Mary Lindow ~ The Messenger Podcast
Heaven is watching you
Episodes
Sunday Dec 08, 2024
Sunday Dec 08, 2024
“A Gentle Nudge From God & Joy To The World”
by Mary Lindow
I highly encourage you to listen to this podcast!
There are very special "musical moments" that took place in this story about God's Divine Appointment!
My next two podcasts are going to be two wonderful Christmas season stories that tell you about how God will lead your steps and sometimes, into places that are not always convenient or comfortable! There may be even good hearted individuals telling you that where you’re going is not safe, but God instructs you to still go because there’s a miracle or a need to be met, that must take place.
Today’s Podcast Is Going To Be Telling A Story That Just Happened To Me This Past Week.
Isaiah 30:21 says, “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”\
I Had Stretched Out Getting My Hair Styled, and all the things that “women do before the holidays” and was up to that crucial, “I’d waited too long” deadline. I had an appointment scheduled far out and suddenly the day arrived! It’s about a 35 to 40 minute drive to where I go due to traffic. So it’s a great time to worship the Lord and ponder life as I make my way to the hairstylist. As I was driving, I was talking to the Lord about so many things and about the condition of the heart of the body of Christ and all of the painful exposures and sad things taking place, as well as the hard working, diligent, good people in the kingdom of God who are rarely seen, and who are rarely given much validation for their service, at least here on earth.
It was as if the Lord was saying to me,
“I see it all, just continue to do what I tell YOU to do, and focus on what’s right in front of you.” With that I took it to heart and I arrived at my hair appointment. The young woman that does my hair comes from a Jewish background, but never was active and also had a father who was a very non-practicing Christian, but had instilled some sort of faith in her. Every time I go to her, we share a little bit more. She opens her heart to me now. We talk about her children, and this day was another one of those kinds of days. She is what I call the kind of person you have to gently lead like a sheep to Christ. You can’t preach at them you can’t try to force any kind of message, you just talk about life and about the need for help from God. You laugh with them and love them. By the time I left her, which was about an hour and 40 minutes later there was a gentle peace saturating the room, and several of the other ladies had been listening in on our conversation about the need for peace, kindness, and integrity in the world.
My Stylist Even Told Me She Had Prayed Recently and asked God to help her be a better mother. Now this is a huge win to hear her say something like this, but she wanted me to know. I gave her a big hug and a little Christmas present and told her she was a wonderful mother and thanked her for her gracious salon service and told her how gifted she was. She teared up and said, “Those are such nice words. They just went right inside of my heart!” And of course, again, I didn’t preach at her, I simply smiled at her and I said, “Well, every single one of them are true.”
She Didn’t Grow Up With Much Validation , and she didn’t grow up with much warmth, so these words must’ve felt like warm honey poured over a very busy, active Soul who is constantly taking care of other people’s needs every single day with her hair Styling profession.
It Was An Absolutely Glorious Afternoon In Colorado! We have these warm days that come in during winter! The sun was bright, the sky was gorgeous and clear blue and the temperature was 65°F! On my way home nearby the salon, there is a boutique type style coffee shop that is a rare treat to go to. I had saved a few dollars to go and get a cup of “Christmasy coffee”, because it’s handcrafted and not something that I do on a regular basis. But today I delighted in it and was going to do a little bit of personal restoration, because it has been a very busy season of intense counseling and caring for other people. I had also recently had a parent pass away after a difficult battle with cancer and had gone through some uncomfortable family dynamics with his passing.
My Heart Was Still Tender, And I Needed To Process A Bit.
I went in and got my coffee and talked a little bit about “coffee things” with the owner and they directed me to a most glorious Guatemalan coffee that was just spectacular and they prepared my coffee for me kindly! I went outside and sat on their patio and looked at the sky, the trees and the mountains as I sipped joyfully on a glorious perfect brew! I was just relaxing and enjoying the moment and so grateful for God making coffee beans!
I contemplated having another cup of coffee but at $5.60 a cup. (Yikes!) I figured it would be better to go home and brew a few entire pots from beans that I already had!
As I Was Leaving, I Got Ready To Get Into My Car, I had parked right in front of a place that we also used to go, to get organic crafted homemade bread and rolls for holidays. It’s called the Great Harvest Bread Company. (Now understand the word “great harvest” is poignant at this point!)
When Steve And I Began Full-Time Ministry and began pastoring, our key statement, (we had it painted on the wall in the back of our sanctuary), was “Laborers in The Final Harvest.” This bread company is a Colorado owned Bakery with franchises. As I looked at it, I realize it had been remodeled and everything was extremely decorated and Christmasy and of course, just fun to look at!
I Turned To Get Into My Car Again And Gently, Ever So Gently, I Was Nudged By The Holy Spirit To Go Inside. I really didn’t want to go into a bakery because we had just had Thanksgiving and we were kind of “fooded out”. But they do have excellent bread and I thought maybe I would get a little something to bring home for Steve my husband.
I Still Didn’t Really Want To Go In.
I was kind of looking forward to getting home and traffic was getting hectic and thick at that time. Yet the Holy Spirit persisted that I go in. It wasn’t urgent, but it was one of those moments where you know there’s a purpose that God wants fulfilled, and my steps were being directed by him! Remember that verse I mentioned previously? It said, “whether you turn to the left or to the right there is a voice behind you saying this is the way walk in it.” This definitely was the Holy Spirit nudging me forward.
As I Opened The Door, which had bells on it that jingled as I walked in, I stepped into a room that was absolutely lovely and beautifully prepared for the holiday season. There were nativity sets on display everywhere and handcrafted sale and gift items. Everything was well presented, and a few Hanukkah candelabra were stuck in different places with the words “Jesus is Yeshua” with signs underneath them. I smiled inside and thought “this is pretty cool. I don’t remember this place being very spiritual beforehand when we used to visit!”
Over The Sound System Music Was Playing.
The Song “Worthy Is The Lamb! Worthy Is The Lamb! You Are Holy!”
I just stood there and felt the tears begin to well up and felt gratitude to the Lord for being in a place that didn’t just serve up great organic bread products, they were serving up the bread of life. In that moment, I realized how tired I really was and depleted somewhat from giving out so much lately. Now, I do love to take care of people and nurture and try to persuade them to Christ, into a better way of living and thinking. Counseling lately has been a steady stream of people who have been abused in churches on every level. Building trust and instructing them about their real identity in Christ is again, as well as unpacking Trauma, can be very delicate work.
As I Stood There And Just Marveled At The Song. I remembered that for about a week now every morning when I woke up, I was already singing on the inside of me, a similar message. A song coming up out of my spirit! It was a worship song we used to sing often and it was, “I will glorify the king of Kings, I will glorify the lamb. I will glorify the King of Kings, who is the great I AM!”
It was as if the Lord was saying, “Keep your eyes on the lamb, keep your eyes on the one who has paid the full price, and as you glorify him, he will walk in your midst.” I was enjoying his presence tremendously standing there, realizing he also wanted me to be refreshed!
So With That, I Went Around The Corner To Begin To Look At The Bakery Goods and to see if I could find some good, dark pumpernickel for Steve. And yes, right there in front of me was 1/2 loaf prepackaged ready to go. I picked it up and went around the corner to go to the register and began to notice a shelf above me about shoulder height, filled with the most unusual and beautiful gold-looking jewelry, weaved into different patterns for earrings and bracelets and necklaces, all extremely well-made and unique.
There was a woman about mid 40s tending to the jewelry display and adjusting things and replacing items that needed to be restocked. I said, “Hello! These are beautiful. Are you the distributor? Are you a representative?” She said, “Yes I am. I’m here replenishing. I help this organization.”
In That Moment, I Felt The Holy Spirit Come Over Me Again and impressed me with this thought, “This is why you’re here!” As she began to share with me about what the organization does, (and I won’t go into all of it right now), but basically in Brazil, there is a beautiful strong grass that grows very thin like a gold wire. The people from an indigenous peoples group there are artisans, and they handcraft all kinds of beautiful things and they have developed this jewelry line. She and a team of other people work to help promote their products so that they can feed the people in their village and produce jobs so they can be self-sufficient. This organization that has been formed is Christian and has only been operating maybe 3 to 5 years. They’re a very quiet, and they’re very small group, but they’re passionate and active in taking care of people.
Now remember on my way into the hair salon in the car, I was talking to the Lord about the people that do the hard work behind the scenes. The people that are not high profile public ministries, and those that work so hard to care for others, but are often overlooked when it comes to provision or care themselves. So there I was, standing in front of someone when I had just prayed about it on the way in!
As she began to tell me the story of these people, she then went over into the conversation about how she also works among the sexually abused because she was abused herself, as was her child from a relative. She has done tremendous personal work in counseling, and so had her son. She said the sadness still remains that these things happen and have happened. She has decided to be an advocate to help people through the shame and often the shunning from people in the church when they share that this has happened to them.
I Began To Talk To Her And Tell Her What I Do As A Pastoral Counselor, as well as having been a minister who understands the public forum and having seen behind the scenes many ministries who were involved in things they should not be involved in, but no one ever caught them.
I began to talk to her about the goodness of God and how pleased he was with her for by willing to go and take care of the brokenhearted, to bind up their wounds, take care for the poor, to care for the sick, encouraging her that this was a marvelous and beautiful thing she was doing, and that Jesus himself was looking down upon her with great, great joy, because he paid the price for all that happened to her in order to find a way to bring her to a place of peace, and then to use her to help bring others to a place of hope and peace.
Now This Was A Very Brilliant Woman, And She Was Very Discerning. She had a Masters degree, and some type of a leadership organizational degree as well.
With tears in her eyes, she said, “You know, I know this was one of those moments where God has you meet someone for a reason.” I asked her if I could take her by the hands and pray for her and she said, “Oh please do!” Yes, right there in the middle of the bread store with people coming in and out I gently took her hands into mine and began to pray for her tired and weary soul. The words just flowed as the Lord himself gave me the right things to pray, and words that he heard and honored, not simply just lip service.
As I prayed, I was prompted to continue praying that the Lord would help her with the funds needed to continue to promote this micro-type business, and then I was prompted to pray that the Lord would give her a very special indicator of his love and concern for her, by providing for her personally during this season. That by showing her in a very unique way that he was going to bless her for her hard work, often unseen, and often unappreciated. I blessed her.
I asked for grace over her as the Holy Spirit began to give me the words that would affirm and validate her.
When I finished praying with her and we looked each other in the eyes, still holding hands, her eyes were streaming with tears and a softness had come over her face. She said, “You have no idea what you prayed. I can tell you’re prophetic.” Of course, I laughed, because I didn’t say one word about that to her. She said, “I do know these things and I can pick up on someone who is a caregiver and a nurturer, but I can also indicate to you I too flow in prophetic gifts and you have no idea how much the Lord just spoke to me and answered things that only he knew I’ve been asking him about.”
And Then She Told Me The Past Five Years Due To Covid And Another Company She Worked For, How The Financial Strain Had Become Unbearable. Yes, she does get paid for working for this organization because they have to have people who do all of the distributing and arranging to get things to the places they need to be for sales, but it is not anything close to what you would consider a secure income. She told me she was trusting God to open a new door to her, and a different group that was going to listen to her about a presentation that night, might possibly bring in the needed finances to continue to help these dear people.
