change – KARLA LEES

praise and worship to change the atmosphere

February 6, 2016 Karla Lees

Praise and worship arrest the atmosphere that is constantly whispering fear, failure and regret. Lisa Bevere

These past few weeks, God has been whispering to me to listen before I speak, even more He ever has before.

When I get that email which causes my anxiety level to soar in an instant.

When I remember something I had forgotten to do, and am unsure how to handle my disappointment with myself.

When I knew I blew it, and the enemy blows a sense of heightened fear onto the reality that I failed.

Maybe you too can relate.

Instead of immediately reacting, I have been stepping into a new way to handle these kind of situations, which inevitably happen to all of us at one time or another. (Even more if you live, work or hang out with people on a daily basis. Which is most of us!)

I put on my praise and worship pants.

I step into the wonder and awe of my More than Enough, and leave the atmosphere of failure and not enough in my rearview mirror:

I proclaim God for who He is.
I keep my eyes fixed on His ways.
I set my heart to seek His heart for me, His heart for those I interact with or encounter.
I choose to focus on what I do know instead of the what ifs and all the other questions which tend to pop into our mind in stressful situations.
I sing, write, draw, sit in quiet as I feel lead, and listen for His direction and prompts.

But first and foremost, i remind myself who is with me.

Who lives within me and walks with me.

And as His temple, I don’t want to willingly partner with anything that will make me less of a host to the Holy Ghost.

So I proclaim I am His, and I am refusing to allow anything that does not come through His hands into my temple.

And I send it back to where it has come from.

As I do, He shifts the atmosphere to that of His Kingdom.

And fear, worry, anxiety, lies, failure and regret ebb away in the light He brings with His presence into the immediate situation where He has been invited.

I pray if you too need to shift the atmosphere about you, that you will clearly hear His voice guiding you as you invite Him to move on your behalf in the moment.

seasons change

August 15, 2015August 15, 2015 Karla Lees

A friend I haven’t connected with for a long time came to mind this morning while I was getting ready for my day.

So I asked God (which I am starting to do more & more) if I should get in touch with her.

He said, “Leave things as they are.”

I prayed for God to bless that person, then thought to myself, “Why?”

Then I heard, “Your season has passed.”

I got it.

You see, some people we encounter are only meant to be in our lives short term.

We do one another a disservice when we try to force a short term connection into a long term one.

Some times, a short term mission is meant to be short term.

You can see this in relationships that happen to across when they make a movie or are in a production together. Close quarters can lead to a closeness with someone you wouldn’t have but for the circumstances.

God reminded me that I am not the same me I was when I was friends with this woman, and I am not to go back.

There are times when a person isn’t healthy for us, or we are awakened to the fact they never were.

Or they seem to take off or fall apart with the arrival of every storm, also known as fairweather friends.

But we may not be able to see the truth, until the season has passed.

Then there are the friends who are in your life for the long haul. The ones who chose to be your sisters & brothers, who can live anywhere in the world and you can pick up as if no time has passed between you.

These are your any weather, no matter the season friends. The ones who pray for you daily, lend a hand when you need one, tell you the truth when you need to hear it, and are in for the long haul.

Jesus had a few friends like that. He left His mother’s care to one, and His church to another.

If you look through the Word, there was a large group of people who travelled with Him.

Not all stuck with Him through it all, in fact….most of them fled or let Him down when the going got tougher than they expected.

But He forgave them, each & every one. And restored the ones who would be in it with Him for the long haul, the ones who came back to Him.

We need to do the same.

If a friend has become distant, and isn’t responding to your attempts to connect, ask Him these four questions:

1. Did I do something I need to apologize for?

2. Is this person hurting & i need to let them know I am here to support them?

3. Is this her/his way of showing me this is/was a short term friendship or project only, and I need to move on?

4. Is this relationship unhealthy for me, and I need to let them go?

As hard as this season may be for you to adjust to, it is always better to have the support circle He intends for you around you.

It may not be the group you thought it would be, as God leads you through each season.

But if He is doing the leading, knowing & caring for You as He does, it will be His support system surrounding you.

Ready to walk with you through every season, as He does.

Seasons will change, but His love for you never will, ever.

wading through persuasion

April 23, 2015April 24, 2015 Karla Lees

So many times, on our hesitation to act, we can allow ourselves to become persuaded.

If the counsel is prudent, we may avoid trouble ahead. If the counsel is not, we might be acquiring more than we bargained for.

In the novel Persuasion, Anne Elliot has a whirlwind romance at the age of 19 with a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, yet to begin his adventures at sea.

When he proposes so soon after meeting, Anne is unsure what to do. I believe the fact her level headed mother had found herself quickly married to a handsome baronet (who only thought of his own vanity & societal positioning), she may have been raised being warned of a quick match. Her father immediately rejected his suit due to Frederick’s lack of social standing & wealth.

Anne sought counsel from her mother’s best friend, Last Russell, as to whether she should follow her heart or not. Anne accepted Lady Russell’s wisdom in saying no, in her being too young, and the suitor had not yet made his way on the world, and so broke the engagement.

Instead of praying about it, she sought earthly clarifaction for in fact the major decision any young woman at the time could make. She didn’t have enough faith to pursue what He might have to say in this most important decision.

Frederick was understandably persuaded she did not return his affection, which was untrue.

8 years pass, and they have both harbored resentment alongside their broken hearts when they chance to meet again.

Anne is not the same timid young woman she was at 19.
Now Captain Wentworth, Frederick has made his fortune on the seas, and now commandeers respect for his choice of career.

In the small circle of acquaintances & family they find themselves traveling with, they soon come to learn over a six month period how they Ned to forgive, and are persuaded by their own thoughts & circumstances to give love another chance.

I an happy to say, Anne refuses to listen as people attempt to persuade her not to accept the Captain.

How does this relate to us, today, in the real world?

We too are distracted and regularly persuaded in our society & culture.

The media not so subtly persuades us to believe everything at first glance without in-depth study or knowledge.

Unsure as to who we really are, we tend to seek counsel in our peers or those we admire in an attempt to persuade ourselves what to do, or not to do, in a situation or choice.

The enemy is also on the prowl, on the look out for how he can persuade us to step off the path of safety. He longs for nothing more than to make us stumble, or be caught unawares by the consequences of what he is persuading us to give in to.

We tend to rattle things through our minds, emotions and by those around us instead of seeking the One who knows us best, and has only the best plans for us.

Do you again need to be persuaded of His absolute passion for you?

His ardor never failing, His grip never slipping, His intentions only for your/my good.

His love for us displayed on the cross was the absolute display meant to persuade us all of just how much He loves us.

He needs not do anymore to persuade us.

He spent from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Golgotha persuading His people of His love, until He took the most radical step to finally persuade us, once and for all.

I believe God knows we are like sheep, and have a tendency to only look around us, instead of at the Shepherd taking care of us.

Its time to be persuaded to seek Him first.

It is hard to be in love with someone who doesn’t spend time with you, who takes off at the first sign of trouble, and is easily persuaded through false sources that you don’t love them.

One would think God to be tired of persuading us.

However, His Spirit is constantly at work doing just that.

Reminding us how much He loves us.

As if each of us was His only love.

Persuading us to come, spend time with Him, and believe Him.

Allowing ourselves to be persuaded to follow where He leads.

Our Groom awaits His Bride, longing for her to become secure in His devotion.

Will you allow yourself to be persuaded by the One who is worthy to do so?