"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:20-21).
Jesus' prayer is truly answered! Hallelujah! He loves us so much and cares for us! As we try to love God, or come to Him, we realize that it is not us who has initiated it, but Him! He loves us first and compels us to love Him back, so that we are one in love! "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Let's just rest and enjoy His love for us! He is so good!
Also, if Jesus, God, created the heavens and the earth, and today, still heals people born blind, mute and deaf, and even raises the dead still, then of course His prayer is going to be answered! He said, "You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it" (John 14:14). This is the heart of God; that we could all be one with Him! And our God is real love! "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (1 John 4:16). God is the real God and He is real love! Everything else does not compare. God loves us so much and when we just have childlike faith in Him, that's all that's needed, then He makes us one with Him! He enters us into love with Him, and truth and real joy and peace and rest! He gives us His refreshing Holy Spirit! He is so amazing!
God had me start on this article almost five times now. Every time, I would sit down, eager to write and feeling so ready to write for Him, and with Him writing through me. Every time, though, I would get so far, and then there would be so much! He has so much to say on just this one thing! He is infinite, so of course, He has everything good to give! He will never run out of love and He embraces us all the time with His amazing and graceful arms. He had me wait so that He could tell me more and more over the days, so that He could share more and more with you. In waiting times, God is trying to teach us something, or actually many things! I used to think that He was just trying to teach me patience, which does occur, but it is so much more! It isn't that He is not working, it's that He is working so much! "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). He wants to overflow us with peace and love to enjoy Him - for that is who He is, and also to overflow out to everyone! His prayer above is that those who will believe in their message about Him will also be one with Him! His prayer is being answered for He is the One doing it! He loves us so much, and we are one in Him through simple childlike faith, that He gives us the joy of sharing Him with others! We can all be united in His love! He loves you! When you place your faith in Him, your sins are forgiven; anything that you think separates you from Him, or is upsetting you/ distracting you/ taking you down, He died for that! Through faith, you are set free and one in Him, our God! Let's enjoy Him! It's so simple! We just enjoy being with Him in love and get to love others!
God recently told me something about worship! He said part of worship is this: "The Holy Spirit's guided posture of receiving His love into you heart." He offers His love to everyone! Something that really changed my life was when God led me to read this out of 'Compelled by LOVE.' We can just enjoy being one with Him, one in love with Him! We don't earn it, or do anything, we only believe! It is by grace we have been saved! "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). God gives us the gift of being with Him!!!! It is so exciting! We simply receive His love through faith into His open arms! He is smiling over us and waiting for us to remember Him! We can be with our God! Well, what really cleared this up for me was after I learned that God led Heidi Baker, her husband Rolland, and the family to take in all the orphans they saw in Mozambique. The whole nation is being changed by the power and love of God! With children coming into her home, and watching the Holy Spirit change their lives, God led her to write about how we can come into the Father's house and that everything He has is ours as well! "And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours" (Luke 15:31). We are welcome to everything! I would recommend purchasing, 'Compelled by LOVE' (see here for the description in the inspiration section!), and reading the whole section, but basically she describes how when they first take the children in, they are often very timid and don't think they have access to the family, even to the fridge! The children who have been there a long time understand that they are completely welcome, and as the new children hang out with them, they gradually understand as well. She shared one story about a child who wouldn't even look people in the eyes because he was so hurt. Heidi took him by the hand and said that there was a Coke in that fridge and he could help himself to it any time he liked. Also, she would tuck him in at night, and look him in the eye, and that she loved him! One day, he went and got that Coke, and he was ecstatic! He finally understood that he was welcome! He realized that he was the Father's child, and no longer an orphan! Sometimes we tend to act a lot like this with God, and think He doesn't hear us, or care, or is going to be mad when we come to Him. But, He is in love with us! He is Love! "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (1 John 4:16). He wants to give us everything He has, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control! He lavishes us in His love! And just through faith, we are his children! "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27). He is so kind and is waiting for us with an open, strong, loving heart! He is smiling over us right now! He wants us to be filled from Him; to drink from Him and eat of Him, for He alone satisfies our real thirst and real hunger! "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them" (John 7:38), and, "Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). Hallelujah! Truly, He is the Bread of Life! Through simple, child-like faith, He satisfies us in LOVE! He is our sustenance! "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." (John 6:54-58). We can come to Him now and enjoy Him forever! He is who we are made for! Let's let Him fill us! The Father loves all His children! (Also, see more in, 'Jesus picnics!')
So, we have full access to God! He is right here! We can enjoy Him and being one with Him! He takes away all our sins, so we are completely in love! It is fun to share God's true love with others, just as Heidi and the family have experienced! God is so refreshing! He loves you!
