Measuring Tool- written Feb 16, 2010

Bro. Myron Travis got up Sunday speaking about how we ought to measure our lives by the word of God.  Bro. Welch then took up that idea and did a wonderful job expounding on that premise.

Bro. Welch had taken some carpentry classes and he was required in one class to build a box according to the pattern and measurements given. At the end of the class, the Instructor would measure and examine the box and a grade would be given based on how the box measured up to the plans.

Once the instructor judged the box, that was his grade. There was no back tracking. The grade would then stand, no matter what you did to the box after that.

But before the instructor judged the box, you could measure the box and judge it yourself, by comparing what you had to the diagrams and measurements given. You could make adjustments as needed. You could even tear it down and start all over if you felt it wasn't right.

So it is in the kingdom. We ought to measure our lives by the word of God now. We have an awesome opportunity now to get things right. There will be no more time to go back and redo things. We must make adjustments now, while we can.  

Dream March 13, 2010

In my dream, I was using this man's bible, trying to follow along with the teaching.

And the teacher said to "turn to 2 Thessalonians" but I couldn't find it. I knew where it was supposed to be, but it wasn't there, and his bible had SOME of the books of the bible but a lot were missing and, where there were books missing or out of order, it was filled ...up with stories and cartoon-like images that had to be interpreted to be read.

The images were meant to be read, but they weren't complete, so you had to guess a lot. Like the dog-beast-thing was up on top of something, a countertop maybe, and then the next picture, he was down on the floor as if he'd either jumped, fallen, or had been pushed, There was no way to "read" that without skipping important details or adding to it with your own imagination.

And when I woke up, I thought Wow, that's the way a lot of people's bible-understanding is. They are missing true knowledge, and they have added in fables and images that aren't complete or cohesive. And they've become so accustomed to these stories and cartoons, that they don't know them from the real word of God.

Lord, help us all to get all the stories and ideas out, and get rid of everything that isn't the real unadulterated truth of God, and help us to understand what is truth.
Deb

Peeking Above The Clouds - Written March 6, 2010

When I pray, it's like my head is lifted up, so I can peek at what lies just above the clouds. Before I met God, I didn't know that anything existed above the clouds.

Below the clouds I see life as other carnal people around me see it. It is a life of what "appears". But just above the clouds, I can see doors, possibilities, opportunities, and realities that I can't even imagine in my existence below.

The just shall walk by faith. What is seen is the reality of the natural realm. But there is another reality of the spiritual realm. When God shows us what His reality is, then we have a unique opportunity to do greater things than the reality of the natural realm would provide us. Because we have unique access to what's available above the clouds, we're not limited to our natural surroundings and conditions.

However, we are not a blind people who walk by the imagination of their own foolish hearts. If it doesn't exist above the clouds, then no amount of foolish conjuring will accomplish it below the clouds either. Walking by faith is living by what is above the clouds. We cannot live by what's above the clouds if it has not been revealed to us what is available there.

Faith is not something we initiate in and to ourselves. Faith must always initiated by God. God decided that Abraham would be a Father of many nations.  Abraham had little to do with that decision.  It was then revealed by God to Abraham that he would have a son. See how God initiated the faith by saying to Abraham "You shall have a son"?   Therefore Abraham staggered not, but believed what had been revealed to him by God.   Below the clouds, there was no way. But above the clouds, he would be a Father of many nations! 

It was revealed to Noah to build an ark, that God would send a flood. Therefore he built. Below the clouds, there was no chance of rain seen.   People laughed and mocked. But Noah had peeked into the heavenlies. It was going to rain and rain big time!

We are not a people who walk by human, natural sight or by what appears below the clouds. Faith is manifested by seemingly strange or confident things it has caused people to do throughout the ages, that resulted in great victory and blessings despite how absurd or unlikely it seemed before they received the outcome. They saw something from God and were so convinced of it because they knew it was from God, that they began to pursue it without wavering or doubting, no matter how incredibly silly it seemed to everyone else at the time. This was their faith manifesting!      

Moses saw that a bush burned and wasn't consumed. The bush revealed, caused him to turn aside to go see. What God spoke to him at the bush, caused him to go to Pharoah! Pharoah certainly didn't see anything spiritual, but only saw what was below the clouds. 

 But Moses had had an audience with God. He saw that there, just above the clouds, above the natural circumstances, lay God's timing, God's will, & God's deliverance for Israel!  And, despite how bad the circumstances looked, or how hard-hearted Pharoah was,  the knowledge above the clouds was that God was about to deliver his people Israel!  

