Abba for the Holidays

I was listening to K-Love in the car today...(well, everyday for that matter...) They are doing this Christmas surprise exchange event. Wait, it is called Home for the Holidays. But what they are doing is giving the opportunity for people to connect with their loved ones over Christmas.

OK. So I was listening today and this teenage girl called. She was adopted many years ago. She loves her family, but now she wants to be connected to her biological mom. So home for the holidays sweepstakes finds her mom.

So for the first time, this teenage girl is talking to her mom ON AIR. I can hear it. And not only can I hear it, I can cry about it. I was crying. The mom was crying. The daughter was half crying, half explaining who she was.

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"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!" Romans 8:14-15

As I was driving around listening to the melodic joining of this sweet mother and daughter, the Father began to share a piece of His heart with me during this Christmas season.

There is this poem by Brennan Manning that starts with "Abba, I Belong to You."

Abba is this intimate word for Father.

You see, the Lord is renewing identity. He is beginning to breathe new revelation over our hearts. He is showing us that we are sons and daughters.

My identity is not that I am:

-Student

-Story teller

-Friend

-Sister

-Terrible cook

-Librarian to my own special stash of books

-people person

-hopeful romantic

-you get the point.

My identity is the I belong to Papa God. My identity is the I belong to Jesus. All the days of my life I am a daughter of the Most High. Do you have ANY idea what that does? What it changes?

IT DOES EVERYTHING. IT CHANGES EVERYTHING.

When I was listening to the K-love home for the holidays deal, the Father spoke very clearly. He is calling us back to sonship. He wants to be your daddy...your Papa...your Abba. And get this: He wanted that relationship so bad that He sent His own Son to take your place. Why? so intimacy could be re-established and that we could utter the words "Abba." Distance from your heart breaks His. Papa doesn't want an employee, a church worker, a list maker. He desires what He created. OHH that is YOU! that is so good. so rich. so safe.

This Christmas season, receive the gift of Salvation. For what you will find is a place of belonging. A relationship so intimate that He becomes the very air you breathe.

You were created to cry out for Abba.

He waits, beloved.

Secrets of the Secret Place

One of my favorite things to talk about and encourage people on is the Secret Place. It is in this place that my life has been transformed. Literally. My Secret Place is either in my car or in my room. It is here that I encounter the Father in an intimate way. I lock the door. And there I wait for the living Presence of God to walk in the room. Every encounter looks different. And every time, the intimacy with the Father is unique.

The desire of my heart is to see transformed lives transform cities. I believe that the KEY to seeing that happen is the Secret Place. It is the heartbeat of revival.

Matthew 6:5-6

"Also, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already.

But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open."

yeah, yeah, yeah!

It is time for men and women to set aside time and just wait on Holy Spirit. As I started doing this consistently over a year ago, my life has never been the same. I still go back and remember encounters I have had in the Presence of God that have ruined me for the rest of my life...in the best way possible. I have started making memories with Jesus. And I plan on doing that all the days of my life.

You see time with the Lord is crucial. That is where you find your strength. That is where you go deep into the insights of the Father. There is something about the secret place that is so unique; it is something you cannot get at a conference, church service, prayer meeting, etc.

Luke 5:16

"But He [Jesus] Himself withdrew [in retirement] to the wildnerness (desert) and prayed."

Develop your personal history with God. You will never be the same. My favorite part of the day is just meeting with Jesus. I live to be in the Secret Place. Why? Because it fuels my response to LOVE.

I encourage you to just get away. Spend time with Jesus. Invite the Holy Spirit. Wait in silence until He speaks. Train your senses to recognize when Jesus walks into the room. Most of all, just love on the Father. Your life is radically changed because He loves you so.