Month: January 2016

You Were Chosen (Manifesting Sonship Series Part IX)

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For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well,~Psalm 139:13-14. 

God is a wise steward and loving Father. He gives every person (even those who hate Him, and those who don’t believe in Him) gift(s) or talent(s). Everyone has something to offer. 

When people tell me God isn’t blessing or hasn’t gifted them I sometimes ask, “What are you doing with what’s been given?” God rewards faithfulness. The one who uses what God has given for His glory is given more. 

When people say, “I don’t have anything to offer or I don’t have that spiritual gift,” I ask “Do you have the Holy Spirit? He has all the gifts.” 

It surprises people when they surrender all to God how He works through them. 

I’m highly introverted. Yet God frequently calls me out to socialize with groups of people, lead groups, etc…I did not want to be in public leadership when God called me to it. I would have loved to stay in my little cubby with God, serving behind the scenes. I’m so at home with Him and maybe a few people I know as close friends. 

I’ve been discipling groups of people for almost 10 years. At first, it was way outside my comfort zone! I never wanted to preach, be front and center…I like being hidden in God. Yet all of my life belongs to Him. If He nudges, I respond (though in some cases I responded very slowly). 

It’s not about my ability or your ability. It’s about His. It’s about blessing the world. It’s about making His name famous. It’s about standing in our identity as a son or daughter of God. 

So principles I’ve learned/am learning: 

1. Seek God first in all things. 

2. Cease telling God I can’t do something. It’s not about me. He knows what He’s doing. 

3. Cease waiting on people to give me a mission or permission to do what God has burning in my heart. God is my Commissioner. 

I started a worship/prophetic intercessory prayer/discipleship group, and street ministry without any pastoral support. Zero. They are still running under the Lordship of Jesus today. He said train/equip, go. I can’t always wait for someone else to support what He told me to do. God is my support. 

I am not saying be independent of church leadership or rebellious. I am saying we won’t be able to use the excuse, “No one would help me,” when we see God face to face. He’s the Helper. 

Every believer has already been called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, pray without ceasing, encourage others, and share the Gospel. Jesus already called everyone. 

4. Use what’s given for the glory of God. Hoarding or sitting on gifts/talents doesn’t help anyone. The people around us are dying to see Christ in us. Selfishness and self-centeredness never leads to Godly promotion. 

5. Break the cycle of I’m unqualified. Who God calls, He equips and qualifies. Abide in Him. I’m also not opposed to learning from others. I love it. Take a class, study. I study and take classes. 

6. Waiting on God is not an excuse to be lazy or passive. God expects us to do something with what’s been given. 

I heard a joke about a man who was stranded on a roof during a flood. He kept crying out for God to save him. He turned the boat away because he was waiting on God. He turned the helicopter away because he was waiting on God. The man died. When he saw God he exclaimed, “Why’d you forsake me!” God replied, “Why didn’t you get in the boat or helicopter? I sent people to help you and you refused their help.” 

I had someone God highlighted for me to pour into their life. They could barely eat, barely pay bills. Once I offered food and necessities. They refused. They said all they wanted was prayer. God was going to meet the need. So I went back to God and said, “They don’t want Your gifts from me.” He then highlighted someone else for me. 

I’ve learned sometimes we say we are waiting on God and we are actually thinking He’s going to send an angel to drag us out of bed, do everything for us, and it won’t require any human effort or participation.

God works through people! So keep your eyes open. Partner with Him to be someone’s answer to prayer. When someone shows up to bless you, thank God. He’s the Source. Last I checked the devil wasn’t into sacrificial love. 

7. Cultivate a generous heart. This comes from staying connected to the Generous One. God is the lavish Giver! 

8. Rebuke the lies of the enemy. One of his greatest attacks is against our identity. The second attack is against our destiny. 

His lies/My response: 

Lie: Who do you think you are? You’re inadequate. 

Response: I’m a blood bought child of God. His strength is perfected in my weakness. 

Lie: You are so unqualified! 

Response: I am filled with the Holy Spirit. He’s my teacher. He’s fully qualified. 

Lie: No one wants to hear what you have to say! 

Response: I am not here to perform or please people. I am here to glorify God and speak His words to the world. It’s not about me. It’s about God. 

Lie: You’re going to fail or mess up or this will end badly. 

Response: Success for God is based on faithfulness. His grace is sufficient for me. I’m successful when I’m faithful with what He’s given; led by His Spirit and doing what He says. 

