I know not everyone may agree with me sharing vulnerable parts of my life but Paul explains where my heart is the best!
2 Corinthians 12:6-10 (The Message)
If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
Two days after I sent out my first blog I began “feeling” my newly found excitement and healing suddenly start to slip away. In it’s place were small and steady strategic moments of insecurity, followed by little seeds of distraction! I knew I was falling back into an old habit and immediately started working on applying the word of God to my life. My thorn started to show itself more clearly, and I realized that I would be fighting against the spirit of insecurity! It had become a stronghold in my life for far to long and had many layers wrapped around my spiritual being.
2 Corinthians 10:4 (New King James Version)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
Although it was my decision to break things off, I STILL wanted him to chase after me! Complicated I know, but I wanted to be “worth the fight”! It would’ve made me feel valid, secure, and valuable. Through the Holy Spirit ministering to me by me getting in my word, I began seeing all the different layers that needed to come off. I realized that I’d have to FIGHT through some of these things. I began to believe that I WAS worth the fight and before anyone else needed to make me feel valid, valuable, secure…and even loved…I needed to do it for myself!
Taking myself back to John 11:44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth, Jesus said to hem “Loose him and let him go”! The holy spirit started showing me the several different types of things that were holding me down, but first he had me study the burial process.
THE LINENS:
About two years ago my sister was doing her regular Perez Hilton gossip research on her cell phone and stumbled upon this amazing story that pertains so well to the point I want to make! It seemed that 35-year-old Pam Babcock had locked herself in the bathroom and refused to leave her toilet seat for 2 years!!!! The skin around the seat had now grown around the object, making the surgery to remove it a serious procedure. Her 36yr-old boyfriend stayed with her during her “lock-down” bringing her food and water, as well as going about their relationship as normal. Everyday this Kansas City native would whimper “Honey, maybe tomorrow”. News reports state that they can now confirm that the boyfriend would relive himself on that same toilet while she occupied the seat!
Dumbfounded to why the boyfriend took 2 years to call the police, the officers found her sitting there with her legs apparently atrophied, completely useless to the rest of her body. In addition to that, she refused medical help, as well as refusing to leave the bathroom through fits of rage and embarrassment.
"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," the police officer Whippie said. "The hospital removed it."
At the time of this 2008 article, Kansas City authorities were still undecided about charging her boyfriend with a crime.
Now this may sound disgusting and outrageous to you, but if you look at your tomb/bathroom in spiritual eyes wouldn’t it look a little like this? It sounded like above all FEAR keep her in that room and the conditions of the environment atropied her ability to get up and walk away. My dictionary defines atrophy like this
The shrieking in size of some part of or organ of the body, usually caused by injury, disease, or lack of use. Weakening or lessing of some ability. To add to her weakness she had an enabler to encourage and join in on her behavior. It was as if they were complacent in their sin and comfortable in their daily actions. The crazy thing is it took 2 years for her boyfriend to say “Enough is enough! This is COMPLETELY unhealthy and a danger to both of us!” Taking a deeper look, they were sharing they same place to deposit their waste! A logical mind would have to assume that daily conversations, arguments, and even sexual acts where held over that toilet! When the authorities came, she refused to leave the toilet and medical help…when Jesus Christ authority comes to your tomb do you refuse to leave your place of comfortable sin? Do you refuse the medicine in the word of God so that you can be surgically removed?
In biblical times, bodies were prepared for burial as soon as the last breath was drawn, the eyes were closed by the most distinguished/eldest son or relative of the deceased, and after the eyes were closed, a band was keep in position on the cheekbones to cover the mouth shut. The body was placed upon salt or sand to slow decomposition, metal or glass was placed on the navel to prevent swelling, and the body was washed and ANOINTED with oils and then wrapped in linens.
When I was reading this I saw a couple of things. First I saw first steps of the burial process as generational curses. “..because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our FATHERS, Jerusalem and your people are reproach to all those around us.” Not every family has the same issues, but I do believe that the enemy attacks the body of Christ by destroying the foundation of the family. Now that can be through the baggage the parents brought in and never dealt with, or baggage the grandparents brought in and was never healed from, or even destruction that someone outside the family brought into the family to shake the foundation. It ca be so may different things.
