Tag: Kingdom of God

Marry a Kingdom Person, Not a “Christian”

1 Comment

Being a Christian is a label in my country that can mean many things. It does not mean that person has a personal relationship with Jesus, obeys Jesus, nor that they even understand who Jesus is. Jesus spoke more about the Kingdom of God than anything else. Don’t let the prophets for profit convince you He talked most about money. He didn’t. I have met countless people who claim Jesus; they do not mirror any aspects of what He said would mark His followers. This includes clergy, pastors, platform ministers with millions of followers. 

Please don’t be fooled by a label, church attendance, and someone saying they are Christian. I had a lady tell me a guy brought his bible on a date. I asked, “Does he live anything in that bible?” It’s not what he says he is, it’s what he is living. 

I would not recommend for anyone desiring marriage to just seek out a Christian person. I have counseled countless people abused by Christians. Gosh, I have been treated like utter trash by quite a few professing Christians. 

A person who truly seeks first the Kingdom of God: 

1. Has a healthy view of the Lord so they will seek to honor God in their interactions with you, knowing they answer to God for their treatment of you. 

2. Will pursue honor, integrity, love, and mutual service and submission. It’s not one sided. 

3. Will repent when they sin and offer forgiveness to you when you sin. 

4. Will yield to God for pruning and godly growth. 

5. Pursues God and their own spiritual health with God. They do not expect you to be their god. 

6. Serves others, has the heart of a servant.

7. Walks in purity. They care about maintaining their purity with God and you. 

8. Builds God’s Kingdom and helps establish it on earth. 

9. Pursues unselfish love! 

10. Cares about the least, last, lost. They share the gospel and make disciples. 

11. Has regular communion with God and discipline of a disciple. 

12. Is a wise steward of what God has given, knowing they are accountable. Where much is given, much is required. 

13. Loves God more than they love you or anyone or anything else. 

14. Listens to God and wise counsel. 

15. Cares about what is best for you, unselfish love. 

16. Pursues you for the highest good, not their personal or lustful gain. 

17. Honesty, loyalty, commitment to do what they promise to do. 

18. Willing to confront you in love about sin or error. 

19. Talks to you to build connection not about you behind your back or so harshly its abusive. 

20. Views you as an equal, not a subordinate. 

21. Takes accountability for their own choices. 

22. Seeks to add value to your life. 

23. Seeks to obey God. 

24. Is passionate about God and their relationship is growing. 

25. Isn’t in love with marriage, a wedding, or the idea of marriage. They are fully in love with Jesus. 

A Kingdom person views life through God’s lens. They seek to do the will of God. They are sold out for Jesus. So, they are not trying to devour you, use you, get you into sin, get you into sexual immorality. They are pursuing God’s best for themselves and you. 

I will be honest that I have met more “Christians” than Kingdom people. It saddens me because Jesus is grossly misrepresented by the masses. My encouragement for those who want to marry is “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness.” Instead of, “God gimmie!!” Say, “God prepare me. Help me to be a Kingdom person. Help me to love you most and yield to your purposes. God make me a blessing so I can be a blessing. Give me discernment to know what’s just good and what’s God (you). Heal my brokenness. Fix the broken parts of me. Grow me up in you. Prune away non fruit bearing parts of me.” 

As someone with years of experience helping married couples piece the broken parts together, please consider working on putting God first, getting healed, and pursuing God. Marriage does not cure things. It amplifies whats broken. Seek God. Seek first the Kingdom of God, not religion. Honor God. If you won’t honor God, you won’t honor a spouse.

Warm Regards,

Erin Lamb

Releasing What You Carry (Manifesting Sonship Series Part VI)

Leave a comment

  
Blessed and worthy of praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ, just as [in His love] He chose us in Christ [actually selected us for Himself as His own] before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy [that is, consecrated, set apart for Him, purpose-driven] and blameless in His sight,~Ephesians 1:3-4 (Amplified).  

“Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.”~Jesus. ‭‭John‬ ‭15:4-6‬ ‭(Amplified).‬‬

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,~Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV).

How do we manifest what God is like to the world? How do we walk in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, and continually bear good fruit? How do we release what He’s deposited?

It Starts with Saving Faith

We are saved by faith in Jesus, by grace, as a gift of God through repentance (confessing our sins and changing our mind about sin). If you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, check out How to Know Jesus. 

