Hello again, to all of my blog friends and family. I have not written in the past few weeks as I have been mourning the passing of my mother, sweet Anna, and I have been travailing much in thought and prayer over unforeseen serious illnesses of both, a close friend and a beloved family member. So, I have been at a loss for words. However, recently I was looking through some old prayer journals for inspiration, when I came upon journal entries I had written in 2008. It is called a Beauty Regime for the Heart, inspired by a book called The Final Quest written By Rick Joyner.
The book was based on a dream given to the author by God and was followed with a series of prophetic visions. Let me be clear, Rick Joyner specifically states that he does not believe any kind of prophetic revelation is to be used for establishing doctrine. We have the scriptures for that, however, the book does illustrate some Biblical doctrine that at times may be overlooked, including by the author himself. It was through his writing of this book that much Biblical doctrine became clearer to him, and I have found that to be true as well, concerning my own walk with the Lord.
Rick Joyner is a gifted writer who uses prose to portray his visions in a highly visual and fascinating way. I have personally read this book more than once and have gleaned much personal revelation in taking my relationship with the Lord to the next level.
The following, are two excerpts from a prayer journal I wrote for my ladies’ Bible study group twelve years ago, when we studied the book, the Final Quest. I thought the title and content was fitting with my blog, so I would like to share that with you now. Please keep in mind, this is who I was back in 2008. This was a personal revelation from God that came in the form of an analogy concerning the heart. I was driving to work, admiring myself in my rear view mirror on that day, when it all came to me. (It’s okay to laugh, I have changed much since then, especially in the area of vanity.)
Wednesday, June 19, 2008
I felt beautiful that morning. Everything was perfect, including my hair, my make up and my cute outfit. (In the interest of time, I will spare you the details.) I looked like a real professional hairdresser, proud to be representing the beauty industry. I was praying and thanking God for making me pretty.
Then it occurred to me, yes, He made me pretty on the outside, but what about the inside? Is my heart as pretty as my face? Beauty is simple and natural; every baby or puppy no matter how ugly is really beautiful. After all, God created it, how can it not be?
As far as beauty is concerned, God created me beautiful, as He did you, and I work really hard trying to enhance it. For example, that particular morning, I spent an hour getting ready, maybe even a little more. I took a leisurely shower, cleansing my face and body, shaving away unwanted hair, exfoliating and sloughing away dead skin, washing and conditioning my hair and brushing my teeth. I got out of the shower and layered on expensive antioxidant creams, moisturizer and a sunscreen protectant. I use quite a variety for my eyes and face in order to prepare my skin for the flawless application of make up. Then, I evened out my skin tone with my foundation base, bits of highlighter here and there, well defined eyes and lips, styled my hair and put on a cute outfit. Voila! I felt and looked pretty. Thank you God!
WHOA! Imagine, if I spent the same amount of time or more on beautifying my HEART? A Beauty Regime for the Heart, now there’s a concept! I would start by washing away the day’s or night’s dirt. By “Casting down imaginations and taking every thought captive to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5), would certainly get me started about pleasing Him. Then, I would remove the little unwanted things that grow. Instead of hair, it would be demons like Pride, Self Righteousness, Jealousy, Respectability, Selfish Ambition, Unrighteous Judgement, Intimidation, Accusation, Gossip, Slander, Fault Finding, Rejection, Bitterness, Impatience, Unforgiveness and Lust. (These were the names of some of the demons from the Final Quest.) I would really have to take a good look at those nasty beings and figure out which ones might be growing in me. I could exfoliate and slough away all of the rough areas of my heart. But, this would require asking God to show me where they are, since seeing outside of oneself is easier than seeing inside.
Next, I would apply some fresh Biblical Truth to prevent oxidation. That would mean reading my Bible and meditating on what I read, since everything I have read in the past comes alive in new and different ways each time I read it. And I must remember to cast out Satan before I read, so I don’t risk interpreting scripture, (Christian truths) in order to appease my conscience. (excerpt from the book)
Now, for my expensive peptides, hmm… let me think what might equate in value to this? Oh yes, my time is very valuable! After all, so much to do, so little time. I would layer in more time treating my heart, conditioning it for battle. (Spiritual Warfare Ephesians 6) Notice that the word “treating” can mean both taking care of, and anything that gives pleasure. It makes sense to me, because I love primping and pampering myself, how much more so for my heart, and be able to please God in the process?
