of many of His people as if they are not serious. Many are prophesying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. But the Lord says that the wounds of our Nation and many of His people are incurable apart from wholeheartedly returning to follow Him. Our nation is on course for devastation; He’s given us some very sobering and frightening words over the past month or more as we’ve sought Him. Yet, when I ask Him if there is still time, still hope, He has said, “It’s not too late.”

By God’s mercy and grace we still have the opportunity to turn back to Him and see that course altered (I don’t know how long that window of time is). But the course being altered requires His people being “altar”ed ~ putting our whole lives on the altar to Him. Lukewarm Christianity and compromise with the world must be purged from the church. The church must awaken from its sleep, break free from all that distracts us from His purposes, and come out of all darkness fully into the Light to become the mighty army for the Lord He has called us to be.

The hour is late, the darkness is great, but we were born and chosen for such a time as this. We’re called to arise and shine for Him with His grace and His Truth by the power of His Spirit. He’s calling for TOTAL commitment, consecration, and fierce determination to live purchased/redeemed/blood bought lives for Him, following Him and His Word no matter the cost. (much more to this…still praying about whether we are to share the longer version)

Seek, inquire for, and require the Lord while He may be found [claiming Him by necessity and by right]; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have love, pity, and mercy for him, and to our God, for He will multiply to him His abundant pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7

SILLY SONG from the SAVIOR

by Laura Tyree // September 21, 2010 // No Comments

I’ve been praying about which testimony to share next. Since my last post was entitled, “Song from the Savior“, this particular testimony continually came to mind, and it seems rather appropriate that my next post be “Silly Song From the Savior.”

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In September 2008 we were in the midst of a huge saga, seeking the Lord regarding some major decisions in our lives. As the time approached that the Lord had promised to give us more information about our next step we began to press in and seek even more intently. Over Labor Day weekend, I felt like the Lord told me that we should lay aside movies and secular TV for the month of September. We don’t really watch secular TV anyway, but Jesse did enjoy watching an hour of something light-hearted after work to unwind, and we typically watch a few movies on the weekends. I told the Lord that if this was really Him prompting this fast on entertainment, that I needed Him to speak it to Jesse as well, since I am almost always the one that feels led to initiate a fast. I wanted to make sure this time that Jesse was participating because he was convinced GOD put it on his heart, not because I put it on his heart. Literally within a couple of minutes of praying that, Jesse came into the room where I was and said, “I feel like we shouldn’t watch movies or tv this month.” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That began an awesome month of spending all our spare time (precious little though it was with his crazy work hours) in the evenings and weekends reading Christian books we’d wanted to read together, listening to teachings, and spending more time seeking the Lord. We expected God to do something great during that time, and He did! It was a month full of amazing dreams and words from Him! For the purpose of this testimony, I’ll focus on just one of these.

A few weeks later on our way home from church on Sunday, Jesse and I stopped at Walgreens and on our way out saw a couple outside who seemed in a desperate situation. Their appearance and aroma announced that they were likely homeless. According to their testimony, they lived in a tent outside of town. They also said they already knew Jesus as Lord and Savior (though this claim was questionable based on other remarks made). We prayed with them about their situation and gave them some money, but at the same time were trying to be discerning about how much cash to give since it seemed drug abuse was part of the problem. We thought it would be better to offer to take them where they needed to go and pay for room/food, etc. We suggested several things to do in order to temporarily help them so they would no longer be living in their present condition until a more permanent solution could be found. But no matter what we suggested, they had a list of reasons why those options wouldn’t work; they just wanted us to give them more money.

I left that encounter feeling like a MISERABLE FAILURE. Not because we believe WE are the answer to everyone’s problems, but because we truly believe and know that the ONE who IS lives IN US and THROUGH US. Therefore, it feels utterly unacceptable to leave a person or situation no different than we found them. As we ministered to them, I had been asking the Lord for word of knowledge or other supernatural revelation that would set them free, but the only thing that came to me was that the woman needed to forgive those who had hurt her. We did minister that to her and prayed for some specific needs she had, but again, she didn’t seem to receive it, and we didn’t see the breakthrough we desired.

I was WRECKED the rest of that Sunday and the following day. That Monday night we went to our weekly class at the prophetic ministry we were involved with, and on that particular occasion we split into different ministry groups based on specific needs: prophecy, inner healing, physical healing, deliverance, etc. Everyone was supposed to be ministered to, and I was desperate to hear from the Lord in this way, but our group ran out of time before my turn.

Not satisfied with that outcome, after class I stood in the middle of the room trying to scope out who the group leaders were to see if I could prevail on one of them to pray for me before I left. As I looked around, all smiles so there was no indication that anything was troubling my soul, the Lord sent a man over to me (Mark) and after a moment of pleasantries, he offered to pray and prophesy over me. I was a bit reserved at first, cautious about receiving from him, because I didn’t know who he was or if he was even affiliated with the ministry. So I initially listened with a somewhat guarded heart. But as he continued I found myself biting my lip harder and harder, trying to hold back the floodgate of emotion that was on the verge of breaking forth as it became obvious that he was hearing accurately from the Lord. The tears eventually pooled up so big in my eyes that by the time they finally fell they literally splashed off my arms, like freakishly large raindrops, leaving at least an inch diameter pool of water behind.

