Why My Spiritual Leaders Should Step On My Toes

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

Since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic we have heard a lot of messages from our spiritual leaders. At first most of us looked at Matthew 24, comparing the signs of the end as Jesus described them, to what is happening in the world right now. Another frequently quoted passage of the Bible has been 2 Corinthians 7:13-14, which talks about God’s people returning to God after judgements, and God healing the land again.

I, too, went to those scriptures, seeking answers, like everybody else. But God soon directed me towards the book of Jeremiah. For the last few weeks, I have been reading, studying and praying about the words of the weeping prophet.

One thing in particular has been standing out to me – throughout the book of Jeremiah he rebukes the priests and the false prophets over and over again for their lies and false promises to the people.

Who are prophets and priests? What are they to us? They are the spiritual leadership God has given to us. It is the prophet’s job to point his finger at us and tell us when we are doing something wrong. It is his job to bring correction to us.

The priests were responsible for the spiritual well-being of the people and they made atonement for the sins of the people by offering sacrifices to God. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, but our pastors are still the ones who take care of our spiritual growth and well-being. They have the right to call us out on our sin.

If I don’t tell my children when they are doing something they are not supposed to do, if I don’t teach them right from wrong, how would they know? Who would show them the right way?

Our pastors are our spiritual fathers and mothers and we would do well to listen their correction.

The problem that Jeremiah was talking about though was that the very people who were supposed to help and guide us were the ones who lied to the people and instead of calling them out on their wicked ways, they were just as wicked.

The head gives the direction in which we go, so if our spiritual leadership – or even our secular leaders – lead us the wrong way, where does that leave us?

_The head gives the direction in which we go._

In the time of the prophet Jeremiah the people followed their leadership and those that spoke out against it, that spoke the truth, were rejected, ridiculed and even persecuted and imprisoned. Yet Jeremiah continued to warn the people that at some point judgement was coming if they didn’t turn from their wicked ways.

This is not to say that the Coronavirus is a judgement from God, or demonic, or manmade so that power hungry people can push us closer towards a new world order. We all have our opinions and I don’t want to debate one option over the other right now, but I think we can all agree that it is a calamity. People have lost their lives, our economy is crippled, our rights have been infringed upon, etc.

There have been leaders like Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and Perry Stone, just to mention a few, who have been consistently warning us, that we are on a slippery slope and that at some point judgement would come.

Rabbi Cahn has said time and time again that if we truly are the light of the world, why has it gotten so dark around us? If we are the salt of the earth, why has everything around us gotten so rotten?

We can’t deny that our culture and our society has been shifting for years. What used to be called right and good is now more and more being called wrong and evil, and vise versa.

While there have been voices crying out in warning, there have also been leaders who rather tickle the ears of their people. Paul warned us in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 that this was going to happen: “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.”

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 2

I’m not calling out anybody in particular, but let’s just be perfectly honest. None of us like it very much when we are told that what we are doing is wrong. Today people get offended so easily that we don’t want correction. We refuse to hear it. Instead we want to be told that it’s ok and we are fine. We say, “don’t judge me” and we even try to use scripture to justify that. We tell people who call us out for doing wrong “haters” and “bigots”. We don’t want to hear the truth if it means that we may have to face our own shortcomings. It’s easier to point fingers at other people than ourselves.

Let me explain what I mean. In my job I get two evaluations per year. My boss sits me down and he tells me what he thinks of my performance. He judges me based on certain requirements for my job, but also on how I handle things on a personal level. How I interact with my coworkers, how I handle confrontation, etc.

I had a great evaluation with the exception of one certain point. As he was criticizing me, I was getting angry and I began to justify myself. Basically, I pointed fingers at other people to explain why I had done what I did.

He just sat back and smiled at me, letting me rant, and then told me the reason why he was smiling was because it was his turn to tell me what he saw in me and where I could improve but instead I cut him off and told him all the reasons why it was ok to act the way I did.

I was reminded of something I tell my kids all the time – you are not responsible for their action but for your reaction to their actions.

So, I stopped and listened to what he had to say. He stepped on my toes. A lot. But I took it to heart and worked on myself and when it was time for my next evaluation, he told me that he had seen the improvement in that area. He had watched me learn from my mistakes and accept his correction and he was pleased with me.

Stop getting angry when your pastor steps on your toes. It’s his job. He would be doing you an injustice by not telling you that you are sinning. Stop persecuting the prophets and silencing their voices when they give us a warning that we are heading down the wrong way. It’s their job.

I would rather have my spiritual leaders step on my toes and guide me towards heaven, then have them sugarcoat me into hell. And as a nation, we need our spiritual leaders to step up and not be afraid of getting shut down or their livestream cut off because they said something that may be offensive to some people. The truth is always offensive when you don’t want to hear it. It’s ok. We need it anyways!

