Going back to our main scripture found in Acts 17:28, let's continue to dig deep into the meaning of these words and listen to what the the Holy Spirit is saying to us: "In Him we Live, and Move and have our Being".
We've talked about the words "In Him" and that in order to "Live in Him" we needed to learn to dwell, rest, be united to and learn to abide in His love. We also talked about healing that sometimes needs to take place in our heart and soul in order for us to have "Emotional and Spiritual Intimacy" with God and with others.
So today let's talk about the word "Move" and find out what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us and what this word really means.
Strong's and Websters dictionary says it means: to go, to stir so as to remove or away from, to take action, progress, move forward, to have motion, purpose and to change the location or position of where you're at.
As I was putting this message together the Lord reminded me of Moses, Israel and their exodus out of Egypt. In Exodus 14: 1-9 describes to us what seemed to be an impossible situation that Moses and the children of Israel were facing. God had instructed Moses to tell the Israelites to make camp by the Red sea not realizing that Pharaoh was right behind them and in hot pursuit with 600 chosen chariots to capture them and bring them back to Egypt.
In verse 10 it says that: When Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked up, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and the Israelites were exceedingly frightened and cried out to the Lord.
Then in verse 12 Israel began to complain and blame Moses and this is what they said: Did we not tell you in Egypt, let us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.
And in verse 13 & 14 Moses responded and said: Fear not; stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again.
Verse 14: The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.
In verse 15 The Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to Me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward!
So in order for them to escape the Egyptian army(the enemy) they had to do what? They had to take action, move forward and trust God that He would protect and rescue them.
To Israel, this looked like certain death. But God was using this situation to test Israel and reveal Himself to them. God was not only working on their behalf in the natural by performing a miracle right before their eyes, but He was also building within them trust, faith and to have confidence in their God. God not only sent them out to find their promise land, but to reveal Himself to His people that He was a Supernatural God. He would relate and reveal Himself in ways they had not know Him before. The heart of God was to connect with and establish Intimacy with His people so they could move forward into all that He had destined for them. So what was their part in all of this and what did they have to do?
a. They had to Move out of fear before they could Move into faith and walk in the peace of the Lord.
b. They had to Move out of defeat and despair before they could Move into confidence and hope in their God.
c. They had to Move out of complaining and doubt before they could Move into trust and rest in God's promises.
So what is God saying to you through this? And what is it that you need to Move out of or away from, So He can move you through and into what He has for you?
All of us have experienced the hot pursuit of the enemy and we know he is determined without mercy to capture us and take us back to Egypt. But God in this hour is getting ready to show forth His power of deliverance, salvation, restoration and His glory to those who will have eyes to see and ears that will listen to the voice of the Spirit.
He is saying to you: GO FORWARD... for I Am lifting up My rod so you may pass under it and you will know the security and protection because you are in My care. And as you step out and begin to move with purpose away from your Egypt, I will begin to stir within you change that will position you and cause an alignment in your life that will bring great changes in you. And I will place in your hand a Rod that represents my Power and Authority to perform miracles in these last days. So lift up that Rod and Stretch out your hand and you will see Me part the waters of adversity in your life and in your circumstances. Move and GO FORWARD and possess your promise says the Lord.
Blessings,
Elma Garlock
"The Healing"
Last week I shared with you two visions that the Lord had given me which you can found in my message on Intimacy In Him Part IV.
First I want to give you a little background before I explain to you the healing that took place in me. How I felt about my earthly father and how it affected my relationship with my heavenly father before the visions.
I had always imagined God to be this very stern, judgemental and legalistic father that had white hair, a white beard and always had a stern look on His face all of the time. I could just imagine Him up in Heaven watching my every movement and waiting for me to make a mistake so He could point His finger of judgement and condemnation at me. Believe me, I feared Him, but it wasn't the right kind of fear.
Truthfully I wasn't sure that He really loved me and I always felt like there was this great gap between us. I knew in my heart that I could pray and that He would hear me, but the Intimacy I longed to have with Him seemed to be out of my reach and I couldn't understand why.
