Pursue your Desire

Hey family, how are you? hope you are well, welcome back, its always nice to have you here and if you are a newbie, I want to welcome you to the family. Thank you so much for your continued support and for showing up to read the posts. My prayer for you is that you don’t just read the posts but that change occurs every time you interact with the content, experience a transformation, an awakening and clarity! I also hope that you are applying some of the things you are learning here because applied knowledge is what makes the difference.  I have been well, thank you for asking lol. I celebrated my first-born last weekend, he just turned five and I am like wow I have a five-year-old haha, time really does fly by really quick, it doesn’t seem too long when I had him.  I want to thank God for His grace and faithfulness; He is indeed a good Father.   

Were you guys able to listen to the first Revive podcast episode? I share a little about me and the birthing of Revive so if you weren’t able to have a listen, you can do so HERE. Don’t forget to rate it, share with your loved ones and be part of the Revive Family.

Desire is not enough

Seek

When you read scripture, you will find the word seek a lot, especially when it comes to you and God. In Jeremiah 29:13 the scripture reads “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”. For us to really get the gist of things I think it is best to actually know what seek means, I love definitions and I am sure you guys have noticed lol! I believe when you really understand the meaning of a word you are able to get context. According to the dictionary seek means an attempt to find something, or to look for something, other similar words say to hunt for and to pursue. When you look at the words here you will realise that seek is an action word, it requires action.  When you lose your phone, for example, you are most likely to stop all that you are doing and search extensively until you find it. So, my sisters and brothers God wants us to search for Him, to look for Him, to hunt for him even. “…seek, and you will find…” (Matthew 7:7-8). It is an act of intentionality! To seek for something will require your time and attention! All your senses are involved in the process. Again, if we go back to the lost mobile you will probably be calling the phone and really pressing in to hear where the ringing is coming from, all your senses at this point will be engaged in looking for this phone! You wouldn’t say ah! I desire to find my phone and then boom the phone appears no! you started with the desire to find your phone, but you didn’t stop at just desire, you took action. 

We make room for the things we want

No matter how busy a person you are, you will always make room for the things that are important to you! and this is a fact! You will make room for what you want! I love the song by Jonathan Mcreynolds- Make Room, it is so profound and so true check out the first few lines of the first verse: 

I find space for what I treasure
I make time for what I want
I choose my priorities….

And this is true beloved, no matter how busy we are, we find space for what we treasure, we make time for what we want, and we choose our priorities! The question is not necessary whether you desire something, it is really about your priorities and what is really taking your time? The devil doesn’t really come for your desire, he comes for your time. I love how King David was always after Gods’ heart …” I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water…” (Psalms 63:1). Imagine if you were looking for water in a desert, you will search for it! not just desire it. The Holy Spirit puts the desire in our hearts, but it is up to us to pursue our desire to know God and have a deeper relationship with him.  We are to seek His presence continually (Psalm 105:4).  We start with desire, but we don’t stop there. 

Reflection 

1. What is really taking your time? Do a 3-day time log exercise where you record everything you do in the 24 hours. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you spot time wastages you are unable to see. 
2. Check your desire, desire is not enough but it starts from there, sometimes we don’t pursue because our desire tank is low. Rate your desire tank from 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest. If it’s low ask the Holy Spirit to set your heart on fire for God again, if it is high, it’s time to seek Him with all your heart.  
3. Take action! Start seeking, searching and hunting, how? Start with the word, be intentional about it, look for God in everything, even in the seemingly mundane things. 

Remember Jesus loves you! 

Stay blessed and be a blessing 

With love always, Lisa Maxwell

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DON’T PACK YOUR BAGS YET

Hey family, how are you? we officially entered into the next half of the year! Happy new month (though it was yesterday). I woke up this morning and I was just reflecting on the six months that have just gone, and gratitude is what consumed my soul; God has been so good He has kept us, protected us and provided for us! He has been indeed a good Father. You might be looking back and not feel there is much to be grateful for, maybe you lost your job, a family member, or anything really but, I want you to look at all those circumstances and challenges and see that God was right there with you! He brought you this far, you didn’t do that on your own, God covered you, He has been there with you regardless of how you feel! Just think about it. The bible says in:

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

No matter our circumstances, we need to give thanks! Today is a new day! Which means, new hope, new opportunities, new chances. There is something about mornings, the Bible says Gods mercies are new every morning and His Joy comes in the morning.  I thank God for a new day because it means I have a fresh start and new opportunities to BE BETTER, DO BETTER and make BETTER CHOICES. Just take a moment to thank God for the gift of life, for protecting you, for being with you and for allowing you to see another day! Our God is a GOOD GOD and a GOOD FATHER! Expressing your gratitude is always a good way to start your day! 