A young minister I know once said that when God corrects you, it’s like a gut punch and a hug all at the same time. It hurts so good.

Correction from God is not a bad thing, it’s a good and necessary thing, so stop listening to false teachers and instead allow the true men and women of God in your life to do their job. They do it because they love you!

Broken Chains

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

Have you ever heard it said that the Church is a like a hospital for broken people? It is true that we all have issues. None of us are perfect, which is why we need the Church so we can heal, be delivered and set free.

We are so busy and bogged down with our own issues that we oftentimes fail to see the need or the hurt of those around us. So getting set free is not just for us but it also enables us to minister to others and whether you see yourself in ministry or not, we are all called to witness to people.

So what does it mean to be set free?

The Bible tells us in John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The word “free” here is actually two different words in the Greek. The first one is eleutheroō, a verb that means to make free, deliver, set at liberty: from the dominion of sin.

That is what Jesus does for us.

The second time it is used in that verse it’s an adjective, eleutheros, meaning free, freeborn, one who is not a slave, one who ceases to be a slave, freed, free, exempt, unrestrained.

This describes us after Jesus sets us free. Great news, right?

However most of us don’t really walk in the freedom that Christ gave us. Due to circumstances, situations, past relationships and a wide variety of other reasons, we walk around wounded, hurt, and mentally, emotionally, and spiritually crippled.

That is not how Jesus wants us to live our lives.

chains2

We call Him the Chainbreaker and we sing songs about the power in the name of Jesus. We talk about how He sets the captives free, but for some reason we almost refuse to walk in that freedom.

Earlier this year during a worship service at a ministry conference I saw chains bursting. They didn’t just break and fall down but they burst towards the outside into a bunch of little pieces. Even the links were broken.

As soon as I watched those chains break I heard rattling of chains, making me feel like whatever just broke was about to be back. At that point the Holy Spirit started speaking to me that the enemy doesn’t have that power because of John 8:26 – free indeed!

The rattling of the chains however makes us afraid that we really just can’t overcome whatever it is that is holding us in bondage. Let me remind you that the only way the enemy can put you in those broken chains again is if you let him!

Whatever circumstance, situation or sin issue you just walked out of, you do NOT have to go back into. Jesus took care of that for you.

Does that mean it’s always easy? No. But Jesus made a way for you and since the Bible promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us, you don’t have to be afraid because He will walk this out with you.

So don’t let the enemy fool you. You have been set free by Jesus and you don’t have to walk in bondage anymore!

When Words Get Used Against Us – Part 2

/ Jelena McClellan / 2 Comments

So if the devil can’t use your own words against you (see Part 1), how about the word of God?

Let’s look at what happened with Eve in the Garden. The devil’s approach here was to question the word of God: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?’ (Gen 3:1).

He didn’t lie to her about anything at this point; he simply asked her a question. He was testing her knowledge of the Word of God and by probing her in such a way he created doubt. We all know what happened after that but there is actually one small thing that we often overlook.

Genesis 2:16-17 says “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

But when Eve is responding to the serpent in Genesis 3:2-3 she says this: “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”

Did you catch that?

Two things actually.

Number 1: In Genesis 2:16 it says that God commanded the man. So where was Eve? Was she present when God told Adam not to eat from that tree? We don’t know. All we know for a fact is that God commanded Adam. So that would mean that it was up to Adam to tell her what God had commanded, right?

Which brings us to number 2: Somebody added to the Word of God. Genesis 2:17 only talks about not eating the fruit, but in Genesis 3:3 Eve tells the serpent that they can’t eat it nor touch it. So did Adam add to the Word of God or did Eve?

What’s my point here?

When we add to the Word of God, take away from it or change it, we get ourselves in trouble. Look, we know that Jesus was the Word at the beginning, right? So how are we going to add anything to Jesus, take something away or just change things about Jesus and think it won’t have any negative effects?

Don’t get me wrong, I can only quote certain scriptures word for word. There are a lot more scriptures that I can paraphrase and give you the gist of than I can actually quote them (something I’m working on getting better at). But when I have an issue, I go straight to the Word, I find the scriptures I need, I make sticky notes, I put them in my phone, I write them on my mirrors, whatever I have to do to keep God’s Word in front of me, I do it. And then I quote it during prayer.

So 1st, you need to know the word of God. And 2nd, don’t let the devil twist it around on you! If in doubt, go open your bible or even the bible app on your phone. But don’t fall into his trap and allow him to use it against you.

We talked about 3 different ways the devil uses our words or God’s Word against us, but there is one more.

Have you ever had a situation that you were praying about and you knew what the Word of God says about it so you claim it for yourself and in comes the devil telling you that in your situation it doesn’t apply?

