Don’t get thrown off by this title and wonder where this is going – keep reading.
Thinking today. It’s a good thing to think and meditate in a world filled with excessive noise and chaos. There is life in that place of thinking on the Lord and it is quite exciting and exhilarating to encounter new ideas and revelation IN CHRIST. When we spend time with Him, we see reality IN HIM and He is IN US and we are IN HIM. Jesus Christ is reality and He is truth. See yourself in Him; despite weakness and perhaps failure, He is enough. Okay so here I go.
The proverbial “they”.
Proverbial = traditional, time honored, legendary, well known so as to be stereotypical. For example a statement like “I am going to stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.”
The proverbial ‘they’ is that thing, those people, that idea, those time honored thoughts, those traditions that influence our life in a myriad of ways, yet ‘they’ is hard to define.
Keep thinking and stretching. I find that Christians often times equate spirituality with a nebulous trust with no wisdom. God gave us a brain so we must use it. Everything does not come in 10-second sound bytes. Think. Think. Think.
Who are they? And why do we listen to they?
Well if you have lived in the States for any length of time, you must know that ‘they’ are…….well let me give you some examples.
They say it will rain.
They say the economy is getting worse.
They say gas prices will go up.
They say that it’s never been done that way.
They say.
They say.
They say you’re too thin.
They say you’re too fat.
They say eggs are not good for you.
They say eggs are good for you.
They say you’re too old.
They say you’re too young.
They say you are under qualified.
They say you are overqualified.
They say you are too dumb, too smart, too emotional, not emotional enough and on and on and on.
Are you getting the picture? I hope so. Have the “theys’ ruled your life from afar. Who are ‘they”? They are thoughts, people, ideas, information that comes to us from a distance or are ‘out there’ that interject their opinions into our lives with negativity, discouragement, disdain and limitations that can paralyze us from walking in our destiny. This is true whether one is a Christian or not. “They” try to form our path from the smallest to the largest areas of our life. “They” try to conform us to a path of conformity where we don’t allow ourselves to be creative and challenge the status quo. No more for me folks. We live our lives by one standard – Jesus Christ and IN HIM everything is possible. He is the Living Word that sustains me and gives me life.
At every stage of my life, as a Christian, I have had to overcome the magnetic pull of ‘They said” or “They think”. “They” tried to direct my path, form my destiny, forge my future through subtly telling me what can or cannot be done. They hand down traditions of why I can’t do it, or conformity that says I shouldn’t do it and to just fit in. Are you as tired of what “they say” as I am? Are you following me or totally confused at this point? Oh well, I get it and it’s my blog. Just kidding!!!
The call to me as a Christian and for this ministry is one of freedom, creativity, and breakthrough IN CHRIST. “They” have tried to keep me from finding that over the years in many different ways.
Conferences where “They said” – “Come forward everyone under 30 for God is going to shift the mantle and use this young generation for His purpose.”
I said “Hello I am still waiting for that breakthrough and it is NOW upon me and they are telling me that I missed it and God is going for those under 30?”
A well known prophet says “God has told me to anoint those under 40 with a new mantle and to pass this mantle to the next generation.”
I said “Wow now it’s 40. I thought it was 30.”
I said “Wow now it’s 40. I thought it was 30.”
“They said” to me that I was too loud, too passionate, too expressive and that I must quiet down and fit in.
I said “But God isn’t this how you made me?”
I can give you more examples. In fact I will.
“They said” to me in subtle variations of tone “Can’t she just fit in? Why does she always cause trouble everywhere she goes?”
I said “Oh my why is it I stir things up everywhere and it appears to be wrong. Is there something innately wrong with me? Did you make a mistake God?”
“They said” in more ways than one “You are not spiritual enough if you don’t have encounters with gold dust, angels talking to you, shaking quaking, laughter, getting drunk. That defines those who are truly spiritual from those who are not. Read my books on my latest encounter with angels. Come to my conference and let me lay hands on you to release a new mantle.”
Okay I best stop now because I can write a book on this one.
Experience alone has shown me that I can address this and speak on it more and more and more. I am tired of standards that limit us in Christ. I am weary of unwritten codes of law both religious and Charismatic law that say I somehow don’t measure up. So I am done. I am neither rebellious nor independent but NOW I SEE that it is come full circle and it had to come this way. In fact, there was NO OTHER WAY. I had to SEE that Jesus Christ is enough. In Him, in the finished work of the cross and the power of the blood is the way of life and union with Him. Everything else is not necessarily bad but it is not what THEY SAY but what HE SAYS. I will stop here…….Selah.
