BETH MOORE-MEMPHIS-“THE OTHER SIDE”

Disclaimer: the lovely picture included is not from Memphis, but from an Atlanta Beth Moore Conference:) It just makes me smile, so I decided to include my up close and personal with Beth (or her poster:)

I was in Memphis this past weekend with one of my Jesus Freak friends. She and I have been to several Beth Moore Conferences together through the years and when we heard about the Memphis gathering, we jumped on it! If you have read any of my previous posts, I have referenced being born and raised in the River city. I have also referenced Memphis as the sweet spot, where I accepted Jesus into my heart at 8yrs old at a Billy Graham Crusade and as my Egypt, where I chose the crowded streets over the road less traveled! God has worked miracles in my life that have truly turned my mourning into dancing and restored the years the locust ate. To sit in the FedEx Forum, in light of all HE HAS DONE IN ME AND FOR ME, and feast on the Word, being served up fresh and on fire, through one of my “GRACE JUNKIE” heroes, Beth Moore, was a “making melodies in my heart” moment! Who would have thought Beale Street would become Holy Ground for me? It is just like “That Jesus” to “rebuild the deserted ruins of our cities, repair walls and restore the streets in which we dwell!”

The message was too good not to share! So in an effort to continue writing these truths on my heart, I thought I would write them in my blog:) I was one of those children who had to hear it, say it, touch it, act it out, write a song about it, create an acronym and make a sculpture of it, in order to learn something! The Holy Spirit gets all the creds here for the wisdom shared and gleaned, but I believe the Lord is tickled pink when we join the Spirit to “do our very best to present ourselves as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of Truth.” (2 Tim 2:15)

Mark 4:37-“That day when evening came, HE said to HIS disciples, “Let’s go to the other side.”

It sets the stage for the Scripture we camped out on in Memphis! Leading into Mark 5, where Jesus restores a demon-possessed man, we see a storm that terrifies the disciples but that rocks Jesus to sleep on their way to “the other side”. If Jesus is sleeping, it suggests HE knows something we do not see with our human eyes (imagine that:) Walking by faith and not by sight changes our reaction, not the current reality! As we dove into Mark 5, we were primed with the question from Mark 4:41-“Who is this?” We entered the weekend praying that we wound be AWESTRUCK by Jesus, and expecting HIM to show up and out, so as to reveal more and more of Who HE IS! WE CAME FOR ONLY JESUS AND WE DID NOT SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS THAN ALL OF JESUS! Jesus is so very faithful! HE said that if we seek HIM, we will find HIM ,if we search for HIM, with all our hearts! FOUND!!!

***PRAYER FOR THE WEEKEND IS FOR COMPLETE VICTORY-NOT ONE FOOTHOLD WILL BE LEFT FOR THE OVER 9500 WOMEN WHO WERE ATTENDING THIS ENCOUNTER (NOT AN EVENT) WITH THE LIVING JESUS! Eph 4:27 says “Do not give the devil a foothold.” 19,000(9500 x 2) FREE FEET!!!

***THERE WERE 2 KINDS OF PEOPLE THERE: THOSE WILLING TO LET GOD SHOW THEM WHERE THE ENEMY HAD THEIR FOOT OR THOSE WHO THINK THEY HAVE NO FOOTHOLDS, CHOOSING TO STAY RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE!

***If we stop asking ourselves, “AM I STILL CHANGING?” then we have settled for a “TWEAKING”!

***Jesus did not come for a “TWEAKING”-HE came for “TOTAL TRANSFORMATION”! And I did not go for a “TWEAKING”- I am constantly praying for God to change me more and more into HIS likeness; therefore I am going ALL IN every chance I get! Reveal the foothold, stomp off the enemy’s grimy little clutches with the MIGHTY WORD OF GOD, and get on with the TRANSFORMATION-not settling for a TWEAKING!!!

The question on the table for Friday night was:

WHAT WOULD AN ENVIRONMENT LOOK LIKE IF THE ENEMY HAD HIS FULL SWAY? (The good news is that if we are in Christ, we will never have a situation where the enemy has full sway in our lives!)

***REMEMBER TO ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO OPEN YOUR EYES AND REVEAL TRUTH BEFORE READING THE SCRIPTURE PASSAGES!

(Read Mark 5:1-20 before continuing with the notes on this section)

WHERE THE ENEMY HAS HIS WAY:

1)PEOPLE LIVE AMONG THE TOMBS:
*how often to people live among the tombs of regret and shame, bitterness and unforgiveness, and excessive sorrow (just to name a few)!

***STOP GIVING CPR TO OUR OLD DEAD PAST!!!!

**When Jesus was overwhelmed by sorrow,HE took his sorrow to the Garden of Gethsemane! To get to the garden, HE had to walk through the Kidron Valley, which had cemeteries! Jesus walked through the tombs to get to the garden to bear HIS sorrow-GRIEVE WHERE YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY LIFE! BRING YOUR GRIEF BACK OUT INTO THE SUNLIGHT (SONLIGHT)! There is still MANNA out there! There is GRACE for today!