The word was centered around washing away my cares and heaviness of heart regarding what had happened the day before. The Lord gave him a vision of me standing on a tropical island under a waterfall, and the waterfall was cleansing away my burdens over this situation. Mark had no idea we’d just made our second trip to Hawaii that summer, and that there was nowhere else I would rather be than the place he was describing, BUT GOD KNEW my favorite place and what would be especially significant to me! (Lord, are You calling us back to Hawaii!?!) As I’ve done for many years, I’d been pouring out my heart to the Lord in written prayers during the past day about what transpired. Yet, even as I did, I entertained questions about this practice, saying, “Lord, I KNOW You’re with me, You’re IN me, You hear every thought, You know every word before I speak it; so why am I writing these things out to You? Are You READING my letters? Do You SEE; do You SEE what I write? (I understand the importance of praying even though God already knows our thoughts, but my question was whether He is just hearing these prayers as they flow out of my heart, or if He is seeing/reading my written prayers too?) The Lord answered me through Mark, “The Lord wants you to know that He says, ‘I SEE! I SEE!’” Though Mark didn’t know the question the Lord was answering, I knew EXACTLY what He meant! As Mark continued, the greatest measure of healing came when he said (by the Spirit) in response to the private cries of my heart, “The Lord is not disappointed with you in any way.” Since I felt like I had failed in the situation, I had been plagued with nagging thoughts that we should have done something more, should have done something different, should have been more in tune with the Holy Spirit and heard from Him exactly what was needed to bring deliverance in the situation (as He has been faithful to give us many times before), etc. But the Lord swiftly swooped in that day to annihilate those relentless accusations from the enemy.

At the end, as the Lord was speaking through Mark about restoring my joy, he suddenly seemed hesitant to proceed. Finally, he said, “…OK…..this is really odd, but…..I hear the Lord singing a song over you…. OK…… this is really different….” Later, I learned that God often gives Mark specific songs to sing over people which are significant to them. So it wasn’t that receiving a song was different, but rather that, apparently, mine was the most interesting one he’d ever heard Him sing. I could tell he was definitely debating whether or not to share what he thought the Lord was giving him, so I had to urge him to continue. He eventually stepped out on a limb, “You know that song ‘Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree’?” As soon as he said it I burst out laughing hysterically! Seeing he must be hearing accurately from the Lord since it struck such a chord (no pun intended), Mark tried to maintain composure while he sang the words of the first stanza of the song. But I was already “gone” ~ doubled over in riotous laughter, now crying tears of joy. When I had calmed down and caught my breath, I explained, “The Lord knows just how to make me laugh! That is the song (the first stanza) my sister sings to me when we’re being outrageously silly and she’s trying to make me laugh! She even calls me ‘Kookaburra’ as a pet name at times!” We had never shared that silly name or song with others. I already knew Mark had been hearing from the Lord, but this was that “beyond the shadow of a doubt” confirmation that He is always so faithful to give me! The Lord is so PRECIOUS and SO FUNNY it overwhelms me!

I don’t know how this may disrupt someone’s present paradigm, but I LOVE what it reveals to us about God’s heart and character. Obviously, it reveals His desire for us to cast our cares on Him and to reject condemnation from the enemy when we don’t see the desired results from stepping out in faith. But it also reveals that the Lord has a GREAT sense of humor; after all, He made us and gave us ours (though some have allowed God’s original version to be perverted by the enemy’s counterfeits)! Like any good Father, God DELIGHTS in His children. He delights in seeing us having fun, being silly, and enjoying our lives and the blessings He’s lavished on us. Jesse and I have carried on the family traditions I grew up with of being silly beyond anything we could ever expose to civilized society. I have often said I can “feel” and “hear” the Lord laughing with, and even at, us in response to our amusing antics. This word from the Lord was an endearing confirmation from Him that He DOES join with us in, participate in, and enjoy our silliness. Imagining the Lord singing this silly song to me to break off all discouragement and bring breakthrough of joy and laughter blesses me just as much today as it did in that moment! As we seek to grow in our intimate relationship with God, I pray we will all develop a continual awareness of His Presence with us at ALL TIMES, and that we will consciously involve Him, include Him, and ENJOY HIM more in EVERY area of our lives ~ talk to Him more, hear from Him more, love on Him more, learn from Him more, depend on Him more, rest in Him more, receive from Him more, and…….laugh with Him more! HE’S WITH US!

Here are some laughing kookaburras for anyone who needs a good laugh from seeing God’s sense of humor in His creation: 🙂

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“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Psalm 126:2-3

“…He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, …and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” Isaiah 61:part of 1, 3

“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope (confident expectation of GOOD) by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Cast all your anxiety (cares) on Him because He cares for (is meticulously mindful of everything that concerns) you. I Peter 5:7

Song from the Savior

by Laura Tyree // April 2, 2010 // No Comments

Around the end of January as I was running one day, listening to Christian radio, I asked the Lord what song He was singing over me. I almost always ask the Lord to play songs while I run that will express my heart toward Him and His heart toward me, so I can spend that time in worship, but that day, I felt prompted to specifically make this request based on Zephaniah 3:17.

The very next song that came on the radio was one that I had never heard before, but as I listened intently, I quickly realized that the Lord had immediately answered my prayer. The song was written from His perspective. My awe and emotion intensified as I recognized the message of the song as being the same message that God had spoken to me through the dream He gave me several years ago (“Keys of the Kingdom,” which many of you have read) which describes His love for us and how He has given us EVERYTHING!