There are so many other lies that can be thrown at us. What has God said? What is God saying? What does His Word say? Even Jesus was bombarded with the lies of the evil one. He responded with the word of God. He didn’t allow insecurity to flood His heart. He did not surrender His identity or destiny for the lies of satan. We too have a choice. We can seek God and find out who we are in Him or live without ever stepping into our full identity/destiny. 

God created everything and everyone for a reason. You and I have a great destiny in God. He doesn’t make useless things. No one gives their life for what has no value. Jesus gave His life for ours. The value of something is determined by how much someone will pay for it; Jesus gave His life. We are of tremendous worth to God. 

Papa God thank You that You have given us so much in Your Son. Thank You for life! Thank You for a redeemed life. You are amazing! Help us to learn to abide in You so we live fruitful lives. Help us to see ourselves as You do. Break off any shackles of unbelief, insecurity, fear, worry, or doubt. Flood us with Your truth today. In Jesus powerful name. Amen. 

Love in Christ, 

Erin Lamb 

Intimacy (God’s Love Letter)

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Intimacy (God’s Love Letter)

Written by Erin Lamb

January 11, 2016

All rights reserved. May only be reproduced with author permission. 

How He loves us so! Hope this encourages your hearts. 

In the collection of My imagination, there you were, there you are.

You are My chosen one. 

You were and are of divine design. 

As I gathered My thoughts, as I smiled with delight, I was thinking of you.  

You are the one I love, the one I gave My most treasured possession for.

I gave My Son, My image bearer.

He is the physical manifestation of My steadfast love and overflowing compassion.

How I love Him!

How I love you! I exchanged My love for your love. 

I gave My highest, My best, for your freedom, for relationship. 

My Son gave His life to set the record to rest. 

Not guilty, not guilty in My Son. 

For His sacrifice pays the penalty that once separated you from Me.

He paid for compete liberty; liberty from the bondage and strongholds of sin. He paid for intimacy. 

I’m daily pursuing intimacy.

The deep longing of My heart is for you and I to be one, together in complete and unbreakable unity.  

I so desire to unveil to you My glorious mysteries.  

I’ve laid a pure and rich path before you that leads directly to Me. 

Come dwell here. 

Come rest here.

Come find your true identity here; for I know who you truly are.  

Do you know Me?

Do you know who I am?

I see more than the world’s sin and tragedies.

I see people I love, those I adore, those I paid the highest price for.

I see those adopted into My family and those who’ve chosen to live independent of Me, those I cannot yet call My own.

Some will choose to live without Me for all of eternity, separated from My love, peace, presence, and joy. 

I so long to embrace the entire world through My Beloved Son. 

Yet many will reject My love, and choose to leave Me forsaken. 

However, won’t  you come? 

Come through faith in My Son. 

Come through the torn veil straight into My arms. 

Won’t you come? 

Come dance to the marvelous melodies that the angels sing. 

Come sing along. 

Won’t you come? 

Deeper and deeper down the winding staircase of My love. 

As you continue your journey you will find your heart softening again and again. 

Come with Me! 

Allow Me to reveal love’s true meaning. 

My love will overtake you, saturate you, bathe you, cleanse you, and most of all My love will free you.

Free you of every shackle and every chain. 

Free you of every insecurity and pain. 

Won’t you come? 

Come frolic in the ocean of My love and compassion. 

Allow the tidal waves of My relentless love to crash against the worn shores of your heart and soul. 

Come feast from My banquet table. 

Here you will never grow hungry and you will thirst no more. 

For I fill to overflowing…

I give and then I give abundantly more. 

There’s no end to My provision. 

You cannot exhaust My resources or My love. 

It has no end. 

I have no end. 

I am eternal and so is My love for you. 

I am the One who loves you with an everlasting love, a love that will never cease to love. 

Won’t you come? 

Rest your head on My shoulder, find peace in My arms. 

I long to love you, and to be known by you.  

I desire for your heart to beat in tandem with Mine. 

I long to never be apart.

Intimacy is My heart’s cry.  

Oh for you to sincerely know Me, as your best friend who will endure with faithful, unending love. 

I want to be with you more than you could ever want to be with Me. 

This is My heart’s cry for continual intimacy. 

A habitation where My Spirit occupies every part of you and reveals My truth, My wisdom, My nature, My love. 

So won’t you come? 

Come away with Me into the deep recesses of My heart. 

You were made for Me. 

Let Me love you and fill to overflowing every empty place. 


