There I was starting my day not too unlike any other day and the Lord spoke to me and said those three words.. God Hates Fear. He often mentions Himself in third person like that to me, it's one of the ways I know what he is saying is not just for me but it's something I need to share with others. 

Fear is a demon designed to ultimately blind you to your true identity. It pretends to be wisdom and even common sense at times, but it is Fear. Doing everything he can to trick you into ultimate emotional paralysis, Fear is cold and cruel. There is no lie he will not tell, no fact he will not try to exploit, no relationship he will not try to exploit... all in an effort to trick you into making decisions based on false evidence. IN fact, that is one of the acronyms for Fear... False Evidence Appearing Real. 

I grew up being afraid of not being loved. I was adopted from birth and my adoptive parents did not flow in the spirit of God like I do now. They had no way of knowing the prophetic seeds that the Holy Spirit had sown into my personality to lean me toward the prophetic or things of the spirit. I don't blame them in any way but they simply didn't know what they didn't know. As a result I was raised like most with conditional love because that is how their parents raised them...and you cannot give what you do not have to give. The result was me being afraid of never being able to be good enough and thus living in a constant state of being afraid of not being affirmed, not being held, not being accepted just on the basis of who I was but instead it was all about how I behaved. 

Shame is a tool that fear uses to manipulate people. Fear will whisper just under the conscious mind "Don't do that, people will mock you". It's fear threatening you with shame to trick you out of succeeding. 

As the Spirit of God heals us, He lets us see who we really are and just as importantly who He really is.  When we begin to see that He is for us, that He is waiting with open arms, not a fist cocked back ready to strike us... it changes everything.

Why is nakedness feared by most? Because it exposes what we all try so hard to hide.. our body's imperfections. We don't want people to laugh at us because of our imperfections so we cover them up. People that truly accept us for who we are (and not based on what we have done or may do in the future) are just fine with our imperfections and thus was the case with Adam and Eve. They were naked and unashamed. They saw their own nakedness, they saw each other's nakedness and they knew that God saw their nakedness and none of that mattered at all because they were moving out of their true identities. Only after their identity was compromised in their own minds did their nakedness bother them.

Adam and Eve's fig leaves they used to cover themselves didn't cover their nakedness nearly as much as it exposed their broken perception of themselves.  God saw this and asked one of the most powerful questions in all of scripture..  "Who told you that you were naked?"

My question for my readers today is the same... who told you that you were naked?

So many cover themselves up emotionally just like they do with their body and largely for the same reasons. They have eaten a lie that told them they were not really who God created them to be. They have crafted and cultivated relationships based often only on a piece of who they truly are. Then, when they cannot be their true selves, they get frustrated with those around them blaming those people for their own frustrations. In recent months I have identified this same behaviour in my own life and am taking steps to correct it.

We all want to be accepted as we are so let me ask you this question.. who can you be physically naked with and have them not judge your body for it's imperfections?  When you find someone like this, you have found the beginnings of a perfect lover.  One that can study your reactions and please you in ways that can only be explored in at atmosphere free of false judgements.

Let me ask an even more revealing question.. who can you be emotionally naked with.. no filters, no holding back, completely open and entirely honest and unchecked. When you find someone like this, you have found the beginnings of a soul mate.  One that can study your reactions and please you in ways that can only be explored in at atmosphere free of false judgements.

One more powerful question... can you believe that God wants to heal you to the point where YOU become this person? Healed to a place where you can see yourself physically naked and not judge yourself for your imperfections?  Healed to a place where you can explore your own emotions and mind while remaining free of judgements about what may be wrong, improper or flawed.. it's a powerful thought isn't it.. to be naked and unashamed?

Fear has limited you in ways you have mistakenly identified as part of who you really are. In fact it is NOT who you are and the part of your personality that has been hijacked by fear waits to be unlocked from that cage and set free to explore the realms of freedom that you are truly hungry for.

You don't have trust issues, trust flourishes when fear is removed. You don't have intimacy issues, nakedness is a natural state when fear is removed. You don't even have financial issues because wisdom illuminates the path of wealth when fear of lack is removed. 

I speak a prophetic breaker word over you reading this today that you are not afraid anymore. You never really were actually. It was and still is a giant lie. The fear, the shame, the rejections.. it all felt so real but absolutely none of it was who you really are.  Stop trying to be someone you are not and instead start to be the real you.  Start to prioritize and celebrate relationships where you can be naked and unafraid because those are the relationships that are based on who you are and not what you can do.

 The Kingdom of God is built upon a foundation of Intimacy. This is why so few people truly see it because very few can truly merge with and give themselves completely and honestly physically, emotionally and spiritually to anyone else.   Oh, to love like that.. to have passions purified to a place where fear is removed and the two can truly become one.. that is the heart of God my friends.. that is just one of the many things Jesus died to secure for us on the cross.  

Jesus is not afraid or ashamed of your nakedness, in fact he offers Himself to you in His own nakedness. We call it "the Glory of God" but that's just a fancy term that means He is being completely naked and transparent without holding any part of Himself back.  Under all of the fear, shame and even resentment.. the real you is so incredibly hungry for that, you don't even have the words to explain it to others. It comes out thru our brokenness sometimes as a drive to gamble, or drink, or smoke, or overeat, or for sex .. but deep under it all, those are all just band aids on the gaping wound of raw hunger for what we were truly created for... completely unchecked naked intimacy with the only one capable of giving it to us.