After my workout I began trying to find out what song it was, but my internet sleuthing turned out to be a fruitless search. So, I prayed that the Lord would let me hear it again and show me what song it was.

For months now, as I have listened to that Christian station during my workouts, I have waited expectantly, with no answer. I found this more than bizarre, since typically they play the same songs perpetually ad nauseam on the radio, but the very one I WANTED to hear again I couldn’t find anywhere. I was to the point of beginning to entertain the notion that the Lord had made up that song specially for me in answer to my prayer that day and had sung it Himself through the radio, and that it wasn’t really a song that existed in the natural realm. Yet I continued to pray to hear it again….with no answer….UNTIL THIS WEEK.

I was overwhelmed to learn the title and once again hear the message of the song, and now that I know what it is, I realize that it could not be more appropriate that the Lord answered my prayer to show it to me again THIS WEEK… as we celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

This first video is the song with the lyrics and pictures:

Love Song by Third Day with Lyrics

But for those who desire to delve deeper into experiencing the reality of the revelation of what Jesus suffered in your place, I’ve also included this powerful version set to footage from the Passion of the Christ. I recommend watching it, alone, with no distractions.

Love Song – to Passion of the Christ

We pray you have a beautiful and blessed Good Friday and Easter Weekend, celebrating this weekend and every day our Savior’s amazing love and His priceless ALL-SUFFICIENT, ALL-ENCOMPASSING salvation.
With Love and Richest Blessings in Christ, Laura

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? HE WHO DID NOT SPARE HIS OWN SON, BUT GAVE HIM UP FOR US ALL – HOW WILL HE NOT ALSO, ALONG WITH HIM, GRACIOUSLY GIVE US ALL THINGS? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-35,37-39

You Don’t Need H20 to Walk on Water

by Laura Tyree // March 3, 2010 // No Comments

Have you stepped out into a seemingly impossible situation with only the Word of the Lord standing between you and imminent destruction?

In the Fall of 2003, Jesse and I had taken a big step “out of the boat” to follow Jesus. My job at Vanderbilt was ending in August, and rather than move with my boss to his new job in Dallas as he’d requested, or seek a new job in Nashville as everyone expected, we believed the Lord had called me to begin doing the ministry full time which I had been doing in my spare time. Therefore, “crazy” decision number one in the minds of many was that I had turned down my boss’s offer to move us to Dallas so I could continue working for him. “Crazy” decision number two was that I was not going to seek another job in Nashville.

Shockingly (tongue in cheek), the devil did not feel led to accommodate our decision to follow God. Astonishingly, he did not roll out the red carpet and cheer us on to fulfilling our destiny. He apparently DID, however, send out some sort of announcement to his cohorts, which we soon discovered resulted in an exceedingly enormous TARGET taking up residence on our backs. His diabolical strategy became evident almost one month to the day after I began ministry from home ~ when Jesse lost his job! The very next day, I was offered a job back at Vanderbilt; the timing of which could not be ignored. So we immediately had to be on our faces before the Lord to hear clearly from Him ~ was this His provision for us or was this a counterfeit door, a detour to get us off course from the direction we believed He had called us? The answer the Lord brought to our question was the latter. He showed us this was an attack from the enemy to cause us to turn back from the decision we’d made to follow His leading. Were we going to let circumstances dictate our decisions, or were we going to trust what God had spoken regardless of how things appeared? With this clarification, we took a deep breath and I turned down the job (“crazy” decision number three in the minds of most). Little did we know that this would be the beginning of a two-year walk of faith ~ living on faith and savings!

Jesse was initially unemployed for four months, which seemed like an eternity to us at the time. Then on the heels of a prophetic word which gave a specific time frame for the job God had for Jesse to arrive, he was hired for a job that seemed to be all we’d been praying for. We set out into this new business venture with tremendous confidence, knowing this was the job God had brought for him in answer to our detailed requests. The small detail which was insignificant to us in the face of knowing God had brought Jesse this job, was that it was a 100% commission sales job (“crazy” decision number four), and Jesse soon discovered that he seemed to have no anointing whatsoever to be a salesman (which we now believe was also part of God’s plan since Jesse was pursuing the wrong “calling” at that time). Jesse loved the chance to minister to people in their homes (part of His true calling), but sadly, the company he was working for did not deem this passion profitable.

As the months rolled by with no sales, we continued standing on God’s promises, but the battle was raging. We had to be DILIGENT in our fight of faith to take captive every thought the enemy assailed us with that was contrary to God’s promises, and bring them into obedience to the truth, to Christ and His Word. At the end of May 2004, the end of the fourth month of Jesse’s job (therefore the end of the ninth month from when we’d first stepped out in faith), I got up one Sunday morning and was immediately bombarded by the taunts of the devil. As I resisted his thoughts and instead ran to God, the Lord began speaking to me about Peter’s experience of walking on the water.

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said.Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:25-36

The Lord reminded me that Peter had stepped out of the boat in bold faith to walk on the water in response to Jesus’ Word, “Come”. Peter was initially WALKING ON THE WATER, but began to sink when he turned his attention away from the Lord and the Word He had given him and instead began to focus on the appearance and “report” of the circumstances around him, the wind and the waves. As one of our favorite teachers likes to point out – How silly! As if the wind and the waves make walking on the water a less possible feat! Peter could not have walked on the water in his own power even if the seas were perfectly calm and clear, so what difference did the wind and the waves make to the power of the Word of God that He was standing on? NONE! It was his faith in Jesus and His Word that initially sustained him, and it was his consideration of his circumstances that allowed doubt and fear to creep in, resulting in failure. Peter’s faith sank first, and his body followed.