Now imagine, this woman has a masters degree in foreign studies and people groups as well as leadership and she’s more concerned about providing for them than her own income!
We hugged and said if we never meet again, we’ll see each other in eternity but today I told her, today we had a moment in eternity because God planned this day.
I Told Her, “I Knew That He Sent Me In. I Wasn’t Going To Come In Today! I just wasn’t going to come into the store and I was prompted twice by the Holy Spirit to come in, because he knew today I was to meet you and you were to meet me, and we were to remind each other of the goodness and the kindness of God.
That God sees!
That God knows everything!
That HE was listening in on our conversation and our prayer and that he was at work sending encouragement, sending Hope, and that we are not alone.”
She Suddenly Looked At Her Watch And Squeaked! “I have to go. I’m supposed to be at a meeting in 15 minutes”, grabbed her purse waved to the people behind the counter. They said,“Bless you sister”, and out the door she went.
I did pick up a few brochures and I had saved $40 tucked away in my wallet to go buy a few pine bows to use for some decorating in our home for Christmas.
Now I Know Everyone Of You Have Had This Happen To You Before! You know, the Lord says, “It’s up to you, there’s no judgment no guilt, but that $40 could be used for a higher purpose.”
There was a beautiful pair of bohemian-style looking, weaved earrings that had caught my eye in this collection that the woman was organizing, and I knew my youngest son‘s wife’s birthday was coming this week. She loves organizations like this who help take care of disenfranchised people groups who are poor, and long to work and have purpose because she worked for an NGO in Uganda. I selected those earrings with joy and said to myself, “Who needs pine boughs! This is much more fun and much more meaningful! Thank you, Heavenly Father for the prompting!”
I took my pumpernickel bread and the earrings to the register and the lady behind the register was smiling at me. I said, “Are you a believer as well?” She said, “Absolutely!”
I asked her if there had been new management and she said, “Oh yes, the new manager bought the business in 2019 right before the Covid bioterror event took place. But she pressed on and we prayed on and on and on, and God has been faithful to bless the business.”
I was thrilled to find out that believers had purchased this specific franchise. I made my purchases and as always as offered in this location, they give you a slice of fresh warm, organic, honey- whole wheat bread, slathered in butter to eat on your way home. BLISS!
I Gathered My Items, Went Out The Door, and got into my car and just sat there looking in the windows, feeling as if indeed, I had just had Christmas, and there in my hand was another indicator of the goodness of people behind the scenes who run excellent Christian businesses, who leave the door open to the stranger and the unbelievers and invite them into their world of warmth and kindness.
You See Jesus Came To Be The Bread Of Life! He was the wheat that was ground and poured out that we might feast upon the redemptive powers and hope of his sacrifice. We in turn become much like the parable of the loaves and fishes. He multiplies what we have in our lives and serves it up to those who have need. There is always ample supply even when we think we are completely empty.
He Uses It To Expand His Kingdom! We are to share that bread of life, we are to give a “slice” of what we are no matter where we are of that bread when the Lord is behind us saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”
I can only imagine that dear woman going home in her car or to her meeting, resting, letting go of the fear, letting go of the stress and anxiety, knowing the Lord had sent a sister with “the slice of the bread of life” to speak hope over her and to give her what Jesus had already prepared in advance for her, if someone would just go! If someone would just step in and obey in the moment.
Tell You The Story, Not In Any Way To Pat Myself On The Back, because honestly, my brain was absolutely exhausted and I had 1000 things in my mind I needed to get done like everyone else with pre-holiday decorating and preparing to travel. In between all of that is working and caring for others and just life in general! I could’ve simply sat there with my tasty coffee and enjoyed my time and been fine!
I Could’ve Chosen To Not Go Into The Shop and just get into my car and drive home at my planned time so I would miss traffic rush-hour. I would’ve never known the difference except may be a little bit of sadness in my heart that I pushed away a prompting of the Holy Spirit because I was tired.
I Want To Encourage You That The Christmas Season Is A Unique Time When People Are Longing To Feel Safe.
Safe and, they want to experience deep joy.
They have warm memories inside of them from Christmas events, or they have damaged and frightening memories because of things that have taken place during the holidays. It’s in these gentle but poignant moments when the Holy Spirit can bypass our fleshly concepts of fatigue and timing, and direct us into a divine appointment, a divine moment that was planned by the hand of God, so that the Bread of life that came to earth to redeem mankind is served up fresh!
As I Drove Home Again, The Tears Were Streaming From My Face, and I worshiped and praised God with a music station that was playing Christmas carols. The song “Joy to the World” began to play.
As always, the one line that just pierces my own heart and has since I was a little girl, was, “Let every heart, prepare him room.” When I was a little girl, I used to picture very vividly that in my heart, there was like a storybook picture of a hollowed out tree, and inside there was a little bed and I would picture preparing a room for Jesus. I wanted to have a table with a candle set on it, some homemade cookies, some fruit, a comfortable chair and a warm bed for him to lay his head down to sleep. I was “preparing him, a room!”
I realized that in that coffee shop in that hair salon, I had prepared him room, and indeed it was, “Joy to the World!
I Encourage You - Everyone Listening, to understand that “heaven and nature sing” when we obey the Spirit promptly and heed that voice behind us directing our steps.
You Are The Light Of The World Now!
You are the lamp that God uses, and if we put a basket over it, or we decide to cloak it and go about our way, we will miss the opportunities to prepare him room in our hearts, and in the world. Today if you hear his voice, don’t harden your heart. Obey him promptly.
You Know, The One Thing I Have Found Out About Sacrifice Is That It Hurts A Little Bit.
It’s inconvenient to give time to people.
It’s inconvenient to stop and listen.
It’s inconvenient to get out of your car and go help someone who is fragile walk into a store or walk across the street.
It’s inconvenient to scale back on your Christmas gifts and giving to yourself in order to help others in peril or to help others in need. To help others share the gospel like this dear lady who was beautifully displaying the handcrafted hard work done by these individuals in order to help to further the gospel.
Be Aware!
Be listening for “holy moments” during this Christmas “holy days” season.
Each Of You Are Ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each of you are sent out in the world to tell of that wonderful, marvelous news. And often, we’re sent out to encourage one another to do good works and to continue in serving, even though others may not see, others may not understand, and others may not validate!
My Next Podcast Is Going To Be A Story About Where We Went Into A Very Dangerous Place, led by the Holy Spirit of course, and how truly a Christmas Eve healing miracle took place that completely changed an entire family’s trajectory.
I encourage you to go to my website at www.marylindow.com
I have some beautiful short video presentations with scripture and music and encouragement to play, especially for those who are fighting anxiety or who are going through persecution or a lot of pain right now. Just hit that video button at the top of the website and scroll down and there are several there for you to enjoy.
Please Take Time To Rest In The Lord‘s Presence And Not Be So Over-Taxed About Holiday Preparations. It is after all HIS birthday and his celebration! It was also the day that he began to lay down his life for 33 years to come and prepare the way for us to be able to be redeemed!
What A Mighty King We Serve!
Until my next podcast, I bless you in the name that is higher than any other name and that is the name of King Jesus Christ the Messiah!
Goodbye for now!
Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed, as long as the complete message, Website, podcast link and information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You! "2024"
"THE MESSENGER" - Mary Lindow
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Saturday Aug 31, 2024
Saturday Aug 31, 2024
By Mary Lindow
Today’s podcast is going to be discussing a subject that a lot of people avoid because they honestly just don’t know how to approach it or, they are afraid to approach it.
Somehow people think that people like myself who have been serving in ministry to the Body of Christ for many, many years, and who are called by the Lord to operate or flow in a prophetic ministry as well, do this 40 hours a week. And, of course, people do expect you to be on call and ready to deliver a clear and concise word from the Lord, without considering the fact that you are not just simply a prophet or a teacher/minister, but you are also a human being who lives and breathes and moves and feels.
BEING IN MINISTRY ON ANY LEVEL IS NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART and truly should not be something to be considered or pursued by those who are looking for a platform for fame or to hold power over others. It is a call to hear the voice of the Lord, to study his word and to always be ready to give a good report of what he has promised or what he is requiring of his people.
So having said that, I am echoing the words and most likely also the thoughts of many disappointed and disillusioned believers right now.
I read a wonderful devotional last week from the Bible app. and it so resonated with where things are right now in our world.
It said,
“If we are paying attention, we will see a lot of “off” around us. I bet you have noticed things that appeared unjust. Cracks in the façade that show injustice is real.
People hurt. Bullies winning.
The right action is left undone or the wrong action brings harm.
When we pay attention, we have to acknowledge this world is gut-wrenchingly broken.”
Many of us will read a description of mistreatment and nod along from experience, memories bringing a fire to our chest. Others hear words about injustice, and it all feels distant. The deep desire to downplay evil stirs, perhaps even subconsciously.
Reading Habakkuk beckons us to acknowledge a foundational principle God reveals through Old Testament prophets—you have to see the evil. We must look around at what is happening in the world and see it for what it is.”
THE BIBLE PAINTS THE PROPHETS AS THOSE WHO JOLT US AWAKE AND FORCE US TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT SUCH THINGS.
They are the watchmen signaling with waving arms, often to people wanting to look away.
“Look up and see the evil done against others”, the prophets said.
See the impact of your own choices on the vulnerable.
See the disobedience of God’s people.
GOD SEES THE WAYS WE’VE GOTTEN THINGS SUPER WRONG FRIENDS, and he’s coming to do something about it.
Get ready. We might not be paying attention, but he is.
It would be easy for some of us—and beneficial at times—to look away from the wrong done around us. We much prefer the aesthetics that way. Yet, there are consequences to indifference. We should not be surprised by discipline from the Lord if we choose not to pay attention to the discrepancy between our community’s actions and God’s righteous standard, just as the prophets warned in Israel.
FOR OVER 16 YEARS STEVE AND I HAVE ALSO BEEN INVOLVED AS PASTORAL COUNSELORS. Now, some individuals say that all pastors can give pastoral counseling to people. It’s a little different than that. Some people go to school and study psychology, which is the study of the mind, and how to understand the psyche of people and help them. This is a secular approach, and there have been good results and helping people resolve conflicts and often mental illness issues as well as addressing dementia and Alzheimer’s problems and more.
Pastoral counseling is where the Bible is the foundation, the Scriptures are the foundation of what you use as a basis to advise and counsel and hopefully help restore people. You also do have to take study courses and apply different techniques in counseling that assist you in being able to assess and discern, as well as understand some issues of mental health in order to be integral in your approach. Steve and I were supervised for over 15 years by a doctor of psychology, who was a strong believer, and we both took courses from different Christian counseling associations and college courses in order to broaden our ability to help people. We also had a brick-and-mortar counseling group with a dear friend, our friend who was the doctor of psychology and the practice supervisor for three years in our local area.
WE SAW THE LORD TRANSFORM, marriages, families, young people, and drug addicts, as well as dealing with many abused believers who had come out of almost cult-like, churches, or who were involved in environments and churches where they could not talk about abuse going on with the staff. Many in ministry callings came to us to share their hearts and gained helpful counsel as well.