Fear is a lie, shame is a lie, false identities lying to you hiding your own worth and value before the Lord from you. Many have at one point said yes to God .. to be born again.. I hear the Spirit of God say He wants to push you the rest of the way out of the birth canal today...into the brand new world that you have only heard echos from and dreamed about. It's time for the real you to emerge ..naked and unashamed..ready to be intimate with the Presence of God in ways you never imagined possible before!

David was absolutely anointed but also quite dysfunctional due to a demon that came in thru the rejection of his father. Those that knew him closely knew of his private lust issues..so much so that when he was an old man they put a young woman in his bed and when he didn't advance on her they said the king is dead... :o Now that's a reputation of lust...

Out of David came unspeakable rebellion and drama with Absalom who was indeed his father's son. The primary difference between David and Absalom was that David had a private relationship with God that caused him to love God in his heart despite his many flaws. Absalom on the other hand was entirely self absorbed.
​
Historians believe Absalom was considered the most handsome man of his generation. He had the looks, he had the linage, he had undeniable charisma but his pride unchecked without his father David's humility before the Lord drove Absalom to plot an overthrow of his father leading to his ultimate death...which by the way was due to his long, beautiful hair getting caught on a tree causing him to be pulled off his horse allowing him to be killed. Even in Absalom's death his personal vanity costs him..oh, the many lessons in all of that.

Then there was the one son who was the heir apparent to David's throne.. Amnon. Again, blessed by God with looks, linage and potential but his refusal to humble himself before the Lord and deal with his own lusts drive him to rape his half sister. The deception is so deep that Amnon actually believes he is truly in love with her tracing back directly to a David's failure as a father.

Despite the drama in David's family line, ultimately the Messiah will come forth from that lineage showing once again that no matter how deeply flawed, no matter how twisted, no matter how unjust..even up to and including a rape springing from demonic collusion...what God can bring forth out of the mess is always greater than the damage the original mess made!

So many points here.. Fathers, take the time with your sons. Time spent with your son(s) is always an investment into both of your futures. Sons, forgive the shortcomings of your fathers. WIthout humility before the Lord, no amount of looks, linage or talent will heal your personal brokenness and you will absolutely bring that drama into your own family without even realizing it.

Many of you have so much to offer. So much talent, so much impressive skill, so much internal and external beauty... but the one thing that matters the most (for any of us) is that humility before Papa God. Being able to be humble enough to allow ourselves to be held and to receive unconditional love from the one who matters most. If you can submit to the Heavenly Father's attempts to bless and love you just as you are, that will be the single factor that can merge with every other thing in your life good or bad and bring forth the immaculate that could not come any other way.
​
Forgiveness assassinates the out of control Amnons in your life before they do their internal damage. Mercy to those who don't deserve it brings protection to your own heart from the Absaloms. Wisdom lets you see the bigger picture of what God is going to be bringing thru you and how that is always larger than what you face in the moment.
Happy Sunday! 

I saw a person yesterday at Sams Club who has slimed me pretty hard in local church circles. They know what they have said and done and as a result they had disconnected with me entirely on all social media and had basically been in hiding. Seeing them first I immediately went up to them, smiled, said hello and offered to shake hands. They were instantly and noticeably uncomfortable, like they had been exposed.

I was reminded that in Heaven there are no block lists. There is no manipulation of or about others in the Kingdom of God...and the only reason we have that stuff here and now is because we have severe shortages of understanding and revelation about God's LOVE and God's GRACE.

Consider this...

Jesus carefully crafts a group of young males together in their respective mother's wombs. He enjoys this greatly knowing that they will grow up together and share many wonderful life experiences. They will be a joy to their parents and others in addition to going on to work within the local government and being trusted with important matters by society's leaders. He watches as they pass from youth to being strong and vibrant adults.

He loves each of them so honestly and deeply that no malice enters His heart at all when one of them punches Him in the face repeatedly or when another one pulls His beard out by the handful. As another one whips him 39 times crippling his body in unspeakable pain, Jesus' heart is still wanting the best for His creation that He still sees as beautiful.

When His once tiny cell sized creations now violently throw Him to the ground stretching his arms and legs out and nailing them to crossbeams, the pain in His body nearly causes unconsciousness but the idea of retaliation or revenge never even begins to stir because His love is far too great. They were murdering Him but in His mind He remembered resting on Solomon generations earlier and revealing to him that there is a love that is stronger than death... and that is exactly what He had for these now grown men who to the average onlooker appeared to hate Jesus.

In perhaps the most powerful statement ever spoken in all of human history, Jesus is moved with so much Grace and Love that He once again reveals Papa's heart and says "Dad, I'm not upset with them, you don't be either, they don't even understand what they are doing right now, give them all a pass because I love them".

What I have just described is merely one example out of tens of billions in just how strong and pure the Love of God truly is. It is legalistically true that He loves everyone... but it becomes a life changing internal miracle when you see that he also loves each person individually as well.

"You must be born again" is not a cold rebuke to straighten up your life. Instead it is a warm and heartfelt invitation to come and play like a child in the beautiful fields of Grace that God and God alone has waiting.

Forgiving someone else is simply you laying down the heavy desire to get even that if you were honest, you never wanted to do in the first place. See, that is the deception in it all. You surrender perceived access to those beautiful fields of Grace in exchange for the ugly scorched earth that bitterness and retaliation brings you to over and over again.
He loves you, my friend...more honestly and deeply than your human mind will ever be able to truly comprehend. Once that starts to fill you up, the bitterness and other stuff will naturally wash out of you just as it did with Jesus on the cross. As it does, just let it go and pray as Jesus did... Heavenly Father, I'm not really upset with them after all, you don't be either, they didn't even understand what they did to me, give them all a pass because you love them just like you love me"

More soon,

Mark