Deborah Perkins's Blog, page 18

Invitation Brings Expansion!

Most Christian leaders I know, including myself, have a desire to see the Kingdom of God expand. Some want to grow their churches, some want to send missionaries to the field, some evangelize the lost and heal the wounded, and some pray for revival.

Each of us has a part to play, and every one of us will have a different vision. At the moment, I am called to write, while you might be called to share Jesus in your workplace. God invites ALL of us to help build His Kingdom, yet we ALL need to invite God into our processes first to see His Kingdom expand!

If you’re longing to bear more fruit for the Kingdom of God, these words the Lord shared with me recently will encourage you.

PARTICIPATION REQUIRES INVITATION
A few weeks ago, I heard the Lord say:

“Begin every task with the simple prayer of invitation. If I dined with sinners and tax collectors who invited Me, how much more will I come to you, My beloved! Inviting Me stirs up something new on the inside of you; it is not for My benefit but for yours that the lesser invites the greater to come.”

What is the prayer of invitation? It can be as simple as “Jesus!” (or as my pastor teaches our kids, “Help me, Jesus!”) For me, it is often a prayer of consecration, surrendering my mind, body, and senses to Him as I listen and then act on what He shows me.

At the start of a new project, it can be “Lord, I don’t know how to do this right, but you do. Give me wisdom.” When we’re not sure what to do next, it can sound like: “God, I need your direction and confirmation for the future. Show me what You’re doing, and help me to recognize Your signs along the way.”

Sometimes we have to take the first steps before we see what He is doing!

Just this week I was put on the spot. My husband and I had to attend, quite unexpectedly, a funeral for someone who died a tragic death.

Because we had been away for several days, I had not had time to pray beforehand and found myself in the receiving line at the funeral home, wondering what on earth I could say to a mother whose child had been taken far too soon. There are no words for situations like that!

As we drew nearer and nearer, I began to quietly cry out one simple word: “Jesus! Jesus!” Only He could know what was needed at that moment.

When my turn came with the grieving mother, I found that Christ’s love had overtaken me. His compassion welled up in me and I discovered that He did have something to say - something that brought hope and comfort as I embraced her with His love. All because I invited Him to be there.

God longs to reach people with His love much more than we do. When we ask for His help, He answers. His participation simply requires our invitation.


​INTIMACY REJECTS INTIMIDATION

Why would we not invite God to participate in our everyday endeavors? I believe one of the major hindrances to including God is the subtle belief that God, like other authority figures we have known, is against us. To this, God replies: “I am not out to get you; I’m out to empower you!”

The Lord has often been misrepresented and misunderstood. He says: “I long for those who seek My heart, looking past what is commonly accepted about Me to find real refreshment in who I am.”

The Bible says we serve a God who is eager to empower His people. When it comes to fulfilling our dreams, though, some of us have served under harsher taskmasters whose personal agendas led them at times to quench dreams of our own.

We need to renew our minds to the promise that God is for us, not against us! He believes His Holy Spirit is capable of guiding and directing us every time we step out in faith - and it is faith that pleases Him! (See Hebrews 11:6) Intimacy rejects the enemy’s intimidation, choosing to believe in what God says about our future.
​
​EXPANSION REQUIRES MOVEMENT

I often share an illustration when I teach, to the effect that it is far easier to guide an object or a person who is in motion than one who is at a standstill. If you are moving, I can easily direct you or adjust your course. If you stubbornly resist, standing still, I cannot guide you unless I also first motivate you.

Faith works the same way. Faith without works is at a standstill! But take a step of faith, and all of heaven comes to assist you:

“I cannot bless what you do not attempt! Movement is essential in My Kingdom, for without a step of faith there will be no forward progress. All My goodness is precipitated upon you reaching for it and welcoming it into your midst. Whatever you are doing has the potential to be richly blessed as you invite Me into your process.”
​BREADTH REQUIRES DEPTH
Do you have a sphere of people you influence or mentor? A church, a small group, or some spiritual sons and daughters?

There is a danger we must avoid as we are seeking growth and expansion. The temptation can be to reach for quantity rather than quality, looking more closely at numbers than fruit.

David made this mistake (taking Israel’s census), as did Gideon (he saw God whittle his army down to warriors in order to win the Midianite battle). They both pursued breadth instead of depth. What if God saw things differently?

“Expansion comes not from a wider reach but from deeper involvement. Pour into the ones you have and they will reach others. Start where you are and invest heavily despite the odds against them. You will see increase simply because joy will spring out of those you pour into!”

There are leaders who have a wider call to reach the community. Some are called to reach the masses. Yet there are also those whom God is calling to come deeper. Are you one of them?

Could it be that a previous season of outreach and widespread ministry has ended, and you are being invited by the Lord to settle in more intimately with Him? To share your wisdom with a few who will then impact the many because they have been so deeply and radically empowered?

One of the benefits of age is focus. I do not have the time or energy I had as a 20-year-old! I have a family to provide for, elderly parents who sometimes require care, responsibilities in my church and community, and basic physical changes that keep me from doing as much as I used to.

The benefit of these limitations, however, is that they have sharpened my focus. Time is precious, and the wisdom of age is that I no longer need to do everything, but only essential things. What is essential to you? What is God showing you?
​GOD'S WORDS RELEASE POWER
Spiritual wisdom works this way. After a series of efforts by trial and error, we come to realize that it does not pay to do things our own way! Only faith pleases God, not human effort. We begin to seek God more intentionally, knowing that when God releases a word to us, or a new commission, there is power within that word to accomplish it!

Good leaders yearn for the tasks that come from God’s throne for this time. We bear more fruit as we pursue less of our own agenda! Growth comes from time spent in God’s Presence. The prophetic dreams God releases on the inside of you are worth pursuing because when you act on them, God releases the power to make them come to pass!