LITERALLY A FEW WEEKS BEFORE COVID LOCKDOWNS BEGAN, our landlord who was also a believer let us know that he was going to sell his portion of the medical unit building that we were renting from him, and the Lord had begun to speak to Steve and I about the timing of where we were supposed to head into more private work as pastoral counselors and as mentors within that same timeframe. The state of Colorado had begun to dictate what licensed counselors were permitted to address, absolutely mandating that they were not permitted to talk about any kind of therapy, that assisted those with “different sexual lifestyles” if they wanted to be transformed or helped.
Steve and I strictly operate as Ordained ministers so we do not have to bow our knee to the dictates of a corrupt government licensure program. We still have to follow confidentiality laws as well as report any kind of devastating child abuse that we may hear in our counseling sessions, but it is all done ethically and legally, and with grace. When the lockdowns began the majority of our work took place over the phone or occasional zoom sessions. With great sadness our dear sister and friend and Counseling Center Supervisor Dr. Muskie, passed into heaven, due to complications with WuhanCovid19.
When You Counsel People, The Number One Thing
That Needs To Be Absolutely Evident Is That You Are Willing
To NOT Look At Everyone From A Lens Of What YOU Know,
But Rather From The Lens Of God’s Compassion, As Well As
Leaning In To The Discernment Of The Holy Spirit.
The majority of the people I work with are women who have been in abusive environments with either husbands, abusive parents or/siblings and with people in ministry environments (and I’m telling you there are many sexual predators who prey upon women right in church buildings!) as well as working with professional women who are pressured by men and women in their work environments.
There are also a lot of women who are very sensual, who get attention by teasing men hoping to cause them to fall. It’s a real deal! And they don’t just go after pastors. They will go after any man in a local body or church or work environment to get the attention that they hunger for when they missed out on being parented properly, or if they feel that something sensual makes them get the attention they need to feel loved. This often happens when there has been sexual abuse in their lives.
Pastoral counseling is based on getting to the root of the problem according to what the word of God says, and for a believer the importance of it is that we are willing to face the root cause of what causes us to be traumatized, bitter, secretive, or lie.
ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS TO COUNSEL IS A PERSON WITH AN EXTREMELY HARD, WOUNDED HEART, OR WHO IS EMBITTERED. No matter how much you try to show them the way and soften the pathway for them with the grace of God, there is often a back lash that always has a reason to explain why they are hurt, why they are hard, and why they choose to stay stuck in a hard place.
In Matthew 13:15 Jesus says:
“For the heart of this people has become hard,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.”
It is a humbling thing to admit that you are stuck or that you are in a hard place, or that you are dominant and mean and cruel to people because you are bitter over tough life circumstances that have happened to you, and so you put up a wall to protect yourself.
I have met Christians who justify the fact that they can bully and name call and yes, often swear at other people when they think they are trying to help them or advise them. They often get angry when they are confronted about their bad bullying behavior towards their children. If you ever hear a believer say something like “my child is a jerk”, or “you’re a little brat”, or “stop whining and get up or I’m going to give you something to cry about”, you can tell that there’s verbal abuse going on in their home.
Verbal abuse isn’t just cussing at someone although it is verbal abuse for sure! Verbal abuse is considered shaming, humiliating, paralyzing, and dominating over someone else verbally to the point that they are caused to emotionally shut down in fear. Unfortunately, I hear in the confines and confidential pouring out of hearts in my counseling sessions many who have been yelled at with scripture verses and shamed over not being perfect and obedient to God. This is called spiritual abuse.
Picking out specific Bible verses, and using them as a battering ram, or a knife that stabs into the heart of someone to get them to “obey" or to get them to “submit”, is absolutely vicious behavior and it is abusive. There’s no godly virtue in posturing to be a big shot, or to appear to be the person who can control a room with snarky snide remarks or a bunch of advice that everyone is forced to listen to.
This is called "insolent pride" in the Bible, and we always take that biblical view, but in the natural if you were studying a psychological viewpoint, this is called narcissism.
Proverbs 21:24 states
“Proud,” “Haughty,” “Scoffer,” are his names,
He who acts with insolent pride
INSOLENT PRIDE CREATES A SCOFFING, ARROGANT “KNOW IT ALL” ENVIRONMENT, where there is no ability to ever address the deep-rooted issue of control and abuse in a human being and how they use it towards others to posture. The need for power and control becomes “out of control”! But underneath that simmering rage there is someone who needs to keep everything tightly organized and under their thumb in order that no one finds about out the secret part of them that is either weak, wounded, or has done something they should not do to harm others.
WHY AM I SHARING THIS?
Well, we are living in a time where narcissism is actually applauded and stroked as a point of near genius! Insolent pride and verbal domination have become the way of communication in most social media groups. And, unfortunately it takes place in a lot of texting where people can say cruel or snarky things behind the protection of a telephone screen and slander others in one mass social media post or text! But to say it face-to-face and see the pain in someone’s face by the words they’ve spoken is a different thing isn’t it? And the other party suddenly being painted as a “rotten person” never gets a chance to tell the side of their story that may actually be the truth.
Every day we come across people who need to hear a kind word, who need to be lead to a place where they can get help or truth, or just simply be treated with a level of empathy. And, every day we come across people who may be predators, verbal abusers, spiritual abusers, and have no conscience about how they treat people.
IT IS ABSOLUTELY TIME FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST AGAIN TO READDRESS THE ISSUE, FOR THE NEED FOR EXTREME DISCERNMENT. Everything that the enemy could throw at us and our children is on full display right now, and if we dumb down safety and sexuality, safety and what our children watch on television or other tech devices, safety and what WE as adults watch, we simply embrace the narrative of the world, and we move away from scriptural goodness into a place that pollutes the ability to have good discernment.
When we don’t allow accountability to come into our lives, whether it be with a good and wise counselor, or with a group of trusted friends who are not going to take your information and spread it far and wide, we leave ourselves open to a secretive fantasy world, or a secret world of torment.
What do you do when you’re anxious or sad or depressed or fearful over the way your husband treats you or the way your wife beats you down verbally?
What do you do when you are at a stalemate because a spouse refuses to forgive or move forward into hearing the truth about some of the things they have done to get locked into bad behavior and resentment?
What do you do when you have a child that suddenly has become addicted to video games and it’s moved up into their adult life and they have no friends because their world is all in front of a screen?
What do you do when you know that a minister or a member of a staff in a church or a CEO of your corporation is secretly sexually preying upon individuals in their offices, and you could lose your job, because you know?
THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE HARD TO ADDRESS,
BUT MUST BE ADDRESSED!
The world is feeling a tremendous amount of being unsettled right now by the great upset of realizing how easy it is to be controlled by a few tyrants, and yet people will cower and go about in denial, instead of learning how to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
I have worked with many brave women, who have prayed and fasted and done everything they possibly can to help work on their marriages, but their spouses have chosen to hunker down and gaslight and punish. No matter what approach is taken they become more verbally violent and are determined to blame everyone else.
Is this easy to talk about? Absolutely not!
But when you are scripturally based not only as a minister, but also as a pastoral counselor, you must bring truth into the light and help people become free from abusive environments and often “self abusive” environments. You must above all have confidentiality and trust level that they know will not be breached. Most pastoral counselors work on a sliding scale fee in order to keep their rates low for those who are working hard, sometimes two and three jobs, or a wife who has limited income because her husband tightly holds the reins of the finances.
WHEN YOU’RE A PASTORAL COUNSELOR, IT IS DONE OUT OF THE PASSION FOR CHRIST and therefore money and income are not the foremost driving purpose for your work. But, there must be an investment and a fee from those who are in counseling, or people tend to not take it seriously.
It needs to be considered per individual and what they are capable of handling. I often tell people their counseling is much more important than the two or three times weekly custom cup of coffee at their local coffee shop, or perhaps snacks in their afternoon candy bar routine. It really isn’t a sacrifice when you start doing the work to get yourself whole and healthy.
It becomes a lifetime investment.
Pastoral counseling is definitely a calling and not to be simply a moneymaker. However, many individuals still expect hours and hours of free counseling time, and rarely invest much into changing their lives if there isn’t some kind of financial accountability for them. Of course if you attend a local church and there is a counseling pastor on staff, that’s what they are there for! If you regularly go to that fellowship and support them, usually there is an option or opportunity for you to see a counselor on staff for no fee. But having experienced some of this in the past, I also know that people tend to jump from counselor to counselor or, Pastor to Pastor if they don’t want to deal with the root cause of their problems, and it can cause friction in a local body if there’s not respect for the position and the role the pastoral counselor is assigned to, by the Lord. Basically they want someone to justify what they are doing, and their bad behaviors.
I URGE YOU TO ASK THE LORD TO WALK THE CORRIDORS OF YOUR HEART. Are there things in your life that you dominate and hold over others as scriptural and “legalistic absolutes” and they have become nearly abusive because you refuse to listen to someone else’s heart on the matter?
One thing that I have often observed is that people become very hard and hardened because they want to win an argument, or something that has helped and changed them, becomes a law for them to use against others.
Now, before others think I’m going to lighten my approach to the Bible, understand this. The word of God is perfect and enlightens the soul. It brings truth to a matter and it does not waver.
Of course, there are absolutes in the Scriptures that God will not deviate from no matter how many people try to dilute or maneuver around them. But if we use a hammer and verbal abuse and shame and scripture to “scorch people” in order to prove a point, or to advise them then we are also biblically unsound and abusive.
FIRST CORINTHIANS INSTRUCTS US SO CLEARLY THAT LOVE IS WHAT?
It is patient.
It is kind.
It is not boastful, it is not arrogant, and it is not self-serving.
When the Lord said, come to me, all of you who are heavy, laden, weighed down and burdened, and I will give you rest, he meant that, because he knows we get heavy laden and burdened and weighed down, either by our own destructive behaviors and sins, or by the destructive behaviors and actions and sins of others.
There is also nothing more painful than when someone is in pain or sorrowful or going through a great loss or trauma, and another individual shouts, “get over it, move on”, or cracks jokes about the person in pain.
Yes, you will be around people who are chronically in pain or depressed, and it takes patience. It takes guidance, and it takes kindness to either help direct them to help, or gently tell them that you are not the person that is able to help them at this time, but that you will stop and pray for them right now.
You see, it takes humility.
Although there is a lot of reading material produced that uses the term “tough love” and a lot of books about boundaries that we can study, remember, if you’re coming from a scriptural perspective the ultimate goal of God is a Redemptive moment or a restoration if possible.
BOUNDARIES ARE NOT TO BE HUGE CEMENT WALLS WITH BARBED WIRE AT THE TOP BLOCKING OUT EVEN THE SUN.
Boundaries as a believer are there for when there is a conflict or a disagreement or a different viewpoint with another person. It’s a "time out" to go and think about it, to pray about it, check your own heart and see if there’s something that would bring about a form of reconciliation. And then, you try to come together and discuss the issue.
You can agree to disagree and not banish people!
Imagine how much Jesus disagrees with a lot of how we behave and yet he doesn’t banish us! He continues to wait for us to come out of our corners of hiding or corners of denial, and meet him again in dialogue until light comes and hope and help, bring a different perspective on our pathway of life.