I knew that the Lord was calling us to once again fix our eyes solely on Him and REFUSE to let the circumstances in the natural frighten or distract us. No matter how menacing they appeared, they had NO POWER over Him or His Word. He is able to walk with ease on top of the very thing that threatens to destroy us, and by faith in Him we are enabled to do the same! Desiring to repent of whatever storm-gazing we might have been guilty of, and to renew our focus wholeheartedly on the Lord and His promises, I told Jesse in the car on the way to church what the Lord had been telling me. As I did, Jesse jolted, and excitedly shared, “That reminds me… The Lord gave me a dream last night that we were walking on the water with Jesus!!!!!!!”

Obviously, this was an amazing confirmation and comfort that I was really hearing from the Lord, and that He was encouraging us from this story. But even more of an accelerant to the fire of our faith was the fact that the Lord was also telling us through Jesse’s dream that in His eyes we were out of the boat “walking on the water” by faith with Jesus! We had not sunk, nor had we returned to the boat!

But we weren’t the ONLY ones in the dream! There were others with us! We were all walking on the water, following Jesus!

I know that many of you are out there too! I’ve watched your lives. I’ve heard your testimonies. I know it’s INTENSE enough out there on the water to be an Olympic event, even beyond. So, to all my fellow water walkers, I pray that each of us can learn from Peter’s experience to see our miracles through to the victorious conclusion that God desires every time!

Just like Peter, the Lord invites each of us to step out in faith on the solid foundation of His Word in order to overcome this natural world and see the “impossible” made possible in our lives. We can step out of the boat of a merely natural life, against every indication to the contrary, to live a supernatural life ~ receiving God’s covenant promises of relationship with Him, healing, provision, protection, wisdom, direction, deliverance, and any other promise He’s given us through Christ.

Peter stepped out on Jesus’ Word, and by faith was able to overcome this natural world, and do the “impossible”. Yet when he turned his attention away from Jesus and what Jesus said was possible for him, and began to behold the natural circumstances that “shouted” unbelief, fear, and doubt to him, he sank. It was not God’s Sovereign will that Peter’s attempt at water-walking end this way. God did not change His mind; He did not withdraw His Word; He did not quit releasing His power. God was not the determining factor. He was constant. He had given His Word and the power from that Word was available for Peter to continue walking out his miracle just as much when he was on top of the water as it was when the sea began to swallow him. It was Peter’s faith that determined the outcome. Fear, doubt, and unbelief will contaminate our faith and short-circuit our miracles, even miracles already in process. But continuing in faith in God and His promises, in spite of circumstances and reports to the contrary, will keep us connected to the power and provision He’s made freely available to us for every need. Just like the wind and the waves, those contradictory circumstances have no effect on the Lord or the power of His Word, but if we allow them to, they can have an effect on our ability to RECEIVE God’s continual supply of power that His Word has provided to walk out the miracles He has called us to do.

So, if you’re out of the boat walking on the water today, choose to focus solely on the Lord and what He has said and to disregard EVERYTHING ELSE that shouts the opposite report to your natural senses. For we walk by faith and not by sight! (II Corinthians 5:7)

(Click on pic to see animation if it’s not already showing up)

God CANNOT Forget You (AKA: Testimony of Healing of a Torn Tendon)

by Laura Tyree // February 2, 2010 // No Comments

From time to time I send out testimonies to family and friends to glorify God and encourage people. This is one I sent out in 2007. Though the testimonies I send out are not always of my own personal healing, this one just happens to be.
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Friday, June 30, 2007, I received another healing.
The previous Saturday I had torn a tendon (or tendons) in my sternum. The pain had been excruciating all week. I was in terrible pain just staying still, but moving nearly sent me into orbit. I couldn’t lie on either side to sleep, and it was difficult to do ANYTHING because it affected the whole right side of my upper body: the pain radiated from my sternum through my chest and right arm – shooting all the way down to my fingers, and around my right shoulder and the top of my back. All week I was confessing Scriptures from God’s Word on healing, but was not yet ACTING on those confessions of faith. I knew I first needed to build my faith up by meditating on God’s promises to the point that when I acted it would truly be in faith and not in fear.

That Thursday I had my annual physical and the doctor told me the tendon or tendons were torn. I didn’t know if I’d cracked a rib or pinched a nerve or what could be causing such tremendous pain. He said that it would take a month or more to heal – IF I didn’t re-injure myself. I was thankful for the information so we would know exactly what to rebuke and speak to (to be healed in Jesus’ Name) according to the principles God had taught us from His Word.