There is a sense of pride over families, especially those who have been held in high esteem. You never want to get secrets out or speak about financial or personal issues because it makes the family look bad. Now I'm not discussing speaking badly about you parents…as I have been wrong for doing. For the word of God says children honor thy mother and father, which really means to say the good things about them, even when the bad things are there too. It's a sense of respect more than anything. What I am addressing specificly is against the secretive sin that moves from one generation to the other. I think the description of the eldest/ or most distinguished relative closing the mouth of the deceased is a great illustration on how these thing keeps us bound because we wont talk about it. Matter of fact NO ONE in the family talks about! So they just wrapped you up in the linens, in the lies, in the stuff to preserve the sin. Things that aren’t even your issue, but they strips of linen wrapped by your mothers pain, or your fathers pain…it all get wrapped up on you.
When I was doing my Ester fast (6 months from dating) I found it interesting that Ester was truly fighting a battle that could’ve been defeated long ago if Saul had been obedient to the directions that God gave him! But because he spared the Queen, her heir lived and thus a tribe of people who wanted to destroy the Jews survived. God had to rework the plan through Ester, in the next generation, to restor the disobedience from the last generation! God has to rework the plan of restoration of a family line, of traditions and bad habits in you too. Lord knows he is working it out in me…
The body was placed on Salt or sand…thus leading me to believe that the foundation that the body was laid upon was like this:
Matthew 7:24-26 (New King James Version)
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand
It says, in the burial procedure above, that this process was to delay decomposition. It is the desire of Christ for you to die to this thing..whatever it is, the scripture shows us why the sand delays the process, because your foundation is shifty. You blow with the wind if it moves this way or that way. If trails came you wouldn’t know how to deal with it, because you’d be consumed by the wind moving above your head, the water raising at your feet, all the elements attacking you at every turn! I mean I'm seeing it clearly my dog-on self as I write…so I’m learning as I go! Your foundation must be on the solid rock so that your de-comp does not delay your death to sin.
The metal and glass was placed on the navel to prevent swelling! Now I just had to shout because the revelation of this just came to me…shout out to Jesus Christo!!!! One of the things that I spoke into this man that I adored when we first meet was the story of Elizabeth and Zacheriah! Here was a women pregnant passed natural time, (but in God’s time she was impregnanted), secluded from haters, and surrounded by the only person who really understood the journey, Mary. Elizabeth was pregnant with promise aka John the Baptist, while Mary was pregnant with the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ! In her first 5 months she stayed away from negative talk…even her own husbands disbelief ( because he didn’t believe God removed his voice until the naming of the son), and keep her hidden for the child's own safety. Too much stress or doubt would’ve aborted the promise inside her. For she was holding a child whose name in Hebrew means "Yahweh is gracious". In knowing all of this it would just make sense that the enemy would want to place metal on your navel to stop it from not swelling…but GROWING!!! Because God is gracious he planted GRACE inside of you!☺ And the mirror I can only imagine would be placed there to reflect the surroundings of the tomb, because if you saw what was inside of you swelling up it would be enough to remove that extra weight!
Last to the process is the washing with anointed oils. At Christ birth he was given myrrh along with several other oils because they were expensive necessities for his journey. Knowing that family was poor, the gift of myrrh as the wise men prophetically saw, was for his burial they might not have bee able to afford. Myrrh was also used by Queen Esther during her time of preparation for what God had her purposed to accomplish. "I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, and aloes, and cinnamon” ~ Proverbs 7:17.
Myrrh is a bitter essential oil that is reddish-brown resinous material collected from the dried sap of specific trees. It expands and “blooms” when HEATED ( put through the fire?) or BURNED ( got scares?), instead of melting like aromatic resins that have the same characteristics.
Get this it ”has one of the highest levels-of compounds that has direct effects on the hypothalamus, pituitary and amygdala, the seat of our EMOTIONS. Research in Italy demonstrated that myrrh has pain-relieving attributes.
Its like you have to be washed in the bitterness because it attacks the “seat of our emotions” and through the process it because a pain reliever because your emotions have been medicated…good stuff right?!