Created Not Cloned (Manifesting Sonship Series Part VIII)

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Oh yes, you (God) shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day,~Psalm 139:13-16. 

If I asked you what is the most common and destructive tool of the evil one, what would you say? 

I believe the answer is getting humanity to fail to see who they are from God’s perspective. Insecurity and a fractured identity are crippling.

Lack of identity in Christ leads to horrible decisions in many cases. Insecurity can lead to pain, shame, fear, comparison, competition, putting others down, racism, sexism, prejudice, jealousy, envy, abuse, control, manipulation, relational problems, low self worth… 

The evil one started with Eve, he spoke a lie to her which implied she wasn’t already created in the image of God. He’s worked throughout the course of history to sow insecurity, shame, and pervert identity. He tried again with Jesus and failed (Matthew 4:6-8). 

In order to know the purpose or identity of something, one must ask the One (God) who created it. God creates. He did not clone humanity. Each person is a unique expression of His heart and creativity.

God created mankind. We did not create ourselves. Nor do I believe we evolved from another animal life form. If we don’t believe we were created by a loving, caring, wise, and good God, then where does our worth come from, what is it’s source? 

In our world a person’s worth is often measured by their performance+people’s opinions. Another scenario is beauty/outward appearance+people’s opinions. What’s the issue with the formulas? People’s opinions of us can change like the shifting sands. One minute you are loved, the next you’re not. Performances can fall flat or someone more talented or gifted comes along. The standard of beauty changes. What’s hot today may not be tomorrow. If each person is trying to be someone they are not, or trying to prove their worth, we have a life of striving and mini replicas. 

The original is always more valuable than a copy. 

When I was a kid I loved puzzles and art. I spent hours either creating or putting together puzzles. What if all my drawings were exactly the same? Here are 30 drawings of the same picture. Each one is exactly the same. You might think, “She’s not very creative! Wow, this is boring!!” 

What if the puzzles had a box full of the same identical piece? Well, I’d be frustrated. Who didn’t do their job right? Seriously, you had one job (insert laugh here). 🙂 You would not see the picture the artist intended. You’d also be bored. All the different shapes and colors make up a bigger picture. 

God is the artist who created all the different colors, shapes, personalities, giftings, etc…it’s His picture. It’s His canvas; God is not boring. 

I paint. I paint collections. Each piece by itself I love. When you see them together it takes on a new meaning. God created humanity with diversity. He did not create one type of person and then clone them. 

Our attempts to change His design don’t bring Him glory. Our put downs of what He’s made don’t bring Him glory. Our arguing with God about our existence doesn’t bring Him glory. God likes what He made. Who are we to argue with God?  

I used to want to be someone different. I wanted to be like my dad. He always had something good to say. I wanted to be like my mom. She was effortlessly beautiful and overflowing with kindness and grace. I wanted to be tall. As I got older I wanted a different brain. I process through logic then emotion, which confused and bothered some people. Women are supposed to be super emotional right? Not all of us are. I realized I was insulting God by wanting to be like someone else. 

Insecurity is actually sin. It’s a fruit of unbelief. It’s refusing to accept that God doesn’t make mistakes. We make them, that doesn’t mean we are a mistake. Behavior does not equal identity. We are who God says we are. Our behavior is a result of what we believe about ourselves or God. 

There are many things God wants us all to know and believe:

1. We were God’s idea. Parents may not have loved well or chosen a child, but God wants every single child conceived (not just the ones born or wanted by their parents). 

2. We are unique. Every human being has unique markers. No two human beings are exactly alike. Even identical twins have different fingerprints and personalities. 

3. We are gifted differently to reflect His creative genius. We can’t take credit for natural talents or giftings. They are given by God to bless the world and reflect His creativity; bring Him glory. 

4. God created what was really good! When God created humanity He said, “It is very good.” Go back and read Genesis 1. 

5. God values diversity! The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that every tribe, nation, people group, and tongue will be represented in heaven (Revelation 5:9). 

6. God establishes true identity that cannot be shaken. If I listened to everything people said about me, about who I am, I’d be a mess. Don’t allow people who don’t know or like who they are to define who you are. What does God say? What He says is truth. 

I leave you with this poem God wrote on my heart years back. 

Do You Know Who You Are?

You are deeply loved sweet ones! Lifting you up and expecting great things in your lives in 2016! The best is yet to come. 

Love, 

Erin Lamb 

Happy New Year!