I would cry out in desperation to Him and say, Lord what's wrong with me? I wanted so much to be able to call Him Papa Daddy and to say those words to Him in love and feel it in my heart, but I just couldn't get those words out. Emotionally I just couldn't relate to Him as a loving, caring, nurturing heavenly father.
Immediately after coming out of the visions I realized that God had performed a very powerful healing in my heart and in my soul. He then began revealing to me what He had done and why?
He took me back to my childhood and reminded me of an emotional experience that took place in the family room of the house I grew up in. I was just a young girl at the time and I remember feeling like I didn't even know my earthly father. One evening I was sitting in our family room watching television all by myself and my father walked into the room and sat down in his lounging chair. For some reason I remember feeling uncomfortable around him and not knowing what to say. It was as if I couldn't even breath and that he was like a stranger sitting there, yet I knew he was my father. The feeling was so strong that I had to get up and leave the room.
I loved my dad but I never felt any love from him, nor did he show it outwardly to me. He was a good provider, took us to church and prayed for us when we were sick and at times tried to make us laugh when we were sick. But never was there any hugs and kisses from him that I remember. Mom was the loving and nurturing one that I could always count on. She and my three other sisters were very close and mom tried to give us enough love to make up for what my father didn't. It wasn't until years later did I realized that my earthly father did love me and that realization came on my wedding day. As we started down the isle walking arm in arm he started to cry and I realized for the first time in my life that he did love me. This was the beginning of the healing process for me.
After the visions the Lord showed me that I had been relating to God the same way I had related to my earthly father. And every negative and distorted image I had of my earthly father was affecting the way I saw and related to God. I hadn't felt or experienced the love, acceptance and affection from my earthly father that was so important in a little girls formative years. So later in my teen years the insecurities and low self esteem surfaced. This caused a void and a hole in my heart that only God could fill. I was insecure and self conscious, because I felt rejected and unloved. Those tender years of emotional, psychological development and growth had been distorted and stunted. And the effects of stuffing and burying the hurt, rejection and insecurity caused me to built up walls of protection so no one could get in.....not even God. My Soul was sick and wounded and desperately needed to be healed.
This drastically effected the way I perceived things in my mind and the way things were filtered through my soul. So as I began to walk with the Lord, study His word and confirmation after confirmation came to confirm the call on my life, I knew there had to be more. It was like he wouldn't let me rest and stay comfortable in the place that I was in our relationship. I knew I needed to keep pushing into Him and the scripture that kept ringing in my ear was: Matthew 7:7-8
Verse 7: Ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
Verse 8: For everyone who ask received, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
As I continued asking God to show me what was blocking the Intimacy between us, He would tell me to keep seeking Him and allow Him to knock at the door of my heart. Little did I realize that the key He would use for healing would be to open up and expose the things in my soul.
Right before the visions began, He revealed to me that the groaning and pain I felt was coming from deep within my very being that houses the emotions, soul & spirit. He was using this to break open and expose all the hurt and insecurity's so deeply buried years ago. In the first vision if you remember, I was sitting on the lap of Jesus and He was tenderly loving me and making me feel secure in His presence. Through this He showed me that He came in and replaced the rejection with His acceptance. The lack of affection from my earthly father was being replaced with the love of the father. And through His touch He healed my heart and cleansed my mind. And I could now call Him Papa Daddy and mean it from the bottom of my heart.
And Intimacy was birthed with my heavenly father and an understanding and forgiveness came for my earthly father. The door to Intimacy In Him was opened and through this Intimacy I was able to reach higher, grow deeper and mature in character. I then knew who I was as a woman, minister and I knew I was His child.
Be encourage, He's not finished with us yet: "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians. 1:6
Blessings,
Elma Garlock
Let's continue now with the message on Intimacy In Him.
What is Spiritual Intimacy? It is going beyond the normal limits of our natural/carnal emotions and feelings of the heart, the soul and the spirit. It's being able to relate with deep affection towards God and man in a supernatural way.
