Smiling on the Outside

Late last night I was on Face-Book, a medium of great interest to many demographics, only because someone wanted me to include them amongst my friends. I did not know this person at all, and in trying to maneuver around in Face-Book which is very awkward for me, only because I’m hardly ever there, I saw a chat thing pop up and my son wanting to chat.

My son lives out on his own and not far from us in the same city. Because of the sensitive nature of what he wanted to talk to me about, I will not go there, other than to ask those who know me at least through this medium of the www, to please pray for my son, as our Father would speak to you.

What happened last night seems to be just one of many cascading continuations of what Papa is making real in my heart these recent days. So often I feel as if my heart is going into a melt down, sensing how much He cherishes me.
As I said to my wife, how can I NOT cherish you, or our son, or our daughter, or those around me in light of what I am discovering about being loved and cherished myself?
All the languages of the world could say the word ‘cherished’ and yet not touch me in the depth of how He is defining what cherished really means!

As crushing and painful as it was, hearing my precious son divulge is internal devastation, there was a deep knowing, an assurance this was not meant for death, but for LIFE.
Because of the chat feature on Face-Book cutting in and out, I decided to call him, only because of the nature of what he was sharing with me. He did not answer his phone, but came back on the chat device and said, no, I don’t want to talk on the phone, I only want to talk this way, I said ok.

I believe with all my heart Papa allowed me (in my total, complete helplessness) to speak Life into my son, and sensing that once again the Lord’s indestructible life would soon come forth from this death experience my son was buried in.

He is our Living Hope, or its all just Bull Shit!!

As I have reflected on what Papa wanted to say to me about this hellish night mare last night, he brought back to my remembrance this story. This part in particular is what gripped my heart for my son; “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." All that he can NOT see right now, only because of who God my Father is, can I see for my son, and on the basis of that alone, I can by His spirit in and through prayer, begin to see that anything and everything that would try and keep him buried alive, will be pushed aside as the Father’s life not only raises him from his death, but into the fullness of his awaited Birth-Right.

Right from the get-go when I was apprehended of the Father, a dimension of his heart that seemed to become a very natural expression of Him in me as me, was ‘encouragement’. If there was ever a time to be an encouragement to His body, which is the Church, is now.
I know this is not some isolated thing being spoken to me alone, I know the same spirit is nudging, prompting many to BE His encouragement to those being awakened from the Matrix sleep of religion through out the earth.
This transition of grace I have likened to in the following; "Having gone through the portal of grace and into His family, we are ALL adjusting to what is REAL, and discovering for the very first time, what really is normal.”

His spirit is working now, in you in me, no set of circumstances or situations are able to stop, prevent Him from making His heart known, and trust me on that.
He is ‘opening’ closed eyes to behold Him right where we are.

I love this heralding trumpet sound of grace coming from the heart and lips of our dear brother Paul; “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
There are so many times Paul referrers to himself as, “I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus, not the prisoner of Rome.”

Dear friend, brother, sister, you are NOT a prisoner of your circumstances or situations in light of the Truth, my prayer for His body, the Church is to SEE, and in seeing, we are FREED!

All of creation is standing on tip-toe, with baited breath and beating within their heart is a knowing, the long awaited manifest sons of God are coming to liberate them from their imprisonment.

Rich

Daddy

Back when my son was about four, I think it was, one night I was sound asleep when I heard something like a rifle shot right beside my ear, “Daddy’, I jumped out of bed and in a heart beat I ran to my son’s bedroom, there he was sound asleep, I slowly walked away shaking my head thinking, what the heck was that.

That was one of the first encounters I had with the unseen, where unbeknown to my limited understanding, what I felt Father later explained to me was my spirit Yelling out, Daddy!
This was but the beginning of being brought into an awareness of the Father of my spirit. He, my Father was rescuing, awakening me from so much devastation, and ruin.

Another time I was with two friends and we had driven to a Vineyard conference, little did I know that I would one day be in the thick of the Vineyard. Anyway this was the first time we had ever been exposed to anything like this, it wasn’t all that strange, and actually we found it refreshing.

After one of the teaching sessions, there was a time of ’ministry’, the main speaker was praying for different ones and I could sense him approaching me.
I had totally forgotten I along with everyone there were wearing name tags, ’Hello, my name is.’
He comes up to me and asks if I wanted him to pray for me, I said like, sure. He then begins by saying, “Richard,” and at that point I freaked, wow, how much more spiritual can anyone be, this brother could tell my name without ever having meet me.
Moments later I realized, he simply read my name tag, duh.
I was easily impressed in those days.

After I got wise as to what was happening, I remember him praying for me, again this all ties in together in being awakened. It was so real, I could somehow see myself as it were buried at the bottom of a lake, river, ocean, not sure, all I knew was as this brother prayed, I was being raised from the bottom of this lake (we’ll call it), it was as if I had been buried deep under tons of sand. I can still remember being drawn up to the surface, as I was ascending the intensity of the light shinning into the water was over whelming. It was as if I was being birthed all over again, being received by the one who I later discovered was the Father of my spirit.

I continue to see Him bringing definition into my life as one who somehow had so much stolen from him. My heart knows NO words (and folks I’m an Amplified word man) to express how I feel, being able to say, Papa loves me so, cause my elder brother Jesus says it’s TRUE!

Rich

The picture is of my first born, Matthew. (Gift of God)