I have worked with people through phone counseling sessions from many different places in the United States, and I have seen them grieve and open up and trust me with the deepest of their painful sorrows and things that are unbelievably sometimes even unbearable to mention. Slowly, but surely, a foundation of nurture and truth combined begins to chip away at the lie that they have believed and feel viewed as something no longer valuable or useful, or that they are worthy of value and are not to be abused!
For instance, if a young girl has been used and trafficked by a parent for most of their childhood and up into their high school years, once they awaken to this later in life, there is no way that anyone can accuse them of “choosing” to not face it!
There comes a time where the light of God shines brightly on the pain and the sorrow, and they need to be led out into a place where they can express the grief, the anguish and the huge loss of childhood innocence, and yet be brought to a safe place before the face of God, through strategic dialog, planning, or behavioral changes. Gently addressing the people that they affiliate, with until they see the light and the kindness of God. Until they can see themselves as the original creation God had planned them to be.
NOW, DON’T GET ME WRONG.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHEN THE LORD OPENS DOORS FOR ME TO SPEAK AND MINISTER, and if so called to, I to do operate in the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom when I am involved in these environments. It is hard work to study and prepare in prayer for when you are assigned these opportunities to speak and minister publicly. But, this behind-the-scenes work of mentoring and pastorally, biblically guide people with counsel, is one of the hardest things that I think I’ve ever done, and yet the most joyful and rewarding when you see the lights come on and the light enter and the chains of the enemy become literal paper and fall away. The person finds the joy and laughter and finds that God has a glorious plan for them.
Sometimes it can be a rather rapid process, but the majority of times it is a steady, consistent work, until they find their wings and fly. Every time I work with someone I think about how long it takes for Jesus to help us to find our way, and he often narrows the path of our relationships and friendships in order for us to not only be safe, but to also be on a pathway that is not crowded by those who choose to not do the work that God is asking them to do, in order to be transformed.
If we look at the parable where the seed falls on the ground, there are those who will stay stony hearted and will not take in water. They will not receive nourishment. They choose not to grow, and the sad thing is that their seed is pecked up on my other predators.
I CAN TELL YOU HONESTLY THAT ALL OF THE PROPHETIC WORDS SPOKEN OVER YOUR LIFE DO NOT CHANGE
THE HARD WORK IT TAKES TO GET YOUR LIFE ON A PATH WHERE THEY CAN COME TO PASS.
The Lord is so good to give us future promises, but with those there’s a requirement for action.
Don’t wait until things are so bad and you have a minefield of heartache and debris left in your wake that you have to now clean up.
Don’t be afraid to ask for the help that you need, and find someone whom you can work with and feel safe with, and get on with allowing God to create a new clean heart and renew a right spirit within you.
If you have addictions to pornography or addictions to drugs or any other thing that causes you to feel driven towards it, the Lord wants to offer you freedom and restore you to a place of peace and no longer walking in fear.
The greatest counselor that we can have is the Holy Spirit; the scripture says the Holy Spirit is a counselor.
Now, many people say, “Well! I can hear from the Lord for myself, and I will let the Holy Spirit counsel me!”
The problem with that statement is that if we are already in trouble, or we are hiding something, or we have been abused and beat down, we can often dismiss the deep inner voice of the Lord telling us that we need to talk to others and be accountable and get help. Often the Holy Spirit will gently say to someone, “Go talk to so-and-so or go talk to your pastor or go talk to a counselor or a close friend, who is wise”. Yet pride or fear keeps us paralyzed and afraid to move forward.
EVERYONE SOMEWHERE IN THEIR FAMILY OR IN THEIR LIFE EXPERIENCES HURT, AND PAIN AND TRAUMA. Unfortunately, this is the nature of fallen man and the Earth is riddled with devastation because of it. But in John 10:10, Jesus himself said, “I have come that you might have life to the fullest!” He said that you MIGHT have life to the fullest! And the first part of that verse is, “but Satan comes to rob to steal to kill and destroy”. This is what happens to people in life when they are abused and traumatized!
Jesus offers a hand to us saying come to me all of you, who are very weary and heavy laden, heavy burdened, and I will give you rest so that you might have life to the fullest.
One of the simplest ways you can find help is to simply look in your area for a Christian counselor, and you can even ask for specifics and details. Those who are really dedicated to the call of God as pastoral counselors spend as much time in prayer and preparation before there counseling session, as they do IN the counseling session.
The word of God ultimately has the answers that we need, and the pathway that will guide us out of darkness into the light.
I AM IMPRESSED TO SHARE THIS PODCAST SPECIFICALLY
BECAUSE I KNOW THERE ARE THOSE OF YOU
THAT ARE LISTENING WHO ARE CRYING OUT FOR GOD
TO SHOW YOU WHERE TO GO OR WHAT TO DO ABOUT
SOME OF THE SITUATIONS YOU FIND YOURSELF IN.
He wants you to know it is not wrong to seek help and that counseling is not of the devil!
After all the scripture in Isaiah calls, Jesus, The Mighty Counselor! And again he speaks of the Holy Spirit as being our advocate, or one of our counselors, because they are in themselves three in one with the Father. But, the Lord gives the spirit of counsel and wisdom, and insight to those who are called to help others out of dark places.
Don’t hesitate!
Call someone, research someone in your area, or if you have a pastor or individual who is skilled in your church to help you deal with the specific kind of trauma upset you are dealing with, make an appointment and step forward. Not all pastors are skilled or qualified to help people who have been through traumatic sexual abuse issues, or who are dealing with parents who have dementia and Alzheimer’s. But, they can certainly pray with you and help also to direct you to the proper resource.
JESUS WANTS US TO FIND A PLACE OF PEACE AND REST IN HIM. His ultimate is to bring us peace and to draw us close to him.
If there’s anyone who has ever shamed you by telling you that, seeing a counselor is weak or shows that you don’t trust the Lord, just understand that that individual is also hiding something, or is extremely bound up in the fear of being led astray.
Some counselors are not a good fit and so you go to a different one! There have been times when I have worked with individuals and I have to lovingly let them know that I am not a good fit for their situation, or it becomes overlapped into situations where there needs to be another specialist who can better help them walk out an area where they’re stuck, and they need a Focused, Skilled individual to help them unpack, and unburden the deep pain that they are in.
THE SCRIPTURE SAYS HE WHOM THE SON SETS FREE IS FREE INDEED.
My prayer for those that are listening today is that you will open your heart to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help you to take the steps forward that you might need to deal with whatever it is that you are suffering over.
If you have been verbally abused by bullies in the church or those that may even say that they have some form of counseling skill, but they verbally abuse or shame or use harsh language in order to shock you, this was not the way God planned it. Try again!
Step forward one more time and ask the Lord to open the door for you to the right counselor. He will do it, and he will help you be free from pain, the hiding of abuse as a child, the difficulty of dealing with addicted or angry adult children, and those that are prodigal parents, or prodigal children.
Jesus has a plan and helping us to hand things over to him in his care when we’ve done all that we know we can possibly do, and we have apologized or repented for actions on our part.
Remember, nothing is impossible with God.
I have seen him turn situations around that seemed absolutely impossible! He can help us to stand firm in our faith and not hide in order to be people pleasers, or to cower under the pressure of abusive treatment.
OUR NATURAL HUMAN RESPONSE TO SHAME IS TO HIDE.
We hide from each other and hide from God.
This has been the case since Creation. The Bible describes how the first human beings responded to God when they had sinned and were ashamed: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).
FRIENDS, HIDING KEEPS US FROM HEALING.
Let’s all aim to be a compassionate, courageous community of believers. A community in which we support each other as we choose healing over hiding.
Let’s support each other as we ask God to grow, to change and heal us.
Let Me Lift You Up To The Father In Prayer Right Now:
Father, I thank you for those that are listening to this podcast today. I know it’s not an easy one and certainly not as stimulating and supernatural or as exciting as some, but it IS a supernatural work that you do when you bring us to a place of releasing pain and telling the truth about what has happened to us, or where we have done something to harm someone else.
Lord, I know you’re doing a great cleansing work and that you are starting with the body of Christ, bringing your judgment and your truth, and your light.
Lord, you said the days are coming when we will worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we can’t fully worship you when we’re not truthful with you, if we’re hiding and if we’re cloaking, so I pray that anyone listening today. Father anyone who is afraid. I pray that you tell them that fear is holding them back and that you would guide them literally by the hand and direct them to the proper counselor, to someone who has the wisdom to help unlock the pain, the history, the stories and the trauma that has happened to them, in war, in family, in abuse in school or a job. With an abusive Pastor, with an abusive Sunday school teacher.
The list goes on and on and you know every one of these events.
So Father I ask that those that are hearing this message will take courage. You will GIVE them the courage to step out and ask for help and I know you will do it.
You will help them if they will simply step out, and I thank you for hearing this prayer from my heart for them, in Jesus name.
Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed, as long as the complete message, Website, podcast link and information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You! 2024
"THE MESSENGER" - Mary Lindow
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Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
By Mary Lindow
In this podcast I will be speaking about an experience that I had which was completely unexpected, yet several consecutive things took place indicating a Word and warning from the Lord regarding our City. This happened in late August of 2019, right before the WuhanCovid19 biological disaster was unleashed, shortly after. This is a difficult message somewhat for me to deliver yet, it’s also a wonderful insight for us all during such volatile and darks days.
This podcast was unusually difficult to pull together, due to several events that simultaneously warred against us. Pipes broke in our home and we are still sorting out that situation with great difficulty. I was suddenly very ill with a kidney/bladder situation, (I’ve never had any problems previously,) and my husband was then in pain with a sudden kidney stone! We took this to prayer along with several others praying for and with us and have seen the Lord do the work of restoring our bodies. The pipes are still in a place of prayer and decisions about what to do. BUT! God sees it all and knows the answer!
Now! Lets get to the podcast! It’s an intense but import message from the Lord at this time.
OFTEN THE LORD WILL LET US SEE THINGS OR CATALOG THINGS, AND THEN HE WILL PUT THESE ALL TOGETHER AND SPEAK CLEARLY ABOUT WHY HE LET US SEE OR HEAR SOME OF THEM. It’s not always easy to communicate what the Lord shows you prophetically, but I’m going to give it my best and trust that the Holy Spirit will let you hear what you’re supposed to hear, and see what you’re supposed to see.
My husband, Steve, and I went to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s to see “The DaVinci Experience”. I had purchased surprise birthday tickets for Steve since his birthday is in late August. As we were driving around looking for a parking space, the lots were absolutely chaotic since the location of this event also had multiple huge displays and different events going on. We finally pulled into a space quite a distance away and hurriedly got out of the car and quickly headed towards the building that the presentation and creations that DaVinci had made, were being displayed. We had a specific time slot to be in line for or we would lose our entry to view the exhibit.
As we went in, we noticed that to the left a section there were all of the musical instruments and many copies of DaVinci’s paintings and amazing inventions that literally changed the world. On the right hand side, there were large, 20-foot graphics, and then reproductions of all of the machines of war that DaVinci drew and created. He was one of the first catapult engineers! As we read about his life, he was known to have extreme artistic talent and precision engineering types of abilities, but in order for him to finance his creative artistic gift, he also had to create weapons of destruction in order for the wealthy to support him.