That which is seen above the clouds is stedfast and unrelenting, not subject in any way to neither present circumstances, nor the attempted sabotage or negativity of unbelievers. It didn't matter how hard the Egyptians laughed and scorned the whole idea; that they temporarily made the Israelites work harder; or that they threatened them in every way they could think of. That which is seen in the heavenlies is sure! If God says it, you can bank on it!

One day I was in prayer, and I glimpsed above the clouds and I "saw" that I was a size 12!! Below the clouds I weighed almost 500 pounds at that time. But I knew what I saw and heard in the Spirit! And I embraced it! It may have seemed very foolish that day in service when I testified "God said, I'm a size 12. No matter what you see. No matter what it looks like. I "am" a size twelve!  This was not a "gonna be" testimony!  I said I "am" a size 12, and anything that's not a size 12, has got to go! Anything in natural reality that doesn't fit that heavenly reality, is a lie and cannot possibly continue to exist!  God is true and everything else is a lie! And GOD said, I didn't say it, GOD said I am a size 12!!".  This was my testimony in church and I sat down and I remember the people saying "Alright, well, praise God" as smiles filled the room.

Three years later, I'd like somebody to guess what size I was wearing?!! I've been a size 12 now for about 4 or 5 years. I didn't know "how" God was going to do it. I didn't know "when" he was going to manifest it. But one thing I did know: God said it and I believed God! And I refused to say anything any differently, despite all the pounds of opposition staring at me daily! And I refused to be discouraged by all the failed diets and inability to exercise, and exasperated attempts in the natural to fulfill a hope. I kept repeating what I heard from the Lord. And that which I saw then, that seemed so impossible to those living below the clouds, became a reality for me and now people hardly remember when I used to be so big.

Recently I've seen new things above the clouds. I see things that I never would have imagined for me! I see God taking me to places I never would have dreamed of. The opportunity is there. And it may seem impossible for the flesh, but I've seen it above the clouds, and I still believe God.

Even God did not let what "appeared" dictate to him on what could be. Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

We can each create our own world, but only by what is available above the clouds. Only by peeking into the heavenlies and seeing potentials and doors and opportunities that we can't see in the flesh. And then following those specific things. We can't just conjure  up any idea and try to make it something of faith. Faith always has to be initiated by God. God reveals in the spirit realm, and we then have to believe, despite the natural world opposition.

In Science Fiction movies, I've often seen a machine that would make an ordinary looking object a transporter or a doorway into another realm, world, or reality. It may look like a rock, but it's really a door into a whole other world.  Like in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe  the children entered a whole other world through a portal in the closet.

But even in science fiction, not just any closet or any rock would do the trick.  You have to find the right object, at the right place and time, in order to get transported into other realms. When I peek above the clouds, connecting with God's mind, I see where these doors are located.  

I was sleeping when I saw a vision of someone I knew.  I woke up with the voice of the Lord saying to me "You are peeking above the clouds".  I got up to use the bathroom pondering what I had seen.  The Lord said I was seeing something above the clouds, something possible in the spirit realm.  An available portal through which a person could cross into another world if they wanted to.  But all I had seen was this person that I knew.  

The Lord said "What did you see?"  I replied with the name of the person it was.  The Lord asked again "What was she doing?"  I said "She was just sitting there in a (band) chair with her saxophone."  When I said that, for the first time I realized that in carnal reality (below the clouds) she did not play saxophone!  The Lord let me see that in the heavenlies, His will for her was for her to play saxophone and be a part of the church band.  Later on, when I told her what I had received, I found out that this was in fact her desire to do and she was wondering if God was in it or if it was just her own carnal desire. 

Thank you Father, for the ability to see and live by things revealed above the clouds.

The limbo game of humility - Written March 29, 2010

Mat 7:14 -Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The way to that secret door is down, lower and lower and lower still. How can I go lower still? For my Lord loveth humility.

Remember the limbo game? At first everybody can just walk underneath the pole, and there are alot of players starting out.  But as the pole lowers, there get to be fewer and fewer. The final competitors will be slim, agile and flexible, very strong, and have exquisite balance.

In the limbo game, you must glide underneath the pole without touching the bar and without falling.  

In life, you must stay under the radar of adoration, exaltation, showing off, ursurping authority, living large, being in control, or exuding "self" in any way. But we must also not fall on the floor, wallowing in self-hatred nor failing to uphold our service to God. 

It takes great balance to be low enough to not defend yourself when you're offended or when your rights have been violated, and yet not so low that you cast yourself down.

Many start out, but few there be that find that place of humility that is a godly choice to put on humility, trusting God, and not just a self-defeating mindset of self-abasement.

