Moving Heart

I was reading in Exodus 25 where God is giving instructions on how to build the tabernacle.
Three of the verses I want to share with you are,

Exodus 25:2 “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution.

Exodus 25:10-11 “And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it.”

Exodus 25:40 “And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.”  (God speaking to Moses, as always I suggest you read the entire chapter for yourself)

The first verse God is asking for anyone who is willing to give toward building the temple,
a man whose heart moves him. I realized that request has not changed in all these years.
The first temple of course was a building where God would dwell and meet with His people.  

The temple today is our bodies, we are the temple where God dwells but to become that
you still have to offer “a heart that moves” you toward Him.

It is your decision no one can make you have a relationship with your Creator. Over time
you have to have this same heart to grow toward a more intimate relationship with God.

For me personally there have been some pretty hard times of deciding to have “a heart that
moves me” to draw closer to God. I was reminded of such a time a few days ago.

It was about 13 years ago, I felt like the Lord was asking me to move from Florida to
Johnson City TN. The circumstances to that decision are too many to tell but there was a
definite series of events pointing to that decision.

My youngest daughter was in elementary school and I think my youngest son may have just

started middle school. I called my ex-husband and wanted to set up a time we could talk
about it and figure out a plan that would work for both of us.

Instead of talking to me he spoke to an attorney and days later I was summoned to court. My oldest daughter Amanda came with me for support and I thought for sure the judge would tell me to go. It was God’s plan after all so what could go wrong???

I was told by the judge that I was not allowed to move my children to TN and was given
a warning of jail time if I didn’t obey the law.

As you can imagine I left the courtroom with a flood of emotions! I won’t go into all the
logistics of the relationship with my ex or his with the kids but keeping them apart was not
my ultimate goal.

I cried and prayed all the way home and as I pulled into my driveway I heard the Lord say
again "I have a plan, do you trust me?"

I sat my sweet children down and explained to them I knew I had to follow God. I would trust
on His mercy for my heart as He knew better than anyone how important being a mother to
my children was to me.

I continued to pack up my house and make a plan for Johnson City. My ex saw the boxes
when he picked up the kids that weekend and called to remind me I couldn’t
move to which I responded, “Yes I can.”

He reminded me I could not move the children to which I responded “I won’t be.”

I told him I had to follow God and I would be bringing the kids to live with him.

Gems if you think that was an easy decision you are WRONG! It about broke me. The thing
is like the temple that was being built with wood my temple was currently made with wood,
worry, fear, doubt, BUT God  eventually covered it with pure gold inside and out. He filled
me with His Holy Spirit to have the power to follow Him. He also took my offering of
obedience and returned it with mercy. After I let go of my children the Lord changed the
plan and moved us to Tampa, Tennessee would come later.

I think the “heart that moves Him” is a constant development. How close you want to be with
God begins with a decision of going from wood to gold and continues as you walk out your

journey with Him. I believe going to court was part of God's plan to test my faith. I needed
to see there was no way this would work out without His intervention.

In the last verse God is talking to Moses and He tells him to make the pattern of the temple

like he was shown on the mountain.

We know God didn’t give him a Polaroid or an architect design to show him so it must
have been a vision or mental picture, I don't know for sure. I do know the people had to trust
that Moses knew what God showed him.

This same passage also applies today. Gems God shows you things at times that He
doesn’t show anyone else. You have to trust that you saw the whole picture when you
can’t even figure out how to make the first piece work.

On my last adventure in Tennessee the Holy Spirit told me to meet with a man He
introduced me to on my  journey 4 years prior and pray with him. I was like OK Lord but I
have no idea where to find this man and just out of curiosity what do you want us to pray
about?
Gems this wasn’t just any guy, this man is very well known in the Messianic community
both in the U.S. and Israel and did I mention I had no idea what we were supposed to pray
about.

The only thing I knew for sure was I had a vision in my minds eye of us praying and trust
me, it had to be God because there was no way this man would even listen to me without
the Holy Spirit's leading, it had crazy written all over it.

A couple of weeks later I was visiting a church with a friend and guess who was the guest
speaker….. I spoke with him after the service and told him we needed to meet and pray,
the Holy Spirit did what He does best, makes what the world thinks is crazy and turns it
into His plan. We both had to trust we saw something from God.

I love that while God is working on our wood temple it’s just between the two of us. He

works on the inside of us with the power of the Holy Spirit and then when we have passed
that test he covers us with gold, inside and out for the world to see His masterpiece.
He even puts gold molding around it!

I recently moved back to Florida from Tennessee. After 14 months of "sleep overs" the Lord
showed me an apartment and told me to move in. He supplied a job but it would be a
couple of weeks before I would get a pay check. I went to the apartment complex in faith,
wearing my gold, because I knew the Lord said "don't delay."
I was given my first months rent free as part of a leasing promotion. When we move with a
heart for God He is all we need.

Gems I pray this will encourage you to keep your heart moving toward God.