I made my biggest mistake after I had become a born again Christian. It took me several months before I finally turned to God asking His forgiveness. The reason for that was the devil constantly telling me that I should’ve known better, convincing me that I must not have been saved after all or I wouldn’t have messed up in such a way.

So when I would look at scripture like Jeremiah 29:11 that talks about God having a good plan for my life, the devil would say “well, that’s all fine and well, but that doesn’t apply to you anymore. You screwed up, remember?”

Or reading Romans 8:28 that says that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose, I would hear the devil telling me “Ha! What good could possibly come out of this mess you created?”

I’m sure you have had similar “conversations” with the enemy. In the past these comments, these lies, would defeat me because I didn’t know my identity in Christ. I didn’t understand just how much the Father loves me and that nothing can separate me from Him now that I am His.

So first I had to learn who I am in Christ and how God sees me. The next time the devil tried to lie to me about what was mine I told him that he was a liar and that God had forgiven me and His word applies to me and my situation!

Oh really?

That’s when the devil plays little movies in my head, like a “Best Of” my worst moments, biggest mess ups and sins I have committed.

Remember the Blood of Jesus we talked about earlier?

Use it! Plead it! Apply it!

I don’t care how badly you messed up, once you have confessed your sins to the Father and repented, that sin is under the Blood and the devil has no right to use it against you anymore! He will try but you don’t have to let him!

So let’s look at Jesus in the wilderness one more time. He has been fasting, he is hungry, weak, and here comes the devil trying to tempt him. And what does Jesus do? He quotes scripture to the devil. One scripture per temptation.

I don’t know about you, but when the devil comes to attack me, I pull out every scripture I can think of, I rebuke him, I pray in tongues, I cry out to God, I pray hedges of protection around me, you name it, it is happening! And it is exhausting!

Jesus quoted ONE scripture. One for each temptation. He didn’t scream at the devil. He didn’t pray in tongues, He didn’t even pray to the Father for help. We know that He prayed all the time anyway. He was prayed up so to speak and ready to act when He needed to. He quoted one scripture.

And this is Jesus who was fully man, mind you. He has not yet gone to the Cross, so He has not yet defeated death and the grave and taken the keys back from the devil.

We are blessed enough to be operation under totally different circumstances than Jesus at that time. We operate under the authority and anointing of the resurrected Jesus, while He had to deal with this situation as fully man.

And the reason why He did that was the same as with everything else He did while he was fully man. To set an example for us on how to do it and to show us that it is possible. He didn’t do anything out of His own power or we wouldn’t be able to do it because we are not Jesus. Everything He did was based on God and He gave us access to that same power. He gave us access to God so anything Jesus did, we can do also.

Maybe it is time we rethink how we battle and warfare. Maybe it is time we truly understand who we are in Christ and what great power and authority He has given us. Maybe it is time to take back ground the devil has stolen from us.

Are you ready?

 

When Words Get Used Against Us – Part 1

/ Jelena McClellan / 1 Comment

The other day God was speaking to me about the wilderness, so to get a better understanding of it, I started to look up people in the Bible who had a wilderness experience. The first one I started with was Jesus. Now there are a lot of things we can look at when it comes to the timing and circumstances of Him going into the wilderness but today I want to focus on something else.

I want to look at the attacks of the enemy today.

When you read about Jesus in the wilderness, it doesn’t give you a lot of details to work with. The Gospel of John doesn’t mention it at all, and the other three have slight variations. Only Mark mentions the wild beasts that surrounded Jesus while he was in the wilderness, but based on what we know, Jesus was alone in the wilderness, in a somewhat dangerous place, he was fasting for 40 days and nights so since Jesus was fully man we know he was hungry, he was weak, maybe even scared.

Any time I have ever fasted I am not just physically weak but also emotionally. There is a lot going on when we stop satisfying “king stomach”. So chances are that Jesus was not just weak from hunger but maybe also concerning his emotions.

Those conditions make us vulnerable.

I have heard many accounts of people who had a great time with the Lord during their fasts. They hear Him loud and clear as He speaks to them regarding certain issues and they receive the breakthroughs they have been praying for.

Me, not so much. Fasting for me usually means a dry time where it feels as if God has completely forgotten about me and I’m all alone. I know that is not the case but it sure feels that way. By now I have also learned that a time of fasting in my case usually brings attacks from the enemy. I guess he knows I am weak and vulnerable. Maybe even cranky and irritable so it seems to be an opportune time for him to strike, right?

That’s what he did with Jesus. He tempted Him while he was in a weakened physical state.

So how does the devil attack us? We know he is the father of lies but that doesn’t mean that’s the only tool he uses.