In thinking about moisturizer and sun screen protectant, I realize that another word for moisturize could be drench. So I would drench my heart with things that nourish it, like Jesus, the Bible/God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, “the bread of life”, (John 6:35); “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, ( Matthew 4:4) and “streams of living water”, (John 7:38). My application of sunscreen protectant would be putting on “the breastplate of righteousness that guards our heart”. (Ephesians 6:4) I must pray that my heart remain guarded and that my actions are truly righteous as opposed to “self righteous”.
The next step in the beauty regime, is the foundation that evens the tone and covers the blemishes. That would be Jesus, the solid rock upon which we build our faith and His blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. He covers our blemishes with His very life and it is His righteousness that clothes us. Since Jesus has forgiven me, I must forgive as well. Therefore, I must pray about people I may need to forgive, or ask forgiveness from and make it right by sincerely apologizing.
After that, color is applied here and there to bring out my best features. Relating this step to my heart could be displaying the joy of the Lord, choosing happiness and laughter over a frown, and experiencing the “peace of God that surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts and mind in Christ Jesus”. (Phillipians 4:7)
All of this, and I haven’t even related to getting dressed and doing my hair yet. Wow, my vanity is really exposed now. After meditating on the armor of God, I can visualize some creative analogies for hair and clothing, such as, “the helmet of salvation”, “the belt of truth” and my “feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace”. (Ephesians 6)
I heard a preacher once say that if our faith is founded on the Rock of Christ, then our feet will take the action of obedience to His Word and we will find peace in the midst of our storms. Wow, a face that truly reflects a heart of peace has got to be beautiful, even without all that treatment and make up! If I took care of my heart daily like my beauty regime, my shield of faith would grow and I have no doubt that my heart would be prettier than my face.
Then, I could clearly see the angels called Faith, Hope and Love. (These were the names of the angels in the book, clearly contrasting the names of the demons.) You see, we can’t see with the eyes of our heart unless we prepare our hearts to see! Oh yes, and one last thing, I would definitely have to get up earlier and spend less time on my outside and more on my inside.
Thank you God for taking time to talk to me today!
Friday, June 21, 2008
During my beauty regime for the heart this morning, I realized that the demons I shaved away two days ago, grew back even worse. I had already shaved away some self righteousness and unrighteous judgment, only to find it had grown back alongside jealousy, fault finding, accusation and impatience. Either I missed a few places or I need something better than just shaving. Ah-ha, electrolysis digs in and attempts to kill the root, but laser hair removal burns it away permanently. It costs more too, a lot more!
That is when I recognized the words in my daily prayer: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love.” The fire of God’s love through the power of the Holy Spirit will burn away those unwanted demons. However, it does cost more. It costs “my” very life given up for God’s divine purpose, His plan for my life, not mine. Love doesn’t come cheap!
At this point I needed to apply some more fresh Biblical truth. That’s when I accidentally dropped my Bible and low and behold, it opened to an article on Divine Healing. The main scripture focus was “When evening came, many who were demon possessed were brought to Him and He drove out spirits with a word and He healed all their sick.” (Matthew 8:16-17) I felt as if God were certainly dealing with me in helping me rid myself of the demons we are reading about in The Final Quest. I also received this word to be shared with all of you. “Jesus loves us as we are: we must love others as they are.” Through reading this book, we see that we must continue to climb the mountain, in order to avoid being hit by enemy arrows. We need to reach the level called Unity of the Brethren. We must not pick up enemy arrows and shoot back. (excerpt from the book page 26)
Well, I hope you enjoyed those snippets from my prayer journal back in the day. Although I have had much spiritual growth since then, and matured more in my Christian walk, there have been many times I have done battle with some of those same demons. My daily morning devotions with my wonderful God fearing husband is my favorite time of the day and it keeps me grounded and faith filled. My husband, myself and Jesus are a three stranded cord that is not easily broken. As a final word, I encourage you to dig deep into God’s word to increase your faith and guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Then, I am certain you will experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, because He had promised and He is Faithful. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you, and be gracious to you, may His face shine upon you and give you peace, in Jesus name I pray, Amen!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dearest sister in Christ ;
Your inspiration and analogies of your beauty regime is just amazing , the Lord has really blessed you . Thank you for your sense of humor as well . Be blessed .