Exciting News!!!

Drum roll!! Lol, I have some exciting news for you guys, so if you follow me on social media you might have already heard, however, if you don’t, I got you! now your girl has been busy and I am so pleased to let you all know that the PODCAST IS BACK!!!! Whoop whoop! It is new, fresh and filled with so much goodness, I cannot wait for you guys to dive in.  I want to officially announce to you that REVIVE with Lisa Maxwell is launching on Monday 6th July 2020! It has been a journey and I am so grateful to God for walking with me through it all and He still is, I am excited about what He has in store for us. Go ahead and mark the date in your diaries for the first Revive episode. Meantime you can check out the trailer, so you have an idea of what is brewing for you. 

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Don’t pack your bags yet!

As we are now entering into the next half of the year some of us might feel like we haven’t really achieved what we set out to do and might end up feeling discouraged and so on. With the pandemic, a lot changed and still is, life is not as it used to be and might not be as it used to be. There has been a shift in the world and a lot of us are probably thinking what next? I just want to encourage you today to not pack your bags just yet! Yes, your plans might have gone out the window, yes this and that happened and right now you don’t know what to do, hang in there, hold on, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I would like to help you look at things in a different perspective, I want you to look at the DISRUPTION rather than the DISTRACTION! When there is distraction you lose focus on what is important and you can get frustrated with everything going on, however when you shift your gaze to the DISRUPTION you start to look at what needs your attention! This is the time you step back and ask God, what is He saying in the midst of the noise, ask Him to align you with His Agenda and what He is doing in the now! Your plans didn’t work, maybe it is time to submit your plans to His plans and carry His assignment for your life. You don’t have to wait for the 31^st of December 2020 to start afresh and surrender your will to Gods will for your life, you can start today! it’s time to move to the passenger’s seat and allow God to take the wheel.  

God is doing something new and you don’t want to miss it, I surely want to be part of what God is doing, I want to be carried by Him, I want to go where He is going! If He is not going, I am not going! The best thing I did beside giving my life to Christ is giving my will to Him also, I remember Just going to God and was like Father invade my life, I give you access to everything! not my will but yours. Jesus said take my yoke for it is easy and my burden is light! So, brothers and sisters, it is not too late, your 2020 has not gone to waste! Just go to the Father and present yourself, say yes to His will and allow Him to guide you. 

Lastly, I just want to give an opportunity to anyone who is reading this and has not yet received Christ Jesus as his or her Lord and Saviour to have a chance to do so, see God loves you and He wants to be your Father, He wants the best for you, He created you for a purpose and He wants you to fulfil that purpose! The only way you can walk in purpose and real fulfilment is when you know Christ and receive His sacrifice, saying Yes to Him and what He did for you on the cross. Jesus is calling!  If you would like to say yes to Jesus today it is actually very easy, just say out loud the prayer below, the Bible says in Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. That is all it takes, say it with your mouth and believe it in your heart! Praise God. 

Prayer of salvation

O Lord God, I believe with all my heart in Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. I believe He died for me and God raised Him from the dead. I believe He is alive today. I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life from this day. Through Him and in His name, I have eternal life; I am born again. I ask you, God, to fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul! I am now a child of God.

Wow, congratulations! Welcome to the family. You are now a child of God. Your journey has just begun. If you said that prayer please send an email to lisa@writersesence.com so that I can gift you with materials to start your faith journey and advice on your next steps. Once again congratulations

With love always, Lisa Maxwell 

Don’t Lose Focus

Greetings 

Hey, my lovelies, how are we doing today? I am so grateful for each and every one of you, thank you for supporting the blog, and taking out time to actually read, It means a lot to me. Can you believe we finally rounded off the journey to purpose series? I don’t know about you but for me, I have been tremendously blessed, the success stories were the icing on the cake! Too heavy, inspiring and absolutely enlightening. Now if you are a newbie here, I want to welcome you to the family, please do make yourself at home and look around, take a tour of your new home lol. For those of us who are returning and have been following the series, I would like to hear from you, do you have any questions? how did you find it? do you want to gain more clarity, whatever it is just send an email to lisa@writersessence.com and I will be willing to be of help. 