Usually the first thing that happens is that he makes us use our own words against us. Let me give you an example:

Years ago we had a very rough time in our marriage and so I constantly went before the Lord and prayed for His help. I quoted scripture, stood on it and was confident that God would work out our situation according to His word. So far so good. But then something would happen and I would either break down into a sobbing, crying mess or I would blow up and vent, but either way the words that were coming out of my mouth were detrimental to the prayers I had spoken. Things like “this will never change”, or “I give up” were my go-to things.

Why is that an issue?

In the natural I didn’t pray and then say those things at the same exact time but God doesn’t exist inside our understanding of time. He is eternal. He sees my past, my present and my future – all at the same time.

So when I’m praying and I’m full of faith and standing on His word for deliverance He is ready to move. He might even assign some angels to help me with my situation. But at the same time He hears my words cancelling my prayers so everything He wanted to do to help is now put on hold.

Are you with me so far?

Ok, so the first way the devil attacks us is by getting us to speak negatively about our situation.

Let’s say we learned from our mistakes. Maybe we heard a few messages on the power of the tongue and we are trying really, really hard not do speak death anymore.

Can the devil still use our words against us?

Sure can! Imagine him standing there with a recorder and so here you are going through whatever it is that you’re dealing with right now and every time something happens he tempts you and tries to make you open your mouth to speak death over the situation again. But this time you keep your mouth shut! Or maybe you have even learned to praise God in the midst of your storm so instead of speaking death you are doing the opposite. You are praising God for what He is about to do in your situation.

But the breakthrough doesn’t come. Why? Because the devil is playing back all the negative words you have said about your situation in the past.

He is the accuser of the brethren, right? That is what he does, according to the bible, day and night. So your prayers come up before God and He is ready to move on your behalf and here comes the devil and he plays back what you said. Boom. Prayers cancelled. Again.

Why? You did so good! You didn’t curse. You didn’t complain. You didn’t speak death. You praised. You stood on God’s word. You did everything you were supposed to do and still nothing happened.

You missed the Blood of Jesus.

When you got saved and became a born again Christian, the Blood of Jesus was made available to you. So you go before God and you confess your sins and they get covered by the Blood of Jesus so now you are made righteous, right?

But did you also put your words under the Blood?

keep quiet

Imagine you sit in a court room and you want the judge to move on your behalf. You have your evidence as to why the judge should decide in your favor – your prayers, your worship, your praises,… – but then the opposing party comes and says, “That is all fine and dandy but our of their own mouth came this and that so if they don’t even believe that you, as judge, would do that for them, all their evidence is null and void”.

This would be the time to object and bring in the most powerful evidence on earth – the Blood of Jesus. So you repent for what you said and then you put all your negative words, your whining and complaining, your unbelief, whatever it is, under the Blood of Jesus. Now it is gone. The devil can’t use it anymore. You just took away the case he had against you.

Ok, so now we have dealt with our own words of the presence and the past.

But the devil doesn’t give up so easily. Do you ever wonder how many more times he is going to come against you before he finally gets tired of losing? I sure do. I keep thinking, dude, Jesus already won this. You might shake me a bit but we both know how this is going to end so why don’t you just give up and move on already?

Luke 4:13 tells us that “when the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” Now this is Jesus we are talking about and still the devil hadn’t gotten the message that there was no point in pursuing his attacks. He simply quit for the time being only to return at an opportune time.

He is looking for weak spots. Don’t give him any!

Continue with part 2

The Weapons of Praise and Worship

/ Jelena McClellan / 1 Comment

This morning on my way to work I didn’t want to listen to the radio or to the news. I was feeling tired and even a little down for no real reason other than life is just really busy right now. My morning drives are oftentimes my quiet time with the Lord but today I felt like I needed more than prayer time where I tell Jesus all about my issues and hope that He will give me an answer.

So instead I put on some worship music, turned it all the way up and started singing along. Instantly my Spirit was lifted and I felt so much lighter and at peace. As I was driving down the road I began to dance along with the music in my car and just having a great time with the Lord. Not asking Him for anything, just enjoying being in His presence, recognizing His goodness and telling Him how much I love Him.

My heart was filled with the joy of the Lord and the atmosphere began to change. I was no longer worshipping, but now I was praising God for a number of different things but most of all I was praising and thanking Him for being Lord over my life.

There is a difference, you know, between praise and worship, although a lot of times we just sort of lump it in together.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, worship is defined as “reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence; extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem”.

You might be familiar with the phrase “to worship the ground somebody walks on”, which basically says that we love somebody so much and have such a respect and reverence for this person that even the ground this person walks on is to be admired.

But worship of course is not meant for a person, but for God! We worship God because we love Him, because of who He is, not because of what He does for us. We admire Him, adore Him, revere Him, respect and honor Him. So when we worship Jesus we are basically declaring our love for Him.

Praise on the other hand is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as this: “to express a favorable judgement; to glorify (a god or saint) especially by the attribution of perfections”.