It Continues on with Relationship…

Fruit bearing is a manifestation of connection and relationship. How do we cultivate relationship with God? We can only release what we carry. 

For each person it may look a bit different. I am not suggesting you follow a formula or feel bound. There’s so much holy freedom in Christ. These are simply some things I do. 

  • Worship God. Worship is more than singing songs. Worship is a posture of the heart that says, “God You are greater than all things. You are worthy. All that I am is in awe of all You! I give you thanks, praise, adoration, my entire life! It’s all Yours!!“
  • Make time with God a priority. I have worship parties with God. It’s just us and sometimes there’s singing, dancing, laughing (lots of laughing), praising, or face down on the floor time. 
  • Study the word with God. God and I have study dates. Normally these are Sunday afternoons in the war room (prayer room). I study with His input. I learn the Bible with God. It’s our time. 
  • Talk to God daily. He loves to be with us. 
  • Listen to God and jot down what you believe He’s saying. I carry a prayer journal with me everywhere with documented prayers, words, impressions, etcetera…I have some that are over 10 years old. Wait 15 years old. I can go back and reference our time together and answered prayers, prophetic words fulfilled, and encouraging words He has spoken. 
  • Ask God for deeper revelations of His love, His Presence, and His care. He loves to answer this prayer.
  • Ask God what His agenda is for the day. Who does He want to bless? If we pay attention He will highlight someone or multiple people each day.
  • Obey God. Some have taught that obedience is legalism. It is not. Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father and I dare anyone to call Him legalistic. Obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22) and a manifestation of our love for God (John 14:15). We are a slave to whoever we obey (Romans 16:6). We are not saved by obedience. We are saved by faith. However to claim Christ and practice lawlessness is not something God celebrates or approves of. See Matthew 7:21-23. God hates what damages us. Sin is damaging.

What if you say, “My tree does not have abundant good fruit! Or I don’t have anything good to offer the world. I am barely making it.”

 
If I go out to an orange tree and it has no good fruit. I don’t curse the tree. I look at the root system. Only a tree planted in good soil, watered, receiving light from the sun will produce good fruit. Only a tree free of disease will produce good fruit. 

If I am not producing the good fruit of God’s likeness, it’s because I’ve disconnected from the Vine (God), forsaken intimacy (watering (Holy Spirit) and His Presence (Light)), forsaken fellowship (community), and chosen to live by my flesh instead of being led by His Spirit. If I’m still not producing good fruit, there are wounds/hurts (disease) in my soul that need healed. The spirit is saved, new at conversion. The soul is being sanctified (changed, cleansed, purified over time with God). 

God can and does heal the wounded soul. I will post more about that later. Our pride and rebellion can also block the flow of the Holy Spirit. It’s easy to confess those things to God and get the flow moving freely again. 

Releasing What You Carry…

Possession proceeds releasing. We can only give what we have first obtained from God. We receive by faith. 

  • We can only release by doing something. 
  • Faith requires activation. 

A couple years ago I was talking to God about wanting to see more sick people healed. He responded, “Go pray for more sick people.” I’ve seen God heal more sick people in the past 12 months than I have in  my entire walk with God. Mainly because when someone is ill, I jump to pray. 

Want more, release more! Find people to encourage, pray for, share the Gospel with, teach, mentor, disciple…pay it forward. 

God is a wise investor. If we use what’s given to bless others, He adds more. So, we stay connected and share what’s given. We love God for who He is, not to gain things from Him. If we spend time with Him, we will overflow with more than enough to share. 

Final Notes: 

There’s no fear in love. If I’m not producing good fruit in an area, I go to the Source (God). I abide in Him. I submit myself to Him and allow God to work in my soul that which is pleasing to Him. I deepen our connection. Good fruit is not produced by striving. It comes only through intimacy with God, abiding. 

Papa God, You are incredible and holy. I ask for all of us to be saturated with Your steadfast love, power, wisdom, and thoughts. Heal any wounds in our soul. Uproot unbelief, fear, pride, rebellion, insecurity. Plant us in good soil. Help us to stay under the waterfall of Your unfailing love. Keep our eyes on You! In Jesus mighty name. Amen. 

You are deeply loved and prayed for often. 

Love in Christ, 

Erin Lamb 

Orange tree photo courtesy of Pinterest. 