The following day, Friday, June 30, I felt convicted to begin acting on my faith – Believing that I HAD received my healing as I had already been confessing according to God’s Word. I determined to clean the house – just as a healed person would. As I cleaned, I felt pain, so I rebuked it and continued acting in faith, continuously declaring God’s promises out loud:

“God BINDS UP ALL MY INJURIES and strengthens ALL my weaknesses. He restores me to health and HEALS EVERY WOUND. God’s Word is Life to MY WHOLE BODY AND HEALTH TO ALL MY FLESH. God sent forth His Word and healed me. His Words are ALIVE and ACTIVE; they PENETRATE every cell, every tissue, every muscle, every TENDON of my body; they DIVIDE ~ performing Holy Spirit surgery; they do not go out and return empty ~ they ACCOMPLISH what God desires and ACHIEVE the purpose for which He sent them. Jesus IS THE WORD made flesh and He lives IN ME; HE IS LIFE TO MY WHOLE BODY and health to all my flesh! Jesus Christ heals me! He takes care of me as one would their own body that they love because I AM a member of His own body that He loves. God is a good Father; He gives me what is GOOD. I do not ask for fish and receive a snake. I do not ask for bread and receive a stone. I ask and I receive; I seek and I find; I knock and the door is opened. I believe I Have Received and it IS mine. EVERYTHING is possible for him who believes. I can do ALL things through Christ and His anointing at work IN ME. The Holy Spirit, with the SAME POWER THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD IS IN ME GIVING LIFE TO MY MORTAL BODY! I REFUSE TO LIVE AS IF THAT IS NOT TRUE! I REFUSE TO LIVE BENEATH THE PRIVILEGES THAT CHRIST HAS PURCHASED FOR ME! I REFUSE TO LIVE WITHOUT THE REALITY OF THE POWER THAT IS RESIDENT IN ME! I refuse to fear. I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of POWER, LOVE, and a SOUND MIND. I know and rely on God’s love. God’s perfect love for me drives out ALL FEAR! Love ALWAYS PROTECTS; Love NEVER FAILS, and God IS love. Therefore, God ALWAYS PROTECTS; God NEVER FAILS. He SHIELDS me ALL DAY long. He is my Strong Tower; I run to His Name and I am safe. He is my SECURE FORTRESS; I hide myself in Him! IN HIM I LIVE; IN HIM I MOVE; IN HIM I HAVE MY BEING. In Him ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER – my tendons, muscles, sinews, ligaments, all hold together in Him. God did not spare the life of His own Son from me! He said if He was willing to give that (the greatest He could give), how would He not also GRACIOUSLY GIVE ME ALL THINGS! God is my EVER-PRESENT HELP in trouble. He ransoms me UNHARMED from the battle. He rescues me from EVERY evil attack. He not only acts IMMEDIATELY to help me, but for healing He has already paid the price 2000 years ago – Jesus bore my infirmities, injuries, illness, sickness and carried my diseases and by His wounds I AM HEALED. God forgives ALL my sins, and heals ALL my diseases. Jesus became my Mediator and became my Ransom, so now I pray to God, my Father, and find favor with Him, and He restores me like a child and renews me in every part to my youth.” Etc. etc. (Scripture references for all these verses are in my “Healing Confessions from Scripture” document and book)

Through this warfare, I have seen many other healings manifest (for myself and when we pray for others). On this occasion, though I still felt pain as I worked, by standing on God’s Word I was able to do everything I needed to do without ending up in the incapacitating pain I had experienced all week from just moving about minimally and cautiously. That afternoon, I was listening to a Joyce Meyer CD as I continued moving in faith to make dinner. During her lesson she read the verse in Isaiah where God said,

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;…” Isaiah 49:15-16

At that moment, I KNEW God was giving me rhema ~ speaking directly to me in response to things I had recently been crying out to Him about in prayer. He had already responded to the cries of my heart, in part, a few weeks earlier through something our pastor said in a sermon about feeling forgotten by God; I knew God was talking directly to me then too. What God spoke to me through the pastor’s message that day had provoked me to cry out to Him about these things on my heart all the more, so God had my undivided attention when Joyce began reading this passage from Isaiah.

Since God, in this Scripture, compared His love and provision for us to that of a nursing mother (even exceeding it), Joyce began to expound on this analogy to further illustrate the heart and character of God toward us. As all mothers who have nursed can attest to, Joyce shared the impossibility that a nursing mother would forget her baby or its needs, since as soon as she hears her child even whimper (or as others have told me, even at just the thought of their child), she is literally FILLED WITH PROVISION for him or her! This provision is available immediately, but even though she may try her best to give it to her child, the child still has to receive it! Joyce described how frustrating it is for a mother when the child will not take hold of and receive what she’s offering. Though the provision to meet the need is right in front of the child’s face, sometimes a child can be so upset by his/her need that he/she does not recognize and receive the supply to meet that need which the mother is longing to give, has made available, and is doing everything she can to get her child to take! She then pointed out that mothers in this situation will not only be frustrated, but can actually be IN PHYSICAL PAIN because they are SO FULL OF PROVISION for their child’s need, yet the child will not receive it!

By this point, I had completely stopped what I was doing and was just standing in the kitchen intently soaking in these revelations at a heart level, in awe of all the implications of how this is a perfect analogy of God’s love and provision for us. If we truly understand His covenant with us through Christ, then we know He is already FILLED WITH PROVISION for EVERY NEED WE WILL EVER FACE in life even in advance of hearing our cries. He has already done His part – having paid the price through Jesus to supply our EVERY NEED. And He is longing for us to BELIEVE AND RECEIVE the abundant, overflowing supply He has of healing, deliverance, provision, protection, peace, joy, wisdom, guidance, salvation, etc. He has done every part that is dependent on Him, but He cannot do OUR part. It’s not only frustrating to Him, but even causes Him pain when His children continue to cry and plead with Him, struggling for things He has already made freely available to us and are ours if we would just RECOGNIZE this truth (BELIEVE) and TAKE HOLD OF HIS PROVISION BY FAITH (RECEIVE). He is OVERFLOWING with provision for us and desperately desires us to receive it! But many of us continue to bawl and squall in desperate prayers produced either by unbelief or, too often, ignorance regarding His promised covenant provision.