Let me finish with a few more words of encouragement: 

“Peter was plagued by his own fears until I unleashed in him something much greater. The Greater One is within you now, and your time to lead has come! Do not shy away from your dreams any longer, but latch on to My goodness and preach about Me wherever you go, for signs and wonders will follow you as you do so!” 

“Watch as I weave together ALL your plans so that they “fit” and form a beautiful tapestry. All your desires have been noted and were known to Me long before you were even aware of them. From the foundation of the world until now I have had a place in time for you that only you could fill, replete with wonderful fruit. Your impact will sustain and propel others after you, as part of an eternal and never-ending chain of glory.”
​
Daniel 5:23 reads: “God holds in His hand your life and all your ways.” You cannot mess up when you invite God to be involved! My prayer for you today is that in ALL your ways you will acknowledge Him so that He can make straight your paths. 
​INVITE GOD THROUGH PRAYER:
Father, I pray: “Let your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” I believe invitation brings expansion. I want to be part of what You are doing right now to expand heaven on earth.

I invite You to be involved in every aspect of my life and dreams. Help me to remember that Your ways are different from mine! I choose to go deeper, not wider. I trust that “marketing” is nothing compared to Divine multiplication!

I choose intimacy with You, rejecting any intimidation I have felt in the past. Father, You are good! I commit to moving forward in faith so that You can guide me. I believe that as I focus on the essential things You call me to do, everything else in Your wonderful plan will fall into place, and we will ALL behold Your goodness in the end! Amen.

© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com Subscribe
​Deborah Perkins is the founder of His Inscriptions, a ministry designed to help you "Discover Life-Giving Communication with God." She lives in New England with her husband, three teenage boys, one cat, and four feisty chickens. Want to learn more, join a mentoring group, or sow a seed into this ministry? Click here for more info!

What's Your Personality?

Have you ever taken a personality test?

People around the world have used personality profiles to understand each other better. Knowing our strengths and weaknesses has become a trend, especially in Christian circles. The information can be a helpful tool for teambuilding and for leaders, to know how best to motivate the people who serve them.

I have taken many of these tests over the years and emerged with a series of “labels” designed to define me. I’m sure you have, too!

I know, for example, that I am equally balanced between introversion and extroversion (although my husband might question the “balanced” part!). I love a good party, love connecting with people, but recharge alone and need some time to “regroup” after a series of social events.

I am a researcher, a teacher/trainer, a high achiever, a creative, a prophet with a pastoral bent, an intuitive “feeler” and a very passionate person. I have been called melancholic, choleric, a leader, a judge, a mystic and - help me Jesus - a "Beaver!" 

What are you?

More importantly, who does God say you are? How does God define you?

Here is what I believe God is saying to us today: “I want to develop personality in you - not YOURS but MINE!”

God knows who we are. He knows what labels we’ve been given. He’ll even use our strengths and weaknesses for His glory. Yet ultimately, He wants to infuse us with HIMSELF, filling us with His Divine Personality.

THE LIMITS OF LABELS
​Labels can be a helpful starting point in understanding what the Bible calls the “old man:” our sinful, fallen nature and our pre-programmed “defaults.” In other words, the way we will act if left to ourselves. But labels have limits.

For example, I know that if I had to choose, I’d pick solitude over social engagements most of the time. Why? Because it’s easier for me to connect with God that way. People and their problems can be wearying to me, a writer/thinker at heart and one given to contemplation!

Yet people hold the key to my growth. It’s how God designed us! The Lord wants us to understand that unless we become part of a community, we will never grow beyond the level of our own knowledge and understanding.

To put it more bluntly, “lone rangers”- people who never grow beyond an intellectual, ego-centric, or “teenage stage” of growth (i.e., “It’s all about me, folks!”) into a heartfelt, other-centric, loving application of who they are and what they know will remain immature. They’ll be stuck in their own self-made worlds of wonder!

Knowledge is powerful but also seductive, and can ignite our pride. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

Am I suggesting that we ignore the worldly wisdom we have about ourselves and how we best function? No! I am suggesting that knowing the self is only the beginning. Our knowledge of ourselves should drive us to the cross of Christ because in seeing our weaknesses we realize just how much we need His strengths!
​THE DIVINE PERSONALITY
I am by nature an avoider, not a confronter. However, when I bring this characteristic to Jesus in prayer, He makes me bold! I think many of you can probably relate to this. Woundedness often creates fear, which holds us back from doing the things we’d like to do. Christ died to heal the wounded places which accentuate our negative personality traits, emphasizing instead our new, Divine personalities. (See Ephesians chapter 1.)

The Divine Personality is part of your inheritance as a believer! (Have you read Ephesians 1 yet?!) The Holy Spirit is a PERSON. To be surrendered to God the Holy Spirit, to yield our nature to Him, is to be infused with the Divine Personality. It is to die to the old man and live to Christ, whose personality is perfect and complete in every way!

When I pray, when I am flowing in the Spirit, surrendered to what God is doing at the moment, I become as bold as a lion! The desire to “avoid” things evaporates! A spiritual “sharpness” activates on the inside of me. I have clarity and discernment, and I know intuitively what to say or do. It is as though all my senses are on “high alert” and I am able to function with renewed perspective and very intentional purpose.

Why? Because the old me is gone, and the new me is IN HIM!

When Old Testament prophet Samuel anointed King Saul, he said, “The Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be transformed into a different person. When these signs have come, do as the occasion demands, for God is with you…” (1 Samuel 10:6-7)

Hallelujah! Say this with me out loud right now: I may be one thing in the natural, but I’m something else entirely in the Spirit! IN HIM, I am perfect and entire, lacking nothing! (James 1:4.)

God has a new personality for me - His - which is perfectly attuned to the needs of those around me, ready to serve in any capacity, and able to “do as the occasion demands” because I am no longer limited to my old man. I have a new, Divine Personality living on the inside of me! Praise God!!!

You are not deficient. You will never have to be like someone else, nor do you need to promote yourself to gain ground in the Spirit.

