Photo: Me & Mama Heidi Baker (Iris Ministries)
Morning Notes & Stories: The Power of Love and Honor.
Some people will only honor or recognize your value when someone they admire honors you. Yet honor is a pillar of God’s character, nature, and Kingdom.
Heaven flows on honor and there is no VIP section or segregation (the haves and have nots; the elite and the paupers). In heaven every person is considered royalty and a joint heir with Jesus. Every tribe, tongue, and Nation will be represented.
The orphan spirit desires that someone be inferior and a hierarchy system. Kings and queens understand their tremendous value and therefore bestow honor on everyone. They seek to honor, elevate, celebrate, and assist others to see their greatest potential.
Sons and daughters of God who truly see themselves as God does, can also see others as God does. They are not jealous, envious, competitive, nor do they operate in dishonor.
It is imperative to know who we are from the perspective of God. God has such deep and profound for ALL of humanity. This love moves Him to get low and serve, bless, encourage, help, empower, and propel others forward. Jesus said we (those who follow Him) would do even greater things because we would have His Spirit (John 14:12). Jesus is a champion for all of humanity. Jesus has no ego, no spirit of “be beneath me peasants.”
Loving people, honoring them, and asking God to show us their standing in His heart is so powerful!! When I started researching on the topic of insecurity, one of the top reasons people felt insecure was a lack of support/encouragement which could translate to lack of honor.
I truly believe there is a misconception that we are just to be loved by God, honored by Him, and that is enough. Yes, God+Nothing=Everything. God also designed us to connect with other human beings. We can survive and thrive with God’s love. We will suffer if other people do not love us. Why? We are surrounded by people all day and for the duration of our lives. God gave Adam and Eve each other so they could have a family. The bible says He places the lonely in families (Psalm 68:6). We are supposed to have some people in our lives who value us and want the best for us.
Actor Robin Williams stated, “Sometimes the lonliest feeling is being surrounded by people who do not care about you.” He took his own life. Some people have no one personally invested in their lives. No one checks in on them or asks how they are doing. No one supports them. No one hugs them. No one speaks life. No one loves them. We can tell those people to go find God. Yet what is better is if we walk in love and ask God to love others through us. We do not become God for the person, nor become codependent. We do listen to God and follow His prompting.
I will share a few short stories from my own life.
There was this happy lady at my church who always sat behind me. One day I turned and looked her in the eyes, I said, “Good morning. God loves you.” As I looked at her, I saw the word HOPE in white letters on her chest. I said, “Sometimes God speaks to me and I see words on people or over people. I see hope on you. God longs to infuse you with His hope.” I just spoke out encouragement and this woman began to break down. I mean she cried and cried. I thought, “Oh boy.” Yet our conversation ended with God healing some brokenheartedness.
I kept praying for this sweet lady. I wanted to give her a gift, something beautiful. I had these real pearls I felt led to give her. I packaged them for a queen and presented them to her the next Sunday. She read the card and opened the gift with great tears. She kept saying, “You don’t understand what you have done.” I was clueless. Oh so clueless. Later she told me that a non Christian clairvoyant person (she was not saved yet when this happened) told her she would marry the one who gave her pearls. I had told her in the card the pearls were from Jesus, not me. God was saying to her that the love she was looking for was found in Jesus.
This woman told so many people how Jesus gave her a set of real pearls. She held her head so much higher after that.
Love and honor are so powerful. We can pray all day for people to feel the love of God. Or we can participate and see God transform their life.
My primary love language is not physical touch. Yet on more than one occasion God has asked me to hug someone, place a gentle hand on their shoulder, and on one occasion to hold someone and just pray over them and love them. Why? God is love and ministers in the love language of the other person. We see with Mary and Martha when Lazarus died, Jesus responded to each of them differently. Why? Jesus met them where they were and ministered to them in ways they could understand His love.
With each person God told me to hug or hold, their primary language was touch. It meant something amazing to them. It ministered God’s love to them in a profound way. Ministry and love is supposed to be about what is best for the other person. Honor looks for what will best bless the other person.
Hugging also releases oxytocin which sends a message to the brain that says, “You are loved.” It is the bonding hormone. Babies and mommies release it during cuddling times. A deficit of this hormone creates incredible issues in the lives of infants and adults. It is also released in physical embrace/intimacy of adults. There is a such thing as holy affection. If there is a deficit of holy affection, people will seek it in unholy ways because God created us to be loved and holy affection and affirmation is part of the equation.