As I marinated in how all these truths were so beautifully expressed in this analogy, they became real to me in a fresh and powerful way, and in amazement I breathed, “WOW!” When I said it, I felt the tangible presence of God wash over me, and I began thanking and praising and declaring, “I receive Abba – Daddy, I receive!” At that moment I RECEIVED not only by faith, but also the MANIFESTATION of healing in my tendons that I’d been declaring, believing, and acting on by faith!

It’s essential to clarify that God did not just GIVE the manifestation of healing in that instant. His provision was already made for me through Jesus 2000 years ago and was available for me to receive from the first moment I had a need. This is where the second part of that Scripture in Isaiah so profoundly fits. Just as a nursing mother is unable to forget her baby because of the ever-present physical reminder of the provision she’s carrying inside her for her child’s needs, God says He will never forget us because of the ever-present physical reminder of the provision He’s made and is carrying for all our needs! We are ENGRAVED on the palms of His hands ~ Jesus’ nail-scarred hands that serve as the constant reminder of the high price He’s paid to make provision for every need in our lives. Though Jesus had not yet physically died when this passage in Isaiah was written, we know that He is the Lamb slain from the creation of the world (Revelation 13:8). God already had us engraved on His heart and on His hands even before the price was paid.

Keeping my mind saturated with God’s promises and using them as my “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:10-18) against the enemy helped renew my mind to these truths. This warfare enabled me to walk in faith to appropriate God’s power and provision and laid the foundation for me to receive the complete manifestation of healing. But in this case, it was the fresh revelation of God’s LOVE that caused these truths to fully move from my head (intellectual belief and agreement) to my heart (becoming working heart revelation). This instantly broke through the last layer of any dam of unbelief, doubt, or fear which had been holding back God’s provision from freely flowing from His Spirit in me through my body so I could receive the fullness of healing He had already provided. There was nothing magical about saying the word “Wow!” that caused me to receive; rather, just like ALL God’s promises, I received by grace (undeserved, unearned favor and empowerment to do God’s will) through faith. This faith to receive was ignited in me as I heard the analogy that made God’s love and provision come alive to my heart in a fresh way (faith came by hearing). Faith sparked by that new revelation (rhema) helped me believe and receive the complete manifestation God had been trying to give me all along. Praise God! He is SO AMAZING and WONDERFUL!!

This was another powerful confirmation and reminder of the truth that faith works by/through love (Galatians 5:6 AMP). While this could be saying that our faith will only truly work to its fullest when it is motivated by God’s pure love through us toward others (as I Corinthians 13 further describes), I believe it’s also true that our faith will only work to its fullest when it is rooted in a deep heart revelation of God’s love for us. I have certainly found it true in my own life that my ability to walk in the kind of faith that can receive all of God’s promises is only as strong as my revelation of, my belief and faith in, God’s unquenchable, unfailing, and undeserved love for me! Even when I know this truth in my head, I continually have to meditate on it in order to believe and receive it with my heart ~ especially in the face of symptoms and circumstances that scream a different report. I’m still a work in progress.

I pray this encourages and blesses us all as we continue to renew our minds to believe the love and the ALL-ENCOMPASSING provision and promises of our Abba Father. I pray that the whole Body of Christ will one day soon stop the bawling and squalling of unbelief and ignorance, crying out to God to give us things that He has already freely provided for every area of our lives through His grace. I pray, instead, that we will believe His promises and take hold of them, receiving all the provision that Jesus paid such a high price for, through unwavering, FULLY-PERSUADED faith!

If This is How God Cares for DOGS, HOW MUCH MORE Does He Care for YOU!?!

by Laura Tyree // November 10, 2009 // No Comments

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve BOTH MAN AND BEAST. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. Psalm 36:5-10

How much does God care about you? Does He know you personally and intimately? Does He care about your struggles? Is He able to deliver you from them? Is He willing? What if I told you that God even cares for your pet and knows them by name? Would you have more faith to believe in God’s personal and passionate love and care for you if you knew how much He loves and cares about your dog?

Sebastian is my parents’ pride and joy.

My siblings and I have often joked that he is the favored “child” that Dad loves more than the rest of us. Our parade of negative pet experiences while we were growing up had caused most of us to give up on ever trying to adopt animals into our families in our adult lives, so we had an exceedingly difficult time relating to Dad’s new found love for “that dog”, as we affectionately referred to him. ;~)

One Monday night in 2003 as my husband, Jesse, and I were having our normal prayer time together, my prayer was abruptly interrupted by the thought that I needed to pray for Sebastian! Jesse and I try to be sensitive to God’s leading, but this was the first time that I had ever felt led to pray for a dog. I stopped mid-prayer to tell Jesse what I felt like the Lord was saying. He responded very supportively…by laughing at me. I attempted to push the thought aside and return to my prayer, but the urge did not subside. The thoughts were so persistent that despite my husband’s amusement, I knew I could have no peace until I prayed for “that dog.”

