By Regina Shank
What is the goal? Sometimes the goal is to just get through the day. I remember my grandmother telling me her favorite song was " One Day at a Time." She was a widow at age 50 with 9 children, 7 of whom were still living at home. She managed to raise them. She never remarried or learned to drive a car. But she lived to be 90 years old. She made it through 40 years without her husband, raising the children, managing a farm, and living life one day at a time. But as admirable as that is, living one day at a time is not the goal. What is the goal? I believe it's called "purpose". Every person who is born into this earth comes with a purpose to fulfill. Many live life without ever finding their ultimate purpose. There are pursuits that occupy time, jobs that keep us busy, and family that bring us joy, but many times purpose eludes us. When I talk with someone who has spent their time ignoring their dreams, thinking they are unattainable, I recognize a person who has not attained their purpose. Inside every person, the Lord has written a destiny, a dream, to be walked out. Psalms 139:15-17 tells us about that reality, "“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” Psalm 139:15-17 NIV Those days ordained, planned for us, were written before we were born. How exciting is that! Why am I here? That question has an answer. It's found in your relationship with Jesus Christ. He knew you before you were born, set you in this earth to make a difference, put dreams in your heart, gave you breath, and watches over you to bring you to fulfillment. Of course, you have a choice to go your way and many do. But, unfulfilled dreams make unfulfilled people! It's never too late. Destiny can be delayed, but it's never denied. The Lord is gracious to get us back on track when we ask. "Seek and you will find, ask and it shall be given, knock and the door shall be opened." Find that purpose, walk out that destiny, and live in the joy of knowing who you are, and why you exist. Purpose starts with knowing Jesus and making Him known. From there, we look at the dreams lodged in our heart. Many of them appear to be impossible, but don’t forget, our God makes the impossible, possible. I remember having a desire to go to nations. I was a young mother with responsibilities that made those dreams look totally out of reach. But the time came when they became reality. Sometimes those dreams are for an appointed time. Meanwhile believe that God can make those dreams a reality. At one point in my journey, I was on my knees asking God when He was going to bring those dreams into reality. It appeared a wall was in front of me that I couldn’t get over. I told him, “Lord, I am tired of waiting.” He spoke so tenderly, “You are my lady-in-waiting.” Then He said, “While you are waiting, wait on me with worship. Spend time in my Presence. You are waiting on my timing, but I am faithful to bring to pass all the dreams in your heart, for I placed them there, and at the right time, they will be fulfilled.” That experience was shortly before the dreams became reality. I look back on it and see the faithfulness of God to do what He put in my heart. Nations opened up to me and I have traveled to many places on assignments from heaven. Don’t give up on your dreams. Yes, they are too big for you. They are not too big for the Lord to bring forth in your life. Meanwhile, spend time with Him. He will birth the seeds of destiny within you in His time. Remember the verse in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made all things beautiful in its time.” Regina Shank
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By Regina Shank
In today's world, most of us take photos on our cell phones. But remember when we used to take a roll of film in to be developed? Do you remember the negatives that came with your developed pictures? Recently in a gathering, I had a vision of a billfold full of photo negatives. I was curious about that picture and asked the Lord to tell me what it meant. He said, "Your identity has been stolen." Almost daily, we are asked to show some I.D. when making a purchase or doing business. We pull out our billfold to show some proof of identity. In doing so, we are saying, :"This is who I am," as we display a picture I.D. Suddenly I understood what the vision of the billfold full of photo negatives meant. Our soul has memory; trauma, disappointments, hurts, betrayals, past failures. These leave a negative imprint in the soul's photo journal. We can begin to identify with those negative memories taking on the persona of past events. We begin to believe that we are what has happened to us. Perhaps we failed in some way; we begin to believe we are a failure. Maybe we were abandoned as a child; we see ourselves as rejected, not wanted. It could be that you have had health problems and you see yourself as handicapped or you begin to own the problem calling it "my diabetes," "my back problem," "my cancer." Your identity has become a billfold full of negatives, failures, and labeled situations. It's time to get your identity back. Who are you? You are not what has happened to you; you are who He says you are! Let's throw away the labels, the false ID's, and allow the Lord to tell us who we are. A few years ago, I was getting ready for my son's rehearsal dinner before his wedding. I had purchased water glasses for the dinner and found myself at the kitchen sink removing "Libby" labels from the bottom of each glass. This took some time as there were 100 of them and the labels were sticky. During this tedious process, the Lord spoke to me and said, "I have called you to remove labels from my people. They don't know who they are and believe what they have been told by others or have taken on the identity of their traumas. " The next day I was speaking on a Sunday morning at a local church. During the message, I was drawn to a young woman on the back row of the church. I interrupted my message and told her that the Lord had pointed her out to me. I then asked her what her name was. She said, "My name is Libby." The prophetic word came forth from my spirit for her, "you have identified yourself with the negative events in your life; you have believed the labels given to you by those who have hurt you. You are not who they say you are; you are not who you believe you are. You are the daughter of the Lord, precious in His sight, formed to display His glory. He has called you out of Moab; He is bringing you into a new genuine identity. He is pulling off the sticky label of your past, washing you clean from the handprints of your tormentors, bringing you to His banqueting table, giving you the chair of Mephibosheth at the King's table. Your identity has been stolen from you. Today you get it back, all of it. For I am restoring it all to you. You will walk in new authority; you will stand in great confidence for you are not your failures; you are not what you have been labeled. You are mine. I have brought you forth for such a time as this. Rise up my daughter! Know who you are. Put on your robes of righteousness that I purchased for you with my own blood. Step into my courts and be crowned with destiny. The past labels are now removed. " Needless to say, Libby was shaken, changed, and sent forth with a new reality called restored identity. How about you? Do you have a billfold of negatives that have become your identity? Have you taken on the persona of past failures receiving false statements about yourself, allowing them to harness you to a false identity? Ask the Lord to show you who you really are. It's time to rip those sticky, false labels off and receive your true, genuine I.D. produced in the court of heaven that trumps, overrides, and removes the manufactured, counterfeit negatives of this deceptive world. Time to get your identity back. You are a son or daughter of your Father God. Wear it, walk it, display it! John 13:3-5 says, " Knowing who He was, where He came from, and where He was going was key to fulfilling His destiny. It is a key we must use to enter the fulfillment of the book of destiny written on our hearts by God Himself. It's time to be restored to the reality of who we are in Him! Regina Shank |
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