God has planted you in the BEST POSSIBLE LOCATION for such a time as this. BECAUSE YOU KNOW HIM, you already possess everything you need for life and godliness!

All that you need, everything you lack or feel you are not, is found by digging into God’s unlimited, omnipotent personality in prayer.

What is seen in the natural is only the surface of things. Everything of value lies beneath, at the heart of man and in the deeper recesses of your being. These things are pulled out by prayer and praise and proclamation. Seek to develop not the external nature but the internal, spiritual nature of God within you, which will then emerge from your heart and transform you into the new man you were designed to be! (John 7:38-40)

One last thought: Even though God is with you on the inside of you, there are things that can ONLY be learned in the context of family and community. (If you missed last week’s podcast, please click here for more on that.)

We are called to be perfect, complete, and mature in the Spirit. Although we are deeply loved, we’re not meant to stay where we are!

Knowledge of God renews and transforms the mind (Romans 12:1-2), but community - fellowship with God and His Body - renews and heals the heart. (1 John 1:3) Community is the place where we develop the beautiful “bedside manner” of the Spirit, the qualities of compassion, understanding, and love.

POWERFUL PERSONALITY
I love the great variety of personalities we have in the Kingdom of God. I love that some of you are “Otters,” full of life and spunk and joy, and others are “Lions,” leading us capably and firmly to new realms in the Spirit. I will probably always love doing the work of a “Beaver,” being industrious and using the materials at hand to build something great for God.

What I love most, though, is seeing the places where the personality of God shines through, eclipsing natural personalities and replacing them with power and glory so amazing it cannot be attributed to anything but the Divine.

I love that place of yieldedness and surrender in the Spirit that opens the way for an unlabeled, unlimited God to act mightily in our world!

Prayer, for me, is this. To lay aside the old in favor of the new. To be cleansed of all the man-made labels and limitations which bind me and allow God to take me on a journey of risk and faith that results in utter joy - not at my own strengths but at His! To reach a place of laid-down awe and wonder at Christ in me, the hope of glory. To say, “My God, how great thou art!”
​
© Deborah S. Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com
​
SUBSCRIBE Deborah Perkins is the founder of www.HisInscriptions.com, a ministry designed to help you "Discover Life-Giving Communication with God." She lives in New England with her husband, three teenage boys, one cat, and four feisty chickens. Want to learn more, join a mentoring group, or sow a seed into this ministry? Click here for more info! 

Podcast: Families with a Mission

Growth - both spiritual and natural - happens in the context of family. It is intimacy that brings healing, and accountability that promotes maturity. 

Romans 8 says we are all children of God, adopted into the household of God and part of a spiritual "first family." Amazingly, God's family is - like some of ours - a blended family, and God understands the unique challenges we face as we grow up into His image and learn to love each other along the way!

While we will always be the children of a loving Father, our goal is maturity in God. God wants us to become mothers and fathers in the faith, just as He is! The way we do that is through our relationships with family. 

Today, listen in as I share both prophetic words and experiences that will encourage you as you grow to maturity in God. Click here to listen to the Podcast on Youtube. For a written version of the prophetic words I share in this video, click below: 
​Families with a MissionPartner with Wisdom!A Call to Patriarchs & Matriarchs
If Deborah's posts are a blessing to you, please consider sowing a seed into the ministry of His Inscriptions! Partners like you enable His Inscriptions to be published around the world daily, encouraging others to "Discover Life-Giving Communication with God." Click here to donate today. ​ © Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com

Lead with Love!

An unusual thing happened the other day. The Senior Pastor of my church called me, out of the blue, to say hello. No agenda. No problems. No church business to discuss. Just a “Hello, how are you” kind of call.

That call was a HUGE blessing in my day!

Most leaders I know are pretty busy people. Heck, I am, too! When I hung up the phone after our call, I sat for a moment wondering: when is the last time a leader called me and didn’t need something? Wanted to just connect, for the sake of the relationship, not the “mission” or the shared purpose, whatever that may be?

Apart from a handful of very dear friends I know in leadership, I couldn’t remember. Leaders who lead with love are a rare and special breed.
​
​Then another thought struck me: How often do I lead with love? How often do I call someone I work with, just to see how they are?

The truth is, because my time - and yours - is so limited, I tend to call when I have a reason. I don’t want to bother you. I don’t have the time to get into a long conversation. And any number of other excuses. All of which pale in comparison to the two sobering truths people tend to ignore: we need each other, and we’re called to love each other!

There are a number of leaders I pray for on a regular basis whom I would love to talk to more often, but don’t - because I don’t want to interrupt their busy schedules. Some of those leaders are reading this right now! I would love to hear from people more often because relationship fuels both love and prayer. When I connect with you personally, I can pray more specifically for you and celebrate more frequently the answers to prayer we receive.

The sad reality is, it sometimes takes an act of God to break me out of my daily routines and responsibilities to connect with people, and while I’m grateful for the promptings of the Holy Spirit, I shouldn’t really need reminders to love!
​ GOD RESTORES LIFE-GIVING RELATIONSHIPS
Maybe relationship-building isn’t foremost in our minds, but it certainly is a priority in God’s. When Jesus called His disciples into ministry, He wasn’t starting a teaching course or launching a new church program. He just said, “Follow Me.”

Those 12 spent three precious years being with a man who invested in them day and night. They ate together, ministered together, prayed together, and traveled together. I’m willing to believe that at the end of that time, they knew absolutely everything there was to know about each other, and I’ll bet the strength of their relationships with God and each other was also one of the determining factors in their willingness to eventually die for their Master. Why? Because they knew the one simple truth that can change lives: they were loved.

One of the fascinating things to me about Jesus is that as a departing leader about to hand over the reins of His hard-earned ministry, He did not check up on His disciples to give them a final exam or a last-minute briefing, as we leaders so often do. He wasn’t concerned about whether they remembered the right way to minister deliverance or if they’d memorized the Lord’s Prayer.