We moved on further into a large room that had multiple multimedia cameras positioned on huge canvases, and we watched beautiful movement and saw his most amazing art creations, projected onto massive screens with gorgeous music accompanying these. As we moved out of that room and walked around and were looking at a few more items that were created by DaVinci, I looked up and on the wall there was a statement that DaVinci had made.
I didn’t quite know why at the time but I was impressed to take a picture of it.
Here is what the statement said.
There are three classes of people:
Those who see,
Those who see when they are shown,
Those who do not see.
Steve and I finished the exhibit and went out into the parking lot and as we were walking towards our car, I looked in front of our car and realized we had parked in front of a large, silver colored, aluminum light pole.
Right In The Middle Of That Pole In Front Of Our Car Someone Had Carefully Used Some Kind Of A Tool To Hammer A Perfect Indentation Of A Goblet Or What Some Might Call A Cup.
I pointed this out to Steve and I said, “Why would there be a cup right where that “pole is” where we are parked?”
Again, the Holy Spirit prompted me to take a picture of what I saw. So I did. Picture below. (As a side note, the last name of our extreme liberal governor is Pol-is).
We stopped to have a birthday meal and enjoyed ourselves and then began the trek back home on Interstate 25.
We reached a specific place on the highway where you’re up above on a higher curve that turns towards the north. To the left you can see the full Rocky Mountain Front Range. The traffic was at a standstill when we hit this section and it was bumper-to-bumper.
As we were sitting there, talking about the strangeness of the DaVinci art show, I happened to look out my window, which was on the right side of the car.
Directly To My Right Up In The Sky Was A Giant Hand-Shaped Cloud. It was stretched out, reaching out over the capital or pointing toward the Capital hill area of Denver. It was so clear and obvious that people were rolling down their windows and staring, and of course phones with cameras were snapping up the picture!
Again The Holy Spirit Said, “Take A Picture Of This”, And We Were Pretty Stunned To See Something So Extremely Clear In The Sky. Down in the corner of the picture when I got home and looked at it again, was a billboard sign that said, “plumbers wanted”.
Of course, at the time I had no idea how all three of these pictures were going to come together, but we don’t always know what the Holy Spirit is putting together in the moment when he is showing us things that he wants us to observe and pray about. .
FOR MONTH AFTER MONTH I WAS PRAYING AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LORD WAS SAYING TO ME ABOUT ALL OF THESE THINGS HE HAD ME SEE. Meanwhile, the legislation in the state of Colorado and bills that were being passed by them were becoming more and more restrictive and excessively contentious, and diabolical in their approach.
THEN, ONE DAY, AS I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT EVERYTHING AND PRAYING, THE PICTURES ALL CAME BACK TO MY MIND.
The Holy Spirit began to speak to me about the hand of God over our city, and I was immediately reminded of the picture of the hand that I had taken in the sky.
This hand was the right hand outstretched in the sky, towards the city of Denver, and it almost looked as if there was another hand below it reaching towards it, but it was more faint.
WHEN GOD’S HAND IS STRETCHED OUT OVER A CITY OR TOWARDS AN INDIVIDUAL, IT IS BECAUSE HE WANTS TO EITHER BLESS THE CITY, WARN THE CITY, OR JUDGE A CITY.
In the Book of Daniel chapter five there was the hand of God that wrote on the wall of a feast taking place.
Belshazzar, the son of King Nabonidus, began to co-reign over the Babylonian empire with his father starting in 553 B.C. He decides, in 539, to hold in Babylon a great feast for one thousand of his nobles (Daniel 5:1).
No expense is spared in carrying out the lavish banquet!
During the revelry Belshazzar, now drunk from wine, commands that the holy vessels Nebuchadnezzar took from Jerusalem's temple be brought to the festivities. He then proceeds to have himself and his honored guests drink from these gold and silver goblets. The party guests soon begin to use the vessels, in a contemptuous act against God, to celebrate and praise their own pagan deities! (Daniel 5:2 - 4)
THE MIRACULOUS HANDWRITING
As those at the massive banquet continue to indulge in drunkenness and idolatry, the fingers of a man's hand miraculously appear near one of the hall's walls. The supernatural manifestation then begins writing on a wall the now well-known words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" (Daniel 5:25).
BELSHAZZAR, WHILE HE IS WITNESSING GOD'S HANDWRITING, BECOMES TERRIFIED.
The fear welling up inside of him not only causes his face to turn pale but also his knees to knock together! His now weakened state causes him to fall to the ground (Daniel 5:5 - 6).
THIS WAS WORTHLESS AND VAIN
Pulling himself together, Belshazzar calls for his enchanters and astrologers to interpret the mysterious words. They, of course, prove to be worthless and unable to determine the meaning of the phrase on the wall. Following his wife's suggestion (Daniel 5:10 - 12), the king summons an old man named Daniel (likely in his 90's).
Daniel severely chastises the king for not reeling in his excessive pride and vanity, even though he knew God punished King Nebuchadnezzar’s pride. He then interprets the handwriting on the wall for the king.
A TRUE INTERPRETATION
The literal word for word translation of "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" in Daniel 5:25 is "numbered" "weighed" and "divided up or split". Daniel goes into detail and tells Belshazzar that "mene" means God has numbered his kingdom and will end it. The word "tekel" suggested this judgment was due to the king's character being found morally deficient or wanting.
BELSHAZZAR IS KILLED SEVERAL HOURS AFTER SEEING THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL. The Persians overrun the city of Babylon (Daniel 5:31). The once great empire receives its final crushing blow when later the same year Persia's Cyrus the Great is victorious at the battle of Opis in Mesopotamia.
THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD HAS SHOWN ME THAT THE MEANING OF THESE THINGS THAT I SAW AND DOCUMENTED IN PICTURES, the words on the wall in the DaVinci display, the cup or chalice that was hammered on the light pole in front of where our car was parked, and then, of course, seeing the hand in the sky, are three things that really address one thing.
REMEMBER The DaVinci statement was.
There are three classes of people:
Those who see,
Those who see when they are shown,
Those who do not see.
-Leonarde DaVinci
MANY PEOPLE ARE SEEING THAT GOD IS CALLING THEM INTO A DEEPER PLACE OF GENUINE PURITY, not a “religious” rigid, holiness, but a Divine holiness of love and faithfulness. It’s a choice to be obedient to God and these people see that God is asking them to walk a pure path with him.
They are hearing God speak in the difficult times that we are in and they are seeing him in a way they have not experienced before. These people are alive with the pursuit of the will of God for their lives and are in daily communication with God.
THE SECOND GROUP OF PEOPLE ARE THOSE WHO WILL “SEE WHEN THEY ARE SHOWN”.
These individuals walk in a very shallow faith and need to have facts and data that match their narrative, or match the way that “they” think. These are the people that we are to compel to seek God, to seek truth and to not seek the modern day constant “shifting of truths”, in order to convince people to follow a less then accurate way.
Individuals like this often doubt that there is only one way for salvation through Jesus Christ as the Savior and King. They dabble in light occult practices and in different forms of soul-driven “self care” practices, in order to please their flesh, as well as feed their need to be in control.
They walk in a very immature level of weak faith and often are distracted or led by emotions and feelings regarding decision-making. This is where deception easily creeps in and the louder voices of human reasoning, choke out the pure word of God.
THE THIRD GROUP OF PEOPLE ARE THOSE WHO DO NOT SEE.
They absolutely remain blinded. They remain stuck, and they choose to not believe the warnings around them.
In John 9:39 Jesus said,
“For judgment I have come into this world,
so that the blind will see
and those who see will become blind.”
AS I PONDERED THESE THINGS, and began thinking about the communion type looking cup or chalice on the light pole in front of our car, that was literally chiseled or hammered into the metal, no matter how much I tried to reason with myself that this didn’t mean anything, the Holy Spirit would not let up.
Then the Lord began to speak to me and said that this is the cup that our governor in Colorado has chosen to drink from.
I remembered my statement when I saw the cup chiseled into the light pole as we were standing there. I vividly remember saying to my husband, “look at what is hammered onto where the pole is!” (Our governor’s name last name is Po-lis).
AND SO THE LORD BEGAN TO SPEAK ABOUT HIM TO ME, and, yes, we have prayed and prayed for him, and prayed that he would have his eyes opened, but in fact, he’s becoming more and more like the tyrant king Belshazzar in Daniel, who defied everything in order to build his kingdom. His lavish and wicked ways have multiplied evil and death in our state.
Many Governors and leaders are drinking from a cup of deception, sexual perversion, the murdering of children, and tyrannical law.
GOD’S HAND IS OUTSTRETCHED.
It was outstretched in the sky, pointing towards our state capital. God is saying to the state of corrupt Colorado, and of course, to many other states specifically that his hand is outstretched to those who will see and help, and who will obey the voice of God.
But for those that have to be shown, and for those who will not see, there is a cup to be drunk from that will be of utter sorrow and great destruction.
What amazed me about this outstretched hand in the sky was that people were at a dead stop on the highway and were all taking pictures.
Everyone knew it was a phenomenon and an unusually strange cloud! They knew it was something strange because they were taking pictures of it!
DOWN BELOW, IN THE RIGHT HAND CORNER OF THE PICTURE (as I was looking at again), you can see that there is an advertisement sign that was on the opposite side of the median.
It said.
“Now Hiring” - Plumber Service. Apply Within.
I was asking the Lord why that picture seemed to be significant because I was impressed to continue looking at it, and then he revealed to me why he wanted me to pay more attention to it.
Most all of us all know that plumbers come to do some very difficult work in our homes. One of the most messy and unpleasant jobs is when they have to bring in a rotor-rooter system that needs to unclog drainpipes in order for debris and sewage and water to be able to pass through freely.
THE LORD IMPRESSED ME WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT PRAYER AND INTERCESSION IS MUCH LIKE PLUMBING. Those devoted to prayer stay consistent and persistent as they push against the darkness, the blockages and the strongholds that “stop-up” and keep the free flow of the Spirit of God in their cities.
INTERCESSORS KNOW THAT THE CONSISTENT APPLICATION OF PRAYER IN SPECIFIC AREAS HAS TO BE DONE WITH THE INTENT OF FOCUSED AND PURPOSEFUL PRAYER.
COLORADO HAS MANY DEMONIC STRONGHOLDS, AND THE DARKNESS HAS ENCROACHED AND INCREASED.
Colorado’s governor signed into law that there can be no “conversion therapy” permitted by any counselor, licensed psychiatrists or licensed, registered or certified mental health providers, in the state of Colorado according to the Movement Advancement Project.
Read here: https://tinyurl.com/bdf4fs95
This basically means that anyone who would want to leave a homosexual lifestyle or any other kind of sexually deviant lifestyle attached to that, cannot be counseled, as to how to do that. It is called fantasy. It is called impossibility and, it is called illegal! Christians who believe the Bible opposes homosexuality should be given “the freedom to choose counseling and support that’s one with their goals," but that the current legal trend prevents parents from doing so. If you’re a parent and you have a 5-year-old boy who’s confused about his identity, in Colorado you can’t find a licensed counselor who will help him embrace his masculine identity, and that’s a travesty.