2)PEOPLE HAVE NO VOICE:
*The most oppressed people have no voice!
*Satan loves to take over the voice of our problems (You don’t have just one problem, you have MANY PROBLEMS- a LEGION of problems! REMEMBER satan (little s) is a LIAR LIAR LIAR!
*The enemy is saying SHUT UP! One of the most intimidating things we have is a VOICE TO SPEAK TRUTH!
**It is imperative that we know TRUTH and how to use our voices! QUIT TIPTOEING-STOMP the enemy off of your foot! Rom 16:20 says that “The God of Peace will crush satan under our feet.”

3)PEOPLE DO SELF-HARM:
*The enemy wants us to harm ourselves, to terrorize and misuse ourselves! BUT IT IS THE WILL OF GOD FOR US TO GET US SOME FREEDOM-TO FLOURISH OUR SOUL!
*Any thoughts of suicide or self-harm are 100% birthed by the enemy! Recognize them for what they are and FEAST ON THE WORD, SAY THE NAME OF JESUS AND THE ENEMY MUST FLEE!!!

4)PEOPLE ARE OUT OF CONTROL AND OUT OF COMMUNITY:
*The enemy delights in the whole concept of “OUT”: out of hope, left out or rejected, out of everything)
*The NIV uses IN CHRIST 98 times-there is NO WAY to be “out” because we are IN CHRIST! I am an “inny” not an “outy”!
*REF. (Mark 5:3-4)- We do not have the strength to subdue someone-BUT I HAVE A GOD WHO IS WELL ABLE! It is hard to save people when you are not Jesus and you are not Jesus! We need to fire ourselves from being JESUS!
*If we are IN CHRIST, we are not destroyed, no matter how bad it looks, and no one, not even the enemy, has the authority to destroy our lives!

SATURDAY:
*Invest TRUTH IN CHILDREN!
*STRENGTHEN OTHERS IN SCRIPTURE!
*You can not fulfill your calling without other believers-it is the nature of the Body of Christ!
*God sends us out before we “feel ready” because if we “felt ready” then we could think that “we did it!” When we are walking out our calling it will be obvious that JESUS DID IT and we were just available!
*Memory work with Scripture is vital! It will save your mind! and equip you for every good thing!
**I want only Jesus but I want ALL OF JESUS!

**FACING OUR FOOTHOLDS-Discerning where the enemy has my foot, and the Lord commands release! Lord deliver us from STUPID!

THE QUESTION ON THE TABLE FOR SATURDAY:

WHAT WILL AN ENVIRONMENT LOOK LIKE WHERE JESUS HAS HIS FULL SWAY? Romans 14:17 describes it as a place “of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

***REMEMBER TO ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO OPEN YOUR EYES TO REVEAL TRUTH BEFORE READING THE SCRIPTURE PASSAGE!

(READ LUKE 8:26-39 before continuing with the notes from this section)

WHERE JESUS HAS HIS WAY:

1) DEMONS HAVE TO FLEE: Luke 8:35-“the demons had gone out”

2)PEOPLE FIND A SANE PLACE IN HIS PRESENCE:Luke 8:35-“in his right mind”
*deliverance from mania, anxiety(when we are anxious it tells the enemy that were are not trusting God), depression, fear

3) WHO JESUS RESTORES, JESUS ROBES! Luke 8:35-“dressed”
*people are robed in worth and dignity-“Those who look to the Lord are never covered in shame!”
*insecurity makes us act like a nut! (because we are exposed and uncovered in shame)
*Isaiah 63:1-Jesus came to robe us in salvation, to robe us in dignity!
*Luke 15:22-the father gave the prodigal son the best robe, not a tattered robe!!
**Things that make you feel unrobed: abuse, misuse, rape, rejection, disease, death
JESUS CONQUERED THEM ALL AND WE ARE COVERED IN HIS RIGHTEOUS ROBES!
*Ps31-“She is clothed in dignity”

*The robe of dignity is a COVER, NOT A COVER UP! Dignity and Secrecy are very different!
*When we are uncovered(blinded by the enemy to not see the blood of Jesus) we are too ashamed to come out and we hide in secrecy! We isolate in bondage thinking were are saving our dignity through secrecy!
*When we recognize and walk in our Christ-covering, we have the dignity to come out! We come out in freedom to help set other captives free!

4) PEOPLE GO AND TELL THEIR STORIES:
*The people were more scared of Jesus’s healing than they were the domoniac!
*FREEDOM SCARES A COMMUNITY OF PRISONERS-the prisoners would rather live in their familiar bondage than step into the unknown freedom-they knew “tomb dwelling” but they could’t imaging “garden growing”!
**Do you know people, are we a people, that settles for what we “know” instead of embracing the “grow”?

*Luke 8:39-“Return home and DECLARE how much GOD has done for you!” The definition for declare: “to narrate something, to lead someone through!”

*TELL THE NARRATION OF YOUR OWN STORY! Get prepared-think it out-what is it God wants us to share?
*The answer will always be whatever brings HIM the most glory and in doing that, it is also what brings the most freedom to those listening!

*Can we answer what is the reason for the hope that we have? If not, figure it out! If so, ANSWER BOLDLY!

These are  my take-aways from an amazing Holy Spirit inspired weekend! I pray they lead you to the WORD for yourself and make you hungry for an eternal adventure WHERE JESUS HAS FULL SWAY!

Philippians 2:10-” that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth!”

To God be all the Glory!
GoGod