Entertaining Angels

Shellie Byers - There are times and seasons that profoundly change the course of a person's life, moments that engrave themselves into your core being and are drawn from memory instantly. For a Christian that includes the day you are born again as a believer in Jesus Christ, the day you are water baptized and when you know you have received the Holy Spirit. You learn to have a relationship with God and develop insights into the plans God has created you for. Some of us learn and grow through faith, several may have dreams and visions and a few even walk under open heaven. Those who seek will find the truth and walk into maturity. We learn discernment and the correct time to release what God has shown us. The hour has come to testify for the kingdom of God.

Preparing the way of the Lord

Shellie Byers - In a few weeks we will be beginning to celebrate Advent and the time that led up to our Lord and Savior's birth. When the incarnation of God chose to be at one with our human condition so salvation was birthed. An innocent and vulnerable baby needing tender care and protection that grew to be beheld as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. A time hearkened by angels and angel visitation and the sign of John the Baptist conceived in his mother's womb. A sign for Mary to willingly become blessed of all women. It is also a time to hearken in the sheep of God to remember we are ment to prepare the way of the Lord for the return of our King Jesus to the earth.

Spiritual authority shifts this reality

Cain kills Abel (Gustave Dore - Wikimedia Commons/public domain)

Shellie Byers - Yesterday a video was circulating of the forced removal of a cross from the steeple of a 60 year old church on a University Campus. As I drove through Brocket a red dress was hanging from a skeletal, dead tree on the highway to remind us of the missing and murdered indigenous women whose blood and tears cry up from the ground. Just as Abel's blood cried for vindication from the earth to God. Our world is changing and evolving in ways that can plant fear in our hearts. We try to comfort ourselves into believing one person can not change the world. We go to our prayer closets and beg God to intercede on our behalf or we become so complacent that we emotionally separate ourselves from the reality we are living . Do you know what has happened? Most of us are never told who we are in Christ and we do not understand our identity.

A time for endurance

Shellie Byers - There are moments in a day when having a heart to heart with Jesus is necessary to quiet all the thoughts in my head. The devil is stealthy, lurking about like a lion, he can pounce suddenly deceiving your concepts of identity and trying to separate you from the voice of God. Crush Satan under your heel and be candid with the Lord in your daily struggles. Today I was dealing with a spirit of death attacking my beloved and the spirit of failure compelling me to feel defeated. Thankfully, God loves each of us enough to teach us to overcome even when Satan has permission to tempt us.

A call to pray for rain

Shellie Byers - Every morning I wake up to the sting of smoke in my eyes , the dead brown grass in my yard and the merciless sun keeping me confined indoors as summer slips away. The two week forcast makes me sigh with no relief from the sweltering conditions. My heart sinks thinking about the first verse in the bible I was fixated on as a child.

"Surely the day is coming ,it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, 'says the Lord Almighty. 'Not a root or a branch will be left to them." - Malachi 4:1

Knocking at heaven's door

Shellie Byers - I am a witness for Jesus Christ, a watchman on the wall and a child of the one, true God. My relationship and inheritance permit me to be equipped through the transforming of my mind. I am a soldier in a spiritual army willing to obey the commands of my Lord and sound the alarm. Many of us are preoccupied with our families, our jobs, the world and many of us have fallen asleep to the still, small voice speaking to us. The alarm bells are ringing, it is time to wake up, rise up and dust the armor of God off. March into your prayer closets and wield your double edged sword to intercede for your fallen brothers and sisters. Change the atmosphere with the Holy Spirit and create a new reality. Identify who you are and understand the power and authority we were meant to walk in. 

Walking miracles

Shellie Byers - A few months ago I shared the emotional heartache I was experiencing, after learning a friend of mine was going to pass away . This last month things had escalated to dire . Her heart stopped, her kidneys failed., and when they resuscitated her body it was so weak infection set in and both her lungs collapsed. Everyday we waited on the edge of our seats wondering will this be the final phone call. Many people went to say their goodbyes seeing her attached to life support and fading away.

The road of life

Shellie Byers - From the very beginning of our lives to the end we are set on a road of decisions. Taking our first step toward intentional thought we are driven to seek what lies beyond the horizon. Every conscious action will determine the reality we create, moulding our existence. Each road is unique and holds limitless outcomes. No one can deceive themselves into thinking there is a straight, smooth road before them with a definite destination, all roads have bumps and curves and forks along the way. This journey we have embarked upon is filled with scraped knees, bruised egos, first loves, first heartaches, immeasurable joys and unforseen sorrows. Unfortunately the reality is the paths we carve out cannot be changed once we have created them. You cannot turn around in the middle of the road and recreate a different outcome. 

The last walk home

Shellie Byers - Last week I received news that a friend of mine has a condition which is calling her home. How small and fleeting seem the days of a life. My mind wanders to lament with Hamlet, " for in this sleep of death what dreams may come." My heart forlorns that our time is quickening to an end. Fortunately, my friend is a strong believer in Jesus Christ who said," I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

New beginnings

Shellie Byers - The clock strikes twelve, the whistles blow, a cheer erupts from the crowd as friends hug and sweethearts steal a kiss. There is joy and anticipation about what the year ahead will bring. The air itself seems electrified and alive in the moment. All things seem possible as we make restitution for our shortcomings in the prior year to move ahead in exuberance into the next. Imagine how many dreams are spoken to heaven in one day.

The season of knowing Him

"Good Shepherd" (edit) by Good Shepherd by Bernhard Plockhorst (Wikimedia commons)

Shellie Byers - Tis the season of signs and wonders and miracles and anticipation of the unexpected. When it feels as though heaven could come down and touch the earth and give us a glance into our eternal future. Where prayers are more heartfelt and spoken more freely. When we love our neighbors more closely as ourselves and a genuine nature of good cheer puts a skip in our step. The festivities are plentiful and we are filled with warm memories and surrounded by those we love. It is the season to experience wonderment, is it not?

Life is extraordinary

Shellie Byers - What is an ordinary life but complacency and ignorance? How can we strive for the mundane pursuit of comfort when a complex universe calls out to reach us? I think of the intricate structures in a million snowflakes falling to the ground. So small to the visible eye we miss the vastness of wonderment in each of their unique, individual designs. The same way we take for granted how unique each created person is to house our own identity with specific fingerprints, DNA, physical attributes and the contribution we make to the world.