However, Colorado law does allow for “gender-affirming care,” such as hormone therapy, for minor children, with parental consent. But, youth can access mental health care without parental consent at age of 12, which means psychotherapy of any kind, including gender-affirming counseling, is available for children 12 and older. Some states, including California, want to prohibit such therapy/counseling for adults as well.
Governor Polis also urged individuals to lie to their family members and “privately” get one of the controversial COVID-19 vaccines while engaging in deception, to keep loved ones who may be against the vaccines from finding out.
His Direct Quote:
“A spouse, a parent you live with who doesn’t want to get it, is against it… you can still privately get that vaccine without your parents or partner knowing, if that’s what keeps the harmony in the family and you are protecting yourself.” Source: https://tinyurl.com/yc7fe25b
UNDERSTAND, Colorado does not make exceptions for minors to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or any vaccine without parental permission.
THIS IS WHERE THE CHURCH MUST TO COME INTO PLAY. Ministers who are men and women of God must be available to help break the darkness, break down the lies, break down the narratives by praying and being available to the Lord (like a plumber), to clear out this blockage that is causing great difficulty in the homes and lives around them, and the hearts of many believers.
They must preach the truth regarding sexually deviant practices and pushes to influence little children that are taking place in our world.
It must be done biblically and it must be done in love.
ANOTHER THING THAT THIS GOVERNOR HAS SIGNED OFF INTO LAW IS THAT A CHILD CAN BE ABORTED UP TO THE VERY DAY OF BIRTH. That means a full-term baby can be murdered within seconds of being born. This is a great evil in our land, and it is a great evil to sign into law in any state!
Read about it here:
https://tinyurl.com/mpfr6dkw
AND SO, WE, THE INTERCESSORS OF GOD, MUST PRAY.
The part that stood out to me above all the others on the advertisement sign were the words “apply within”.
When we are intercessors for the Lord, when we are as human beings called by the Lord as believers to pray, and to do the work of intercession in prayer, to bring about a godly plumb line in our city, GOD IS LOOKING FOR THOSE THAT HE CAN “EMPLOY” or, "HIRE" TO GET THE JOB DONE.
THE FATHER IS LOOKING FOR WORKERS
WHO ARE WILLING TO STAND IN THE GAP AND PRAY UNTIL CHANGE COMES.
But, it has to be applied within. Each of us has to apply that prayer to our own lives as well as seeking God, asking him to purify our hearts so that when we pray, our prayers are not hindered, and, so that the Lord hears them, from a pure heart.
We have to apply intercession “within first” so that the hand of God can move without the land.
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD?
In ancient times, a person with a high or highest rank stood to the king's right side. Even today, a person may be called someone's "right hand man" or "wingman" when he or she serves as the closest person to another leader. An example of this can be found in Genesis 48:13-14 where Jacob blessed the child who would receive a greater blessing with his right hand. The right hand of God also relates to this concept of someone being right next to God, acknowledging both authority and closeness to Him.
WHILE GOD THE FATHER DOES NOT CONSIST OF A PHYSICAL BODY LIKE HUMANS DO, THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD IS OFTEN USED FIGURATIVELY IN SCRIPTURE. In the Old Testament, the phrase is used to refer to the coming Messiah. Psalm 110:1 predicts, "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool'" (also quoted in Matthew 22:44). Psalm 118:16 adds, "the right hand of the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!"
In the New Testament, we see expressions of this phrase in reference to Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:20-21 says, "…that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come."
Romans 8:34 teaches, "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us."
THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THEN, IS A REFERENCE TO BOTH A PLACE OF CLOSENESS TO GOD THE FATHER AND A POSITION OF POWER ABOVE ALL OTHER POWERS. That means that Jesus has power over any and all earthly governors operating in evil powers. Jesus the Messiah exists at the right hand of God today, perfectly reigning with God the Father and God the Spirit in community and power.
THE HAND OF GOD HAS BEEN EXTENDED, LETTING US KNOW THAT HE IS CALLING AND POINTING OUT AS A SIGN THAT HE IS LOOKING FOR INTERCESSORS. He wants to have a plumb line that is straight and in order, and, he wants his people to believe and trust in him, without having to be shown every little step of the way. He’s looking for those that will “see and believe” without having to be shown. This is where the crux of our faith comes into play.
WHEN IT IS SO DIFFICULT AND SO DARK, AND IT SEEMS AS IF NOTHING IS CHANGING, AND NOTHING IS MOVING, RESOURCES ARE TIGHT, PRESSURES WITHIN AND PRESSURES WITHOUT ARE PUSHING IN ON US, THIS IS WHEN THE LORD POINTS TO THE PLACE WE NEED TO BE.
That place is looking within our own hearts to allow him to do the work through prayer and intercession that needs to be done. We need to apply it “within”.
If you’re looking for a sign from the Lord, and you’ve been seeking him, your sign is exactly like the actual billboard sign that I saw! He is looking for you to become a person that decides to hunker down in authentic times of prayer and intercession, and apply it within, your own life.
AS I SHARED THESE THINGS WITH MY HUSBAND STEVE THAT I SAW AND PONDERED AND WRESTLED OVER FOR MONTHS, WE BOTH CONTINUED TO PONDER AND THOUGHT ABOUT THEM OFTEN, AND PRAYED.
One morning a few weeks later Steve, just as he was waking up, (the Lord often shows or speaks things to Steve just as he is waking up in the morning), he heard the Lord speak to him, and he was addressing our Governor.
Here is what the Lord said.
“You have been found wanting, your breath will be taken from you”.
NOW, PLEASE UNDERSTAND! WE DO NOT WISH ANY EVIL OR HARM TO COME UP ON ANYONE!
But, just as Belshazzar chose to drink from the golden and silver goblets that were to be used only for holy purposes, our governor has chosen to use the vessels God has called holy which are infants, children, and justice, and abuses them by drinking from the cup of the murderous Genocide of infants, sexual deviancy, and tyranny.
He refuses to be shown the way of the Lord, and he refuses to honor truth. He refuses to see. He wants to murder more infants and control medical care for children.
And so the Lord speaks about his right hand of judgment and literally had a right hand form in the sky above Denver, reaching towards the Colorado State Capital.
Exodus 15:6 says,
“Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power,
Your right hand, O LORD shatters the enemy.”
ALL ACROSS OUR LAND, THERE ARE LEADERS
WHO HAVE BECOME DRIVEN BY DEMONIC FORCES,
AND BY THEIR OWN PRIDE AND ARROGANCE AND WEALTH.
They choose to ignore the voice of God, and they refuse to see the warnings that he has continuously brought to our land. When we ask God to move his hand, we must ask with the intent of the Lord saving the wicked from his own demise. And yet we know that there will be those who will not see.
WHEN SCRIPTURE USES THE IMAGE OF GOD’S RIGHT HAND, IT IS MEANT TO BE A PICTURE OF THE PINNACLE OF STRENGTH AND ABILITY. In passages that specify God’s right hand, his strength is a key focus.
One of my favorite verses is the following.
“Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.” (Psalm 20:6-7)
The Right Hand of God is outstretched for his people for Protection and Salvation
Psalms 44:3 says:
“For by their own sword they did not possess the land, and their own arm did not save them, but your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, for You favored them.”
And Psalms 17:7 says
“Wondrously show Your loving-kindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand from those who rise up against them.
THIS LAST VERSE I SHARE IS PACKED WITH SUCH BEAUTIFUL TRUTH.
I believe it is exactly what many of you need to hear right now.
Psalms 18:35 Says
“You have also given me the shield of your salvation,
And your right hand upholds and sustains me;
Your gentleness [Your gracious response when I pray]
makes me great.”
MY FRIENDS, IT IS IN GENTLENESS AND INTERCESSION THAT MAKES US GREAT.Great in the eyes of God, because we choose to move and flow in, HIS image. Yes, judgment will come, and God will move with fierce and complete fire when he brings justice. But, he is long-suffering, and he waits patiently and gives many opportunities for hearts to change.
Jesus is still praying and interceding right now in this moment for us, and intercedes for the world. But, he does bring warnings, and just as he wrote on the wall, God is beginning to point his finger to things in each of our cities, and he is going to bring justice and judgment as well.
WE CAN SHAKE OUR FISTS ALL THAT WE WANT AT THE EVIL PEOPLE AROUND USand make poignant posts on social media that we hope others will read and be motivated by. But in the end, the greatest force and the greatest power and the greatest kindness and grace that we could possibly ever operate in is, when we become those who choose to pray.
WE BECOME PLUMBERS BY USING THE PLUMB-LINE OF PRAYER
TO PUSH OUT THE UNCLEAN AND THE UNHOLY,
SO THAT THE FRESH CLEAN FLOW OF THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN ONCE AGAIN
BRING TIMES OF REFRESHING AND PURITY TO THE BODY OF CHRIST,
AND THEN TO OUR CITIES.
THE LORD IS GOING TO BEGIN TO SHOW MORE SIGNS AND WONDERS JUST LIKE THE HAND IN THE SKY THAT HE FORMED OVER THE CITY OF DENVER.
I’m going to share in my next podcast about yet another supernatural event I had when I began to prayer walk during the time of COVID-19 lockdowns. I had a very supernatural event take place and now in retrospect, realizing exactly what the Holy Spirit had me do and say, has driven me to a place of understanding that when we are yielded in God to prayer, and yielded to allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us, he will speak things and show us things that only God can do.
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BECOME MORE TENDER HEARTED AND CAST AWAY BITTERNESS AND HATRED AND DESPAIR. Ask the Lord to drive you into a place of greater Intercession, because his hand is reaching out over your city and is reaching out over your leaders, but it is also pointing towards the signs that tell us we are to become people of Intercession and apply that prayer within our own lives, in order to see God move in a mighty way.
HE IS ABSOLUTELY HOLDING US!
Isaiah 41:10 tells us,
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, and
I will uphold you with my righteous
Right hand.
IN CONCLUSION
There are many seasons in life. Proverbs tells us there is a time for every purpose under heaven. Beloved, I believe it is time to draw near to God, to prepare our hearts for His presence.
There simply is no substitute for the presence of God!
David was a king. His life was filled with many responsibilities and he was clearly very passionate about many things. Yet he wrote, "When You said, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You, “You, O LORD, I will seek' " (Ps 27:8).
IF THE HOLY SPIRIT WERE TO WHISPER TO YOUR HEART THAT HE WANTS MORE OF YOUR TIME, WHEN THE LORD SAYS, "SEEK MY FACE," WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Oh beloved, here is the true battle for your soul!
Your victory is not in getting more data and information about the evil days and treacherous news cycles, but in your answer to the Lord's call.
The result of seeking God is that He guides us into an absolutely fearless life. (see Psalm 27:1-4). David says, "For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock." (Ps 27:5).
TODAY, WITH SO MANY DISTRACTIONS, WHAT PLACE DOES THE LORD HAVE IN YOUR LIFE? If He called you to deepen your walk, to seek His face, how would you respond? When He says, "Seek My face," what does your heart say to Him?
I love Paul’s instruction in prayer that he gave to Timothy in 1st Timothy 2:-1-3
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” because “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”
PLEASE. PLEASE! JOIN ME RIGHT NOW IN THIS MOMENT OF INTERCESSION
AS I PRAY FOR MY CITY, YOUR CITY, ALL CITES.