That weekend we went to visit my parents in Arkansas. During dinner the first night we arrived, they entertained us with stories about Sebastian’s latest antics. Most of these were cute and humorous accounts, but the mood shifted when they began to share a frightening incident from earlier that week. Dad had let Sebastian out one last time before bed, unaware of an approaching storm. Moments later, a loud clap of thunder and the sound of pounding rain sent Mom scurrying to the back door to let Sebastian back inside…but he was nowhere in sight. After a fruitless search of the house, she stepped outside and, to her dismay, discovered the gate swinging open and shut in the wind. Without delay, no time to even change their clothes, my parents sprang into action, Dad in the car and Mom on foot, for a search and rescue mission around the neighborhood. Cognizant of the fact that Sebastian suffers from a terrible case of cowardice, they figured the thunder so terrified him that he was just running wild, not realizing what he was doing or where he was going. After twenty minutes of searching, completely circling the block, knocking on several neighbors’ doors to enlist their help, and even calling the police, Mom turned around just in time to see a white blur shoot across the intersection ahead of her, with only one block to spare before the blur would collide with the busiest street in town!

At this point in hearing their story, our foreknowledge that Sebastian had survived the ordeal lessened our suspense and anxiety, so I was momentarily more sympathetically engaged with the mental image of my Mom wandering the street, attired in her nightgown and raincoat, in a storm, at 11:00 p.m., screaming Sebastian’s name. As I was imagining this scene, thinking, “Oh No! My parents’ have become ‘those people’ in the neighborhood,” the Lord jolted me out of my compassionate sensitivity for the plight my parents had endured by reminding me of our prayer for Sebastian.

Immediately I blurted out,”WHAT NIGHT WAS THIS?!” When their response, “Monday”, came, I looked at Jesse, eyes wide and mouth gaping and exclaimed, “That’s the night we prayed for Sebastian!” Now it was my parents turn to look shocked and surprised. We excitedly told them what had happened during our prayer time, and they inquired with great interest, “What did you pray?!” So I recounted my simple request:

“God I don’t know why You have put Sebastian on my heart, but I pray that You bless him and protect him. I ask that You give him a long life because he has been such a blessing to my parents and has brought them so much joy.”

As we compared notes, we realized that their fiasco had taken place at the exact time that we were praying! After expressing their amazement, Mom concluded the story, telling how she had screamed Sebastian’s name, but the white blur shot out of sight, still headed toward the busy street ahead. Then a moment later, it reappeared, rounded the corner, and sprinted toward home! It WAS Sebastian! Mom had turned just the right direction, at just the right time and yelled just loud enough over the rain and noisy street ahead…by coincidence, right? Not a chance! Though Mom says it would have been miraculous even if Sebastian heard her, I like to imagine there was a huge angel blocking his path as he took his final steps toward Race Street which startled him even more than the storm had, causing him to turn tail and race back the other way. But at a minimum, I believe the Lord caused my Mom to turn in time to see Sebastian headed toward impending destruction, and caused Sebastian to hear her cry and turn back toward home. Regardless of how God accomplished it, the fact remains that Sebastian’s well being was important to God! By His Spirit, He prompted me to pray for Sebastian at the very moment of his crisis. Though in my initial ignorance, I had tried to dismiss His promptings as my own thoughts, He persisted so that I could no longer ignore Him comfortably. Through our obedience to respond to the Lord’s prompting to pray, the door was opened for God to intervene in the circumstances to rescue him!

What a powerful testimony this was for us about the need to LISTEN rather than just TALK during our times of prayer. As many have jokingly said before, “Don’t interrupt me, Lord! I’m trying to pray!” Though that joke illustrates a sad truth regarding many people’s typical approach to prayer, an even sadder truth is that many more have never even known that the Lord can and does speak to them today, and that He is desperately longing for us to learn to recognize His voice and enter into an intimate personal relationship with Him. How many close relationships do you have where the conversation is all one-sided? Our relationship with God should involve dialogue, not just monologue. God is speaking!

This instance was also a great reminder of the critical importance of being sensitive to the Lord’s voice and promptings ALL THROUGHOUT the day, and to pray for those people and situations that He brings to our mind or puts on our heart RIGHT IN THAT MOMENT, rather than making a mental note to lift them up to Him later in our designated “time of prayer”. Special times that are set aside to pray more deliberately and intensely are wonderful, but they should not be the only time we converse with the Lord during the day. He’s with us 24/7 and wants to be involved in EVERYTHING we do. How much more effective we can be in seeing the miraculous come to pass in every day life by learning to tune in to what the Lord is saying, and responding as He directs. As Brother Lawrence has encouraged the body of Christ for centuries, we should Practice His Presence! What a blessing it is to develop a continual consciousness of His abiding presence and to learn to talk to, and listen to, Him throughout the day, in ALL that we do!!

You animal lovers will be pleased to know that from the moment all this took place, the Lord put a supernatural love for Sebastian in our hearts, and he has become as beloved to us as he already was to my parents.

He is now our baby, and lives with us part of every year while my parents travel overseas. Since Sebastian experienced the Lord’s divine deliverance, out of deep gratitude he has dedicated his life to encouraging others to find a deeper relationship with God. This story is the introduction to his book that we all wrote together (the Lord, Sebastian, and I), that I hope will bless you as much as it has us someday.