No! Before He left this earth, the Savior of the entire world was concerned about one essential thing: did they love Him?

Peter had denied Christ three times before the resurrection, because he felt abandoned, afraid, and rejected. The number one priority for Christ as a leader was to make sure Peter knew he was loved (He restored him three times for the three denials) and that Peter loved Him in return (“Do you love Me?”)

In fact, anyone who had any doubts at all received a personal encounter from this Loving Leader. Brokenhearted Mary was honored with an angelic visitation at the tomb. Doubting Thomas was allowed to touch Christ’s side and “make sure” He really was alive. Confused disciples on the Emmaus Road received counsel from the risen Christ. Fisherman friends ate a miraculous breakfast with the Miracle-Worker. And many - we are told hundreds - of believers were privileged to see Christ again, prior to His ascension.

Why? Because He loved them. A power-hungry leader would have raced from the tomb to the throne, eager to assert His newfound authority. This Loving Leader walked with His followers for as long as He was able, to make sure they knew they were loved. He knew that life-giving communication with God begins with life-giving communication with people.

People follow people! What if we threw away all the programs about making disciples and just loved on people instead? What if leadership had less to do with lecturing and more to do with listening? What if every leader knew that there was someone in their life who cared - not just for the work they were doing but for them? That, my friends, would be a love revolution!
​GOOD LEADERS BUILD TRUST
My pastor could have offered advice on several problems we discussed that day. He could have asked me to handle numerous issues that I know need to be taken care of as we build God’s Kingdom in our community. But he didn’t. He just shared his life with me and let me share mine with him. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Inner circles are made of special people like these. Do you want the right to speak into someone’s life about Jesus? Would you like to make more disciples? Train more leaders? Drop the programs. Pick up the relationships, wherever you left off. I guarantee you, that one shift in your priorities will change lives.

Leaders, the truth is, if you treat people right, the programs will take care of themselves. Someone who knows they are loved and appreciated will go to great lengths to make sure that feeling is reciprocated; they’ll watch your back, too, because they love you. What you care about will become important to them also.

When I look at the places in my life where God has changed me for the better, it’s always been in the context of relationship. I believe the most powerful thing we can do for another person is simply to know them. Hear their hearts. Accept them as they are. When I feel understood, I can move mountains! 

If you’re avoiding church or fellowship because you’ve been hurt, I encourage you to ask God to help you try just one more time, and guide you to those who know how to love. Not sure this will work? Ask me to tell you a story about how God did this for me!

If you’re hiding from accountability with people, it’s more than likely you’re avoiding God as well. How do I know? Because God uses people to grow people!

Oh, and by the way - don’t be surprised if sometime soon, you hear from me. It may be a phone call or an email or an invitation to tea!

A simple phone call from my pastor reminded me of an important principle. I don’t want to lose the very personal touch the Gospel advocates because I want love to be at the forefront of all I do! There really isn’t anything more powerful I can offer you as we walk this Kingdom road together.

I promise, leading with love will make others realize how much God loves them, too.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
​1. Are you a “loving leader” or a busy minister? Answer honestly: what do you think your top priority as a leader is right now: to accomplish a task or to invest in someone working for you?

2. The ministry of His Inscriptions is to help people “Discover Life-Giving Communication with God.” What kinds of things do you believe contribute to that? (Note: Share your comments below or in an email; I’d love to hear from you!)  
 
3. In a previous church I attended, one of the most well-loved small groups was a course whose leader chose to spend ten weeks answering questions on a chosen topic before ministering to the attendees. Would an open-ended, listening-based group like this work in your workplace or ministry setting? Why or why not?

4. If you are in a position of discipling others, how do you best reach their hearts? Is heartfelt communication a tool you use to put your faith into action? What are some of the “cross points” where God has reached your heart on your personal journey? How can you use today’s amazing technology to connect with those near and far?

5. Take this challenge. Right now, right where you are, pray. Ask God to bring someone to your mind that He’d like you to connect with. Ask Him to make you an encouragement to them. Now pick up the phone. You really don’t need a reason. And if they ask why you’re calling, just tell them this: God loves you, and so do I!
​ Have a prayer request? Deborah prays for her readers regularly and she’d love to connect with you, too. Contact Deborah here. Subscribe
​If Deborah's posts are a blessing to you, please consider sowing a seed into her ministry of His Inscriptions! Partners like you enable His Inscriptions to be published around the world daily, encouraging others to "Discover Life-Giving Communication with God." Click here to donate . 
​
© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com

When the Mountain Doesn't Move

Author and speaker Graham Cooke says that when your mountain doesn’t move, perhaps it’s because you are meant to learn something from it. I agree, and here’s how I’d say it: Sometimes mountains need to be mastered before they can be moved.
​
In a culture known for its love of instant gratification, “mountain-moving faith” seems pretty appealing at first. Problems? Speak to them and they’ll disappear! After all, that’s what Jesus told us to do, right?

Absolutely. And this works. Yet just when you think you’ve got faith figured out, God throws a curveball!

Think about it: you’re finally on God’s team, in the game and up to bat. You’ve had some good practice sessions, and you know you’ve got the upcoming “faith play” covered.

The pitch is thrown. You swing at the ball with all your might, miss it big time, and are left standing at home plate wondering, “Well, what the heck?!”

Unfortunately, the same thing happened to Jesus’ disciples.
​
FAITH HEALERS
In Luke 9, Jesus sends out the twelve with power to preach and to heal all kinds of sickness and disease. Scripture tells us that they do exactly that, “healing everywhere.” They (and later also, the 70 sent out in Luke 10) return rejoicing, telling Jesus about all that they have done. It is a major victory, one that energizes their faith and makes them feel like the overcomers they are designed to be.

These are the “aha!” moments of faith, the wonderful times when a seed is sown, received with joy, and springs up into something beautiful. We learn that we have the power to move mountains; we speak to the mountains and they move. Hallelujah!