When your child did a good job you praise him for it or when your dog didn’t pee in your house during the night, you praise him and tell him what a good job he did.

So what does it mean to praise God then? Do we tell Him that He did a good job?  We thank Him for what He did for us!

When you start to praise Jesus it is about your testimony. It is not just about God being a good, good father, but about your personal story with Him. All of our testimonies are unique but we can all praise Jesus for the amazing things He has done in our lives.

Revelation 12:11 tells us that we overcome the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, so you see how your praise, which involves your testimony, becomes a weapon?

Not only do you enter the presence of God with your worship, but you change things with your praise, especially when you don’t feel like praising God right now. Let’s face it, we all had moments when we didn’t know how to get through a certain situation and giving thanks was probably the last thing on your mind at that point.

But Hebrews 13:15 (KJV) tells us “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

WorshipHandsCrowd-1

Years ago there was a situation in my marriage that seemed pretty desperate. I didn’t know what to do and my husband was about to leave the country for a job overseas for at least six months. So I told God that even though I knew He could help us no matter how far apart we were at the time, in my limited earthly thinking I just couldn’t see that particular situation working out with my husband living at the other end of the world.

That day I offered a sacrifice of praise to God as I thanked Him for all the wonderful things He had done in my life and for the good plan He has for my life (Jeremiah 29:11), all while tears were running down my cheeks.

I recalled time after time when Jesus did what only Jesus can do and I thanked Him and praised Him for it. Before long, I was praying in the Spirit while crying non-stop. But through my obedience and offering the sacrifice of praise something changed. Still in the Spirit, I calmed down, the tone of my voice became soft again and my prayer turned into praise as I was singing to the Lord in the Spirit. I started crying again but this time it was tears of joy as I was completely at peace.

A few hours later my husband came home and told me he was unable to go overseas at that time because there was a glitch in the system, so they couldn’t process his paperwork and just couldn’t figure out what happened.

He was pretty upset but I walked away with a huge grin on my face giving the Lord a shout of praise!

My former pastor’s wife used to say “you praised yourself out of several situations, I don’t see why this one should be any different!”

Praise changes things!

Why do you think you end up fighting with your spouse on the way to church or something happened that week and you just can’t get your mind off of it and you just sort of go through the praise and worship part on auto-pilot?

Satan knows what happens when you worship God and praise Him!

I encourage you this coming Sunday (and every time, really) to join in the worship service at your church. The worship team is not there for your entertainment. And they also can’t break the chains for you. Have you ever wondered why they seem to be in the presence of the Lord but you’re just on the outside looking in during service? It’s because they worship and praise the Lord while you are watching them do it.

You would be amazed when you see what happens when the entire congregation lifts up one voice in worship vs. just a few individuals on stage or spread out throughout the sanctuary.

So join them! Clap your hands, sing the songs, put your heart into it, dance and shout, because Jesus deserves it!!

 

Waiting on God’s Promises

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

Some of you are currently pregnant – and I’m not just talking to the women out there.

Before you want to get all upset because you think I’m writing about some sort of new “trend” on the left or whatever other type of abomination you might be thinking of, let me assure you that I’m right there with you!

I am not talking about a natural pregnancy, but a spiritual one. Allow me to explain:

During worship a few Sundays ago, I heard the Holy Spirit say “You’re pregnant!” and my first reaction was “I better not be!” That may seem a little harsh but being that we already have two children and the last pregnancy was a high risk pregnancy which put my life and our daughter’s life in danger, unless God is working a miracle, there is no way that I could be pregnant.

So after the first few seconds of being in shock, the Holy Spirit continued to speak to me and explain more of what He was talking about.

Some of you, me included, are currently pregnant with a promise from God. If you are anything like me, you might be getting impatient because God promised you something years ago, and you have been waiting and waiting but nothing seems to be happening.

If you have been waiting to see a promise from God come to live, being birthed so to speak, then this word is for you.

Think about a natural pregnancy for a minute. There is a time when the seed is planted, then we go through a lengthy period of time during which that seed grows and develops into a baby and finally this child is born into the world.

So what does that mean in regards to a spiritual pregnancy?

Sometimes God gives a promise, He plants a seed, but it is nothing that we can see overnight. It takes time, in some cases years, before we finally see that promised being birthed into the world.

But just as life begins at the time of conception, so does the life of the promise God planted in us at some point. We just can’t see it yet.

During a natural pregnancy the first trimester is considered to be a risky one. Once we make it past the 12 weeks, we feel better about it and don’t worry as much about losing the baby. And in most cases a lot of the problems like morning sickness and the total fatigue that comes with the first trimester, are starting to ease and we get to enjoy the pregnancy a bit more.Think about the time right after God gave you a promise seed? Did the enemy attack you?