Be The Ring

What is it about the diamond ring? We girls put a lot of emphasis on it don't we? When a girl announces she's getting married the first thing we want to see is the ring. Even before the guy we want to see that ring. 

The bigger the diamond the better the ring, as if the size of the diamond has any relevance to the size of the love.

I'm guilty of this ring thing. I confess I have been known to check out a ring here and there and marvel at a brilliant diamond. 

Even as little girls we are picking out our engagement ring long before our fiance'.

I heard a beautiful ring story from a friend the other day that I just have to share.

She works at a higher end department store in the mall. On this particular day the women who were shopping happen to be wearing some bling (big diamond rings) that my friend happened to notice.

My friend asked the Lord to give her a ring that she could wear from Him.

I have a ring that I wear from the Lord so I was expecting her to tell me about the ring He gave her, but that's not what He did.

She asked the Lord for a ring and He said “be the ring.”

What a profound response. Be the ring....

I have chewed on that for days.

What does the engagement/wedding ring represent? 

It tells the world you belong to someone. That you have a personal, intimate, committed relationship with someone and you plan on having it for the rest of your life.

So for you to “be” the ring it would mean your life was a living example of that relationship to someone or in this case to Jesus.

Seriously that was such a phenomenal response. Would we expect anything less from the Holy Spirit?

So now we have to ask ourselves how exactly do we be the ring?

We had a ministry at the church I used to attend called 2^nd Saturday it happens on the 2^nd Saturday each month hence the name 2^nd Saturday :)

Volunteers get together and reach out to the community to bless them in some way. One of the ministries is called Random Acts of Kindness and it's different each month.

My friend April, who was the Director of local outreach, and I were talking about what Random Act Of Kindness we could put together. I asked what was happening in the community that month and April mentioned Valentines Day. 

At the same time we said out loud bring flowers to a nursing home. We knew it was a God thing and the thing to do.

I knew what was coming next and I already dreaded it. I knew April would ask me to lead the team.

Now I'm gonna be real honest here Gems. I didn't want to do it because old people creep me out.

I know I'm horrible but I'm just being honest. I can handle most any ministry but old people in a nursing home.

Needless to say I was the leader of the group going to the Nursing Home.

The Lord sent an amazing group of Volunteers which made it a lot easier for me and off we went.

I was doing my best to hide my feelings because the Lord was very clear this is what He wanted done and I didn't want the volunteers to know their “leader” was "creeped out."

When we entered the Nursing Home I was thrilled that it was clean and didn't have that smell that most of them have.

We spread out and went room to room to give out our flowers.

I walked into one room and the woman was sitting in her wheel chair. She held a mirror in one hand and with the other she was putting on liquid face make up. She was having a hard time with it, some parts of her face had a big spot and other parts had none.

We talked as she was applying it and the Lord said to me “help her.”

I now began having a conversation in my head with the Lord how helping her would mean touching her face and I was really not comfortable with that.

I began looking around the room for a tissue or toilet paper or something in case the Lord insisted on this helping thing. Wasn't it enough that I went did I really have to be touching old people too!

He said it again “help her.”

UGH! So I looked at her sweet blotchy make up face and said “do you want me to help you put your makeup on?” She looked up at me and said “no.”

Well alrighty then. I thought I was off the hook.

She went on to tell me that the day before was her birthday and pointed out the balloon floating on a string from her bed. I wished her a happy birthday and felt like I should compliment her so I told her makeup was coming along nicely and her hair looked pretty as well.

I should have left well enough alone.

She told me she did her hair and was able to do the sides but couldn't do the back. Then she looked at me with that sweet face again and asked “could you do my hair in the back for me?”

Gems the funniest thing happened instantly in my head.

When I was a little girl my mother was a beautician that's what they were called then now she would be called a hair stylist. Every Saturday morning my grandmother and her sisters would come to our house for my mother to do their hair. They all had round bodies and round hair doos. I remembered my mother teasing the back of their hair and filling in the bald spots to make the complete circle.

So I walked behind my new friends wheel chair, grabbed the comb and started teasing her hair.

I gotta tell you I really looked like I knew what I was doing.

I filled in all the spots and rounded it out and went back to the front of her and said “you look beautiful.”

She gave me the biggest smile that filled my heart it was such a precious moment.

As I was looking at her I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me “being the ring.”

I was being the ring! That's how we do it!

We show the love of God to others so they know who we belong to. Who we're committed to. Who we gave our life to. Who we're proud to let the whole world know we love. That's how to “be the ring.”

Gems one of the things I love about God is whenever you bless someone God blesses you at the same time.

I had no idea when I was a little kid noticing how my mother did hair that one day I would use that memory to show God's love to another person.

What things have you experienced that you can share with someone?

Take time to look around and see where you too can be the ring!

Are You OK Being Hated

I was out walking this morning listening to a teaching on my phone and in the middle of it the Holy Spirit asked me a question, “Gena are you OK being hated?”