Story time

So, the funny thing is, I am actually experiencing a writer’s block lol yes! Each time I showed up to write I had nothing absolutely nothing, and I was like Holy Spirit what’s happening? Is there nothing you want to say to the people, what are we going to do because we need to deliver on Thursday. Anyway, I left my writing station and continued with my day, while I was making breakfast for the family, I was still thinking about the blog and what I was going to share on Thursday because I had already set a standard and I wanted to keep to it. In the midst of my thoughts, I heard, don’t write what is not inspired by Me, just because you feel the pressure to deliver, if I am not saying anything, don’t say anything, Wow, that healed my need to please and show up in the flesh. It healed my need to meet up with demands that I put there myself.  If it is not inspired by the Holy Spirit, then it is not worth putting out there. 

So, this led me to ask you these questions, are you doing things that are inspired by the Holy Spirit? or are you just doing them to show up for yourself? Do you take time to hear what is on the heart of God before you make a move? If God said to you close down all your influencing platforms, businesses or whatever it is you somewhat get value from are you going to do it? Take some time to sit with these questions, write them down in your journal and really think about it and most importantly be honest with yourself.  The Holy Spirit was reminding me that I am not the things I am doing; I am first and far most Gods daughter and that alone should be fulfilling for me. It’s true that I am in the assignment phase of my life. This season has been full on, executing and it is easy to get carried away with all the doing that you may miss out on the most important thing – Being His Daughter. 

I woke up for my usual prayer and journaling time and in the midst of journaling, I told Him I missed Him. In the midst of the doing, I actually missed my Abba, our relationship had become so work-related that I had missed our intimate moments where I am not asking for the next instructions on how to do this or that or a name for something, but where we just gist and He pours out His love and comfort on me. Now, like I said I am in the executing season, but it is vital to not lose sight of what is really important!  

What is your own prayer life like? Are you praying at God or are you genuinely seeking His face to get to know Him? Are constantly asking for what He can do for you? or are you asking what is on His heart? Take time to note these questions down and answer them with all honesty. Start to seek God’s heart and get to know Him not because you want something from Him but because you are His SON

Let’s be real most of us are not Sons, we are children. Sons are always after their Fathers’ heart, they want to please their Father; they are always concerned about the things that concern their Father. Sons are reliable, God can count on them because they don’t put themselves first, rather, they put the needs of their Father first. Meanwhile, children are always after what they can get from Daddy, I want this, I want that, can I have this too? God doesn’t love any one of them less, it Just means He won’t yet trust the children with certain things until they grow to full maturity and become Sons. 

So this is it guys, I just wanted to come here and encourage you to not lose focus on what is really important, to always remember you are first Abbas daughter/son and always build your relationship from that perspective. Do not get carried away by the things that you are doing, however,  pay attention to the person you are becoming, because at the end of the day your main purpose in life is not your various assignments, but becoming like the One who created you! 

With love always Lisa Maxwell

The Journey to Purpose Part Six

Success Stories

Hey, my lovelies, how are you all doing? It is good to have you back here! I am always grateful for each and every one of you. How was last week’s post? Were you blessed? I, on the other hand, was tremendously blessed. I like hearing people’s stories; they are encouraging, and they can add fire to your own journey.  I really thank Praise for sharing with us last week. Now if you are reading this for the first time, I welcome you to the family, we have been on a purpose journey for five weeks, this week making it the sixth whoosh! it has been amazing! These last weeks of the series we have guests who will be sharing their story with us and Praise shared her story on the wilderness season. You can check it out HERE! and while you are at it, why not catch up on the other articles in this series. 

The Journey to Purpose Part Three Growth

Hey, my lovelies how are you all? I trust you are keeping well and safe and just thanking God in all seasons! Remember we spoke about it in part two of this series. Now can we just take time to appreciate God, I don’t know about you, but I have been blessed! Wow, it has been an amazing two weeks of light and revelation. Now if you have been following the series, I would really like to hear from you, how has it been for you? leave your comments or send me an email and if you are just joining us I welcome you to the party. Please feel free and make yourself at home, I would suggest you go through part one and part two of this series before you proceed to this one; so that you get the context. 

Never take things too personal

Greetings to you beloved we meet again, yes, I agree it has been a while, but I am here just taking life one step at a time and literally depending on the Holy Spirit for each step I take. Meanwhile I would like to believe that you my dear reader are also doing fine and taking life a step at a time and embracing each step with gratitude. Now let us get into todays topic.