Good morning. Welcome to Reflective Hour with Tammy Toney-Butler.
But we all know who the real host of this show is, of this time that we have together, and that's Christ.
Holy Spirit, come and have Your way. Have Your way in this time that we have together so that Your message, Your truth, can be spoken because we know that Your Word never returns void.
May everyone listening to this hear You, hear the truth, and it set them free. Set them free from the chains that have bound them for decades. Set them free from the shame, the guilt, the fear, the regret, the self-loathing, the weight of it all.
May they see You and only You today, for this can only be about You. We can only tether to the Cornerstone, the Foundation, the Rock, the Anchor that will never leave us nor forsake us. That through every trial and tribulation, will give us something to hold on to, to stand firm and steadfast in the winds of change as they blow, as they blow our sails and chart a course in a new direction—a new direction to where we come out of the darkness and transform in His marvelous light.
You hold the keys to your freedom. You hold the keys to the truth. And that freedom is found at the foot of the Cross. Jesus died so we can be set free. Abba Father sent His only begotten Son to save us. A father who gave up his son and His son who was obedient even unto death to protect and save His sheep, His flock.
How many of you would have been that obedient? How many of you would have that kind of faith? That steadfast faith that keeps you anchored throughout any storm, any storm that comes your way, whether it's financial, relational, or whatever it is that comes to your door. You may need healing, whatever that looks like for you. When that comes to you, that storm, that evil knocks at your door, how will you respond?
You are responsible for your peace, your joy, and your healing. You have a choice. Like the man with the withered hand had to choose, stretch it out for healing, and seek the truth, but you also have a responsibility to maintain your peace, joy, and strength so that you can pour that living water into others.
You can't pour from an empty cup, and you also can't pour out the pure, true Gospel. God's spoken Word of Truth, if you have any malice or hate or corruption in your heart,
you have to follow the path that Christ set.
We only have to look at scripture to see His Truth, to follow it to be set free.
On my journey with Christ, my healing journey, I had a lot of "junk in my trunk." I had a lot of things that I had to look inward to correct, and He was so graceful and merciful with me, but there were also times when others spoke to me, and I realized it was God speaking through them, and it was for my good. It was so I could be rooted deeply on such a strong foundation that when the winds came to push me into a new direction, an uncomfortable direction, so that I would have enough faith to get me through. You need to cultivate that within yourselves, and you need to protect it at all costs. That peace, that quiet time, freedom from chaos and drama so that you can be still and hear the Whisper, the Truth.
That you can have a purified heart from which the truth flows out of, like Living Water, washing us clean but also filling us up with that Well of Truth, that Wellspring of potential.
Christ calls us to be the bearers of Light for a dark world, for it is time to reap a bountiful harvest. Yet the laborers are few.
Will you step up? Be strong. Be rooted so deeply in His Word, in that Vine, that you will bear good fruit for the Kingdom. He's coming, and as His bride, we have to be ready. We have to bring as many people out of the darkness and into His marvelous Light so that they can see the Truth, and the Truth will set them free, as it did me.
My heart was transformed. The Holy Spirit filled me up, and I've never been the same. And then it was years of work where He transformed my mind—even my body. I became a new person transformed—a new creature, someone that I don't even know. I don't even know, but it's glorious because I'm still finding out who this person is, who I was created to be before darkness came to my door as a child. But I overcame that, and you can overcome it, too. There's hope. There's joy. There's peace. There's freedom. There's a lot of work, and you have to put that work in. You have to be an active participant in your healing and in maintaining of your peace, your tranquility, and your peaceful environment.
Will you let the chaos and the lies of the world destroy it? Will you let those negative words spoken by others affect you and who you were called to be? Or will you rise above it and find strength and comfort in the steadfast anchor? Christ, the Advocate, the Redeemer, the Healer, Comforter.
He's everything.
Seek Him and seek the Truth. And we can look to His Word for a guide.