There are so many more lessons about being one with God! He is so amazing! For example, we read about becoming His 'sons' through faith in Galatians. "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all on in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26-28). We are sons in Christ Jesus because He is God's Son. It is not a masculine term, as you can see, but it is referring to Jesus! Since He took our place on the cross, and died for us, taking away any sin and separation with God, God now sees Jesus when He looks at us! Jesus' blood covers us! We are adopted through Jesus and what He did for us! How amazing! He completely forgives us so we are clean! In Jesus, we feel clean too! He does this to show us His love for us and to unite us into perfect love with Him! We really are so welcome to the Father! And He is our real Father, or Daddy! "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
One other thing God told me, over a year or so now, is that He speaks to His bride in waves. -It took me a while to see this, but He continued to speak to me in gentle waves. We, as a church, are called God's bride! "'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:31-32). We are all a part of His beautiful bride that He is getting ready and waiting for to return to! We are all members of one body, each with a specific role and, "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, through many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others" (Romans 12:4-5). As His bride, we are all united, each with our specific roles and gifts, in Him! That is why this following verse makes sense, and is where God told me that He speaks to His bride in gentle waves: "For, 'Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). When a husband and wife are married, we get the illustration that they have the same mind. The are really one! It is the same with Christ and His church!
God showed me that He speaks to His bride in so many waves! Have you ever heard a teaching from God, and then heard God lead someone close to you to speak on something really similar? Or have you heard a couple lessons about Him one right after another! God is talking with His bride, so of course we all hear Him! He has specific things to share with each of us, for He made us all with intimate care, giving us sweet gifts and unique purpose, but He also shares with us as a church! I'll give a few amazing examples, but really this has happened so many times to me that it makes me smile! I know that God is smiling too! We can smile with Him as one, because of His Love!
So, the first thing is that I often pray with a dear friend Carol Steele. We sit and listen to what God has to say to us! It's always amazing to hear from Him, and He is always talking, so we can always listen! Prayer is a two-way conversation! In these times of prayer, God gives pictures, words, and Bible verses. We get very similar things from Him, like I will get words about shields and rest, and then she will get a verse that is talking about those things! Also, God gives us other specific lessons that are always so relevant and healing! There are so many examples, I can't even record them all here, but I'll just give you a few. One time Carol got a picture of a water glass on the table. She said God was telling her that all we need to do is just reach out and drink that glass of water! It's that simple! And, actually, this is just the same as the Coca-Cola example! For Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them" (John 7:38). Plus, Jesus said, "but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14; may you read this whole story as well!). Jesus is that living water, flowing in us with the Holy Spirit! He is amazing! Also, He is amazing for giving this image to Carol and saying that! I told her that the previous Sunday at my church, that is an exact illustration that our pastor was led to use. He said it in passing, like a comment right after a point. There were two services, and when I went back to check, he had not said it in the one that was recorded! I knew that God wanted me to have this image! I know that He would like you to have it as well! The idea is that it is so simple and pure. All we have to do is have faith and reach out! He refreshes us forever and ever in love! Hallelujah!
Another story is that God has really put it on the heart of one of my other friends to pray for the city! She prays and prays just that people will come to know that God loves them! God had her read Ezekiel and learn about how He can do anything; He restores us to life with Him, and this is the same with His people! We read about His heart for this in the first verse here, John 17:20-21! Well, she shared with me that two of her other friends had been led by God to read out of Ezekiel as well! Praise God! Then, about a week after she shared this with me, Carol and I were praying and Carol got a verse from Ezekiel about how God would prevail, in the midst of a siege to the city. She had no idea why she got this verse, but I did! I shared with her all of that and we were amazed! Additionally, this week God led her to read the following verse, which goes very well with this topic! "Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed" (Proverbs 11:11). God teaches us here that we should bless, and not fix our eyes on the problem, but fix our eyes on Him! By always looking to Him, we are restored in His love! See, 'Rainbows,' and, 'Breakthrough 10: Our identity is in Christ! Let us fix our eyes on Him!' for more on fixing our eyes on Jesus! God is so good!