Father, turn our cities from the power of darkness to light, open their eyes that they might receive forgiveness of sins.
We pray for our cities LORD.
So much turmoil is affecting so many.
Help us reprioritize in these desperate times.
Teach us to number our days.
Give us love for You and one another.
Give us wisdom and discernment.
Forgive us. Renew us.
We pray against the evil schemes of the enemy.
He is a liar and a murder. From the beginning, he was so.
Help us resist His temptations.
Preserve our lives, LORD.
Help us have peace in the middle of the storm!
Strengthen our faith and love.
Give us hearts full of thanksgiving.
We depend on You.
We do not put our hope in medicine, Policy, leadership or human might, but in the Lord of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel.
Be with every honest and godly leader and minister Lord.
Keep their eyes on truth, and Frustrate evil at every turn.
In the Name Christ Jesus our King, we pray, Amen!
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Thank You!
"THE MESSENGER" - Mary Lindow - “2023”
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Friday Dec 30, 2022
Friday Dec 30, 2022
By Mary Lindow
Today’s podcast is one that I am going to share with you about “another wonderful story” of how the Holy Spirit can prompt us to do things for others at the most uncanny times, and as if they were perfectly orchestrated years and years beforehand.
And, of course, the Lord knows the heart desire of every one of his children, but he often uses his own children to help bring about the heart’s desire for many other people by being obedient and acting when the Holy Spirit in first Corinthians says, “Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves.” 1 Corinthians 6:19
IT WAS NEAR CHRISTMAS TIME, and a local Women’s Aglow group, which happened to be a good sized chapter, was having a Christmas ladies luncheon and asked if I would come in and be their keynote speaker. The room was decorated beautifully and of course the tables were festive for the holiday!
As I was sitting at the table next to the team members and the president of the group, there was a conversation about the beautiful table settings. I was just listening and enjoying hearing them talk about how they went about getting everything ready, and why they wanted to make it so nice for so many other women that were coming, because many of them worked full-time jobs and didn’t get a chance to come and partake of beautiful things during the holidays because they were also busy mothers.
ONE OF THE LADIES BY THE NAME OF BILLY WAS SHARING WITH EVERYONE THAT SHE HAD JUST GONE SHOPPING WITH HER DAUGHTER A FEW WEEKS AGO, and they had picked out Wedding China for her daughter and her husband, because her daughter was going to be married in the spring. She went on to say that she never did get to have Wedding China as a young bride and wanted her daughter to have a beautiful experience and opportunity to have a beautiful table.
I THOUGHT, "WHAT A WONDERFUL THING THIS WAS THAT THIS WOMAN WAS GETTING CHINA FOR HER DAUGHTER, AND THAT SHE HAD NEVER HAD WEDDING CHINA HERSELF." She went on to mention that she had picked out a special pattern herself as a young bride, but that it was just not possible for her family and friends to give wedding china at that point, because it was a very frugal wedding, and other wedding gifts were more important.
I sat there and wondered about how wonderful it was for her as a mother, to be so concerned that her daughter would have a beautiful table to set with beautiful things, when she herself had never had any. Now, it was time for me to get up and share my Christmas message so I did, and afterwards told her how beautiful her story was to me about her daughter, and proceeded to go home for the day.
On my way home, I began to remember that I have been given an entire set a Fine China from a dear friend, whom I had come to know while I was in Bible College.
NOW, THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING!
This dear, godly, lovely man would take on students to help with jobs or different kinds of projects in his home or, other derelict properties that he would buy, and train them and also pay them so they could pay for their Bible college fees. He had been in the military with a high clearance type of job, and although he had wanted to marry, he knew that he would never be able to be home enough to justify caring for a bride. At 63 he began to take students into his home for meals and storytelling, and developing them for skill sets. He had been a trainer for all kinds of business components of the military.
WHEN I MET HIM WHEN IMMEDIATELY HAD A BOND because he was also a gifted musician, and had a love for Fine art and Fine China. He would go to the thrift stores or take me along and different places where very wealthy Texans would drop off Crystal and China and dishes and silver that they were no longer using. So he was forever scouting out Havilland china pieces or different kinds of China to add to his collection. I went on to meet my husband and marry him later and we moved to Illinois. (That’s where my husbands from.)
THIS LOVELY MAN BY THE NAME OF ALAN would occasionally sent boxes of pieces of things that he would find to add to a side of China for me, and I did have wedding China of my own. At one time we had three full sets of Fine China and I wasn’t sure what to do with all of it! Then came two boxes that he had found of a 1950s china pattern that he thought was exquisite! I had opened the boxes and noticed there were eight place settings, eight cups and saucers, eight salad plates, eight serving plates, and also a creamer and sugar set as well as a large serving bowl.
SOMEHOW, I NEVER FELT LIKE THESE WERE TO BELONG TO ME, and I really didn’t have storage for them. So, I put them away in a cupboard thinking that someday if we moved and I had a China hutch for them, I would use them as spring dishes. They had a platinum rim, they were white and off to the right side there was a spray of flowers that had a lot of teal and a little bit of touch of pink and a hint of orange, and of course soft green.
STEVE AND I WERE THEN CALLED TO GO HELP PIONEER A CHURCH IN MISSOURI, so we packed everything up and moved those dishes and everything else to Missouri. And understand these dishes have been shipped from Dallas Texas to Illinois. Now they were taking a trip to Missouri!
ABOUT TWO YEARS LATER STEVE AND I DECIDED THAT WE WERE GOING TO MOVE BACK TO DENVER, COLORADO BECAUSE THE LORD HAD PROMPTED US TO DO SO. So once again, we packed everything up and moved to Denver. There I was in Denver speaking at a Women’s Aglow Christmas banquet luncheon and I hear this woman-discussing find China for her daughter.
NOW! BACK TO ME ON MY WAY HOME.
The thought came to me, (prompted by the Holy Spirit) “Why don’t you give that set of China to Billy? What a wonderful Christmas gift it would be to gift to her, and she would have a lovely set of China for her own home.”
I was absolutely thrilled to think that this would belong to someone else, and that the Lord would want me to give it to them. But I wasn’t sure if it was a pattern she would want or not.
BUT THE PERSISTENT NUDGING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT…
… WOULD NOT GO AWAY!
I went into our basement storage area and found the two boxes and everything was still pristine and in great condition. I wrote a quick card, and told her that I felt like the Lord wanted me to give these to her after listening to her conversation about buying China for her daughter and then that I just wanted to bless her with it so she would have a beautiful table at Christmas time. I did get a hold of her telephone number and called and told her that I was having my husband and two little boys run some boxes by, just a little something for her. Would she be home? She said of course she would and she said she was “quite intrigued”.
I BUNDLED UP THE BOXES AND HELPED MY HUSBAND GET THE TWO LITTLE BOYS INTO THE CAR AND OFF THEY WENT TO DO THE DELIVERY. I was downstairs folding laundry, and just thinking about how much I hoped it blessed her, and that she would be tickled that the lord thought of her.
NOW COMES THE MOST EXCITING PART!
The phone starts ringing and I went upstairs and I missed it. (This is back when Cell Phones were way too expensive for everyone and we still had a landline with a long cord!)
Then the phone started ringing again, so I quickly answered the phone, and on the other end, there was the sound of someone gasping and crying! Now Being a pastor's wife, we often received calls from people who were in distress or who were needing prayer, so, I began to saying, “Hello? Who’s there? Can I help you?” Finally, the person on the end of the line was able to clear their throat and gather their emotions, and it was Billy the lady who Steve had dropped the China off to.
SHE BEGAN SAYING, “OH MARY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!” And of course I didn’t, and I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but I could tell that she was overcome! She then began to tell me that when the boxes arrived, she was tickled to think that someone thought of her, and my husband said my wife wanted to give these to you and wish you a Merry Christmas. But, when she closed the door and went to open the packages, she reached in and pulled out one of the dinner plates that was in a slotted cardboard area. The China pattern was the EXACT China pattern that she had wanted as a young bride, but never had. It had the platinum rim that she had desired to have on her pattern! And there were eight place settings, just enough for her Christmas table and her family that was coming to feast. Also, she was able to set a beautiful place setting and table, for the Mother of the Groom, who was going to come and visit.
THIS WOMAN WAS WEEPING AND LAUGHING, AND COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT THE LORD WOULD HAVE HELD ONTO THIS CHINA FOR HER ALL THESE YEARS. I told her that they have been given to me and shipped from Dallas to Illinois to Missouri to Denver. Imagine! The Lord had shipped those dishes, and had me move them “strategically”, until they got into the hands of the woman that he had planned to bless them with!
MY FRIENDS, GOD KNOWS THE DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS even down to the simple things like Fine China, and he knows that soft and beautiful things, in specific times of our life are so necessary, to show us how lavish and beautiful his care and love for us is.
THE STORY GOES ON BECAUSE MANY OF HER FRIENDS THEN BEGAN TO HEAR THE STORY ABOUT “THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE CHINA”, and they began to give her serving pieces that matched, or Silver pieces or Crystal, and one friend even gave her a set of family silverware to accompany her beautiful table. Everyone wanted to get in on the beautiful moment!
WHEN STEVE CAME HOME, WE JUST PUT OUR ARMS AROUND EACH OTHER AND LAUGHED AND CRIED at the joy of knowing the Lord had those dishes, literally moved and sent on his behalf, to this darling woman.
I WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO NEVER, EVER, MINIMIZE THE FACT, THE HOLY SPIRIT ASKS YOU TO DO SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
It could be something as simple as giving them a beautiful scarf that you are no longer wearing, or perhaps you have tools in your garage that you’re not using.
IT’S IN THE ACT OF GIVING
THAT THE PRESENCE OF GOD COMES DOWN
AND TRANSFORMS WHAT WE ARE GIVING, INTO HOPE.
GIVING IS NOT THE NATURE OF THE DARK WORLD! Taking and grasping and hoarding is from the dark part of the world. But we as believers are to give freely because we have freely received everything we could ever need to save us from the doom and darkness of this world.
When Christ himself came and gave his life as a lamb, as a child, he gave his life to us in the form of an infant so that when his day to die up on the cross came; he could truly say that he experienced life like we have, from cradle to grave.
AS WE ALL BEGIN TO DE-CLUTTER AND PUT AWAY CHRISTMAS ITEMS, I would encourage you to look at through the lens of what you have, and ask the Lord, “Is this something that I need to be sharing with someone else?”
Is there another set of silverware in your house that you are not using that another family might need?
Do you have several pairs of sports tennis shoes that you purchased and realized you don’t like them and they’re practically brand new?
FIND A FAMILY, FIND SOMEONE WHO NEEDS THEM.
And yes, you have to look for them sometimes, but the Lord will direct your path because you are led by the Holy Spirit and you belong to Him, and the Holy Spirit wastes NOTHING!
WE ARE LIVING IN A TIME WHERE THE BODY OF CHRIST
IS BEING CHAMPIONED AND CHALLENGED TO LEARN
HOW TO CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER AND MEET ONE ANOTHER’S NEEDS SO THAT NONE ARE LACKING.
There’s no place in the Bible that talks about hoarding or keeping everything to us. None whatsoever. But it does talk about sharing and at times, “sacrificial giving to others” so that they may know the love of Christ.