I wasn’t ready for such a deep question before 8 AM or before I even worked up a sweat, but Gems it stopped me in my tracks. Am I OK being hated?

My first response was No.  Rejection is  one of the enemies best weapons against me. It’s something I have to keep in check almost daily.  I have allowed the Lord to rip that root out of my heart and soul yet that toxic plant tries to grow it’s ugly seed again and again.

So why wouldn’t I want to be hated? Because that would mean being rejected.

So I have to ask myself what am I willing to sacrifice to not be hated? I guess that’s what the Holy Spirit was asking me this morning.

Hebrews 13:12-14  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.

 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp; go forth from the ceremonial law, from sin, from the world, and from ourselves. Living by faith in Christ, set apart to God through his blood, let us willingly separate from this evil world. Sin, sinners, nor death, will not suffer us to continue long here; therefore let us go forth now by faith and seek in Christ the rest and peace which this world cannot afford us.

Hebrews 13:12-15 The Message

^10-12 The altar from which God gives us the gift of himself is not for exploitation by insiders who grab and loot. In the old system, the animals are killed and the bodies disposed of outside the camp. The blood is then brought inside to the altar as a sacrifice for sin. It’s the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates—that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God’s altar to cleanse his people.

^13-15 So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come.

Jesus was led outside the city to be crucified because of the ceremonial law followed by the Jews. He was treated as an offender. Keeping the Levitical law would, according to its own rules, keep “sinners” away from the Holy altar. This letter in Hebrews was written to Jewish believers who were tempted to abandon their faith and return to Judaism and the temple. The letter seems to encourage the readers to share in Christ’s humiliation and rejection by His own community, He was left alone on that cross.

I think most of us can embrace the teaching here that Christ died for all sinners, we embrace the message of love and acceptance so why would the  Holy spirit ask if I was OK being hated?

We find that answer in Matthew.

Matthew 24 ⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

OK Gena side journey. I recently went to Toyota to see about selling my car or trading it in. In my journey I am always trying to find ways to keep my overhead down.  I never know where I will be living and was hoping to lower my monthly payment. I spoke with a brother in Christ, we will call Tom, who worked there. Tom counseled me not to purchase a car and we talked about refinancing, he asked if I had my paperwork from when I bought the car. I laughed at the thought of still having paperwork from 2 years ago and if I did, that I would have any idea where it was. The only thing I have kept on a regular basis is my family.

Tom told me if I could find the documents to bring them to him and he might be able to help me. He gave me his cell number so I could contact him directly.

So here comes the typical Gena move. I was looking through my car for the contract and found 2 papers from Toyota with my car information on it. I was so excited to find them that I took pictures and text them to Tom. About an hour later he called me and said “Miss Gena is there a reason you text me pictures of your oil changes?”  

You see Gems I saw the part I was looking for on those papers so I didn’t bother to keep reading the rest. I just wanted what I found to work for me, but it couldn’t because it wasn’t the true contract.

We are currently living in a world where believers read what they want to see in God’s word but not the whole message. We don’t want the commands and obedience of the word and many are falling away from the truth of God’s message and their relationship with Christ as a whole. Matthew 24:10 clearly says many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.

Gems we have to be ready because a line is getting drawn and we are all going to have to decide where we stand just like the readers in Hebrews. It’s not a matter of will you be hated but when.

I am currently working as a prayer counselor and for many of the callers it seems like they are calling into Santa’s wish list line, “tell God I want this or that.”

We are not allowed to preach or teach on the call which is wisdom in some cases however it can work against you . The prayer team can only use God’s word however the caller only wants you to pray the good stuff. I have had to become very strategic in my verse choices.  I share the promise available to them along with the command that goes with it. I have had many ‘believers” hang up on me because they don't want to be held responsible for their side of the relationship, they just want the blessing.

Many of the media wars we are experiencing with believers, not the lost, are those who want to pervert the word of God. If you don’t line up with them you are soon hated. We are hearing more and more of Preachers and teachers giving false messages. They are willing to water down or just plain change the word of God to be what their itching ears want to hear. They want to give you an oil change instead of a covenant change relationship.

We too are going to have to live “outside the camp” outside the worlds views of what's acceptable. We are going to have to decide to be set apart, to be God’s holy people. We have to be willing to suffer, right now it’s just words for the most part for the Western church but in the days to come it may be physical suffering for you as well. We have to endure the hated city we live in now with the hope of our eternal home that is yet to come.

What does that look like for you to be hated by your camp of people for Yeshua?  What are you having to stand firm on or speak truth about? What groups are you going to have to offend for the cause of truth?

Gems are you OK being hated?

My prayer for all of us is to be strong and make it to the end. I know with God all things are possible. I know we can live without fear because perfect love cast out all fear.

I know I can be hated as long as I KNOW I am also loved.

So I will answer your question Lord, yes I’m OK with being hated.