2 Corinthians 12:6-10 (The Message)
If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
Two days after I sent out my first blog I began “feeling” my newly found excitement and healing suddenly start to slip away. In it’s place were small and steady strategic moments of insecurity, followed by little seeds of distraction! I knew I was falling back into an old habit and immediately started working on applying the word of God to my life. My thorn started to show itself more clearly, and I realized that I would be fighting against the spirit of insecurity! It had become a stronghold in my life for far to long and had many layers wrapped around my spiritual being.
2 Corinthians 10:4 (New King James Version)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
Although it was my decision to break things off, I STILL wanted him to chase after me! Complicated I know, but I wanted to be “worth the fight”! It would’ve made me feel valid, secure, and valuable. Through the Holy Spirit ministering to me by me getting in my word, I began seeing all the different layers that needed to come off. I realized that I’d have to FIGHT through some of these things. I began to believe that I WAS worth the fight and before anyone else needed to make me feel valid, valuable, secure…and even loved…I needed to do it for myself!
Taking myself back to John 11:44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth, Jesus said to hem “Loose him and let him go”! The holy spirit started showing me the several different types of things that were holding me down, but first he had me study the burial process.
THE LINENS:
About two years ago my sister was doing her regular Perez Hilton gossip research on her cell phone and stumbled upon this amazing story that pertains so well to the point I want to make! It seemed that 35-year-old Pam Babcock had locked herself in the bathroom and refused to leave her toilet seat for 2 years!!!! The skin around the seat had now grown around the object, making the surgery to remove it a serious procedure. Her 36yr-old boyfriend stayed with her during her “lock-down” bringing her food and water, as well as going about their relationship as normal. Everyday this Kansas City native would whimper “Honey, maybe tomorrow”. News reports state that they can now confirm that the boyfriend would relive himself on that same toilet while she occupied the seat!
Dumbfounded to why the boyfriend took 2 years to call the police, the officers found her sitting there with her legs apparently atrophied, completely useless to the rest of her body. In addition to that, she refused medical help, as well as refusing to leave the bathroom through fits of rage and embarrassment.
"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," the police officer Whippie said. "The hospital removed it."
At the time of this 2008 article, Kansas City authorities were still undecided about charging her boyfriend with a crime.
Now this may sound disgusting and outrageous to you, but if you look at your tomb/bathroom in spiritual eyes wouldn’t it look a little like this? It sounded like above all FEAR keep her in that room and the conditions of the environment atropied her ability to get up and walk away. My dictionary defines atrophy like this
The shrieking in size of some part of or organ of the body, usually caused by injury, disease, or lack of use. Weakening or lessing of some ability. To add to her weakness she had an enabler to encourage and join in on her behavior. It was as if they were complacent in their sin and comfortable in their daily actions. The crazy thing is it took 2 years for her boyfriend to say “Enough is enough! This is COMPLETELY unhealthy and a danger to both of us!” Taking a deeper look, they were sharing they same place to deposit their waste! A logical mind would have to assume that daily conversations, arguments, and even sexual acts where held over that toilet! When the authorities came, she refused to leave the toilet and medical help…when Jesus Christ authority comes to your tomb do you refuse to leave your place of comfortable sin? Do you refuse the medicine in the word of God so that you can be surgically removed?
In biblical times, bodies were prepared for burial as soon as the last breath was drawn, the eyes were closed by the most distinguished/eldest son or relative of the deceased, and after the eyes were closed, a band was keep in position on the cheekbones to cover the mouth shut. The body was placed upon salt or sand to slow decomposition, metal or glass was placed on the navel to prevent swelling, and the body was washed and ANOINTED with oils and then wrapped in linens.
When I was reading this I saw a couple of things. First I saw first steps of the burial process as generational curses. “..because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our FATHERS, Jerusalem and your people are reproach to all those around us.” Not every family has the same issues, but I do believe that the enemy attacks the body of Christ by destroying the foundation of the family. Now that can be through the baggage the parents brought in and never dealt with, or baggage the grandparents brought in and was never healed from, or even destruction that someone outside the family brought into the family to shake the foundation. It ca be so may different things.