My prayer is that each of you will KNOW with absolute certainty that if God loves and cares individually for every animal, that He loves and cares for you SO MUCH MORE!!!!

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:25-33

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7

Going on from that place, he (Jesus) went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. Matthew 12:9-13

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32

“Lord, Please Get My Body Out Of Bed” (AKA: God Hears You!)

by Laura Tyree // November 1, 2009 // No Comments

I sent this out in an e-mail a few years ago, so some of you may have already seen it. But I wanted to post it here since there are many new friends on FB, some of whom may need some encouragement (or just a good laugh) in this season!
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Saturday, December 8, 2007, I woke up just after 7. In that season of our lives this was early for a weekend; but despite it being Saturday, I decided to go ahead and get up. At that time, Jesse usually slept in on Saturday mornings as long as he needed to since during the week he typically didn’t get enough rest. However, even he would have agreed that he shouldn’t sleep much past 8:30 or 9 since it would throw his sleep schedule off too much and sometimes cause him to end up battling a headache.

Around a month earlier, I had refrained from waking him one morning for a while, but eventually caved in to the pressure to awaken him for the sake of what was on the agenda for the day. Regrettably, on that occasion I unwittingly interrupted a dream he was having that we REALLY wanted to know the outcome of. We were needing specific direction from the Lord, and Jesse was having a dream that we were in a church service where many were receiving prophecy. We were just about to be called out to receive a prophetic word when I woke him! When he told me the dream, I urged him to try to go back to sleep to hear the prophecy, but much to our dismay, it was too late.

Since that occasion, I’d been living in reverent fear of waking him up on weekends. Weekdays are a different story ~ the Lord knows when the alarm clock is going to go off in order to give him a dream in time, but the Lord can’t necessarily count on a person (such as me) to always hear Him clearly and be obedient not to interrupt a dream in progress when there is no alarm clock involved. So having previously learned my lesson the hard way, this Saturday I resisted the urge to get him up, and the time continued to roll by. I was thoroughly enjoying my quiet time with the Lord and before I knew it, it was 8:00…8:30…9:00 a.m.

At 9:00 I decided to start cleaning the kitchen, thinking perhaps some of the noise would help Jesse slowly transition out of dreamland into consciousness. As I cleaned I prayed, “Lord, You know all we have to do today. You know how much time each thing will take. Please determine and direct our steps, order our day, plan our schedule, and help us accomplish everything that needs to be done. You know I don’t want to wake Jesse up in case You’re speaking to him…and oh, by the way, PLEASE be speaking to him!” Then I prayed one of my all-time favorite prayers God gave me years ago when I had determined not to become the stereotypical nagging wife. This prayer had become a regular around my house, “Lord, I am NOT his mother, but You are His Father! Please .. (fill in the blank… but on this occasion the request was).. get YOUR SON out of bed.” In the past this prayer had produced miraculous results, but this morning, after I had prayed it, another thought came to my heart which caused me to add to this tried and true prayer.

Around 2002 we had discovered an excellent marriage enrichment series, which is, up to this point, our favorite of all the ones we’ve heard. In it (Marriage on the Rock), Jimmy Evans talks about the passage in I Corinthians 7:4 where Paul says that the wife’s body does not belong to her alone, but also to the husband, and the husband’s body also belongs to the wife. He then very humorously points out that the wife usually wants the husband’s body for very different reasons than the husband wants the wife’s. Hopefully, the latter needs no further explanation; but regarding the former, he states that the wife typically wants the husband’s body to help around the house, help with the kids, etc. That morning, as I continued to clean, taking note that it was now 9:30, that teaching from years ago came back to my heart. The Lord had also taught us in 2002 how to stand on His Word in prayer. So I laughingly, yet earnestly, silently made a new request that I believe God put on my heart that day ~ “Lord, You said that Jesse’s body is also my body…so, I need MY BODY to get up! Lord, Please get MY BODY out of bed!”

A minute later I heard Jesse stirring. As he came out of the bedroom I delightedly thanked the Lord for His quick response. Moments later he arrived in the kitchen for breakfast, and while he was eating he said, “When I woke up this morning, the first thought that came to my mind was, ‘How can my body, YOUR body, serve you (Laura) today?’ and I felt like I was supposed to ask you that question.”

WOW, JESUS! Though Jesse has always been very considerate and helpful throughout our many years of marriage, he had NEVER asked me that question, and I had never prayed that specific prayer! I was gloriously giddy at God’s awesome goodness and shared with Jesse what I’d been praying right before he woke! God is SO funny and wonderful! How precious a Father He is!

This example shows many ways that God was communicating with us ~ through a dream, bringing to my remembrance a Scripture and a past teaching, and by His Spirit speaking to Jesse’s heart.

May we be encouraged that the Lord hears every cry of our hearts and every word we pray ~ there’s nothing that’s too small to bring before Him. Though we don’t always SEE His answers as quickly as this one, we can rest in knowing that He’s on the case. May we continue standing on His promises in faith and patience until we see all the answers to our prayers!
Copyright © Laura Jewell Tyree, December 2007 (excerpt from first Holy Spirit book)

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For EVERYONE who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE will your Father in heaven give GOOD GIFTS to those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, GRACIOUSLY give us ALL THINGS? Romans 8:31-32

Have faith in God, (or have the faith of God)” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if ANYONE (or whoever) says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:22-25

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. I John 3:21-23

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. I John 5:13-15