The trouble is, not all mountains move. Some are there for another purpose. Luke’s stories help us understand what that purpose is.

CONQUERING HEROES
For the disciples, the ninth chapter of Luke presents three major victories of faith, followed by several crushing defeats.

Almost overnight, Jesus’s newly-formed small group becomes a tribe of healing evangelists. They preach everywhere and successfully heal the sick. The chosen few return excited and hungry, and their hunger results in the miraculous feeding of five thousand men. Talk about faith!

Peter, James, and John then accompany Jesus to an amazing “mountaintop experience” with God, where they see Christ transfigured as Moses and Elijah speak with Him. By this time, their hearts are full of faith and the joy of the Lord!

The next day, though, Luke aptly notes that they “come down from that mountain.” (9:37) Their physical descent is a fitting description of what they are about to encounter emotionally.
​UNMOVING MOUNTAINS
Suddenly, a man cries out to Jesus from among the crowds, saying that his son is a convulsing epileptic. The disciples, despite all their recent victories and newfound authority, have been unable to cast that demon out.

In other words, all of a sudden, the mountain doesn’t move.

Not only that, but these disciples begin disputing among themselves who will be the greatest. They then misuse their new authority by forbidding those who are not part of their “tribe” to do deliverance. Finally, they ask Jesus if they can “call down fire” on the Samaritan village that refuses to receive their esteemed Leader. They began in the Spirit but come to a grinding halt in the flesh!

What happened to their glorious faith? The conquering heroes from just a few moments earlier are stumbling over themselves! Deliverance isn’t working. Jesus calls them “faithless.” (Ouch!) They vacillate between a desire to heal people to a desire to destroy them. This is often the case with us, too.

SPEAK TO THE MOUNTAIN
I know from experience that “speaking to the mountain” - a biblical expression for confronting negative, demonic things in our lives - works. Mark 11:22-24 records Jesus’s words on this subject:

“Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have what he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (NKJV)

I could share some amazing testimonies with you about mountains being moved! Seemingly impossible situations have threatened to undo our family and been brought to nothing through the power of prayer. Mountain-moving faith puts kids through school, releases favor in the workplace, imparts healing, breaks generational curses, and frees us from all kinds of oppression.

I could also share some stories of times when I spent years (yes, years!) praying for mountains to move - and they didn’t.  Like you, I have spent hours in prayer, repeating that familiar phrase: “Why, God?”

When our family encountered serious financial difficulties - a HUGE mountain of lack - I learned (the hard way) that this particular mountain needed to be climbed before it was moved.

As I wept and prayed one day during that long, difficult season, I heard the Lord say, “I’m more interested in your character than your comfort.”

In other words, moving the mountain was the easy part! God could have dropped a million miraculous bucks in our pockets, moved that mountain, and let us continue on our way. (And God knows instant gratification was definitely on my agenda!)

Had God done that, however, we would never have developed the deeper understanding we now have about stewardship, debt reduction, trusting in God’s perfect provision, and walking in our true callings. These more valuable things have built solid, proven character which can never be taken from us.

Because that mountain didn’t move immediately, I learned a few things I needed to know. Because I climbed that mountain, I will never again doubt whether it is God’s will to provide for me. My faith is rooted and rock-solid in this area. There is no “doubt in my heart,” as Mark 11:23 says because I have turned over every lie the enemy hid in that treacherous rock of unbelief and dealt with it once and for all. Mountains provide us with the opportunity to become rooted in the Word of God pertaining to our situation so that we don’t fall away when tribulation comes (See Luke 8:13).

Did I enjoy the character-building process? NO! Yet I am far happier to have made that rocky mountain climb, learning its terrain, because I now know the way to the summit. I can act as a guide to those who are stranded on the same mountain. I see financial miracles happen on a regular basis now where I didn’t before. And when the enemy attacks in this area, I have “mountain moving faith.”

Faith moves mountains. But mountains also build faith! What is God doing in your life at this moment? If the mountain isn’t moving when you speak, perhaps there are some things you need to deal with before you’ll have the faith to move it. It’s not cause to give up; it’s cause to go up and grow up!
​ ROCKS THAT CRUSH
The character flaws of the disciples in Luke 9 include faithlessness, prayerlessness, selfish ambition, fear, pride, competition, legalism, doubt, judgmentalism, and even a desire to destroy anyone who stood in their way. (See vs. 40-56.) Jesus perceived their hearts and rebuked them, saying, “you do not know what manner of spirit you are of.”

Think it was just the disciples who stumbled over those rocks? Think again! I have too, and I’m sure you can identify also if you’re honest. If you're not careful, unbelief, doubt and character issues are the types of rocks that will crush you long before you move mountains, and they must be conquered in order to live life in Christ’s image.

CONCLUSION
​When the mountain doesn’t move, we need to remember that faith isn’t just about what we speak. It’s about who we are, what we believe and what we do. 

Ineffective faith can be the product of not only unbelief but also simplistic thinking that denies the power of a holy life. (See 1 Peter 1:5-9.) Purity and power go hand in hand. ​No one is perfect, but a willingness to bring opposing attitudes and beliefs to the cross instead of blaming God for not showing up is the way to make mountain-moving faith a reality.  

When the mountain doesn’t move, don’t throw away your trust in God! Know that mountains give you opportunities to strengthen your faith and develop your climbing muscles. Speaking with faith means you’ve dealt with the doubt. One day soon, you’ll look at your promise and say with faithful Caleb: “Give me this mountain!” 


Like this teaching? Hungry for more? Listen in as Graham Cooke shares his perspective on mountain-moving in this short podcast, The Secret to an Upgraded Life. (If you're short on time, begin at the 7:45 mark). I believe his teaching will expand your understanding!
© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com
If you are blessed by Deborah's ministry through His Inscriptions, please help by sowing a sustaining seed! Donations are tax-deductible and allow us to reach people around the world with the life-giving words of God. Click here for more information. 