As we look into Luke, and as we read Luke, and we start in Luke 6, that's where the disciples were picking wheat on the Sabbath, and Jesus heals the man on the Sabbath, the man with the withered hand that stretched it out for healing. This is even when Jesus selects His twelve disciples.
And it says in Luke6:12:
12: One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God.
Even Jesus controlled His environment. Even He isolated. Even He got away from the world's chaos to seek the Father because He realized that you have to be tethered so tightly to God so that He can flow His truth into you, and you will have the capacity to withstand any storm and flow it out to others.
Jesus also gives us the Beatitudes here, when we start in Luke 6:17-26:
Blessings and Woes
17: He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon,
18: who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.
[There is hope]
Those troubled by impure spirits were cured,
[We rebuke any spirit that is tormenting you now and profess you healed in the name of Jesus]
19: and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20: Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21: Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22: Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
23: “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24: “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25: Woe to you who are well-fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26: Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Beware of pride, beware of ego. Make sure that everything you do only points to Christ and the healing of Christ. For we are humans, and we're fallible, but God is steadfast.
That Holy Spirit of Truth that flows through you, that Threefold Cord of Truth.
Jesus goes on in Luke 6:27-36 to teach about loving our enemies.
Love for Enemies
27: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28: bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
29: If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
30: Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
31: Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
33: And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
34: And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.
35: But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
36: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
And then Jesus goes on to talk about criticizing others in Luke 6:37.
Judging Others
37: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
We have to forgive. We have to move forward. If we have unforgiveness in our hearts it stops us; it stops the flow. We have to move past the past and break into who Christ is calling us to be.
We go on into Luke 6:46-49:
When Jesus teaches about those who build houses on rock and sand.
The Wise and Foolish Builders
46: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
47: As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.
48: They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well-built.
49: But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
And I'm reading the Life Application Study Bible, the New International Version.
What is your house built on? By that I mean your faith. Are you tethering tightly to the Vine of Truth? Are you getting alone with God and doing as He calls you to do? Are you letting Him speak to you and not the world? You have to seek the Source. You have to stretch out your own hand for healing and be responsible for your healing and maintaining your peace and your joy.
It is not easy. You have to isolate. You have to get alone with God like Jesus did and leave everything. You have to turn off that computer screen, get up from that desk, and start your day with Jesus.
Take that walk, allow 15 to 20 minutes every day to start your day, even if you have to wake up early, but you must root into Christ, into the Cornerstone, and build your house, your faith on that foundation so that it will hold steadfast in the winds of change.
Change is coming. Judgment's coming. Will you be ready? Can you withstand the storm? Financially? Relationally? Spiritually?
I believe you can. I believe you can. I did. It's tough. Every day, I have to get alone with my Father, Abba Father, and seek Him and His infallible truth. I tether so tightly that I'm holding on to the Hem of His Garment.
That is the only thing that helps me stand up to the storms we weather daily, which are worsening.
We are closer to His coming than ever before. Is your lamp full of oil? Are you ready?
Seek Him. Seek the Truth. Tether into Him. He's waiting. He's waiting to set you free. To set you free from addiction. To set you free from the chains that have bound you for decades. The lies spoken over you.
Don't let someone define you. Don't let the past define who you can become. Don't tether into that. Break off those trauma soul ties, those generational ties, generational curses.
Break into who He's called you to be, where there's an urgency to the hour. He needs us all. He needs us all to be Bearers of the Light and Truth, to bring the True Gospel to the doors of the lost, the needy, and the broken—the Addicted.
I was set free from so many things. That is why I love Him so much. I'm nothing without Christ. I tether so tightly to Him that we are one.
You have to do the same. You have to choose. To fight.
Fight for your healing. Fight for your peace.
Fight.
He's waiting. He's waiting for you to choose Him. To seek Him above anything else.
He wants you to seek comfort and peace in Him, protection in Him, and to provide for you the love of a father, especially for those who never had one.
We rebuke those orphan spirits, those spirits of abandonment!
Rest in Him, rest in His Truth, rest in His promises of His Word.
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