2Co 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

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Connection- April 13, 2010

I hunger and thirst inside, panting, craving, lusting for something. For what? For connection. 

I want to feel a depth of connection that is felt immediately by others. So that my life becomes a water source, not for natural water, but for spiritual.


I want all my insights, revelations, writings, songs, and activities to manifest over and over in various ways,  words, and expressions of how God is transforming my mind.  I want others to understand that the depth of water that is being glimpsed here must surely be evidence of a deeper connecting stream because my well is far too shallow to afford the pureness of this water!


Just as I once desired a song that wasn't just a song, but touched people's lives and tapped into the vein of the Spirit.  I didn't want to just be a singer, I desired to become a channel through which God was able to reach out to his people!  Selah!


In Ecclesiastes - the preacher sought out acceptable words. Of all the words Solomon, the wise man, could have used, he sought the ones that were acceptable, true, valuable.  He didn't want to give his own words, but words that were from a higher source. Of books, there is no end, even as there is no end to how many songs and choruses one could write or sing, but to find the one that is "acceptable" or right on time, valuable, and edifying, that is my longing!


Like a telephone. I don't want to be a dead phone that isn't plugged into the channel!  There are those who look like a telephone, but there's no dial tone and no voice on the other end. But when you pick up a receiver and someone says "hello?" What a joy! We have a connection!  Now in conversation, I can "touch" the person on the other end!


Like a lamp. I don't want to be a dead lamp, with no light. Some sit pretty, but if they're not plugged in, they do no good to anyone who is sitting in darkness. A lamp that is not plugged into a source greater than itself, cannot light the house. But when you stumble through the dark, and find a lamp that is connected to a power-source, what a joy!  Darkness is past, and light fills the space and there is no more fear!  What once was unclear is now abundantly clear and everything that was unsure is no longer uncertain! 


Lord I long for more and stronger connection. I don't want to just be connected, but to have a good, clear, strong connection. I don't want people on the other end to be confused. I don't want God to be screaming "Can you hear me now?" But I want my connection to be clear and strong and without any interferences.


Debbie Hoffman Benfield

On Sale Now! - Written May 4th, 2010

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Anger Special: All you can eat!

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Depression Vacation Deals:
Lasting sunsets. Extroidinary moods.
Sad Music. Lonely times.
Invite all your friends. ...
Stay as long as you like.

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New & Used Chargers for old Unforgivenesses
Keep your old Unforgivenesses charged and energized.
A free set of speakers included.

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Temper Tantrums now has bad attitudes for every occasion!

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A Pillar in the Temple -written April 28, 2010

Back a couple months our roof to the church, became damaged in a storm causing it to leak inside the sanctuary, resulting in damage.

Immediately attention went first to the ceiling tiles. They removed the damaged tiles from their place, so that the water wouldn't do any further damage to the surrounding tiles, until the problem could be fixed. The weather was too bad to get out and fix the roof, so we had to endure. We let the water drip into large trash cans. It seemed like the ministry was constantly checking the status of the roof, the ceiling, the electrical system, the drop-ceiling frame work, the remaining tiles, the carpeting under the leak, the trash cans, etcetera.

Finally we got the roof fixed and replaced the old tiles with new unspotted ones.

Here is what the Lord told me after that. We also have huge pillars in our building. It was once gutted and many rooms were made into one large open building. So there are pillars that could not be removed, in odd places through out the sanctuary.

The Lord showed me the pillars and said "See these pillars? They endured the storm. Yet they weren't patted on the back for enduring. The ceiling and the tiles got a lot of attention and focus. But the pillars were ignored and taken for granted. They ceiling tiles were never a permanent fixture to begin with. Their only job is superficial, and they weren't able to hold up and endure. But these pillars, upon whom the entire building depends and rests, who's job is so very important that should one of them fall or fail, the entire building would be at risk, were never thanked for enduring the storm.

Much talk was given surrounding the ceiling and tiles, but never did anyone mention the pillars and how well they'd endured. The pillars weren't given an appreciation day for their faithfulness and dependability.

So dependable that they're taken for granted. That is what it is to be a pillar in the church! 

You may not be getting pats on the back for your faithfulness over the years. You may not be getting flowers for how good a job you've done or how much you've endured. Nobody may be calling your name over the pulpit when they want to recognize or give an example of ones who are faithful or have endured, although you may have been more faithful and endured more than all those who's names are called.

You may in fact, be so dependable that you are completely taken for granted. Like a pillar in the building. We don't admire them. We don't appreciate them. We just expect of them, to do the great job they have been given, to always do it well, and never fail.

Heb 6:10 But God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.