In my case it was only seconds after God spoke to me about something, making me a promise, when Satan started to speak lies to me, telling me that it would never happen, that I wasn’t good enough, that I was too young and that I should just give that stupid thought up.

He was trying to make me abort this spiritual pregnancy. Don’t let him!

Praise

So after we make it past the first trimester, we start to feel more confident in the promise, right? Maybe we struggled with it a bit in the beginning but we are starting to make peace with it and even look forward to it. We are getting excited about what the promise is and we start to make preparations.

In the natural, we might start to think about names, pick out colors for the nursery, start buying items we know (or think) we will need, read books to prepare ourselves and maybe even take some birthing classes or something along those lines.

When we look at a spiritual pregnancy however, do we really prepare for the promise God gave us?

For example, when God told me about the ministry I was to have and that it included writing and teaching about Him, I more or less expected somebody to just offer me a book contract. Crazy, I know, but then again, nothing is impossible with God (see Luke 18:27), so why not?

I pretty much wanted the result without the preparation. Comparing my behavior to a natural pregnancy, I would’ve been very unprepared, had I done nothing at all to prepare to welcome my children into the world. I would’ve been in a full-out panic mode, completely overwhelmed and probably would’ve felt like a huge failure.

But in my mind, going into ministry was going to work without me having to work for it or prepare for it, simply because God could do whatever He wanted.

Thank God He is a good, good Father and knew better than to let me go right ahead. He knew of course that I needed time not just to study but also to grow in my faith, learn a few things (or a lot) and let go of bad habits.

By nature I am a very blunt person. If you do something that makes me angry, I will let you know in no uncertain terms! I also tend to take things very personal which means I get my feelings hurt very easily.

Think about being in ministry for a second and then think about having a temper and getting your feelings hurt over everything. That does not sound like a winning combination to me. So those are things that I had to work on over the years – old ways I had to get rid of.

So there are things happening inside of you that nobody else can really see – yet. People might talk about how you changed but can’t quite put their finger on what is different about you. But you know. You can feel that promise seed growing and growing and you know that soon everybody will be able to see on the outside what has been happening on the inside.

Once you’re finally in your last trimester it feels like you have been pregnant forever. At least for me it did. Neither one of my pregnancies was easy so I didn’t really enjoy that time and was just looking forward to the end of my pregnancies and to meet my babies. I was very impatient.

And many of you are the same way with your spiritual pregnancies. It feels like God’s promise is never going to be fulfilled because  you’ve already been waiting for it for so long and maybe you’ve even had to fight one spiritual battle after another to hold on to that promise seed and you’re just tired and ready to give up.

I am right there with you!

But guess what? We are almost there!

So when it is time for your baby to be born – for your promise seed to be birthed – you have one last struggle ahead of you: The birthing process itself.

For some people this is very easy and smooth, for others it is a battle.

A lot of times the enemy will attack right before your breakthrough and throw everything he has at you in an attempt to make you give up so close to the end because you just can’t see how close you actually are. All you see is the warfare going on all around you and you’re tired and running on empty and you just want to be done.

Don’t. Give. Up. Now!

You are so close!

You know the saying “the night is darkest before the morning” and all the other cute little things we like to tell each other to keep each other motivated?

You are right there! Right at that spot.

There comes a point of no return when no matter what the devil throws at you, he can’t stop the promise of God being birthed into your life.

Remember that when you feel like nothing is happening and you’re frustrated because you have been waiting a long time already, God has not forgotten about you. The promise seed He gave you is growing on the inside of you and He will bring it to pass.

And just like soon-to-be-parents, use the time to prepare. Learn. Study. Get ready. Draw close to Him. Use that quiet time with God and let Him continue to grow that promise seed until He brings it to fruition.

Be blessed.

Don’t leave your Blessings on the Table

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered why some people appear to have more luck than others? There is always this one person that, no matter the circumstances, will always come out on top and things just seem to magically fall into place for them, while the rest of us seem to struggle quite a bit more with what life has to offer.

So is life just not fair or is there more to this?

What if I told you that you are leaving God’s blessings for you on the table all the time?

There are thousands of promises in the Word of God, but what are you really seeing in your own life?

During my prayer time with God the other day I kept asking for more. I wanted more of Jesus. I wanted everything He has for me. Every blessing. Every promise. Every gift. All the provision. I kept asking for it and asking for more of Jesus. A deeper understanding, more revelation, a closer and more intimate relationship. One phrase I said over and over again stood out to me: “Jesus, I don’t want to leave anything on the table.”

That’s when Jesus took me into a vision where I saw a huge table. It was filled to the point of overflowing with the most amazing things. It was a feast and I knew that what I was seeing was a table filled with all the promises of God, all the blessings, all the gifts and all the provision and it was all for me. All I had to do with reach out and take it.