Happy Easter!

​Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 
1 Corinthians 5:7-8, NIV

How fitting that this year, Passover begins at sundown on Good Friday. The biblical feast that celebrates our deliverance from bondage in Egypt is forever entwined with the death and resurrection of Christ, our sacrificial lamb! Hallelujah! 

I am so glad that God brought us together as one family, bound by the love of our Savior and elder brother, Jesus Christ. There is no greater family and no better blessing! 

Whether you are celebrating a Seder or an Easter dinner this week, I pray that you will focus on the wonderful truth of who Jesus is. Because Christ became the Passover Lamb, He has brought us deliverance from every curse and every affliction known to man. We may not see the full manifestation of our deliverance yet, but we are being changed daily into His image each time we encounter the Risen Christ!

I am praying for every reader of our His Inscriptions community, that you will be full of joy and aware of Christ's abiding presence in your heart this week. You are loved by Jesus and by me! 

Happy Easter!
Deborah


P.S. - Want to meditate more deeply on the significance of Christ's sacrifice? Read Charles Spurgeon's powerful sermon, "Christ our Passover," here.  
​
© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com

Prophecy: Everything in its Time!

“There is a time for everything,” the Preacher of Ecclesiastes writes, yet one of the hardest lessons to learn is to watch and wait for God’s perfect timing! This week, as I listened to the Lord in the still of the night, I heard Him speak about timing, and the times we are living in. His insights helped me immensely, and I pray they will be a blessing to you as well. Here is what I heard Him say...
​
“Timing is an essential part of everything I do; something that must be learned in the Spirit. Just as truth requires grace, so a life well lived requires the right timing. Right things at wrong times confuse and annoy people. Like snow in harvest, they are the stuff of fools. Let your words be in season, just as I intend for them to be. Speaking when uninvited can invite disaster! Yet a word aptly placed will do much good.

“Timing requires discernment. The sons of Issachar were considered wise because they could discern the times. The reason so many of My people feel lost and ineffective is that they are being taught an abundance of “right things” to do but not the timing in which to do them. Discernment, not more doctrine, is what is needed to counter this.”

I have been pondering these weighty words. Evangelism, for example, is a good thing at the right time in someone’s life. We need laborers to reap the ripe harvest, and we rightly train believers to pray for and do just that!

However, not all people are “ripe” or ready to receive. Sharing the Gospel at the wrong time can be rooted in a pressure to perform or to “make things happen,” and can have the opposite effect, driving people away. We need discernment to know whom to share with, and when. Being filled with the Holy Spirit helps, but is not a cure-all; even a Spirit-led believer can miss it on timing!

What to do, then? Here’s more of what I sense the Lord is saying:

“Like a bad comedian, someone who shares at all the wrong times will quickly lose respect and be discredited. Seek, therefore, to discern what is needed when - and do only what I am doing! Discernment is your key to successful fruit-bearing. A fig tree should bear its fruit in season!

“In the same way, I take My time with you, waiting for the right moments to move, launch and activate you. To do so prematurely would hamper you, not help you. See how beautiful My timing has been over your life! Everything has been ordered and made beautiful in its time.

“Your frustrations have often been that you simply did not understand My timing, as it was dissimilar to your own. I will not be rushed. I am not in a hurry! I will wait for the right moments for all living things, that they may be in “sync” with My beauty and My plan.

“Fear of ‘missing it’ drives many people to come on too strong, too soon. I do not pressure My people! There is an acceleration happening now in My Spirit, but not of the kind that is designed to wear you out; no, that is the job of the enemy! My yoke is easy, My burden is light. In a place of Spirit-led acceleration, you will feel convergence all around you, not chaos. You’ll know joy and excitement in the Spirit, not the jumpy anxiety that comes from the devil. Seek Me for the kind of accelerated pace I can give that enables you to do more in less time, because I am outside of time, governing it!

“The enemy works only within his own time-bound framework. He knows his time is short, and he also fears, lest he reach his fiery destination too soon. You must know no such fear. You are on the continuum of eternity, reaching both forward into heaven and back into time to connect like spiritual things. You do not work alone, but in collaboration with people - even unknowingly - together bringing about My plans and purposes.”
​RESET YOUR RESPONSE TO TIME!
As we connect with those who are of like calling and gifting, we discover both the paths we are on and God’s goals along those paths. We soon reach the point where we are able to pioneer and “blaze” the next steps on those paths, for those who will come along behind us.

God watches over His Word to perform it. We do not perform, but we do prepare the way. Any pressure - and the ultimate timing of all things - belongs to God. It is God’s burden to bear, not ours.

I want to break off of you, today, the time-bound pressure that the enemy brings to wear you down and ask the Lord to replace that frenzied urgency with quiet beauty. It's time to reset the way we respond to time! Pray with me:

Heavenly Father,

I confess I have tried more than once to make things happen in my own way and my own time. Please forgive me! I realize now that you have a perfect, “kairos” time for everything - EVERYTHING - that happens in this life, and I want to be part of Your beautiful plan.

Put me back on Your timetable, Lord. Help me to discern the times and seasons You have for my life and for the Kingdom of God all around me. I trust You to show me when to speak and when to remain silent.

I reject the enemy’s pressure to accomplish things in a hurry. I renounce the lies that urgency means emergency and that busyness is holiness. I welcome the acceleration and pacing that You bring in the Spirit, which causes me to live and move and have my being IN YOU!

Help me to believe that the outcomes are up to You alone and that I can simply do my part in Your eternal plan, trusting that there will be others before and after me who will help fulfill every goal.

May the peace that passes understanding be my guide in ALL that I do for You. I rejoice that I need only align myself with Your plans and You will set me squarely in the middle of what You are doing in my time. Amen.


© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com
​
About Deborah PerkinsSubscribeSow a Seed

One Reason Why Christians Are Defeated on the Battlefield

For the past few weeks, the Lord has been bringing to my mind a vision as I’ve reflected on prayer. The scene is so unlikely to ever happen in the natural that it is almost humorous! Yet the Lord is impressing on me that this scenario happens daily in the lives of many believers, and spiritually, it can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Today I’d like to share this vision with you because I believe it identifies a particular problem we face in prayer and gives us a strategy for greater victory. This vision could be the one major reason why Christians are defeated on the battlefield, and I don’t want you to be a casualty!
​The Vision
I see a picture of a battlefield, with allied trenches on one side and enemy trenches on the other, a great no man's land dividing them. All is dark and dreary; there is little light by which to see. The scene reminds me of a time when battles were fought at close range, perhaps during World War I or II.

The difference is that the “allies” in my vision are Christians in the Kingdom of God and the enemy is, of course, Satan’s devilish army.

As the scene unfolds, I see Kingdom believers fire a shot over to the enemy’s side, full of hope and joy because they know they will be the victors in this war! In prayer, they launch the Word of God that they have chosen for this battle, hurling it into Satan’s trenches with all their might.

Strengthened by their boldness, the believers relax. They haven’t left the battlefield, but they have done what God commanded them to do and are satisfied with their work.

Moments later, though, Satan’s hordes begin a counterattack. In any other battle situation, this would absolutely be expected. Yet in the vision I see that the believers are surprised by this retaliation.

In fact, the Christians do something counterproductive: they cower in the trenches, exclaiming: “They’re firing back at us!” Instead of returning fire and holding their position, these believers crouch down in fear, hoping the counterattack will stop. It doesn’t.

Friends, this scene would be completely humorous to me if I didn’t feel that there was some truth to it. Apart from knowing the Word personally for ourselves (our obvious and primary strategy in war), I believe the #1 reason why Christians are defeated on the battlefield is that we don’t keeep firing during counterattacks. We want a quick and easy victory. We forget we’re in a war.

Dodging Bullets
Satan will use bullets of doubt, fear, and physical symptoms to try and overpower us once we choose a godly confession. When we fire off our first positive confession of the Word, he will retaliate with a handful! This barrage of mental and physical attacks is meant to do exactly what I saw in my vision: stop us from firing back.

The trouble is, as soon as we retreat into the trenches of fear and self-protection, we lose our advantage. Here’s the funny part: the Bible says our battles should look just the opposite:

The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. - Deuteronomy 28:7, NIV

It should be believers who fire seven times harder, not the enemy!
​
A Strategy for Prayer
Proverbs 3:5-6 contains a three-part strategy for warfare prayer. It contains three commands along with a promise:


Trust in the Lord with all your heartLean not on your own understandingIn all your ways submit to Him (or acknowledge Him)He will make your paths straight.
In other words, by taking control of your heart, mind, and mouth, you can be victorious in warfare.

1. Your HEART: Your commitment to the Word of God and His ways must be wholehearted (all your heart must trust Him). How do you know when your heart has some unbelief? The same Word you are firing into the enemy’s camp is able to discern the thoughts and intents of your own heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Choose your Word-Sword (your Scriptures to fire in battle) but remember to also allow for personal time in the Word to deal with areas where enemy "bullets" of unbelief or doubt are penetrating your own camp!

2. Your MIND (your mental understanding of the situation) is secondary to the faith you have in your heart! The faith you have in your heart, not what you see or understand with your physical mind, should be where you “camp out.”

Once you discover bullets from enemy fire in your mind, don’t “lean into” them or spend any more time than you have to there! Don’t give the enemy’s thoughts free rein in your mind.

3. Your MOUTH: I like the NIV version of this verse, which reads “in all your ways submit to Him” (many translations say “acknowledge;” the Hebrew is actually “yada,”  to “know” Him). It reminds me of James 4:7, whose war strategy is “Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

This third principle here is to address your confession - your mouth - and to repeatedly speak faith-filled words that acknowledge God’s power and truth in your situation. Don’t be like the believers in my vision who stopped firing after just one round!

4. He will make your paths straight - God’s promise is to level the ground for you, removing the obstacles that hinder you from reaching your victory.

Conclusion
As a well-known preacher has said, “Love motivates us to go to the battlefield; faith keeps us there.” 2 Peter 1:6 adds that perseverance must be added to faith for it to be effective. Don’t be surprised when the enemy keeps attacking - it’s what he’s trained to do! Realize that God is training soldiers in His own army to stand firmly against the devil’s retaliation.

I know what it’s like to be under sustained attack, and I’m sure you do, too. Instead of retreating into fearful, defensive mode, let’s maintain our prayer positions and keep firing those confessions of praise, faith, and victory until the devil is fleeing in seven directions!

​We have God's guarantee that our ammunition is ALWAYS effective. And we have promises that God Himself will level our paths as our enemy flees. ​

© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com
​
Are you in the Midst of a Battle? Read This Related Prophetic Word!Subscribe
​His Inscriptions is a non-profit, 501(C)3 ministry. If you have been blessed by what Deborah shares, please prayerfully consider making a donation to help us continue to publish our books, articles, online workshops and conferences designed to provide biblical discipleship to Christians. Click here for more information .

Prophetic Word for Those on the Battlefield

​As I listened to the Lord this week, I heard God saying that He is cultivating in His people an ability to work through the noise and distractions of battle right now. It is so easy to be distracted by the sights and sounds of spiritual war! The battlefield can be a painful, ugly place, and not an easy road.

For those of you who feel like you are in the middle of a battlefield today, I hear the Lord saying,

​ “I am calling My people to take a higher view of their territory, looking up from those wounded and slain who are past help and returning wholeheartedly to their true mission, which is to make Me known. Do not be surprised by the torments of the enemy! Learn to live and thrive in the midst of his noise, for I will create an oasis of peace for you if you look only to Me.