So what do I mean by being able to relate? If we look up this word in the dictionary this is the meaning that it gives: Having a significant connection with, to show or establish a relationship between and to be able to understand and respond favorably to someone.
How many of us have had or now have people in our lives that we just can't seem to relate to? Is it God? Someone in your workplace, a family member or a friend? You've prayed about the relationship, but you just can't seem to breakthrough those feelings of frustration and disconnect. You can't seem to understand why, when or how you got to this point. It's like you know something is wrong but you just can't seem to put your finger on it. Could it be that you have built up walls and barriers of protection? And that they have been there for so long they now stand as monuments of the hurts, disappointments, sorrow, bitterness, unforgiveness, trauma and the anger in your life? Beloved, God wants and will come into your life in a supernatural way if you will trust him and put your faith in Him and His mighty healing power.
You might be thinking what does she mean by a Supernatural way? If we look up the word supernatural this is what it means: Not being able to be explained in terms of the known laws which govern the material (natural) or the spiritual realm.
Super meaning: greater in quality, amount or degree and something that surpasses.
Natural meaning: Not artificial.
In John 17:21 & 23 (AMP) it tells us:
Verse 21: That they all may be one, (just) as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.
Verse 23: I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united that the world may know and (definitely) recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them (even) as You have loved Me.
Jesus and the Father had Supernatural Intimacy and how were they able to have and keep this? By being perfectly united in oneness of spirit, heart, mind, soul, purpose, goal and focus.
They have perfect integration which means: The coordination, organizing and unification into a balanced whole.
So to put this all together; In order for us to live in Him, be united with Him, have Intimacy with Him as He and Jesus have and desires to have with us, there must be a healing process that takes place first. The first thing that must be healed is the broken heart and the wounds in our souls where things have been filtered through distorted and perceived incorrectly must be rooted out and destroyed. There must be a healing of our minds where all of the negative things have been stored and play over and over in your mind when triggered through circumstance and situations that come up in your life. All of these things and more effect our ability to have Emotional and Spiritual Intimacy.
The Healing
I was upstairs in my office praying and seeking God in desperation wanting, desiring and longing for more of Him. I had prayed so many times before and my heart was crying out for Intimacy with Him but always feeling like there was something in the way. I then turned on a worship tape and began singing and worshipping the Lord. I don't know how much time had passed or how long I had been paying, but all of a sudden I began to cry out with deep groaning and prevail that were so powerful that it almost took my breath away. In the depths of my stomach I then felt a sharp stab that was so painful that it actually caused my legs to buckle up underneath me and in order to break my fall I fell forward into a small love seat I had in my office. By this time I was sobbing uncontrollably and all of a sudden I had two visions.
In my first vision I saw myself sitting in the lap of Jesus. He was sitting on a chair that had a tall back with arms that were golden in color. I looked like I was about five or six years old and I remember I was wearing a ruffled dress that had a big bow tied in the back and on my feet were white socks and black patten leather buckle shoes. My hair was long and curled just like my mom always kept it and Jesus was so very lovingly touching the top of my head and stroking my hair as a loving father would. He began telling me how much He loved me and with every stroke of His hand there came a feeling of security, safety and I was surrounded in His love.
In the next vision I saw a beautiful walking path that was lined with beautiful flowers one row on the left and one row on the right just waiting to be picked. On each side of this path was beautiful green grass that seemed to go for miles and miles in front of us and as I looked to the left and to the right of us. It was so green and inviting to look at yet cool and soft if you were to lay on it. I then saw Jesus and myself and He was holding my right hand. We were skipping, laughing and playing as we traveled down this beautiful path. I remember seeing Him actually laugh and giggle and we were playing like two children would do and yet it seemed so natural. As I came out of the visions the Lord revealed to me what He had done and why?
Next week I will talk about the miracle that took place in my life through these visions.
Blessings,
Elma Garlock