But before I was able to do so the table grew taller, or maybe I grew smaller, either way I was barely able to see the top of the table, much less everything that was laid out on top of it. And since I couldn’t see anything that far up, my eyes began to focus on what was on the ground in front of me instead. There really wasn’t much, a few crumbs here and there but nothing that even remotely resembled the feast on top of the table.

feast

In my Spirit I knew what had happened. My expectations were so low that all I could see was what was on the ground in front of me, not what was high up on that table. My expectations were simply not high enough and so I was missing out on all the wonderful things that Jesus had laid out for me.

Then my view changed again and I was once again looking at the feast on the table. I knew I could take it because Jesus died for me to have these things (John10:10) . It was already mine, I just had to reach out and grab it. But every time I tried, I heard a voice telling me that those things were not for me. I was not good enough. I was a sinner and didn’t deserve these things. Those were only for the good people, those who pleased God, but not for me.

The devil was working hard to keep me from my promises and blessings by lying to me and it was working. Remember that he is the father of lies (John 8:44). Don’t allow him to steal from you. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).

Once again my view changed and this time I was standing right in front of the table and it would’ve been so easy to reach out and grab a hold of the promises, the blessings, the gifts and to satisfy my hunger but I kept stopping myself, telling myself that I was not worthy, that I didn’t deserve it.

So there are two options here.

First, I was acting too religious so to speak, not wanting to be selfish and staying humble. Those are good things, right?

Yes, but not if it is something I am doing to appear more spiritual to others than I really am.

At this point I was thinking about my children and how I would do anything for them. How I enjoy to bless them. My husband and I work hard to provide for our children. How would it make me feel if I laid everything out for them but they wouldn’t take it because they worried to much about what somebody else might think of them.

I think I would be pretty upset. Insulted even. It’s a good thing that I’m not God!

But it still made me wonder how it makes God feel, when we keep telling Him that we are not worthy of His blessings to us.

Of course we are not worthy. That was plain obvious back in the Garden. And no matter how hard we try we will always fall short. On our own we will never ever be worthy of anything God has to offer and He knew that so He came up with a plan to send His only Son to die for us so that through His sacrifice, through His precious Blood we would be justified (see Romans 5:8-9).

So what are we saying then? That His Blood wasn’t enough to make us righteous? Because even the tiniest drop of His Blood that was spilled for us is not just enough but it is the only thing that could ever make us be worthy because God no longer looks at us and sees a sinner, but He looks at us and sees a child that was reconciled to Him by the Blood of Jesus (see Romans 5:10).

But there is also a second option. Maybe we really don’t think we deserve God’s goodness because we have an identity problem. Maybe we just don’t understand who we are and what authority has been given to us.

I sometimes think that in our modern western societies we have lost a lot of understanding. Things like authority are somehow strange to us.

Back in medieval times for example, if I was a servant of a king, who sent me on a mission, he might have given me his ring. This ring represented his authority so if I ran into trouble, I could’ve presented that ring and it would’ve helped me, provided for me, opened doors for me and granted me safe passage (in most cases at least), because I was coming in the name of the king.

Here is another way to look at it. Let’s say you come from a rich and influential family, just the mention of your father’s name might give you favor with decision makers when you’re looking for a job, it might get you into a fancy school or allow you to go on a shopping spree and put everything you buy on daddy’s tab.

Well, you ARE the child of a King and you have a name that you can use when you need it. You walk in the authority of a child of God and “at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;” (Philippians 2:10-11).

So raise your expectations, tell the devil he’s a liar, walk in your authority and stop leaving promises, blessings, gifts and provision on the table!

 

You may be stuck, but you’re not helpless!

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

We all get into these situations where we feel like we have nowhere else to go. No matter which way we try to turn, we run into a dead end and sooner or later we realize that we are stuck.

That feeling of being stuck is not a good one to have because  we begin to feel helpless, frustrated, depressed even.

The more we struggle to get ourselves unstuck, the worse the situation usually gets until we are completely and utterly desperate and just ready to give up.

So why do we get stuck?

Sometimes we try to get ahead of ourselves, or rather ahead of God.

I am one of those people who grow impatient and then try to do everything on their own, but it is “not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6).

Other times everything seems to have slowed down or come to a complete halt and we think that we are stuck when in reality we are right where God wants us to be.

Have you looked around? Maybe there is something you need to learn and until you do God will keep you exactly where you are because He loves you and doesn’t want you to get hurt.

Sounds contradicting, I know, but you don’t know what lies ahead of you. Maybe there are some bumps in the road, obstacles to slow you down and potentially hurt you, if you were to go full speed ahead, so God keeps you where you are at for the time being, until these roadblocks have been removed or diminished.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” (Romans 8:28).