There are so many more stories, and God has healed me so much through His Word of love! I pray that you too can listen to Him and simply receive all of the love He has to give to you! The last one I'll share here is so astounding! You can read about it more in, 'Breakthrough 2: God is always making us!,' but briefly, God led me again and again to the verse 2 Corinthians 3:18! "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18; verse 17 is good to include!). It is one of my favorite verses for what it says, and also because God continues to lead me to it so often. Every time He does, I realize how He has changed me from the last time. And, I was already amazed at how many times He gave it to me, but He has led me to this verse countless times since then! The next was right after sharing with a friend how God had led me to this verse so many times! I really felt like He wanted me to reveal how amazing He was through this story. Afterwards, though, I did feel a little strange and silly. I was driving away and said, "God, was I really supposed to share this story?" He gently told me yes, and that everything was ok! I prayed for the person that I told it to, so that they would really understand that He loves them and is always making them new in Him; always filling them and giving them His refreshing life and love in them! I felt better and drove along. Well, I felt silly again. I said, 'But really, was I really supposed to share that God?" At the next stop, I looked up at the license plate in front of me. It said 318! Bahahaha! I started laughing and praised God all the way home! He is really funny.
After that, He continued to lead me to '318.' Maybe three or four times, I would look at the clock and it said, '3:18.' This was during the day and the night! (For, I do have some insomnia, but I know that God can use it for His good, and He is teaching me a lot in these times!). It started to happen over and over again, but one of my favorites was on Easter. My family and I were enjoying spending some time outside gardening. It was an unusually beautiful day. It almost felt like a taste of heaven. We were humming along in His lush creation. At some point, I felt like I needed a break from bending over, and went inside for a drink. Inside, I was drinking some water and looked up at the clock. It was of course, 3:18! I laughed and was glad because then I went outside and shared all the times with my dad. I'm so glad that God did it yet again, to remind me to share with my dad! Since then, too, God has had me look at the clock over ten times and see 3:18! It's almost ridiculous! Not 3:19, but 3:18, every time. Twice I've looked up at our kitchen timer, for we make a lot of chicken, and it's been 3:18. The kitchen timer! Most recently, was a few days ago, when I was praying at night, and again, awake, but tired! God reminded me that we don't need to be tired in Him! His love compels us! We can rest in Him! In Him, as one, fueled by His refreshing love! I learned this lesson right after I looked up at the clock. It was 3:18, and I stood there still in shock, even after all of these times! I looked at it for about 5 seconds and it changed to 3:19. He told me that He was making me and that He compels us, always filling us with more and more of His love, becoming more and more one with Him! Then again, just a day ago, I had been in heavy rush-hour traffic for about 2 hours. I looked up and saw another license plate: 318. hahahhaa. God is God!
There is always more with God! He is always more beautiful and loving than we think! Being one with Him is always more and more better! He will forever fill us with His love as we are one with Him, overflowing to others! His prayer is being answered! He pours out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has freely given us! Through childlike faith, God literally lives in us! We read about this all throughout Scripture, but here is a key verse. "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies" (2 Corinthians 6:19-20; Also, God is the Father, the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. God is Three-In-One! His trinity nature shows us so much about Him and how His love, for He is love, is active! He already exists in a relationship! He is already submitting and loving and He invites us into that! To read more on God's nature, see, 'God's Holy Name!' and, 'Three-In-One; the Three Parts of He Art'). So, just by faith in Jesus, God is in us and we are in Him! This is incredible! How amazing is our God, and we can truly be with Him! Hallelujah! Let's grab that Coca-Cola! Also, as God led me to wait for writing this article, He taught me how He gives us that joy and refreshment in a special way (And remember, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).). In 'Compelled by LOVE,' the Holy Spirit led Heidi to write about how He fills us and gives us unity with Him, which naturally is sharing with others! His love is meant to be active! That is His heart! That is how He works! When Heidi saw the joy on her kid's face, she saw Jesus' love! As we can read in Jesus' prayer, in John 17:20-21, He prays for others who will believe! If we are brought into the heart of God, and are one with Him, then of course we too will share His heart, which is to love Him first and love others, with His love flowing through us to them! (Matthew 22:37-40). They see Him in us!!! That is why when we know God loves us, and we are in love with Him, we desire to share Him with everyone! He makes us one in His love, in Him our good Father!
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:20-21).
See, 'Breakthrough 9: Being made in the image of God' and, 'Breakthrough 10: Our identity is in Christ! Let us fix our eyes on Him!' for more on being made in His image! Hallelujah! He is so loving!
Also, God recently gave me yet another reference to 2 Corinthians 3:18! He is amazing and so fun! Praise Him! Read more in, 'Breakthrough 12: There is always more faith, hope and love in the LORD!' God showed me too, that this Breakthrough article was about being on in Him, and it was numbered 11. So, there are actually three ones in the main title! And He is Three-In-One! How beautiful! He is so amazing! To read more about His Holy trinity Nature, see, 'God's Holy Name!' and, 'Three-In-One; the Three Parts of He Art.' God is awesome!
See also, 'Breakthrough! An Introduction', for more on breakthrough and how God is always with us through His LOVE!!! Hallelujah!