I encourage you to go through your canned goods to look at your bedding, sheets, extra coats, and by all means that dozens of Bibles that we all have sitting on our shelves in abundance! There are those who would give anything to have a new Bible or perhaps a warmer winter coat.
WE CANNOT LOOK DOWN ON THOSE WHO ARE SLIGHTLY IMPOVERISHED OR IMPOVERISHED,
BECAUSE THERE’S NOTHING "MORE GODLY" ABOUT BEING WEALTHY, THAN THERE IS ABOUT BEING POOR.
GOD JUDGES THE INTENTION OF OUR HEARTS,
NOT THE ABUNDANCE OF OUR WALLETS.
THERE ARE THINGS AROUND YOU THAT THE LORD HAS PLACED WITHIN YOUR REACH and maybe even you have moved from state to state or move from one house to another that you could easily ask him about and ask him to prompt you to show you who is this to go to.
You may be sitting in a restaurant and hear someone talking about something they need and you may be prompted by the Holy Spirit that you are the one that has it.
It takes simple listening.
It just takes simple listening!
It doesn’t take a Herculean effort.
But love acts!
ONCE WE SECOND-GUESS OURSELVES and never stop and buy that cup of coffee for the person in front of us that seems downtrodden. Or, we wonder if that $20 towards someone’s grocery bill in front of us makes any difference, then we miss out on the blessing. But you see it’s not for us to question the amount or the moment! It’s for us to act in loving grace and humility and kindness, and in that moment change the world!
HEAVEN COMES DOWN AND MEETS THE NEED AND KISSES SOMEONE’S HEART WITH HOPE, AND HE USES US TO DO IT.
I wish you all a beautiful week as you prepare for this up-and-coming year.
My message after the first of the year is going to talk about “Peace in the midst of chaos” because the world is becoming more chaotic, and unfortunately the world is covered with a gross darkness right now.
Believers need to be strengthened encouraged not to quit, not to hide, and certainly not to hoard!
I BLESS YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS AND I PRAY NOW THAT HE WILL TOUCH YOU AND GUIDE YOU AND SHOW YOU WHAT TO DO WITH THE THINGS THAT YOU DO HAVE, THAT YOU CAN GIVE FREELY. And, perhaps there are things that you are feeling a tug at your heart that you need to give but they’re going to cause a little pain to give away. That’s OK! The Lord does love, sacrificial, giving, and above all, he loves a joyful giver!
THERE IS NOTHING MORE JOYFUL THAN TO SEE THE ABSOLUTE SURPRISE AND DELIGHT ON THE FACE OF SOMEONE THAT YOU HAVE BLESSED IN KINDNESS, AND WITHOUT FANFARE.
Have a beautiful and Happy New Year, but above all, pray that the Lord would show you what he has to say to you in 2023 specifically for your life and what kind of assignments he has for you.
THE CHURCH IS BEING CALLED UP TO BE THE FULL ARMORED BODY OF CHRIST, AND MY FRIENDS THAT MEANS YOU AND I.
Goodbye for now please go to my website at www.marylindow.com where you can listen to this podcast directly there or you can read and listen to other things that I have posted there and a few videos.
I say thank you to all of you who have been so gracious to send beautiful Christmas cards and little notes in the mail and also emails with encouraging words, sharing what these podcasts and stories I’ve been doing mean to you.
And I thank those of you who have been prompted by the Lord to support this next year of ministry. Your response has been a bit overwhelming and I thank you for your help, and also I think you more than anything for your prayers for I truly do feel them.
God bless all of you.
Duplication and sharing of this message is welcomed provided that complete article, podcast and website information for Mary Lindow is included. Thank You!
Copyright © 2022 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.marylindow.podbean.com
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Sunday Nov 28, 2021
Sunday Nov 28, 2021
Before we go into today's podcast, I would like to let you know that this is a prophetic word from the Lord and it’s addressing where the majority of people are right now, and where many others have been.
I’ve also been prompted by the Holy Spirit to begin sharing with you several near-death experiences that I have had in past years as well as a few truly humbling and powerful supernatural events with the Lord that were not at all something I asked for nor expected.
I would like to ask you to please take the time to listen to this specific podcast as well as the next two or three.
The stories I will be sharing will not only move your heart to joyful tears, but also stir courage and hope!
At the end of this Podcast, there is a Spontaneous Prophetic Song of the Lord that flows with the prophetic Word you will hear beforehand.
Please sit back and enter into worship and listen to what the Holy Spirit of God would sing over you in this time.
God Hears All - God Sees All - God Will Not Fail You
“A Word And a Song From the Heart of the Father”
By Mary Lindow through the Holy Spirit
As the days begin to change and the seasons take their course, so am I also beginning to adjust the path you have been treading out.
“I have been keeping track of all of your sorrows,
Collecting them and all of your tears in a bottle.
I have written down your tearful sorrows…
…In My journal.”
Psalm 56:8
MANY HAVE PASSED YOU BY ON THE ROAD OF SORROW THAT YOU HAVE HAD TO BEAR, too busy to stop and comfort, too concerned about what others might think of your condition. Others are only focused on their own forms of grief and have yet to learn to comfort others in their weariness and tiredness.
I HAVE ENCOURAGED ALL OF YOU WHEN OTHERS ARE HAPPY, BE HAPPY WITH THEM!
If they are sad, share their sorrow. (Romans 12:15) Even the Samaritan, one least likely to reach out, stopped and cared for the man battered, hurt and sorrowful left on the road.
Many who claim spiritual piety and goodness, turn their heads and hearts when they see another brother or sister aching in sorrow or tragedy.
Let it not be heard about you my child in the heavenly realm, that you protected your own comforts or your own position and turned away from a brother or sister in their prolonged agony.
I HAVE BEEN TESTING THE HEARTS OF MANY WHO LAY CLAIM TO A WILLINGNESS TO DO ANYTHING I ASK OF THEM, but sadly then “pass on the other side" in order to avoid involvement with what "appears to be" one who is struggling or failing. As you do to others, so in your time of need will it be done to you!
I YOUR FAITHFUL REDEEMER HAVE HEARD THE HEART WRENCHING CRIES FROM YOUR PRAYERS, and I am even now giving you strength and empowerment to stay firm and continue to believe that I will restore all to you that has been shattered, stolen, or shamed!
"It is God who gives us, along with you, t
he ability to stand firm for Christ has commissioned us.
He anointed us!" -2 Corinthians 1:21
I HAVE ANOINTED YOU EVEN IN THIS SEASON OF SORROW!
And I will bring a fresh and pure expression of Godly living and giving into the earth through those we who see that they are being prepared as good Samaritans and who themselves are also being cared for by others who require nothing in repayment.
Many are hearing my voice calling to them to bring relief to those who have been faithful in obeying my voice but have been persecuted heavily for doing so!
OBEY MY COMMAND QUICKLY! ACT NOW!
Bless them, help them heal, providing for them like I would! You will be greatly rewarded for this effort.
“As you give them even a cup of cold water in my name,
You have done it for Me!” - Matthew 10:42
As you have been faithful to believe that I have better plans and a better way than the schemes of men, Very soon I will wipe away your bitter tears and despair.
You have begun to understand what it is to fellowship with My sufferings!
In the days ahead, you will also share in the first fruits of harvest.
"God, who has called you into fellowship
with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." -1 Corinthians 1:9
COME JUST A LITTLE NEARER TO MY HEART NOW. THE NIGHT IS NEARLY OVER.
You will see that the time of sorrow and weeping will pass, and a breaking through into the greater plan for you is in motion. I have been into the future for I AM all that you will need.
YOUR ONE SIMPLE ACT OF OBEDIENCE SETS INTO MOTION WAVES OF MY REDEMPTIVE GRACE AND PURE HOLY CLEANSING.
The Nations are waiting for those who will only speak out of clean motives and pure hearts. I have prepared you for this time in the earth and I will fulfill all I have planned concerning you.
ENTER IN BY HUMBLING YOURSELF FURTHER BY DOING SIMPLE ACTS OF MERCY AND SELFLESS GIVING.
Remaining anointed…
… Even in times of sorrow.
The spontaneous prophetic music and lyrics that you are about to listen to were not edited in any way and were left just as they originally were expressed.
You are hearing the prophetic words and music exactly as they were recorded and might even hear my voice falter at times because of the strong presence of God touching me as well while recording.
Those who stood faithful in intercession while I recorded made it like heaven on earth as they bathed the studio in the beauty of prayer and in the honoring of the Presence of the Lord.
May the Heavenly Father sing and rejoice over you as you sit back and listen!
“Heaven is Watching You”
Prophetic Song of the Lord
Duplication and sharing of this message is welcomed as long as the complete message, podcast location and website information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You!
Copyright © 2021
"THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.podbean.com
www.marylindow.com
www.globalprayerrooms.com
Your Gracious Support and Donations Are So Very Helpful And Assist Mary In Publishing Her Teaching Podcasts and Blog Materials.
THANK YOU!
Please go to PAYPAL to donate
or support this ministry;
Donate to the tax deductible ministry name of:
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THANK YOU!
Sunday Aug 18, 2019
Sunday Aug 18, 2019
By Mary Lindow through the Holy Spirit
PLEASE TURN UP VOLUME ON THE PLAYER PROVIDED HERE!
While spending time preparing to share and minister, I was impressed to have the recording equipment running when I went to the keyboard to minister unto the Lord and then to people attending the meeting. As we worshipped and waited upon the LORD In His Presence, this recording was captured unedited and was recorded ‘live”.
It is a timely word to the Body of Christ right now as we are all sensing major events and many changes ahead. There is also a glorious time of adoration and worship right after the prophetic song in response to the LORD’s words sung over His people.
The flow and adoration and boiling of Praise and honor was so beautiful and unusual.
I think that you might just want to sit back and use this message and music
as a time to enter into the Glory of His Hand!
“HEAVEN IS WAITING TO POUR OUT MY GLORY”
Spontaneous Song of the LORD and Music
by Mary Lindow through the Holy Spirit
Heaven is calling you child
It’s opening up, the eyes of glory.
Heaven is calling out to all
Who long to hear My voice
And I speak a word of truth in an hour
when darkness seems to rule.
Even though the world is lost in pain and grief.
Open up your eyes and see My face,
I’m looking for a people of My grace.
Heaven is waiting to pour out my glory
As I roll back the veils of ancient time
But first I need to see; your love is just for Me.
And not simply of, the things I do through you.
It is a time – To look into the Master’s eyes.
It is a time – To look into the glorious skies of hope
And see…
…See Me.
So listen with your spirit man!
LISTEN with your spirit man
And raise up lives, holy to My Cause.
It’s not a time for dreams and wishes
No it’s not a time for that.
The time is now for those who will arise!
It is the season of MY dreams
It is the season of MY Destiny as King!
So look for the Glory, in each salvation story
That’s where I’ll manifest, My Hand.
I’ll manifest across the land
Come into the Glory! Come into the Glory!
Come into the Presence of My Hand!
Come into the Glory! Come into the Glory!
Come, into the glory of My Hand!
Duplication and sharing of this message is welcomed provided
that complete source, podcast and website information
for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You!
Copyright © 2019
"THE MESSENGER " ~Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.globalprayerrooms.com