And some times we simply made such a huge mess of things that we can’t see any way out anymore. We make mistake after mistake and don’t realize that we back ourselves into a corner where we start digging ourselves a hole that we can’t escape from.

Feeling stuck is not fun – at least not for me – especially if it lasts for weeks and even months, but no matter how bad your situation is, or how deep the holes is that you find yourself in, you are never too far away for God to reach you and nothing is ever too difficult for him.

You may be stuck, but you are not helpless:

“My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth,” Psalm 121:2.

Make it your habit to use prayer as your first response, not your last and watch Him get you unstuck, because “the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds,” (2 Corinthians 10:4).psalm 121-2

There is Power in the Blood

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

When Jesus died on the Cross for us, He did so much more than to just give us a path to salvation and an invitation to start a relationship with Him. He also gave us the power of His blood.633fa63917d243f219ff007e292e9fac

We know that His blood redeems us. We could never pay the price against us, so Jesus did it for us. It is His blood that redeemed us: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

His blood not only removed the punishment for our sin, but it also cleansed us. 1 John 1:7 tells us that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Maybe you’ve heard the term “washed by the blood” before?

The blood of Christ also brings us into fellows
hip with God (Ephesians 2:13) and makes peace with God (Colossians 1:20)

When it comes to spiritual warfare, there is another aspect to the blood of Jesus that many believers are unaware of it seems – power over the devil.

Revelation 12:11 (AMP) tells us “they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony”.

When you come before God and confess your sins, those issues are under the blood. The enemy just lost the power to hold that sin against you.

One morning during my time with the Lord I was reminded of an old German myth or legend about a man named Siegfried who bathed in dragon blood which made him invincible. Except that while he was taking a bath in the blood a leaf landed on his right shoulder and since the blood couldn’t touch that spot, it was the only part of his body that could be pierced. Later he was betrayed and killed because of that one small spot that wasn’t covered by the dragon’s blood.

We do that, too, don’t we? We hold certain areas of our lives back and don’t want to give God access to those areas because we want to keep living the same way we always have.

Guess what? Those areas are not under the blood of Christ until we confess them to the Lord and allow Him to cleanse us. So essentially you are giving the devil access points, soft spots that he can and will attack.

But the beauty of our Savior’s blood is that it is always there. We have been granted access to it. The image the Lord showed me that morning was of somebody standing under a constant outpouring of the blood of Christ, being washed and cleansed, being covered continuously and as soon as that leaf was removed, that spot, too, was under the blood.

It is up to us to fully cover ourselves with His precious blood. He made it available to us, so don’t hold back from Him. Ask Him to identify those areas of your life and submit them to Him.

Plead the blood of Christ over yourself. Use the protection God has offered you.

So the next time the devil attacks you, you overcome and conquer him in the name of Jesus and with the blood of the Lamb. The blood of Jesus is more powerful than anything the devil tries to throw at you. He won’t be able to stand. That’s the power of the blood!

Image by Benny Hinn Ministries

Did Obama and Kerry just curse America?

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

genesis-12-3

For many years it was as if the American people were asleep, blind to what was really happening behind the scenes, in the Spirit Realm. As more and more of the core values and principles that this nation was founded and built on, had been perverted and trampled on. Values and principles established by our Founding Fathers , who used the Bible, the Torah and Psalms as the foundation for this new country. Good was now evil and evil was now good. We had lost our way.

But throughout the election process more and more of what had been hidden was coming to light and more and more Americans, Christians, started to wake up from their slumber and assumed their positions as watchmen on the walls once again. Prayers were once again being utilized and God heard our cry. He heard his people cry out for change, for another chance.

So we were given a short reprieve. With Donald Trump being elected the new president there seemed to be a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Maybe it was not too late for America. Maybe there was time to turn this ship around and to stop the downward spiral of sin and abomination in America.

Obama has proven time and again and even declared that he did not consider America to be a Christian nation. But the American people showed him otherwise.

So why now? Is it his hurt pride over not getting his way in America again that he is now lashing out against Israel? After saying that he would always have Israel’s back, he now put a knife in it.

Surely he knows of the scripture in Genesis 12:3 when God said that he would bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel.

“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3  NIV

Whether Obama believes that to be true or not, he must have known about it and yet he chose to break with American tradition of supporting Israel and as we listen to John Kerry talk about the 2 State Solution, we can clearly see where this is heading to come January 15th.

This is not the time for Christians to go back to sleep after winning the election. This is not the time for the children of God to go and hide in their caves again out of fear of persecution should they speak out against the left and whatever it is the mainstream media is trying to cram down our throats today.

Get back on your knees and continue to pray. Pray for Israel, pray for America, pray for the incoming Trump administration and stay in your position as watchmen on the walls. This is not over yet. It is not the end. It is only the beginning.