The people I hugged said they knew it was Jesus who told me to hug them. One lady, I felt grief leave her body during the embrace. One lady was propelled into her destiny as a full time missionary.
I truly believe people are suffering because they are not loved well by people. There is this push to have God do everything; “God you honor them. God you meet this need. God you love them. I am not going to do anything.” This is NOT a Kingdom mindset. A Kingdom mindest is love, honor, serve, partnership with God. If someone is starving, praying for them is great and give them a sandwich. It’s okay to hug someone if that makes them feel loved. It’s okay to send that note, ecard, gift-to ask God how they perceive love.
Instead of asking God to love people, we can ask God to flow through us to love others. He will set up divine appointments for us.
We cannot do everything, we can do something.
When we withhold love and honor, we may be withholding the key to propel another person into their destiny.
Lastly, I will tell you how momma Heidi Baker touched my life. I have shared this story, yet share it again because stopping for one person is more meaningful than we can imagine. I see this on the streets. Hugging the drug addict and watching God move them to repentance and restoration; God honors everyone. Everyone I meet means so much to God. I see kings and queens who just don’t know they are royalty yet.
When I went to see Heidi years ago, I had no clue who she was. I just did not know. I was asked to go hear this missionary lady speak and went along. It was a season of my life where I was being harassed and persecuted by people in the Christian circle and where I worked. At the time I was simply invisible to the people who should have stood up for me. I was also processing the death of someone I greatly loved. She was a mother, a friend, one of God’s best. I only had one friend at the time who knew the depths of pain I was carrying.
When Heidi walked in, I still did not know who she was. I was sitting cross legged down front, on the floor, in the crowd. I was, in my mind, hidden and pretty invisible. Yet I was not to her. We locked eyes for maybe 10 seconds, she said, “Hi” and then I looked away. The next thing I knew, this small petite blond woman was on the ground with her arms around me, hugging me, kissing me and saying “I said hi.” She hugged me tight like she had known me forever.
It wasn’t about Heidi in that moment. It was about Jesus. I felt the love of Jesus through a person. I knew what His love was like from our secret times together. Yet this was Jesus through a person, a stranger.
I love Heidi because she is not arrogant and Jesus flows through her. In the photo attached from two years ago I had the chance to tell her how one small moment impacted my life. Though I like hidden seasons, Jesus spoke through her actions that day, “In a large crowd I see you. Others may overlook you, but I never overlook you. Right where you are, I see you and I love you. I will get down on the floor where you are and bring love to you. Instead of giving love away, I am coming with great love, respect, and honor for you.”
I recall when I am on the streets what it is like to be that hurting person in the crowd. No one is looking for you, but Jesus. So I stop for one and keep stopping. If I am the only one who shows up for outreach, I load up as much as I can carry and go. I keep going-even when tired or disappointed. I stop for the dirty ones, the smelly ones, the drunk ones, the ones selling their bodies, the addicts, the ones who smell like vomit, the hurting ones, the ones carrying deep wounds and pain, and the invisible people. God give me your eyes so I do not gloss over someone you wish to see. They all matter greatly.
In one small act of genuine love, Jesus marked me through momma Heidi. In so many other instances as well. I highlight her because she stands on platforms all over the world yet gets low to kiss the face of a stranger. I had never had any pastor or leader show that level of concern or love for me other than my parents. It was such a small thing, yet so big to me. When we choose to love and honor, we can see God transform a life. I left that night marked by this message, “God sees me.”
So at conferences and church services you may see me looking for the one who came alone, moving away from the VIP section to touch the person no one else is looking for or loving. Why? I find Jesus there. God sees you! There are no invisible, dishonored, outcasts in His heart. He pursues us all to love us.
Who will you love today? Who will you honor? I highly encourage treating everyone as though they are so valued by God. We can ask God for His eyes, His heart. We can’t yield to every demand nor be everyone’s best friend. We can choose to treat others with respect, honor, and dignity. Love looks like someone, Jesus. 🙂
P.S Hope you join us Wednesday morning at 9am EST on the FB page for the live broadcast. I will be talking about getting your soul healed. Facebook.com/erinlambauthor.
Love,
Erin Lamb
Latest book Confident & Free. Available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Empowered & Free.
God=Love 