There is a sense of pride over families, especially those who have been held in high esteem. You never want to get secrets out or speak about financial or personal issues because it makes the family look bad. Now I'm not discussing speaking badly about you parents…as I have been wrong for doing. For the word of God says children honor thy mother and father, which really means to say the good things about them, even when the bad things are there too. It's a sense of respect more than anything. What I am addressing specificly is against the secretive sin that moves from one generation to the other. I think the description of the eldest/ or most distinguished relative closing the mouth of the deceased is a great illustration on how these thing keeps us bound because we wont talk about it. Matter of fact NO ONE in the family talks about! So they just wrapped you up in the linens, in the lies, in the stuff to preserve the sin. Things that aren’t even your issue, but they strips of linen wrapped by your mothers pain, or your fathers pain…it all get wrapped up on you.
When I was doing my Ester fast (6 months from dating) I found it interesting that Ester was truly fighting a battle that could’ve been defeated long ago if Saul had been obedient to the directions that God gave him! But because he spared the Queen, her heir lived and thus a tribe of people who wanted to destroy the Jews survived. God had to rework the plan through Ester, in the next generation, to restor the disobedience from the last generation! God has to rework the plan of restoration of a family line, of traditions and bad habits in you too. Lord knows he is working it out in me…
The body was placed on Salt or sand…thus leading me to believe that the foundation that the body was laid upon was like this:
Matthew 7:24-26 (New King James Version)
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand
It says, in the burial procedure above, that this process was to delay decomposition. It is the desire of Christ for you to die to this thing..whatever it is, the scripture shows us why the sand delays the process, because your foundation is shifty. You blow with the wind if it moves this way or that way. If trails came you wouldn’t know how to deal with it, because you’d be consumed by the wind moving above your head, the water raising at your feet, all the elements attacking you at every turn! I mean I'm seeing it clearly my dog-on self as I write…so I’m learning as I go! Your foundation must be on the solid rock so that your de-comp does not delay your death to sin.
The metal and glass was placed on the navel to prevent swelling! Now I just had to shout because the revelation of this just came to me…shout out to Jesus Christo!!!! One of the things that I spoke into this man that I adored when we first meet was the story of Elizabeth and Zacheriah! Here was a women pregnant passed natural time, (but in God’s time she was impregnanted), secluded from haters, and surrounded by the only person who really understood the journey, Mary. Elizabeth was pregnant with promise aka John the Baptist, while Mary was pregnant with the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ! In her first 5 months she stayed away from negative talk…even her own husbands disbelief ( because he didn’t believe God removed his voice until the naming of the son), and keep her hidden for the child's own safety. Too much stress or doubt would’ve aborted the promise inside her. For she was holding a child whose name in Hebrew means "Yahweh is gracious". In knowing all of this it would just make sense that the enemy would want to place metal on your navel to stop it from not swelling…but GROWING!!! Because God is gracious he planted GRACE inside of you!☺ And the mirror I can only imagine would be placed there to reflect the surroundings of the tomb, because if you saw what was inside of you swelling up it would be enough to remove that extra weight!
Last to the process is the washing with anointed oils. At Christ birth he was given myrrh along with several other oils because they were expensive necessities for his journey. Knowing that family was poor, the gift of myrrh as the wise men prophetically saw, was for his burial they might not have bee able to afford. Myrrh was also used by Queen Esther during her time of preparation for what God had her purposed to accomplish. "I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, and aloes, and cinnamon” ~ Proverbs 7:17.
Myrrh is a bitter essential oil that is reddish-brown resinous material collected from the dried sap of specific trees. It expands and “blooms” when HEATED ( put through the fire?) or BURNED ( got scares?), instead of melting like aromatic resins that have the same characteristics.
Get this it ”has one of the highest levels-of compounds that has direct effects on the hypothalamus, pituitary and amygdala, the seat of our EMOTIONS. Research in Italy demonstrated that myrrh has pain-relieving attributes.
Its like you have to be washed in the bitterness because it attacks the “seat of our emotions” and through the process it because a pain reliever because your emotions have been medicated…good stuff right?!
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