“Ten thousand will fall at your right hand” - you will see My miracles here on the battlefield more clearly than in any other place of your life, and praise Me for My goodness! Your praise will then become a gateway to greater victories overall, as others around you join in your song. I will set ambushes against the one who destroys when you repeatedly surrender to Me on your battlefield. Don’t look around you, but look UP to the heavens and see My salvation. My mercy is always at hand. Only believe and you will see My goodness!"


Standing with you for your victories!

Deborah
​ ​  Send Deborah a Prayer RequestSubscribe © Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com
​

Faithfulness Leads to Revival!

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His Counselor?
​- Romans 11:33


I am sitting by the sea today, as so many times our Savior must have done. It is chilly and windy during this off-season; more suited to snowboarders than sunbathers. Yet the sea still glistens, its waves crashing to the shore as they have done for countless seasons before. 

How vast an expanse is the ocean, mighty enough to unleash powerful destruction, yet faithfully contained within its God-ordained boundaries. The sounds of water, the song of birds, the beauty of creation - all of the sea's peaceful rhythms soothe and comfort me. 

As I watch, I remember that the very first city Jesus ministered to after His trial in the wilderness and rejection at home was Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, a city whose name means  “Village of Comfort.”

Here among the fishermen is where Christ would find His first disciples. Here Jesus would walk on water, calm the storm, and feed the multitudes. Here, I am reminded again that faithfulness leads to revival. 

A Separate World
The sea is a picture of the depths of God. So much about the sea is still unknown. It is as though another world exists beneath the ocean, hidden in plain sight. Beautiful creatures swim there, an amazing 90% of whom are "bioluminescent," emitting surreal fluorescent light.

In some parts of the world, there are even beaches that glow with phosphorescent beauty, like the one on Villingili Island in the Maldives. (Picture below.) The more I learn about this separate world beneath the sea, the more I want to know! And so it is with God. 


We are issued an invitation to “Come,” and like sun-scorched travelers, weary from our long journey in the wilderness, we come at last to the waters. We yearn to drink deeply of the Spirit, to quench our parched throats with the life-giving water of the Word. We welcome the cleansing coolness of Christ’s splashes of glory on our sin-stained bodies.

Here, at water’s edge, it is as if we, too, shed the darkness of our souls and begin to glow with eternal light! Like a million stars on a sandy beach, so are we - a multitude of believers too great to count, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham so many centuries ago.

We decide to stay. To walk away from this abundant source of Spirit-water would be a mistake, we know. We build houses and plant churches here, camped on the truths of salvation, light, and glorious change. Like a Maldivian beach, we glow brilliantly in a dark world, and we are so proud of our holy luminescence!

Sometimes, though, our faithfulness extends only as far as it meets our needs. We have said “I do” and been transformed, partly, into His image, but often our commitment to knowing the depths of Christ never reaches beyond the shore.

Daily we splash about in His glory, admiring our beauty and celebrating those who “glow” along with us. Rarely do we submit ourselves to the nearby ebbs and flows of the Spirit, which might carry us out to sea. We have stayed safely above the tides that wash ashore, enjoying the water yet not wanting to be submerged in it.


​God’s questions to Job resonate in our spirits. “No,” we answer. “You, God, are immeasurable, unpredictable and beyond our grasp. We will leave the deeper pursuit of You to the mystics among us, those unusually drawn to experience the ‘mysterium tremendum!’ Are we not covered by grace and eternally secure?” 

To put it practically, we take the initial step of faith towards God. We happily play and splash in His glory. Yet our faithfulness ends there. When He calls, we are reluctant to pursue God farther into the depths, beyond what is common to our luminous friends. We do not see our reluctance as unfaithfulness. Sadly, our unfaithfulness separates us from revival.
​
Faithful in All Seasons
Christian maturity is considering everything a loss except for the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus the Lord. (Philippians 3:8) ​
​
John 17:3 says that eternal life is knowing God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:18 admonishes us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Jeremiah prophesied: “They will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD.”

Finally, Paul writes:

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:8-14, NIV

There is so much more of God to know!

Mature believers know that ongoing revival is sustained by personal faithfulness. These faithful friends will not cling to the idols of self or satisfaction on the shoreline of humanity. For better or for worse, they will plunge headlong into the sea as Peter did, desperate to encounter a living Christ who longs to be known just as deeply as they long to know Him.

What does faithfulness to God look like? It is a commitment to prayer when we don't feel like praying. It is choosing silence while the world around us is consumed with noise. It is drawing on the power of the Holy Spirit to love, serve and give when our physical resources are all but exhausted. In short, it is a series of daily decisions to make knowing God a priority, exalting His Word and Name above any others, and rejecting the lie that we could truly be satisfied anywhere else. 

How does faithfulness fuel revival? A life of faithfulness sacrifices self in order to experience the wonder of a deep and very knowable God. As with marriage, faithfulness requires courage, submission, persistent pursuit and a willingness to listen more than to speak.  Its reward is an enduring connection with a personal God, one in which every step of faith results in the joyful shout of an answered prayer and the renewed commitment to honor Him, one day at a time, until we are fully caught up in eternity's embrace. 

Prayer of Blessing
May the Spirit of the Lord rest on us--
   the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
   the Spirit of counsel and of might,
   the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord--
That we may delight in the fear of the Lord.

May we be faithful to You, Lord, in season and out.
May we have the courage to plunge deeply into the sea of Your love,
Delighting in You not only when we are in control, but when You take the lead!

May we forsake all others and hold tightly to the Lover of our souls.
May our willingness to experience continuous revival in Your Presence
challenge and motivate others to leave the shoreline, press in past the waves, and experience the depths of that peace that passes understanding.

Amen.  

© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com. If you have been blessed by this ministry, please consider making a donation to His Inscriptions, to enable Deborah to continue reaching people around the world with the Word of God. Donations are tax-deductible.  Donate today! 
​ Subscribe About Deborah Perkins