Building History with God (Intimacy with God Part X)

Leave a comment



I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness,~Jeremiah 31:3. 

I love reading the stories of people’s relationships with God in His word. One of my favorite passages is actually Hebrews 11. It is called the hall of faith. The passage is long so I won’t post it, yet you can read it here:  Hebrews 11. 

The people listed in Hebrews 11 have incredible stories with God. They overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles with God. God delivered some from and others through. He drew His people with loving kindness. He established a covenant with His people; one He upheld by His power, love, and provision. 

I’ve said this many times and will state again, there are things we can only learn about God through experience. 

Have you ever done missions? Or a team building exercise? Or gone through a struggle with someone? It knits you together. You learn things about them you would not learn by just reading their bio or even meeting with them for an hour or so once a week. 

God longs to be known by us. 

I was in a Bible study fellowship for a few years with a group of passionate young adults. Many of us ended up on a mission in the Amazon Jungle together in Brazil. I thought I knew the people on the team. We met weekly for Bible study. 

I learned so much about my team and myself those few weeks of traveling in a truck, hiking in 100F weather, handling heat stress, living under banana leaf huts, sleeping in hammocks, bathing in the Amazon River, and being in close proximity. Stories were written down, stories told, intimacy built, laughs had, tears shed, prayers offered, and bonding occurred. 



I learned new things about God on that trip. He wrote some great things into my story…

One that I could preach. I could hear from God in an instant for a perfect stranger. I could survive flying home with a partially dislocated hip. I could lead worship in Portguese. Spanish is my second language, Portuguese is my third (so much to learn). I grew in sharing deep parts of my heart with people on my team. It grew me. I had to rely on God fully. It’s a part of my story with God that’s marked with miracles and wonder. 

God is writing our story with Him.

He longs for the closest promximity and highest priority in our lives. You see, in heaven it’s all about the Kingdom. There’s no marriage, kids to be had, PTA meetings, bills to pay, singles events…it’s His Kingdom. This life, though it’s not marketed as such, is preparation for what’s to come. The relationship built with God on earth will continue on into eternity. Time on earth is the shortest time we will ever live. The greatest covenant and relationship is with God. 

What will be the theme of your story? 

Will it be faith? 

Will it be love? 

Will it be overcoming? 

Will it be the power of Jesus? 

Will you be known as one who walked closely with God like Enoch? Will you get to heaven and realize many people came to know Jesus because of your faithfulness on earth?

Will you encounter God not only as Father as a best friend?

We can learn from others stories and history with God, yet we build our own history with God.  

I love the way God communicated with Moses. I love God. I love who He is. I love being with Him more than anyone else. I desired greatly as a youth to have continual communication with God. At one point in my walk I told Him, “I want to be like Moses. He met with you face to face (intimately)-Exodus 33:11. Your glory passed over him. You spoke to him through a burning bush.” God’s reply to me was, “I meet with you heart to heart.” 

We each have our own story with God.

You see, I am not Moses. We certainly have a better covenant than Moses and the indwelling of the Spirit. My story is my story with God. We meet heart to heart. I’m not a feeler. I’m a thinker. I’m prone to logical/analytical thought patterns and do not rely on feelings for processing. Yet God supernaturally deposits His heart for people into mine. I feel what they feel. I feel what He feels. He moves me through my heart, though my personality is driven to be led by my brain. 

He’s writing a story marked with His radical, passionate, compassionate, and profound love. It’s also a story marked with His power. I’m alive because of His great power to heal, protect, and perform miracles.

We each have a unique and divine purpose. We are carved out of the heart and imagination of God. The good times matter, the challenges matter, the struggles matter, the joy matters. We are a part of a greater story, His story. We join the story of God and champion our King! 

We learn the Book (His word) and allow it to lead us into an encounter with Him. Our greatest need is to know the Author. 

Every situation an opportunity to deepen intimacy with God. What is He doing? What is He saying? Who in His word has experienced something similar? What is God teaching us? How can we cling to Him and grow to know Him better? 

Sweet friends, you are so loved, valued, appreciated, significant, and your story matters! You matter to God.  Don’t worry about anything. Pray about everything (talk to and listen to God). One day you’ll look back and smile. Your heart will say, “What a testimony of God’s love, power, and provision.” 

Whether we believe it or not, God is always working things together for the eventual good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28). 

Praying for you! 

Love in Christ, 

Erin